Dave’s Picks Volume 57 is one of the most compelling releases in this ongoing archival series devoted to the Grateful Dead. But just as Chelsea Housand’s eye-catching cover art demands close perusal to appreciate its intricacy, so too does it require careful listening to comprehend the overall beauty of the music on these three CDs.
The main content of this edition is the complete show recorded at the Uptown Theatre in Chicago on February 1, 1978. But this Dave’s also includes the final song from the first set and the entire second set from the previous night’s concert; such unconventional logic is certainly typical of the iconic band, but the seemingly odd configuration has precedent of its own and not just in previous issues from this vault project in the form of #53.
Along those lines, it’s worth noting that chief archivist David Lemieux and his team compiled content from both Fillmore West 1969: The Complete Recordings and Europe ’72: The Complete Recordings to create a unified set of a single Dead performance. The presentation of the current material may or may not be intended the same way, but hearing the performances in the sequence in which they are presented is tantamount to experiencing an absolutely great show from the psychedelic warriors from start to finish.
That said, apart from the fleeting brilliance in the extended segue that closes 2/1/78, most of what’s on the first two discs is dangerously close to pedestrian. Along with his beloved ‘cowboy songs’–“Mama Tried” and “Me And My Uncle” linked together–Bob Weir’s songwriting collaboration with lyricist John Perry Barlow, “Estimated Prophet,” ends up as an effective contrast for the slower pace of the selections Jerry Garcia fronts, such as this “Friend of the Devil.”
Nevertheless, the absence of urgency and direction is notable in the two-hours plus of those turnabouts. The titular leader of the Grateful Dead does play with flair on “Sugaree,” however, and he flashes a similar panache during the rousing conclusion of an extended segue finishing the February 1st event with “The Other One,” “Wharf Rat” and “Sugar Magnolia.”
That interval is a harbinger of the riveting things to come on the final disc, as is “Let It Grow,” positioned at the end of the first disc. Taken from the previous night’s outing, this audacious cull from “Weather Report Suite” off 1973’s Wake Of The Flood hints at the courage and sense of adventure the Grateful Dead exhibit throughout the rest of the 1/31/78 portion of this release.
Beginning with the pairing of “Scarlet Begonias” and “Fire On The Mountain,” the septet’s musicianship captures the mystery and majesty of its best moments throughout its career. With the pinpoint precision that earmarked his most outstanding fretboard work, Garcia leads the group far into a netherworld right at the outset; followed closely by bassist Phil Lesh, the pair engage in some nuanced interplay reminiscent of 1969’s Live/Dead.
Drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart play in a similarly insinuating, complementary fashion there, too, while Donna Jean Godchaux proffers what may be the sweetest singing of hers ever captured on a recording. Perhaps indicative of his later departure from the group (along with his vocalist spouse), keyboardist/husband Keith is oddly obscure behind his keyboards during this sequence and much of the rest of these recordings.
A marked exception is his sparkling notes on the delicate take of “Black Peter,” and, immediately following, the Dead’s capture of the exalting essence of “Terrapin Station.” After that ten-minute-plus take of the composition that lent its title to the previous year’s studio album, the ensemble flows into “Playing in the Band,” before “Drums” and “Space” further reaffirm the collective bravery at work in this extended interlude.
Just prior to rounding out the performance, the jaunty gallop of the group’s through “Truckin'” firmly grounds the proceedings after the deep explorations of space just prior. As does a comparatively restrained interpretation of “Good Lovin; in fact, by the time this interpretation of the Young Rascals cover ends with pronounced emphasis, it sounds much like homage to dear, departed Ron ‘Pigpen’ McKernan, the man who used to commandeer the number early in the Grateful Dead timeline.
This roughly eighty minutes, rounding out Dave’s Picks Volume 57, is an altogether remarkable string of playing. As such, it may well render moot the release of the remainder of the January 31st concert; Lemieux has hinted at that eventuality, but interestingly, he does not do so in his curiously repetitive essay in the sixteen-page booklet inside the triple-folds of this package.
His writing is nevertheless uncannily apropos to its subject, especially as his circular reflections on the topic of transitions are juxtaposed with art director/designer Steve Vance’s array of action shots from the Windy City stage, courtesy Bruce Polonsky and (ABB griot) Kirk West; intermixed with replications of memorabilia, all those elements are (too?) familiar from previous chapters in this ongoing archive endeavor.
Likewise, the realism of the recording by Betty Cantor-Jackson, preserved through the customary mastering of Jeffrey Norman. And yet while consistent virtues of the series such as these, like the graphics of this one, can conceivably distract from the most scintillating passages within this composite concert, the distinctions of the Grateful Dead’s sojourn to the Windy City eventually emerge, even if only in a most unlikely fashion.
