favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite

This is a must-listen for fans of pre-1970 Dead. A fabulous gig played while they were still recording Anthem of the Sun. Every song is a highlight, and every member of the band contributes enormously to an audio feast with transitions as smooth as any in their history. Pigpen on keyboards is at his best. The audio is excellent, and you can hear every instrument.This is the first Clementine. A real rarity, Deadbase records only 5 performances of the jazzy Clementine, which has the feel of John Coltrane’s My Favorite Things. Sung by Jerry, Phil Lesh wrote it with Robert Hunter. Lesh has said that Coltrane was one of his main influences. "The Coltrane Quartet and the long jams they would do in one chord was a defining factor for us..." (from Phil Lesh: Operating Principles, Jam Base.com ).In a seemingly effortless transition, the jam changes time from 3/4 to 4/4 and slips into New Potato, a core part of Anthem but a rarity, performed only 26 times. Pigpen is in top form on keyboards here. Jerry’ delivers a spacious New Potato sound that is more deliberate than a lot of the 1967 performances.This is only the second Born Cross Eyed, the first being 3 days earlier. It’s also a rarity, with only 14 performances. And it didn’t always follow New Potato, as it does on Anthem. The pair works well.And, this is the first Spanish Jam, which arises out of a psychedelic transition from Born Cross-Eyed. This Spanish Jam>Caution is featured at the end the first disc of Grayfolded ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grayfolded , which every Dark Star fan should own). It is difficult to find a better Spanish Jam.Spanish Jam transitions into a short Caution (under 2 minutes worth), going into a repeated pre-Dark Star riff. The first disc of Grayfolded ends with this pre-DS riff.There are four versions of this set here at Archive. The one with the longest fragment of Dark Star is at this link (though the audio quality is somewhat inferior to the others):