tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post2066126914694017343..comments2024-03-26T23:10:34.814-07:00Comments on Grateful Dead Sources: February 1975 NewsletterLight Into Asheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-20644765951219373812012-12-26T01:23:18.231-08:002012-12-26T01:23:18.231-08:00Steve Brown (one of the GD Records crew) wrote in ...Steve Brown (one of the GD Records crew) wrote in his article on Round Records: <br />"The holographic music pyramid - one of the best hoaxes I've been proud to be associated with. Based on theoretical concepts of that time, the idea of encoding Dead music on a one-inch pyramid to be read by an optical fiber seemed to be plausible. In one of our...newsletters, we stated that the Dead would be attempting to come out with this new musical reproduction form, and actual scientists in the holographic field became more than curious about our heretofore unheard-of efforts in this new medium. Of course Rakow had made a one-inch model of this wondrous little pyramid, which he didn't hesitate to grandly produce at the slightest provocation. Just about the time when we thought our cheeks could no longer stand the pressure from our tongues, some Deadhead scientist in New York working with holography reported back to us that he had made preliminary progress on a similar device and wished to speak with our researchers..."<br />("If I Told You All That Went Down," in Golden Road, summer '86)<br /><br />Ah well, it sounded just like something the wild-eyed Dead would try; guess it'll have to be filed along with Bill's hydroponics experiments and alternate CSN&Y career!<br /><br />Brown also notes that the Dead tried checking out 3-D holographic art for their album covers, but it was too expensive to consider...Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-37495154026710389462012-12-25T16:21:32.414-08:002012-12-25T16:21:32.414-08:00In McNally's book p.485, he quotes from a 1/27...In McNally's book p.485, he quotes from a 1/27/75 Grateful Dead Records letter to select deadheads, which must have gone out along with this newsletter. <br />I don't have it so it wasn't included in the main post (it may be quite incomplete), but here I'll quote from McNally - <br /><br />Dear Guerrilla: <br />You, along with the Dead Heads, will be getting within a few weeks a major communication from us. Since you are our advance guard, a little advance word... We want you to organize and communicate with each other so that you can help us take this trip to a dramatically higher level...but further it's a possibility, if remote, that the Dead may play in spots with advance notice to you guys as the only announcement (organization is, therefore, essential). "Big Steve" Parrish, one of our most energetic brothers, has volunteered to be the main guerrilla contact point. He can be reached at Box 548 Stinson Beach, California 94970. We realize that this message is vague, but this is heavy water we're treading in strange times and we've learned "loose lips sinks ships." <br />God Love Ya! -- Grateful Dead Records<br /><br />(This idea would be expanded on in their next letter to deadheads.)Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-18343797128895367732012-12-25T16:01:49.888-08:002012-12-25T16:01:49.888-08:00This was very much a "family" label - ev...This was very much a "family" label - every band involved was Dead-related, even if they seem disparate on the surface. (Garcia played on practically everything but the Kingfish, and even tried his hand at producing.)<br />David Nelson (of NRPS) was in the Good Old Boys bluegrass band, and Dave Torbert (also formerly of NRPS) was in Kingfish. (Nelson, Torbert, Chris Herold & Matt Kelly had all previously been in the New Delhi River Band.)<br />There was some live cross-pollinization too. Kelly played harmonica in the Dead's 9/28/75 show - Garcia played with the Diga Rhythm Band on 5/30/75, and with Keith & Donna several times, and even played live with the Good Old Boys in Feb '75, and in an almost-full-band Seastones show on 6/6/75 - Keith & Donna also toured with Kingfish in the fall of '75.<br /><br />There's an odd mention that Keith & Donna are "working on the completion of the film." Overdubs on the Winterland tapes, perhaps? (Lagin found there were many problems with his tracks, and decided to bow out of the film rather than do overdubs.)<br /><br />As for Kreutzmann, his involvement with CSN&Y is doubtful since they did not do any recording in '75 (they were in one of their splitups), nor is he credited on Stills' solo album that year, or on Crosby & Nash's. In fact I don't think he'd played with those guys since the PERRO sessions in '71.<br /><br />The holographic pyramids must have sounded far-fetched, but it's clearly the same idea as the CD - the invention of small "optical audio discs" started in 1974, and the first ones were made a few years later. <br />CDs are, at any rate, easier to store than stacks of little pyramids would be! And no one yet knew what "the magic of computerization" would lead to...Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-83605096782575036942012-12-25T16:01:13.336-08:002012-12-25T16:01:13.336-08:00Just a few brief notes on these records -
Gratef...Just a few brief notes on these records - <br /><br />Grateful Dead Records and Round Records were, theoretically, two different organizations (though Garcia & Rakow headed both). GD Records handled strictly the Dead's releases (and put out 4 albums from '73-76), while Round Records handled solo projects (and put out 10 albums from '74-76). <br />There being no new Dead records to announce, this newsletter focuses on the side-releases of Round Records. <br /><br />In mid-'74, Round Records had sent out samplers of Hunter's Tales of the Great Rum Runners and Garcia's Compliments, mentioned here. (Deaddisc.com misdates the samplers as June '75.)<br />They had a whole flurry of records ready at the beginning of 1975: <br /><br />OAITW had been recorded back in October '73 live shows, and the band was long since defunct by '75; I'm not sure what was the stimulus for putting it out then, but Grisman was hired to put it together from Owsley's tapes, and it was released in February. Unfortunately, Grisman apparently never received any royalties from the record, and stopped talking to Garcia for years.<br />"Keith & Donna" (mostly recorded at the Godchauxs' house) was released in March. Neo-gospel it may be, but it was not a hit. They played shows through the rest of 1975, sometimes with Garcia. <br />http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/04/keith-and-donna-keith-and-donna.html <br />"Tiger Rose" was also released in March - I'm not sure whether Robert Hunter did any live performances in 1975, though by '76 he was playing with a band. <br />"Seastones" was recorded in February '75 and released in April. Despite the hyperbole here, it was apparently a low-priority, low-promotion release for Round Records and disappeared shortly after release, which really bugged Ned Lagin - even Lesh called the deal "a rip-off." There were a couple live Seastones shows that year, though, before Lagin quit his involvement with the Dead.<br /><br />Other albums were not ready for release yet. <br />It's puzzling that as of February '75, this says that Garcia has just finished producing the "Pistol Packin' Mama" album and it was due in the spring - but it wasn't released until March 1976. I'm not sure what caused the delay.<br /><br />Garcia was due to start recording another solo album in January (as noted in his Nov '74 interview); and Weir was also supposed to record a solo album, as mentioned here. <br />But "preparing material" for these albums turned out to take longer than expected. Weir spent the winter finishing work on his home studio; then the Dead started work on Blues for Allah in February, which consumed them for several months. <br />Garcia recorded Reflections from August-November '75, and it was released in Feb '76. <br />Weir meanwhile was working with Kingfish - their album was recorded at the end of '75 and released in March '76.<br /><br />Mickey Hart is noticeably absent from the lineup here. I think as of Feb '75, it was not certain whether he would be rejoining the Dead or not, and that was worked out during the album sessions. <br />At any rate, in '75 he was also working with the Diga Rhythm Band, which recorded an album at his studio, released on Round Records in March '76.Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.com