Dave's
Picks Volume 2
Dillon
Stadium, Hartford, CT, 7/31/74
CD397 - Rhino records 2012
Dave's Picks Volume 2, July 31, 1974
Dave’s Picks Vol. 2 (7/31/74) Now Available to Everyone! We warned you. We said there was a chance that the limited edition Dave’s Picks releases could sell out. And sure enough, Volume 1 is a goner. No copies left. (OK, even we were a little surprised it sold out so quickly.) Which brings us to Dave’s Picks, Volume 2. Those of you who bought the full-year Dave’s Picks subscription have nothing to worry about. Your CDs (and the bonus disc that comes with this one for subscribers) will be winging their way to you shortly. But NOW is the time when all you other good people who are interested in purchasing this potent slice of Dead history can submit your orders.
The show in question is a three-set wonder from Hartford’s Dillon Stadium during the heart of the Wall of Sound era, July 31, 1974, four days after the release of the Dead’s fine Mars Hotel album. Dwarfed by the Wall’s irregular columns of speakers on a hot and humid Wednesday afternoon, the band thrilled the sold-out crowd of 20,000 with a far-ranging collection of tunes and jams that showed how far they’d come as musicians, songwriters and interpreters of others’ songs in their decade together.
The 12-song first set kicks off with the still-new “Scarlet Begonias” (opening a show for the first of just three times in the Dead’s entire history), and includes such other early ’70s favorites as “Jack Straw,” “Brown-Eyed Women,” a pairing of “Mississippi Half-Step” and “Must’ve Been the Roses” and “Row Jimmy.” The ’74 versions of “China Cat Sunflower” > “I Know You Rider” have a unique character, and this one exemplifies that nicely. Things start to open up a bit more in the second set. An expansive “Eyes of the World” is partnered with a particularly fragile “China Doll” mid-set, and the concluding take on the complete “Weather Report Suite” is filled with impressive shifts in dynamics and purposeful jamming during a 12-minute “Let It Grow.” That set also has a good “Big River” and an excellent “Ship of Fools” (another new song that year).
Set Three starts with a couple of short selections, hits an early emotional peak with one of the better versions of “To Lay Me Down” from that era, and then really goes into gear with the onset of “Truckin’,” so often a gateway to wondrous possibilities. This one rumbles and wanders and flits and crashes and dashes all over the place during a half-hour exploration that includes what is popularly called the “Mind Left Body” jam and a full-blown Spanish jam, before eventually winding up at the docks for a deep “Wharf Rat.” The set closer, “U.S. Blues,” was one of the anchors of the Mars Hotel album (and an FM radio hit at the time); a perfect summer anthem.
All Dave’s Picks releases are mastered to HDCD specs from the original vault tapes by Jeffrey Norman, and include a booklet containing an essay about the show and period photos. The Digipak is made of 100% recycled and PCW materials on heavier paper stock due to high demand. The limited edition consists of 12,000 numbered copies and we've only got 2500 copies left!
So order
your copy of the 3-CD Dave’s Picks, Volume 2 today! We’re pretty sure
you do not want to be left out in the cold on this one.
— Blair Jackson
Track list:
DISC
1
1. Scarlet Begonias
2. Me And My Uncle
3. Brown-Eyed Women
4. Beat It On Down The Line
5. Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo>
6. It Must Have Been The Roses
7. Mexicali Blues
8. Row Jimmy
9. Jack Straw
10. China Cat Sunflower>
11. I Know You Rider
12. Around And Around
DISC
2
1. Bertha
2. Big River
3. Eyes Of The World>
4. China Doll
5. Promised Land
6. Ship Of Fools
7. Weather Report Suite
8. El Paso
9. Ramble On Rose
10. Greatest Story Ever Told
DISC
3
1. To Lay Me Down
2. Truckin'>
3. Mind Left Body Jam>
4. Spanish Jam>
5. Wharf Rat
6. U.S. Blues
7. One More Saturday Night
8. Uncle John's Band -
- 3-CD
set
- Mastered to HDCD specs from the original vault tapes by Jeffrey Norman
- Heavy stock Digipak made of 100% recycled and PCW materials