Nobody mentioned #35 so far. A truckload of typical 1971 Dead, maybe nothing spectacular, there may be better versions of some of the tunes around, but nevertheless very powerful, almost heavy at times and very spontaneous, just fun to listen to! Some good Pigpen tracks, too, Phil's fans will love the way the bass comes through and he seemed to be in an adventurous mood. Unfortunately Bird Song, Wharf Rat and Easy Wind are not included, but the rest more than makes up for it. CD 3 is most interesting with the rare Pigpen song Empty Pages, an embryonic Brown Eyed Women and a thundering St. Stephen right after, this time followed by Not Fade Away>GDTRFB.
The story of how it came together is also quite unbelievable, apparently those tapes had been intended as practice tapes for Keith Godchaux and then he put them away on his houseboat and that's where they remained for almost 35 years. Considering that, the quality is quite amazing.
One of my favorite DPs to jam along with (Jerry's parts are still quite accessible but maybe I say that because I'm too lazy to figure out the more complicated stuff from later on...
) I admit 1971 is my favorite year.
