I’m not sure if this belongs in Cafe Society or the Pit but since I’m getting pissed about music I suppose it’s the Pit. First some background I like the Grateful Dead alot. An excellent period for the Dead was from 1989-1991, but late 90 through 91 is kind of inconsistent because they had 2 keyboardists: One, vince Welnick, who was not all that good and used too much midi, and the other who was fucking great (Bruce Hornsby if you’ve ever heard of him which I’m sure many of you have). They would have kept their old keyboardist Brent Mydland who could play any keyboard well (hammond organ, Fender Rhodes synthesizer etc…) except he died of a drug overdose in the summer of 90. The Dick’s Picks series is a series of live recordings that are released peridically from just about any year that the Dead were in existence.
I recently got volume 17 which is from the fall of 91 and has some moments of sheer greatness and some really annoying moments. So I’m getting to Terrapin Station, an excellent song, and it’s being played very well, the midi sounds great with it, everyone’s together etc… And then about six minutes into it I hear this one note that is totally off on the keyboard, Vince’s keyboard. What the fuck is that?! I listen again I didn’t just imagine it; it’s there alright, and now I’m pissed. That was one good fucking version of Terrapin Station until Vince had to fuck it up. Now I’m not saying that any member of the Dead never made mistakes. They all could really fuck up especially on vocals, this is not as noticeable in the jams, but in the middle of the only non-jam-oriented Dead song to go over 10 minutes! Damn I am pissed! That ruined one of the best Terrapins I ever heard! Ugg, un-fucking-believable !!!