Darkstar>That's It For The Other One>Lovelight

Made it through, and today has been a fairly slow day so I'm able to keep fairly focused on the music.

First thoughts: Dark Star flows really well here. I really agree with jsh's statement above about the halfway point in the track. They are incredibly tight, and I wondered aloud whether this is a by-product of a practice/soundcheck jam that they liked and kept, or is this off-the-cuff jamming. If its the latter, damn.

Pigpen is definitely one of the most-missed pieces in later shows. His absence left a gaping hole. Lovelight is so good. Even at 30 minutes, it still rocks and keeps your attention. I've never heard the Woodstock 45-minute version, but I can only imagine how he worked that crowd. Too bad it was marred by technical problems and other factors. Could've been epic.

Overall, the hour and half suite wasn't bad at all. It was actually downright enjoyable. Heck, it didn't even seem like that long.

Something happens around 17 or 18 minutes of this Dark Star, and does not let up. Is this actually improvised, or is it really scripted? So rare that spontaneous music could be so locked in. This set is some of the Dead's most thoughtful and restrained playing. There's room for everybody, and space for everyone to hear each other, in stark contrast to the '68 show we listened to yesterday, where all cylinders are firing over one another.

Yeah, very cool interlude there, really more the 18 - 20 min mark. The contrast between the two can probably be explained by what drugs the members were on that night. '68 may have been speed whereas leaving space for others may well be a symptom of hallucinogens. For all I know, they may have been sober that night, but doesn't seem a likely scenario.

Yeah, very cool interlude there, really more the 18 - 20 min mark. The contrast between the two can probably be explained by what drugs the members were on that night. '68 may have been speed whereas leaving space for others may well be a symptom of hallucinogens. For all I know, they may have been sober that night, but doesn't seem a likely scenario.

There are times where, as an improvising musician, you just HEAR each other. You are listening as much as you are playing. And that is when the improv works the best; that is when everyone gets that room... where you can hear the instruments playing OFF of one another. Because the musicians are hearing each other.

As a musician, it's like sex, when you're a part of something like that. Pretty incredible.

Dick's Picks Volume 6 is the sixth live album in the Dick's Picks series of releases by the Grateful Dead. It was recorded on October 14, 1983 at the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut. The album, on three CDs, contains the complete show from that night. It was released in October, 1996.

This show was the first Grateful Dead concert that Trey Anastasio, of Phish, ever attended.

Disc one

1. "Alabama Getaway" (Garcia, Hunter) – 6:06
2. "Greatest Story Ever Told" (Hart, Hunter, Weir) – 4:52
3. "They Love Each Other" (Garcia, Hunter) – 9:10
4. "Mama Tried" (Haggard) – 2:48
5. "Big River" (Cash) – 6:31
6. "Althea" (Garcia, Hunter) – 8:49
7. "C.C. Rider" (traditional) – 8:01
8. "Tennessee Jed" (Garcia, Hunter) – 8:33
9. "Hell in a Bucket" (Barlow, Weir) – 5:53
10. "Keep Your Day Job" (Garcia, Hunter) – 5:57

Disc two

1. "Scarlet Begonias" (Garcia, Hunter) – 14:20
2. "Fire on the Mountain" (Hart, Hunter) – 16:36
3. "Estimated Prophet" (Barlow, Weir) – 13:11
4. "Eyes of the World" (Garcia, Hunter) – 17:53

Disc three

1. "Drums" (Hart, Kreutzmann) – 5:25
2. "Spanish Jam" (Grateful Dead) – 13:05
3. "The Other One" (Kreutzmann, Weir) – 6:09
4. "Stella Blue" (Garcia, Hunter) – 9:10
5. "Sugar Magnolia" (Hunter, Weir) – 9:26
6. "U.S. Blues" (Garcia, Hunter) – 5:40

This is actually the only Dick's I ever purchased. I love Alabama Getaway.

After five consecutive albums of 1970s material, Grateful Dead tape archivist Dick Latvala finally picked a performance from the 1980s, presenting an entire performance from the Hartford Civic Center on October 14, 1983. The Dead's publicist has been reported as saying that it was the material on the second of the three discs, a lengthy version of "Scarlet Begonias" that segues into "Fire On The Mountain" and a medley of "Estimated Prophet" and "Eyes Of The World," that earned this show the nod. All well and good, although Dead Heads could cite better performances from this period. Latvala's problem is that, as sound quality improves with technology over time, the quality of the Dead's performances deteriorates in the early 1980s, making the picks more problematic. (No wonder the series has focused on the '70s until now.) Maybe the solution would be to do more editing together of performances from a particular tour or run of shows. In the meantime, this album will see far more plays for its second disc than for its first or third. (Note that this marks the first official release for the Jerry Garcia-Robert Hunter song "Keep Your Day Job," which the band played in the early 1980s but never recorded because its message was not welcomed by Dead Heads.)

i've always been a sucker for pretty much everything on Bobby's album Ace

Just put it on, I often forget how much I like 'Alabama Getaway'.