I turned twenty-one in prison...

September 19, 2008 8:50 PM

What are the best Grateful Dead bootlegs on archive.org? There are so many choices I don't know where to start.
posted by Pants! to Media & Arts (10 answers total)

It really depends on what kind of music you like. There's a lot of variety from era to era. But since you haven't said anything about that, you could start with the infamous Cape Cod show.

Englishtown from 1977 is also great introductory listening, as is most anything from 1973 or 1974.
posted by alms at 9:03 PM on September 19, 2008

Response by poster: Well I particularly like Steppin' Out With The Dead tour recording... Thanks for the Cape Cod set
posted by Pants! at 9:33 PM on September 19, 2008

Barton Hall 5-8-77 has always been my favorite show. That Morning Dew is pretty amazing.
posted by octothorpe at 9:39 PM on September 19, 2008

Stepping Out is from Europe in the 72 era. So presumably anything from that tour or that year would be interesting to you. Cornell 77 is a great show. I just heard a portion of a show I attended on Sirrius from April of 82 i Baltimore. Great 2nd set. I have always been partial to shows I attended. Good or not as good.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 10:03 PM on September 19, 2008

Are you new to the Dead in general? Live Dead? Dead on Archive.org? Do you want to download or stream?

Two classics:
7-8-78
8-27-72

Question 12 on the old rec.music.gdead FAQ has a very(too?) comprehensive list of "classic" concert recordings.
posted by knile at 11:30 PM on September 19, 2008

I am ashamed to know an answer to this question but you need to listen to the show from May 8, 1977, Ithaca. I see Octothorpe & JohnnyGunn have already mentioned the show but let me say that I love that show. Something or somebody lit up a fire under Phil Lesh that night.
posted by rdr at 11:53 PM on September 19, 2008

2/14/68.
posted by fixedgear at 4:26 AM on September 20, 2008 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks for the replies so far, I am trying them out.

As for download vs stream. I prefer downloads, but if it is good it is good.
posted by Pants! at 8:39 AM on September 20, 2008

Late sixties, early seventies Dead is my fav.

If you've got bit torrent try the legal live music downloads from bt.etree.org. You can sort the list by the number of times the particular show was downloaded. The ones at the top are usually great shows with very high quality recordings.
posted by premortem at 9:28 AM on September 20, 2008

Pretty much anything from the 72 European tour is a good listen. I think 9/21/72 is probably my favorite of that tour. Phil's bass solo coming out of Truckin' is pretty ridiculous.

04/26/69 is also a great show. This one is available as Dick's Picks 26, but that record doesn't include the second set which has an incredible What's Become of the Baby -> Feedback -> We Bid You Goodnight jam to close it out.

07/08/78 at Red Rocks is one of my all-time favorites and one of the first bootlegs I ever heard.

A lot of people think 05/08/77 @ Cornell is overrated, and it may be. But it's a good show if you're just getting started. The playing is solid throughout, the energy is high, and it's a great sounding recording.

11/8/69 - Also released as a Dick's Pick (18, maybe?) features a 45 minute version of Dark Star.

If you like the Merle Haggard covers and the like maybe pick up the 4-disc official release "Ladies and Gentlemen, The Grateful Dead"; not too experimental, it's got a bunch of those sorts of tracks on it. Can't remember the run, but it's the same shows that the Skullfuck record is from ('70-71? Too lazy to google it, but pretty sure it's '71).
posted by word_virus at 4:49 PM on September 21, 2008