Merry Christmas!
I hope that this edition of the Deadpod finds you safe and warm with those you love. I hope the music brings a smile and a memory of happier times and places.. It is my reward to think that it makes someone a little happier..
this week the second set form the Fabulous Fox in St. Louis Missouri on December 12, 1971.
This one starts with a fabulous Pigpen 'Good Lovin', followed by a sweet 'Brokedown Palace'. It includes, just for Christmas, a fun 'Run Rudolph Run', and a beautiful 'Comes a Time'. The most interesting segment is probably post-drums, when we get a unique 'Other One>Sitting On Top of the World>Other One'.
I hope you enjoy the music.
Grateful Dead
Fox Theatre
St. Louis, MO 12/10/71 - Friday
Two
Good Lovin' [18:50] ;
Brokedown Palace [5:28] ;
Playing In The Band [6:30] ;
Run Rudolph Run [3:10] ;
Deal [5:20] ;
Sugar Magnolia [7:21] ;
Comes A Time [7:34] ;
Truckin' [7:59] >
Drums [3:26] >
The Other One [13:35] >
Sittin' On Top Of The World [2:53] >
The Other One [6:02] >
Not Fade Away [6:01] >
Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad [6:18] >
Not Fade Away [1:00#]
Encore One More Saturday Night [4:47]
You can listen to this week's Deadpod here:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/deadshow/deadpod122520.mp3
Thanks for listening, and of course for your kind support.
1 comment:
I have wondered why this show had not appeared in your podcast long ago, given the St. Louis roots and all. This is one of my favorite shows and may be the best one I even attended. Because it was broadcast live and again at New Year's Eve in 1971, there were plenty of recordings available locally and I got to know this show intimately. It still holds up--the band was on fire that night (as they were most of the Fall '71 tour). I always though this show was lost between the Felt Forum shows and Ann Arbor. I think it holds up with any of the other December 71 shows. I have tried to persuade David Lemieux to publish it be he claims they do not have the complete show in the archives. While that may be true, there are plenty of good quality sourced (better than some published patches) that would facilitate publication. In any case, it is good for this show to have some light shown upon it.
At this risk of rambling on too long, below is part of a review I wrote several years ago recommending the show on another blog:
Late '71 in my opinion is closer in sound and performance to many of the European tour shows of Spring '72. The sound is richer than earlier in the year, and the band is playing with a lot of enthusiasm. The lineup is essentially the same as Europe (sans Donna) and Keith had been playing with the band for several months and already seemed well integrated into the band. Plus, Pigpen was back after about a four month hiatus to recuperate from his health issues. In some of the early December shows Pigpen was not much of a factor, but this night in St. Louis he was there in force. So they not only had Pigpen in the vocal mix, they had his Hammond B3 plus Keith's grand piano in the sonic stew.
The first set highlights are an energetic Bertha to kick things off, a strong Loser, BIODTL where Keith shines. Jack Straw is strong and well played, followed by a very fine El Paso with Jerry lacing in beautiful runs, a powerful Big Railroad Blues and a muscular Casey Jones that the band didn't seem to want to end. All in all, Set 1 is high energy start to finish--well played and fun.
Set 2 starts off with perhaps the best Good Lovin' since Princeton, combining strong jamming and Pigpen rapping. Relative to most December shows, Pig was much more forceful here than most. Brokedown is sweet, Playing good but not exceptional and a treat is the Dead's nod to the season--Chuck Berry's Run Rudolph Run, rendered well by Pig. They only played this song 4-5 times and only in the Dec. '71 timeframe. A heartfelt Comes A Time is beautifully sung by Jerry. The real gem here is the massive jam to end the set: Truckin'>TOO>drumz>TOO>Sitting on top of the World>TOO>NFA>GDTRFB>NFA (note the China Cat tease as the band segues into Goin Down The Road). Although not the first time (they threw in SOTOTW on 12/5/71 in the middle of Dark Star), the way it bubbles up out of TOO feels very natural and practiced. This piece could easily be mistaken for a Europe 72 segment. The encores rocks out with a raucous Saturday Night.
Thanks again for putting this one out.
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