New or renewed appreciation for a given song can come from anywhere. In terms of Cassidy what made the difference for me was a discussion over at the RUKind forum. One of the regular contributors over there goes by Rusty the Scoob. He’s a bass player and well-versed in music theory. I think he was explaining modes or something similar in a video and he used Cassidy as an example. Seeing the application of a concept like modes in an erudite manner really opened my eyes to Cassidy and what was going on there. So a song that I previously wrote off, more or less, came to be more interesting in my opinion.

The other motive behind this selection was 1976. It’s kind of a funky year because the Dead were knocking off the rust from their hiatus. On the plus side, a more conventional sound system meant that this was the era where Donna started sounding better because she could hear herself on stage. Her duet with Bobby here showcases that improvement, in my opinion. Also, when I looked at the track timing for this one it was on the shorter end so I wanted to give a good listen to a shorter version of the song to see if it still had all the markings of a good airing. My thoughts are below but you can make up your own mind.

Phil is really low here and it sounds like there’s too much space in the mix, but on the bright side Bob and Donna duet here beautifully. Keith plays a very nice run heading into the bridge. Jerry’s solo is fairly standard here, but Keith continues to add some very tasteful flourishes and embellishments. Jerry unleashes one of his trademark pull-off riffs going back into the chorus. Gotta love it when he does that. The jam that follows is nice. The sound is much fuller, as the drummers’ toms are very clear and present. Still need more Phil though! Oh well. Apparently it’s not meant to be on this day. On to the next one!

Complete Setlist 9/24/76

Previous Cassidy DFAY Selections