I find myself fascinated by Dick’s Picks and why he chose the shows he chose. I’m especially fascinated by This first one. It must have been both a wonderful opportunity and immensely stressful. You’ve got the keys to the vault; you can release any show you like. But which one do you choose? It must have felt important to him. Like that first pick would define who he was as a Deadhead. And if it failed, there wouldn’t be any more picks. He might lose his job. That’s a lot riding on one single show.

Dick was clearly a big fan of 1970s Dead. Almost all of his picks come from that decade. I wonder if he looked at the chronology of the releases that had come out by that point. There was Live/Dead from 1969 and Europe 72. Bear’s Choice came from 1970, and then you’ve got a release from 1974 (Steal Your Face) and another from 1975 (One From the Vault). Did he figure he needed to fill in that 1973 gap? Or did he think about something from the legendary May 1977 shows?

Who the heck knows? I tried to do a little research on this Pick, but the Internet sucks now, and I was unable to come up with much. 1973 is a colossal year for the Grateful Dead, so it certainly makes sense he’d choose a show from here.

The band members each had veto power over Dick’s choices. My understanding is Phil was especially difficult to please, so it’s possible Dick had several other shows in mind but, for one reason or another, was given a “no” for them. They also say that Phil demanded his solo be edited out of “The Other One” for some reason.

Unlike other Dick’s Picks, this is not the complete show, and the songs have been widely rearranged. Most of the first set is missing, and parts of the second set have been moved about onto the first disc. To a degree, I understand this and don’t really have a complaint about it. To have put the entire show out would have taken at least three CDs, probably four. That’s a lot of additional cost to produce. Narrowing it down to discs seems much more manageable. Especially at this point when they didn’t know how well these things would sell.

I’m old enough to remember the days of CD trading. Figuring out how to fit the music onto discs was always a challenge. First sets could usually easily fit on one desk, but second sets, with their massive jams, often ran over. But you didn’t want to cut up those massive jams either. Or all those songs that ran right into each other and got a “>” notation on the j-cards. Sometimes if there was extra room on the first disc, a song or two from the middle of the second set, or even the encore, might be thrown onto it. That beat having only one or two songs on a single disc or tape.

I’m less enthused about Phil’s bass solo getting cut out. That seems downright rude.

It is fascinating too seeing what did make the final cut. Why is “Big Railroad Blues” included and not “Dire Wolf”? Why did they keep “Around and Around” and lose “Jack Straw?” I certainly would have nixed the Chuck Berry cover.

But whatever, this shouldn’t be a what’s wrong with this release? post (I imagine Dick got more than a mouthful of that from Deadheads at the time). Let’s talk about what is here.

“Here Comes Sunshine” is actually the tenth song of the first set, but it starts our CD out here. It is a phenomenal version and makes it worth the price of admission alone. It is also a great example of what I love about the Grateful Dead.

I have to make an embarassing admission here. I don’t generally like it when the Dead jams a song deep into the cosmos. There is a point when their biggest jams leave all semblance of a song, and things get wonky. Those moments are often filled with dissonant notes, and extended noodles and I tend to start tuning it out or pressing the skip button.

I love the Dead’s improvisational jam style, but sometimes they go a little too far for my tastes. “Here Comes Sunshine” is the perfect blend. They start with the song, which is a good one. It has a wonderful, slightly odd rhythm to it, some great harmonies, and some classic opaque Robert Hunter lyrics. The song had just been released on their Wake of the Flood album in October of 1973, so it was relatively new, though they had been regularly playing it live since February of that year.

But after a couple of verses, they start to jam on it. At first the bones of the song are still there. Jerry is soloing all over the place, and Keith Godcheaux is getting down on the keyboards. But the rhythm section is still keeping the beat, but they are playing with it. They are adding in some extra notes. Slowly the song stretches and stretches until it no longer sounds like “Here Comes Sunshine.” I bet if you started playing it here and asked an average fan to name the song they wouldn’t be able to.

But it still sounds like what most people would consider to be music. It still sounds like a song. It has a nice beat, and my feet keep tapping, and I’m shaking my bones to it. I love these moments. I love feeling the band slip into something new and exciting, but not feeling like I need to plug my ears.

It is an all-time version of the song.

Now let’s move onto “Playing in the Band.” It officially closed the first set, and ended the first disc on this album. It is a song that often finished the first set, and it became a powerhouse jamming launchpad. Often the band will drive it headlong into the deepest, darkest parts of space. They don’t quite go that far in this version. I’d say they leave the stratosphere, but don’t venture much farther out. Not even to the moon.

Like “Here Comes Sunshine” they definitely break the confines of the song and stretch it into something else. They get close to completely breaking it, venturing into me pressing that skip button. But before my finger gets there, they bring it back down. There is plenty of good stuff here, but I’d argue it slips just slightly out of “great” territory for me.

The “Jam>The Other One>Jam” that sits right in the middle of the second disc does fall into that skip territory for me. It’s just a little too much for my tastes.

Weirdly, the band skips the “Across the Lazy River” section at the end of “Mississippi Half-Step” but it is otherwise a very good – if rather mellow and slinky – version. “Weather Report Suite” is also quite good with some excellent slide work from Mr. Garcia.

The rest ranges from quite good to fine. Nothing is bad. As I said, 1973 was a great year for the Dead, and they are firing on all cylinders. This does seem like a slightly mellow show. That’s actually borne out on the full tapes with all the songs. It is a very fine show, but probably not the one I would have picked if I were Dick. Not even if all I had was 1973 to choose from.

But it makes for a great start to this series, and obviously it did well enough to continue these releases, and for that we can all be happy.

Here’s the track list for Dicks Picks, Vol. 1

Disc one

Here Comes Sunshine
Big River
Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo
Weather Report Suite
Big Railroad Blues
Playing in the Band

Disc two

He’s Gone
Truckin’
Nobody’s Fault but Mine
Jam
The Other One
Jam
Stella Blue
Around and Around

And here’s the full setlist:

Set 1:
Promised Land
Sugaree
Mexicali Blues
Sugar Shack
Dire Wolf
Black Throated Wind
Candyman
Jack Straw
Big Railroad Blues
Big River
Here Comes Sunshine
El Paso
Ramble On Rose
Playin’ In The Band

Set 2:
Mississippi Half-Step
Me And Bobby McGee
WRS Prelude
WRS Part 1
Let It Grow
He’s Gone
Truckin’
Nobody’s Fault But Mine
The Other One
Stella Blue
Around And Around

Encore:
Casey Jones