Every band with some measure of history undergoes important transitions during the course of its career and the Grateful Dead was certainly no exception. On the contrary, during their thirty odd years together, this iconic group confronted multiple such turning points. Some were certainly of their own making, such as subsidizing the ‘Wall of Sound’ as well as founding their own independent record label, while others were within the natural progression of a band, including personnel turnover as well as the purely creative evolution of their music.
This particular Dave’s documents a combination of such elements. The Dead were returning from a hiatus begun after the Winterland run of 1974 (preserved for posterity in The Grateful Dead Movie) and, in part, because the group chose to play smaller and more intimate venues, had discarded the aforementioned mammoth audio system. Mickey Hart was officially back in the band too, having sat in at a moment’s notice the last night of the San Francisco run two years prior. And, perhaps most pertinent to this title, Betty Cantor-Jackson was also in tow to document the shows on tape, the distinction of which archivist David Lemieux very accurately summarizes in his brief essay.
In lieu of the usual booklet contained in these packages, reproductions of press clippings fill a fold-out insert, rather than many photos of the band, the most noteworthy of which is a reprint of the ‘Dead Ahead’ column from the Bay Area Music magazine. Listing the half-dozen stops on the tour, with multiple shows in each city, the itinerary becomes more significant in conjunction with the Dead’s intent to avoid the burnout that prompted their hiatus: the sense of relaxation in the musicianship no doubt resides largely in the fact the group didn’t have to be so concerned about between-show travel.
The palpable lack of hurry in the playing is a sensation that, to a greater or lesser extent, permeates this complete performance from the original Capitol Theatre (plus two cuts to fill disc three from a later stop). A jam closing “Scarlet Begonias” never reaches a definitive climax–the regular segue with “Fire On The Mountain” was yet to come–but it doesn’t go wholly without purpose either; there’s a knotty interweaving of rhythm and melody instruments, similar to the complementary Jerry Garcia guitar and Keith Godchaux piano parts early on during “Big River.”
Further indicative of the measured but purposeful pace is the calm self-assurance permeating this concert. On the one hand, Phil Lesh plays around with the bass intro to “Help on the Way,” while vocalist Donna Godchaux harmonizes sweetly (and with decided restraint) during “Wharf Rat.” A two-part closing on Chuck Berry’s “Around and Around,” follows upon the vivid, tranquil reading of that cinematic tune, a progressively marked contrast during which where the band first proceeds with a strut, then with a trot, as completely in sync at this close (duly vivid in the recordist’s mix) as in the preceding near-three hours.
Highlighting the transitional circumstances that gave birth to this memorable music, Tim McDonagh’s unusually bright cover art here is the corollary to the remarkable realism of Betty Cantor-Jackson’s sonic transcription. Dave’s Picks Volume 28 might otherwise be regarded as a somewhat underrated entry in this Grateful Dead archive series if it did not so dramatically set the stage for epochal stage and studio work to come in the next two years in the form of Terrapin Station and Cornell ’77.
