#lost sailor

The Identity V design of the day is:

First Officer: Lost Sailor (B-Tier)!

I did not expect that many asks or reblogs in my entire life. I was going to save him for later, but I believe you deserve to meet him.

❝ It is said that during every match and hour, a man appears on the shoreline of Lakeside Village to meet someone, but no one has ever been able to encounter until this special moment. ❞

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.

“Terrapin Station” -> “Lost Sailor,” “Saint of Circumstance” -> “Jam” for Day Five of “30 Days of Dead”

Set the wayback machine for the early days of Brent Mydland’s tenure and the sound of the Grateful Dead shifting and aligning with its newest member.

Day five of “30 Days of Dead” comes with more than a half-hour of previously unreleased music that finds bassist Phil Lesh playing with the tone that accompanied the late-Godchaux era and Mydland’s keys and vocal timbre setting a new course captured on audio so sparkling clear, listeners will be able to discern Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart’s individual drum parts.

There are clues galore for folks playing the “30 Days” contest. Here’s Jerry Garcia muffing the words to “Terrapin Station” and asking: Which of you will tame me? There’s no segue between “Lost Sailor” and “Saint of Circumstance” - instead, the tape cuts. Furthermore, the latter number is still evolving, outfitted as it is with an intro that didn’t last long and lyrics such as: You must be the angel/well, honey, what else could be so fine.

While the song obviously improved in coming months, these performances are inspired. Which is probably what, uh, inspired the band to embark on a knock-kneed improvisation that recalls “Estimated Prophet” but remains its own, in-the-moment thing.

Hear the selections here and read Sound Bites’ previous “30DoD25” coverage here.

“Lost Sailor” -> “Saint of Circumstance” -> “Deal” for Day 26 of “30 Days of Dead”

The Grateful Dead rarely sounded as smooth as they did on the short-lived “Lost Sailor.”

Its presence in a first-set linking with “Saint of Circumstance” -> “Deal” indicate this show took place sometime between August 1979 and March 1986, though Brent Mydland’s backing vocals suggest it’s from the early side of the equation.

Presented in an exquisite, full-spectrum recording that leaves no nuance unheard, this 26th of “30 Days of Dead” guess-that-gig contest glides seamlessly from glassy to stormy seas as the balladic “Sailor” transitions to the raucous “Saint.”

“Deal” continues the electrical surge with Jerry Garcia warning of a tale that would burn off both your little ears before diving into a grungy solo whose darkness contrasts beautifully with his bandmates’ rhythmic lightness.

If this terrific triptych is indicative of the show from whence it comes, the concert should be on the short list for official release.

Hear them here and read Sound Bites’ previous “30 Days” coverage here.

Sea Goddess Necklace 

A one of a kind necklace encrusted with tiny lovely gems, representing the goddess of the sea reclaiming a lost sailor ❤