Dave did it again with another limited edition and choice musical offering hailing from the Grateful Dead’s bulging musical vaults. Dave’s Picks Volume 2 finds the band lugging the famed Wall of Sound to Dillon Stadium in Hartford, Connecticut, on July 31, 1974 — smack dab in the middle of their summer excursion. The recording offers a generous three-set classic marathon show.
An assembled crowd of 20,000 filled the kind of ample arena to which the band had recently graduated, after previously playing theaters. The three disc, spring-water clear soundboard recording — lovingly curated by David Lemieux and mastered by sonic mater Jeffry Norman — offers more than three hours of music from when the Grateful Dead couldn’t get enough of “Playin’ in the Band.”
Recorded on July 31, 1974, Dave’s Picks Vol. 2 contains many heady favorites such as Jack Straw, China Cat Sunflower, and Eyes of the World as well as an interesting, rare Scarlet Begonias show opener. Also, this version of Weather Report Suite is so dreamy that it cannot be missed. However, the highlight of Vol. 2 is undoubtedly the 40 minute Truckin’ > Mind Left Body Jam > Spanish Jam > Wharf Rat. This is what I love about the Dead—some bands make 40 minute albums, but the Dead frequently play wonderfully weird 40 minute long jams.
A three CD release of the complete Grateful Dead show at Dillon Stadium, Hartford on July 31, 1974. Limited to 12,000 numbered copies.
CD 1:
Scarlet Begonias Me And My Uncle Brown-Eyed Women Beat It On Down The Line Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo
It Must Have Been The Roses Mexicali Blues Row Jimmy Jack Straw China Cat Sunflower
I Know You Rider Around And Around
CD 2:
Bertha Big River Eyes Of The World
China Doll Promised Land Ship Of Fools Weather Report Suite El Paso Ramble On Rose Greatest Story Ever Told
CD 3:
To Lay Me Down Truckin'
Mind Left Body Jam
Spanish Jam
Wharf Rat U.S. Blues One More Saturday Night Uncle John's Band
CD 4 (Bonus Disc) - Recorded at Capital Centre, Landover, MD, July 29, 1974.
Sugaree
Weather Report Suite
He's Gone
Truckin'
Nobody's Fault But Mine The Other One
Spanish Jam
Wharf Rat
