Grateful Dead - Nightfall of Diamonds CD

Nightfall of Diamonds album for sale All tracks have been digitally mastered using HDCD technology. The first release from the Grateful Dead's storied live vaults since Rhino Records acquired the rights to them, LIVE AT THE COW PALACE: NEW YEAR'S EVE 1976 chronicles one crazy long concert (with the Dead, is there any other kind?) that started early on December 31, 1976 and ended deep into the wee hours on January 1, 1977. The raucous atmosphere befits the proceedings, but also suggests that this show was a homecoming, as the band returned to its San Francisco for the occasion. Long criticized by the lay audience for all their meandering tendencies, this set finds the Godchaux-era Dead emphasizing their song craft by plucking hummable gems from all across their catalog. The set quickly turns into a night of essentially greatest hits as an inspired band rolls through "Sugar Magnolia," "Uncle John's Band," "Playing in the Band," and "Scarlet Begonias," among others. It would not be a live keeper, however, without some lengthy excursions, and LIVE AT THE COW PALACE features two of the band's trademark epic medleys--one of which contains a stirring Donna Godchaux vocal that easily refutes the argument that she was the band's most unnecessary member. Liner Note Author: David Lemieux. Recording information: Cow Palace, Daly City, CA (12/31/1976). Photographers: Ed Perlstein; Steve Schneider. Arrangers: Bob Weir; Grateful Dead. Grateful Dead: Donna Jean Godchaux, Jerry Garcia, Keith Godchaux, Mickey Hart, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, Bob ...

Nightfall of Diamonds songs Recorded live at the Fillmore East, New York, New York in April 25-29, 1971. Includes liner notes by Blair Jackson. All tracks have been digitally remastered using HDCD technology. Distilled from a weeklong series of concerts celebrating the shuttering of Bill Graham's counter-cultural mecca, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN showcases the original five-piece Grateful Dead operating at pretty much peak form. Former keyboardist and John Cage fan Tom Constanten, who lent the group considerable avant-cachet on ANTHEM OF THE SUN and AOXOMOXOA, guests here on a few songs, including wonderfully lysergic versions of "Dark Star" and "St. Stephen." LADIES AND GENTLEMEN is also a document of the band in transition to a more country and roots rock orientation; it's doubtful, for example, that they would have played songs like Marty Robbins' "El Paso" or (especially) Merle Haggard's "Sing Me Back Home" in the days of the Acid Tests. In any case, as always with the Dead, there are moments of complete musical transcendence (as well as, to be honest, moments where they're just sort of noodling around), but this set is worth having for both musical and historical reasons. Engineers: Bob Matthews, Betty Cantor-Jackson. Grateful Dead: Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir (vocals, guitar); Ron "Pigpen" McKerman (vocals, harmonica, organ, percussion); Phil Lesh (vocals, bass); Tom Constanten (organ); Bill Kreutzmann (drums).

Nightfall of Diamonds CD music Although many would argue that the Grateful Dead's groundbreaking LIVE DEAD album, the first-ever 16-track concert recording, couldn't be improved upon, the Rhino label boldly challenges that notion with FILLMORE WEST 1969. This three-disc set expands on the beloved original collection, presenting those legendary performances alongside a slew of additional tunes from the Dead's famous stint at San Francisco's Fillmore West in February and March of '69. The first disc is the most blues-heavy of the three, with the Dead offering up a surprisingly straightforward version of "I'm a King Bee" and a spacious rendition of "Turn on Your Lovelight." Much of LIVE DEAD is drawn from what appears on the second disc here. It's the main event of FILLMORE WEST 1969, and features the glorious psych workouts of "Dark Star," "St. Stephen," and "The Eleven," which stand as a favorite musical triptych in the Dead canon and showcase Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, and company in thrillingly adventurous form. Rounding out this formidable live outing, the third disc finds the ensemble launching into the fierce "That's It for the Other One," and getting definitively heady on the proto "space" jams "Drums," "Jam," and "Feedback." For any true Deadhead, this remarkable set is essential. Audio Mixer: Jeffrey Norman. Liner Note Author: Dennis McNally. Recording information: The Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA (02/27/1969-03/02/1969). Photographers: Rosie McGee; Michael Merritt; Amalie R. Rothschild; Herbie Green; Peter Simon; Robert Hunter. Arranger: Grateful Dead. Grateful Dead: Bob Weir (guitar); Phil Lesh (bass guitar); Jerry Garcia, Mickey Hart, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, Tom Constanten, Bill Kreutzmann. Personnel: Jerry Garcia (vocals, guitar); Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (vocals, harmonica, organ, percussion); Phil Lesh (vocals, electric bass); Bob Weir (vocals); Tom Constanten (organ); Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann (drums).

Nightfall of Diamonds buy CD music The Grateful Dead's 1972 European tour marked the end of an era for the band. It was their last outing with founding member Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, who was the bluesy soul force of the group. Sadly, he would drink himself to death less than a year after the concert captured on this 3-disc set. Unlike EUROPE '72, a tour sampler notoriously overdubbed after the fact, ROCKIN' THE RHEIN offers a full show, warts and all, which is really the only way to experience the Dead's magical spontaneity. Pianist Keith Godchaux had already come aboard to fill out the sound, and his jazzy piano inspires the extended jams on "Playing in the Band" and legendary improv-epic "Dark Star." Pigpen's gritty, gutter-rat blues are still present, though, as on his own "Chinatown Shuffle" (which never made it to the studio) and the classic Elmore James slow blues "Hurts Me Too." Even though alcohol had already begun taking its toll on Pigpen, his soul-man dominance of extended R&B rave-ups "Good Lovin'" and "Turn on Your Lovelight" (a bonus track from a London concert a month later) shows just what the band lost when he passed away. The Dead would never have another fiery frontman like Pigpen. 3cds Rec.4/24/72 In Rheinhalle ,Duesseldorf West Germany Audio Mixer: Jeffrey Norman. Recording information: Rheinhalle, Dusseldorf, Germany (04/24/1972/05/24/1972); The Lyceum, London, England (04/24/1972/05/24/1972). Grateful Dead: Bob Weir (guitar); Phil Lesh (bass guitar); Donna Jean Godchaux, Jerry Garcia, Keith Godchaux, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, Bill Kreutzmann. Personnel: Jerry Garcia (vocals, guitar); Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (vocals, harmonica, organ, percussion); Phil Lesh (vocals, electric bass); Donna Jean Godchaux, Bob Weir (vocals); Keith Godchaux (piano); Bill Kreutzmann (drums).

Nightfall of Diamonds songs Recorded live at The Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California on August 23, 1968. Includes liner notes by Harper Barnes, "Maestro" Dan Healy and "Dr." Don Pearson. All tracks have been digitally remastered using HDCD technology. You want prime early Dead, you got it. The August '68 Shrine Auditorium concert captured on TWO FROM THE VAULT is the sort of gloriously extended jam-a-thon for which the Grateful Dead became famous. Multi-part pieces like "That's It for the Other One" are like miniature symphonies, with Garcia's guitar building devilish musical spirals around Phil Lesh's thunderous bass and the two-headed drum team's galloping poly-rhythms. The set's highlight, though, is when Ron "Pigpen" McKernan steps out front for easily the finest "Lovelight" the band's archives have officially released. Strutting like a jive-talking dandy, trading hollers with Bob Weir, and conducting the band's groove as though they were the JB's on acid, Pig demonstrates how he really was the Dead's original captain. As an encore to such raucous behaviour, the hall's custodians turn off the power just as the band starts hitting warp speed on "Morning Dew." Live Recording Grateful Dead: Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir (vocals, guitar); Ron "Pig Pen" McKernan (vocals, harmonica, keyboards); Phil Lesh (vocals, bass); Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart (percussion). Engineers: Jeffery Norman, Don Pearson.

Nightfall of Diamonds album for sale All tracks have been digitally mastered using HDCD technology. The Grateful Dead's neverending tour visited countless arenas in the band's 30 years--most of them faceless, sterile hockey rinks that seemed to have all been cut from the same drab cloth. Albany, New York's Knickerbocker Arena was among the sunny exceptions. The band loved the building's warm acoustics and seemed to elevate its effort there. The Deadheads cozied up to the hall's relative intimacy and to the band's heightened creativity within it; and while many towns reacted with hostility to the caravan of travelers that accompanied the band, Albany played a warm and gracious host. Compiled from The Dead's inaugural stand there in March 1990, DOZIN' AT THE KNICK is a detailed document of the band at a late creative peak, having oodles of fun. The set may be most memorable for featuring many songs The Dead had long performed live, but have never released on an album. For the uninitiated, Bob Weir's zesty take on Bob Dylan's "When I Paint My Masterpiece" and the band's Hendrixian rampage through "All Along The Watchtower" may be forceful surprises. Songs by Dead keyboardist Brent Mydland, who died months later, are peppered throughout; "Blow Away," complete with an improvised rap reminiscent of Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, appears as his finest moment. If primal psychedelic Dead is what you seek, go directly to the middle disc's seamless triumvirate of "Playing In The Band," "Uncle John's Band" and the "Terrapin Station" suite, along with the smoldering jam that follows. Garcia and his mates invest each of these warhorses with grace and power, feeding off the moment's magical impulses--reasserting the magical formula of good Grateful Dead concerts all over again. Recorded live at The Knickerbocker Arena, Albany, New York on March 24-26, 1990. Live Recording The Grateful Dead: Jerry Garcia, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, Brent Mydland, Bob Weir.