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Grateful Dead
Winterland 1973: The Complete Recordings
Release Date: 2008
Label: Wake of the Flood
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This nine-disc box set gathers music from a trio of consecutive Grateful Dead gigs -- November 9 -- 11, 1973 at their hometown hockey rink Winterland Arena. At the time the band consisted of Jerry Garcia (lead guitar/vocals), Donna Jean Godchaux (vocals), Keith Godchaux (keyboards), Bill Kreutzmann (drums), Phil Lesh (electric bass/vocals), and Bob Weir (rhythm guitar/vocals). In 1973, they atypically played a mere handful of gigs in San Francisco. According to Dennis McNally's liner notes, the run represented within could be considered over half of their Bay Area appearances for the year. That shouldn't suggest that the combo weren't keeping a full calendar, as they played about every five days or so for a total of 72 live shows. As the overwhelming bounty of strong performances on 2008's Winterland 1973: The Complete Recordings substantiates, the combo were operating on all cylinders and -- when applicable -- at full velocity. Hearing the natural ebb and flow inherent in the concerts themselves reveals the Grateful Dead's singular ability to effortlessly vacillate between a multitude of styles. Among them are straight-ahead vintage rock & roll -- namely Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" and "Around and Around" -- to covering country & western troubadours Johnny Cash ("Big River,") Marty Robbins ("El Paso"), and George Jones ("The Race Is On"). An amalgam of these artists would heavily influence the writing of Weir and John Barlow as the originals and Grateful Dead songbook staples "Mexicali Blues" and, to a more refined degree, the tales-from-the-road sensibility of "Black-Throated Wind" and "Looks Like Rain." Another facet of the hydra-headed Grateful Dead reaches back into their formidable psychedelic past, while Garcia, Keith Godchaux, and Kreutzmann are simultaneously aggressive in their pursuit of a jazzier grade of instrumental improvisation. Nowhere is this as evident as during the multiple stretched-out epic and exploratory readings of "Playing in the Band," "Eyes of the World," and "Weather Report Suite." Likewise, each night brought a host of undeniably special musical moments.

Friday (November 9) contains a seminal "fast" "They Love Each Other" with a few lyrical rearrangements by Garcia, the return of the far-too-infrequently played ballad "To Lay Me Down," and the tight segue between the fiery "Greatest Story Ever Told" and "Bertha." Saturday the 10th is marked by a simple and lovely "Brokedown Palace," and the not-to-be-missed medley linking a spacy "Playing in the Band" to "Uncle John's Band" to a note-perfect "(Walk Me out in The) Morning Dew" that briefly revisits "Uncle John's Band" before returning, bookending the whole affair with a reprise of "Playing in the Band." Plus, the stand-alone "Stella Blue" is well worth mentioning for inclined minds. Seasoned listeners might find that the elements seem to align perfectly throughout the Sunday night outing. The centerpiece is a half-hour-plus "Dark Star" that weaves in and out of the melody before connecting to an incisive "Eyes of the World" and concludes nearly an hour later with a poignant "China Doll." The slinky and appropriately ribald rhythm pulsating through "Loose Lucy," and arguably the best "Weather Report Suite" (of the three found in the this box), are other highlights from the 11th. In terms of fidelity, the project incorporates the Plangent Process, which has unquestionably produced the finest sounding two-track project to have come from the always quality-conscious Jeffrey Norman during his tenure as the Grateful Dead's sonic restorationist. Norman also says that the only song to be M.I.A. is an "encore that wasn't recorded on the 9th." Parties who pre-ordered Winterland 1973: The Complete Recordings online were also supplied several premiums: a postcard reproduction of a Grateful Dead mass-mailing from the early '70s and a "Good Ol' Grateful Dead" pin (read: badge) are but a few of the goodies. The icing on the cake is the nine-song "bonus disc" of excerpts from a few weeks later on December 4, 1973 at the Cincinnati Gardens, more information about which can be found on the 2008 bonus edition of Winterland 1973: The Complete Recordings. Lindsay Planer, All Music Guide

Tracks:

	Title	Composer	Time
1	Promised Land	Berry
2	Brown-Eyed Woman	Garcia, Hunter
3	Me & Bobby McGee	Kristofferson, Foster
4	They Love Each Other	Garcia, Hunter
5	Black-Throated Wind	Weir, Barlow
6	Don't Ease Me In	Traditional
7	Mexicali Blues	Weir, Barlow
8	Row Jimmy	Garcia, Hunter
9	Race Is On	Rollins
10	China Cat Sunflower	Garcia, Hunter
11	I Know You Rider	Traditional
12	Playing in the Band	Weir, Hunter
13	Here Comes Sunshine	Garcia, Hunter
14	Me & My Uncle	Phillips
15	To Lay Me Down	Garcia, Hunter
16	Big River	Cash
17	Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo	Garcia, Hunter
18	Greatest Story Ever Told	Weir, Hunter
19	Bertha	Garcia, Hunter
20	Weather Report Suite	Andersen, Weir, Barlow
21	Eyes of the World	Garcia, Hunter
22	China Doll	Garcia, Hunter
23	Around and Around	Berry
24	Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad	Traditional
25	Johnny B. Goode	Berry
26	Bertha	Garcia, Hunter
27	Jack Straw	Weir, Hunter
28	Loser	Weir, Hunter
29	Looks Like Rain	Weir, Barlow
30	Deal	Garcia, Hunter
31	Mexicali Blues	Weir, Barlow
32	Tennessee Jed	Garcia, Hunter
33	Paso	Robbins
34	Brokedown Palace	Garcia, Hunter
35	Beat It on Down the Line	Fuller
36	Row Jimmy	Garcia, Hunter
37	Weather Report Suite	Andersen, Weir, Barlow
38	Playing in the Band	Weir, Hunter
39	Uncle John's Band	Garcia, Hunter
40	Morning Dew	Dobson
41	Uncle John's Band	Garcia, Hunter
42	Playing in the Band	Weir, Hunter
43	Big River	Cash
44	Stella Blue	Garcia, Hunter
45	Truckin'	Garcia, Weir, Hunter, Lesh
46	Wharf Rat	Garcia, Hunter
47	Sugar Magnolia	Weir, Hunter
48	One More Saturday Night	Weir
49	Casey Jones	Garcia, Hunter
50	Promised Land	Berry
51	Bertha	Garcia, Hunter
52	Greatest Story Ever Told	Weir, Hunter
53	Sugaree	Garcia, Hunter
54	Black-Throated Wind	Weir, Barlow
55	To Lay Me Down	Garcia, Hunter
56	Paso	Robbins
57	Ramble on Rose	Garcia, Hunter
58	Me & Bobby McGee	Kristofferson, Foster
59	China Cat Sunflower	Garcia, Hunter
60	I Know You Rider	Traditional
61	Me & My Uncle	Phillips
62	Loose Lucy	Garcia, Hunter
63	Weather Report Suite	Andersen, Weir, Barlow
64	Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo	Garcia, Hunter
65	Big River	Cash
66	Dark Star	Garcia, Hunter
67	Eyes of the World	Garcia, Hunter
68	China Doll	Garcia, Hunter
69	Sugar Magnolia	Weir, Hunter
70	Uncle John's Band	Garcia, Hunter
71	Johnny B. Goode	Berry
72	We Bid You Goodnight	Traditional