Dead of the Day: 11-29-1966

The Matrix

San Francisco, California

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Our recording – though probably not the show – begins with the very first Dead version of Me And My Uncle. It is a spirited rendition, coming out all acid-laced and totally addled, making for an incongruous contrast with other Uncles the boys would lay out through the years. Next, Phil pounds out the opening to The Same Thing, and the band continues in full-on psychedelic blues fashion as Pig wails out some steady, ominously rendered, and oh-so awesome vocals. Then the band plays Stealin’ – probably the last of five – and Big Boy Pete – the first of eight – offering up two more glimpses of quintessential early Dead and suggesting just how much they transformed over their first five years. Following those two songs, One Kind Favor, or See That My Grave Is Kept Clean, comes out, keeping the old blues tunes rolling. Then they change gears slightly, turning to the Gordon Lightfoot song Early Morning Rain, which has some loopy, entrancing playing and sweet vocal delivery and pacing. Afterwards, we get two of the highlights of the show and, also, two of the more familiar tunes: Cold Rain and Snow and Viola Lee Blues.

Recording info

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Identifier:

gd1966-11-29.152152.sbd.hance.sirmick.flac24

Source:

Soundboard *

Notes:

* Source information from John: This tape came from someone in the Dead’s organization around 1983. This is Mark Cohen’s tape (Judy Lee’s brother) who worked for Electra records. It was given to Mark by Hail Milgraham, who was a colleague at Electra. Hail’s wife is an interior decorator and did work for Bill Graham, Jerry and others in the organization. I recall it came with the date 2/23/66 which later switched to 11/29/66. I was also told that it was recorded on a very rare machine. A Scully 3 track recorder.. In listening to the cassette, the analogue here sounds better then anything else I’ve heard from that date. We never knew the generation, but considering it came from Hail (who later got board patches from Healy), we knew it was close. This was years before the internet. Hail shared to us but we were told to sit on it. Notes: – Some background noise has been removed. – This doesn’t have the dropouts present in the other sources that circulate. Provided and trasferred by John Hance. This is wonderful, I can’t thank John enough for this gem. The best thing I’ve heard in a long while, it just makes me want to smile.. I’m dedicating this to my dear departed friend R.E.T. who at one time thought he had found the missing Set I. edited and mastered SIRMick March 2021

Description:

Set I

(unknown)

Set II

Me & My Uncle, The Same Thing, Stealin, Big Boy Pete, One Kind Favor, Early Morning Rain, Cold Rain & Snow, Viola Lee Blues

Set III

Down So Long, There’s Something On Your Mind, Lindy, Good Morning Little School Girl, I Just Want To Make Love To You

Comment

setlist courtesy deadlists.com (see discussion there); “Merry-Go-Round Broke Down” Tuning after I Just Want To Make Love – Other artist(s): Jerry Pond

Lineage:

Transfer: Cassette > Tascam 122 MK3 > Korg MR2000S > DFF @5.6 MHz > Audiogate > wav 24/96. Lineage: wav 24/96 > iZotope RX8 Advanced

Transferrer:

John Hance and SIRMick

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Forw.

Volume

00:00

Me & My Uncle

266.54

The Same Thing

786.46

Stealin

238.27

Big Boy Pete

237.31

One Kind Favor

422.64

Early Morning Rain

211.46

Cold Rain and Snow

288.94

Viola Lee Blues

670.18

Down So Long

230.33

There’s Something on Your Mind

309.12

Lindy

180.94

Good Morning Little Schoolgirl

688.92

I Just Want to Make Love to You

216.31

45.7

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The rest of the show contains some more early gems, including one of only two covers of the rhythm and blues song Something On Your Mind and one of three Lindys. But the standout of the later going is definitely the Schoolgirl, foreshadowing the evolution of the band’s sound over the next half year or so. While there are better ’66 shows out there, listening to this is a real treat.