My best friend and I visited Abiquiú, New Mexico at the beginning of June. Abiquiú is near Georgia O’Keefe’s famed Ghost Ranch studio. (She also had a house in the small town.) That’s her hand in a photo taken by her husband, Alfred Steiglitz.
The New Sounds from June 2022…
More soon.
JF
On Sunday, June 30, 1985, the Grateful Dead played a concert at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland.
Merriweather Post Pavilion is a classic shed that sits just west of Baltimore. It was designed by architect Frank Gehry and opened in 1967 with a capacity just shy of 20,000.
In subsequent years, the venue hosted various rock acts, including a twin bill of The Who and Led Zeppelin in 1969. According to the Wiki, Jimmy Buffett performed at Merriweather for the first time in 1977, and returned forty-two times, the most by any performer. The Dead visited there six times between 1983 and 1985. This show was their penultimate at MPP.
ECM is out of the office this week, so I scoured the interwebs for listening notes. This is from the always enlightening Icepetal of the Grateful Dead Listening Guide.
“1985 has an interesting reputation. Being the 20th anniversary of The Warlocks, the band seemed somehow inspired throughout the year, elevating their game with such sparkle (and a few tremendous breakouts) that most folks consider 1985 to be the highpoint of the 80’s. Regardless of that statement’s validity, ‘85 certainly holds a reputation of completely outshining the few years prior to it, and it is this attribute that feels somewhat strange to me. While clearly possessing something of an extra punch in energy, 1985 isn’t really something so staggeringly different than 1983 or 1984 that it could discredit these years as something less. But there’s no denying a certain sense of rebirth in the outpouring of music in ’85. And, while at times the extended jamming can seem to be getting cut short, 1985 has plenty to offer.
One show that has come to typify everything great about the year is 06/30/85 at the Meriwether Post Pavilion. There is an undeniable fun-loving vibe to this show, which then turns around and delivers some of the most intensely psychedelic journeying of the year. The show scores on all counts.
The first set is wonderfully upbeat, filled with a great stretch of songs. Things don’t go too over the top anywhere, but still, all in all, the music is satisfying. Set two, on the other hand, roars.
Shakedown Street gets off to its standard bluesy gate, strutting around in a high-stepping dance that opens the second set with a great Dead show energy. As the jam progresses along, Jerry lays down some nice leads, then Bobby gets off a great solo himself. This is followed by the music starting to surge in pulsing fractal pinwheels outward. Something has begun to infuse the music, and it sheds the garments of a straightforward song, leaving them to coil and eddy into vapor. Brent starts a slow organ swell, and the entire band bursts through the clouds, melting all colors into pure white sunlight. This pushes beyond itself as the drummers roll on their snares while the entire pavilion drops away in the burning light of music. This blistering crescendo sets this Shakedown into the ‘listen to this again’ pile easily.
…
As [He’s Gone] nears the end, after Jerry soulfully croons out the ‘nothing’s gonna bring him back’ section in tandem with his lead lines, he flows into a lovely and lazy solo passage that eventually finds him playing the opening guitar refrain to Cryptical Envelopment again and again. Hearing it woven into He’s Gone is magical. Anticipation of the song coming mixed with how beautifully it threads its way into He’s Gone is a wonderful experience. *This* song (or, the return of this song, to be more accurate) really puts the icing on the 1985 cake. It’s hard not to be completely taken in by the return of the melodic lines of this old classic (it was last played on September 23, 1972, before returning, 791 shows later, on June 16, 1985).
…
For a time it is as if order is condensing and dissolving over and over out of chaos, the music being written at the hands of passing time’s fleeting interest. Then Garcia is hinting at Other One as everything begins to swirl up to a higher pitch. It’s daunting and magical as the music slowly but surely works its way closer to the song. This is one of the finest transitions out of Space you’re likely to hear. The Other One’s energy seems to have been there the whole time as the song draws its rhythms out of the primordial muse of musical expression.
The drummers return and immediately the pressure builds around them. We find ourselves fully locked into the song now, and it becomes an intense storm filled with rippling, rolling phrases which interconnect on and off most every beat. The first verse appears, and is gone. From here, titanic spinning wheels of fire consume the air around you. As the music reaches what seems like a natural summit, another wave drives itself up and out through the heart of the peak, raging into the crowd, whipping the musical energy higher still. Breathless and blinding, we find that the musical climax is an ever-moving, always expanding expression of energy with no end or beginning. It forever feeds back into itself, and here in Other One we come face to face with the highest cycles of this loop. Pushed further than we could ever expect, this Other One goes down as one of the most memorable moments of the year.
Stella Blue appears out of the chaos, and lightly wraps the crowd in loving arms. Keeping in step with most of the show, Jerry’s mid-song solo brims with energy. His exit solo find the band back in the most familiar of cool and gentle places. The family-like energy that pours out as the song closes is unmistakable Grateful Dead music. Like flags waving in bright sunlight, the music trumpets its own victory within your heart. All is good.”
And more from the Grateful Dead of the Day blog:
“[A]s good as the first set is, the second half is where it is really at. That portion opens with a Shakedown for the ages. The rendition is filled with so much energy and verve, with Brent and Jerry busting out some funky ass shit, queuing up an incredible jam in the latter portion. Here the Dead are breaking new ground and, as they always were, laying out the template for the jam bands to come … The magic of the second set continues with an estimable He’s Gone, which segues into Cryptical, beginning a section that is about as close to a full Other One suite as the Dead get in the eighties. The Other One itself is jazzy and driving, a perfect product of the era with its electric dynamism. But the boys turn up the heady darkness in the tune a notch further and then just unload in the last few minutes. A contemplative and meditative Stella Blue comes out next with Jerry’s guitar just peeling back the layers and leading the band, and us, onwards. After a fun and upbeat Around and Around, the set ends with an out of this world Sugar Mags, redefining familiar landscapes with its pure energy and joy. While you might think there are better mid-80s shows, it would be hard to find a more inventive or luscious one.”
Luscious, indeed.
Transport to the Charlie Miller remaster of the soundboard recording on the Live Music Archive HERE. And transport to the Hunter Seamons matrix recording also on the Live Music Archive HERE.
More soon.
JF
Happy May.
This post and the playlist below are dedicated to my best friend the love of my whole life. Or almost. True story: My first kindergarten play date was at her house. While our moms smoked cigarettes on the front porch, she taught me lessons, like how to suck on landscaping rocks under the gutter downspout. You know, in case you’re outside playing and get thirsty, but don’t want to go get water from the tap or something. Good advices.
The New Sounds from May 2022…
More soon.
JF
Liner Notes 