The Grateful Dead – A Photofilm

Dir. by Paul McCartney (1995)

Photography Linda Eastman (McCartney) NYC & SF - 1968

Music by The Grateful Dead - New Potato Caboose / Alligator / That's It For The Other One

Jefferson Airplane—Grateful Dead Carousel Ballroom, Van Ness & Market March 15, 16, 17 Lights North American Ibis Alchemical Co.

Dead for 30 Minutes as Summer Magic Approaches

- Five-song sampler continues run-up to boxset release

It’s the melancholic sound of a time gone forever - summer 1985, when the Grateful Dead marked 20 years by playing both tight and on the verge of collapse. They were young but old. Happy but exhausted.

It’s all there in the 30-minute, five-song sampler to preview the Sept. 18 arrival of Summer Magic 1985. Coming after “Dancing in the Street” and “Stagger Lee” from June 14, this chunk of music digs into the next two nights.

Jerry Garcia’s ballads - Bob Dylan’s “She Belongs to Me” and the Dead’s “Brokedown Palace” - are weary and tender. Garcia mangles a few lyrics in each; his voice has the telltale damage of ’85; his guitar shimmers and glistens; the harmonies are in and out of tune.

The recordings are pristine, preserving every nuance of these performances and the punch of Bob Weir’s showcases, “Lost Sailor” -> “Saint of Circumstance” and “My Brothet Esau.”

None of these are all-time versions. But because they all come from an all-time tour that found all the Dead’s contradictions - dark and light; merry and melancholy; consonant and dissonant; composed and improvised; just exactly perfect and just exactly imperfect - in stark relief on stage, they’re essential listening for fans of the era.

Hear them here.

This is an interesting concert for two reasons: Donna harmonizes with Jerry on several songs, and they really sound pretty good together. It feels like later she only harmonized with Bobby, and still later, as addiction took hold, she just sort of Yoko-Ono-wailed.

The other interesting thing is that this is one of the first live performances of "Blues for Allah." Honestly, it's not really one of the better versions. I think the material was still too new for them to really launch from it. But it's fun hearing them start to stretch their wings.