Grateful Dead: Dave’s Picks Volume 49 – Frost Amphitheatre, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA (4/27/85 & 4/28/85) (ALBUM REVIEW)

Dave’s Picks Volume 49 is just the third four-CD set in the ongoing Grateful Dead archive initiative and only the second (besides #36) to contain a pair of complete performances by the iconic band. Marking the approximate halfway point in keyboardist/vocalist Brent Mydland’s decade-plus tenure with the group, these two al fresco concerts from the spring of 1985 in Stanford California also represent the Grateful Dead’s somewhat begrudging acknowledgment of the twentieth anniversary of its formation (therein the logic of a wry aside that is the first night’s closer “Keep Your Day Job”). 

Somewhat abbreviated by Dead standards–and certainly in comparison to the succeeding night–a litany of little things nevertheless distinguish the first of the two-weekend shows. For one thing, Dan Healy’s recording boasts remarkable separation and presence, while Jeffrey Norman’s mastering preserves small touches such as the stereo panning during “Drums”>”Space.” 

In terms of pure musicianship, the sextet’s unified movement into the former interval via “Man Smart Woman Smarter” is as sublime as the agile means by which the ensemble segues into “Truckin'” from “The Wheel.” And drum rolls that give bounce to “Scarlet Begonia” abound throughout this roughly five-hour total. 

Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart exchange on-and-off beats in beautifully complementary fashion and the lilt that permeates their playing and, in turn, the collective motion around them, contrasts to the prevailing humdrum of their largely unison percussion earlier in the decade.

The earthy bursts of Hammond B3 organ the now-deceased Mydland pumps out on “Gimme Some Lovin'” contrasts with predecessor Keith Godchaux’s mostly elegant work on piano. But the one-time member of Weir’s Bobby and the Midnites band imbues his electric keyboards with a fervor comparable to his vocals on the extended segues of night two beginning with “China Doll.” 

Brent is likewise integral during the passages where Weir’s frenetic political cultural polemic “Throwing Stones” leads (with somewhat eccentric logic) into “Not Fade Away.” Other surprises crop up in the form of more outside material than just the latter Buddy Holly selection; covers open sets on both nights as Jerry Garcia’s diagonal runs transform Martha and the Vandellas “Dancing in the Streets” and similarly angular insertions reshape the aforementioned Spencer Davis Group hit. 

Meanwhile, two Bob Dylan compositions keynote each of the performances. Continuing his reverent devotion to the work of The Bard evinced in his solo work, Garcia delivers a gentle rendering of “She Belongs to Me,” while, in response to persistent clamoring from the crowd, Phil Lesh uses his rare turn as lead vocalist to so broadly extemporize on  “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues” (it becomes an exercise in autobiography).

 Recalling the two Complete Winterland box sets of ’73 and ’77, the comparatively more extensive and complex progression of the April 28th show reaffirms the notion that, for the Grateful Dead, successive nights on a run or residency can function like sequential sets on a single evening, allowing the musicians to generate progressively more intense and complex interactions. 

In that respect, Frost Amphitheatre, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA (4/27/85 & 4/28/85) captures a unit that had become thoroughly comfortable with itself. With the lineup’s chemistry having been ignited by Mydland after he was enlisted in 1979, free playing at impromptu intervals had once again become an end in itself as well as a means of linking tunes. Thus, as “Playing in the Band” emerges out of “Drums”/Space,” this versatile improvisational warhorse then morphs into a logical setup for “Wharf Rat.” 

The consistency and novelty of these Dave’s Picks setlists threaten to render anticlimactic the forthcoming Volume 50 in the series. With that milestone in the offing, perhaps now is the time to (re)consider the graphic design of the covers for Dave’s Picks, at least on occasion. 

Stage shots like the action photos inside this triple-fold digipak (and eight-page booklet) might well be more prominent on this and future packages (at least when good pics are available): images like those here vividly suggest the kinetic instrumental and vocal displays at the heart of this release. 

In those instances, then, it’d make a certain amount of sense to relegate the likes of Steve Vance’s artwork and design to the compact discs themselves (as well as background for replicas of newspaper articles as featured in #49). Eye-catching as is the imagery adorning this volume of Dave’s, it’s not so intricate as the music itself. 

To be fair, though, that’s only because it’s well-nigh impossible to visually capture the Grateful Dead’s dense interweaving of sonic themes on the California university campus during passages such as “Hell In A Bucket”>”Crazy Fingers.”