Dead of the Day: 08-28-1981

Long Beach Arena

Long Beach, California

There are some good shows, especially from the late 60s, on this day. But we have to go to the 1981 show at the Long Beach Arena for our Dead of the Day. What you have here is a little underappreciated show that is blissful throughout. Drown your ears in the sharp, fruity jams of the first set. They Love Each Other is achingly beautiful, and the Althea> Little Red Rooster is out of this world. Althea warms up the boys, allowing them to charge headlong into Rooster, driving the jam further and further in the second half of the song before finally ending in a long roll of the drum. A bit later, the Let It Grow smokes with nervous, fecund energy as everyone leads the jam along. Then the Dead bring it down alongside a babbling brook of percussion, keys, and guitar before launching into a sweet China Cat Sunflower that leads into an equally fine I Know You Rider to end the set.

Recording info
Use alternative player
Identifier:
gd1981-08-28.fob.ellner.motb.91231.sbeok.flac16
Source:
2 x Nakamichi CM-700 => Sony TC-D5 >> MAC
Notes:
Mastering Notes — Discs 2 and 3 are seamless. — d2t07 – Used gd81-08-28.sbd-patched.painoman.9572.sbeok.shnf (shnid=9572) as patch source for tape flip during “Never Trust A Woman”; 2:46 – 2:57. — Crossfades were applied during first set pauses and for tape flip after “Little Red Rooster”. — Crossfades were applied for tape flips at the end of “Drums” and before “U.S. Blues”. — Several large microphone taps were edited out at the beginning of the sets, while minor taps remain; crossfades were applied.
Description:
Set 1 Jack Straw They Love Each Other Me And My Uncle -> Big River Althea -> Little Red Rooster Brown Eyed Women -> Let It Grow -> China Cat Sunflower -> I Know You Rider Set 2 Shakedown Street -> Lost Sailor -> Saint Of Circumstance -> The Wheel -> Jam -> Never Trust A Woman -> Jam -> Drums -> Space -> Truckin’ -> Wharf Rat -> Sugar Magnolia Encore U.S. Blues
Lineage:
MAC >> Nakamichi DR-1 => Grace Design Lunatec V3 [Pre-Only] => Korg MR-1000 >> DSF [1-bit 5.6448 MHz Stereo] >> Korg MR-1000 => Korg AudioGate >> WAV [24/96]
Transferrer:
MAC Supplied By: Barry Glassberg, Transfer by Adam Egert, Mastering by Bill Koucky
Play
Pause
Back
Forw.
Volume
00:00
1
Tuning
01:52
2
Jack Straw
06:11
3
They Love Each Other
07:01
4
Me And My Uncle >
03:02
5
Big River
06:51
6
Althea >
08:33
7
Little Red Rooster
09:10
8
Brown Eyed Women
06:59
9
Let It Grow >
11:10
10
China Cat Sunflower >
05:46
11
I Know You Rider
05:27
12
Tuning
00:53
13
Shakedown Street >
15:49
14
Lost Sailor >
07:05
15
Saint Of Circumstance >
06:30
16
The Wheel >
06:16
17
Jam >
06:18
18
Never Trust A Woman >
08:01
19
Jam >
04:01
20
Drums >
06:52
21
Space >
05:51
22
Bolero Jam >
05:59
23
Truckin’ >
08:57
24
Wharf Rat >
10:03
25
Sugar Magnolia
09:18
26
U.S. Blues
05:23
Choose recording

The second set gets going with a ripping, funky Shakedown. Jerry does have some trouble with the vocals, but the entire band more than makes up for it with their playing, especially with the creepy, raspy computer jam around the eight-minute mark. They lose the momentum a little bit with the beginning of Lost Sailor, but by the end of the tune the band is again killing it, and they bring that momentum right along into Saint of Circumstance. The Wheel that comes out next basically turns into a jam all its own, heading way off The Wheel theme and into parts unknown before settling into Never Trust a Woman, which is a great Brent tune, highlighted this time by the excellent drum, bass, and keys jam at the end. From there, the drummers take over for a fun Drums. At the end of Space the boys start playing with the Spanish Jam theme before settling into it full force, teasing Dark Star just a touch. Then we get a whistled beginning to Truckin’ that, we imagine, could have only come from Mickey. The Truckin’ continues on, as you would expect from this show, to be really hot. Of course, Bobby completely flubs the lyrics at one point. And then we get a resplendent Wharf Rat that drops into Sugar Mags to see out the set.

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Comments

3 responses to “08-28-1981”

  1. Sly Avatar
    Sly

    Another “killer” Spanish Jam 🙂

  2. PacoLoco Avatar
    PacoLoco

    I believe it was Bob who would start off truckin with his whistle ? He wore it on a chain around his neck.
    Thanks for all those who put this site together. I was blessed and blitzed to be at this show.

  3. Ron Avatar
    Ron

    Thank you for promoting this show! I was going to skip quick to Veneta 82 but wow! This is a great 81 reminder! Band beyond description…

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