This first of the two Portland '72 shows is as solid as you'd expect in the weeks after E72; though neither are quite as good as the two preceding Seattle shows. They hadn't played Portland for a year and a half - an eternity at the time for that market (though they had played Eugene). 18 songs are also played the next night (though few quite as well as this show). Portlanders call this old, ornate theater "The Schnitz". Perfect for just you and 2000 of your fellow Heads. This show is usually mentioned for the one-of-a-kind jam out of TOO.

First Set. The mix is bad for Promised Land, and there's no AUD to compare to. Playback in mono works better. The SBD mix is fixed a couple mins into Sugaree, in time for the first sparks, Me & My Uncle. Bird Song is almost as good as the Seattle version. Check Keith in Black Throated Wind (unfortunately a bit OOT). Cumberland is smoothly nailed; effortless. Jack Straw was played every night, and this is the best of the 4 shows; but these are too mellow. It's a jammed version of Big Railroad , though verses get confused. The mix for El Paso is regrettably missing Bobby's guitar. Tennessee Jed is finely played at all four shows (particularly the other three). Someone shouts for St. Stephen and Phil tells them to go home and listen to the record! Playing in the Band doesn't climb the '72 heights, though it may be the best of the four - Donnaskreech™ and all. Beat it on Down the Line-14 can't match the one on the 21st - the year's best? (this Casey Jones - not so much).

Second Set. If an odd opener, He's Gone is perfectly smooth, into a great Greatest Story. Most of the rest is better on the other three NW nights. The 22nd has the best Truckin', though the final jam here is great. It's 20mins to the lyrics for The Other One - and then Bobby remembers none of them. In a year full of big ones, this is notable for it's length and for the unique jam. Jer starts a theme @14:30, and it becomes a centered, melodic jam from 16>19, which resolves directly into the main TOO theme. It's really something, but falls in an otherwise bland and muffed TOO. Consensus is that this theme only happened once! Wharf Rat is a bit shaky until the jam allows rippage. We only have the last couple Sunshine Daydream minutes of SugMag. Sing Me Back Home is just too tedious, even if smooth. X factor hits Goin' Down the Road. It's interesting and varied.

1st Set:  B-
2nd Set: B-
Overall = 3½ stars

Highlights:
Me & My Uncle - now it's a '72 show
Cumberland Blues - effortless
He's Gone - perfectly smooth, if odd opener
Greatest Story - let loose
The Other One - must hear once/historical merit
Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad - varied

SOURCES: The miller_124017 has the Sugar Mag segment, better balance and is more complete. But it runs a hair slow and is slightly muffled compared to the cotsman_7046. Which, though sonically clearer, has no Sugar Mag, the tunings are chopped, there's a cut in BioDtL@33sec and several 1sec blips in the second set. Also the end jam in Truckin' is split off. Both are missing the 1st min of Casey Jones.

Am I really the only to notice the Cosmic Charlie theme at @ 16:30 in TOO....? Pretty Fun!!

To my knowledge, the Dead never failed to deliver anything but exceptional goods in Portland or anywhere else in Oregon prior to the '74 break.

This board recording has special properties (bet it would sound even better in a lossless format). You can hear the room. The vocal mics are hot. It's a great mix, especially at first, with Bob and Phil's vocals and Billy's drums a bit higher up than they are in most boards -- I like 'em like that. The bass may be a tad low for some tastes and the occasional vocal distortion may offend. The balance between Jerry and Bob's guitar is okay, although I could almost always use a bit more volume on Bobby's guitar (especially for this show).

The show is somewhat enhanced (or marred) by tuning difficulties. The Dead are experiencing some "equipment issues."

The audience, clearly, is jacked out of their heads and you can hear 'em losing their shirts, especially between songs.

Some of the funniest audience banter ever between Sugaree and Me and My Uncle.

Bird Song is tight. Tighter than Veneta, but looser than most of the Europe 72 and pre-Europe versions.

Jerry's out of tune and struggling during parts of Black Throated Wind but it doesn't seem to be bothering Bob none.

Sounds like Bob breaks a string in Cumberland. A couple minutes of tuning follow. It's difficult to tell if someone's instrument is malfunctioning ... Jerry did eventually hang up that Alligator Strat because, in part, it kept drifting out of tune.

Loser seems like it might go off the rails but of course it doesn't.

The Playin' is gorgeous and intense, as it almost always was during this era.

Following He's Gone, an absolutely incredible version of Greatest Story Ever Told gets the audience energy level right back where it was when the show began. The band follows it up with an unusually groovy, slow-tempo China Cat. It's almost languid! Rider alternates between some impassioned vocals (Phil!) and instrumentals where the rhythm section really carries the day.

Allegedly the rest of the show is pretty interesting as well, but can you really trust any of these reviews? A lot of those songs later in the set are the repetitive ones that get weird or boring really quickly. < = joke

Take your time with this one. Start from the beginning. Turn it up LOUD. Don't be afraid to leave the room or turn it off if you starts to freak you out or if you just don't want to hear any version of Beat It On Down the Line. Individual people in the audience walked out on the Dead all the time because it was too much, even (or especially) in 1972. Their minds stopped being capable of processing the awesomeness of what was happening, probably from sheer exhastion. Then, after finding some space in the hallway or lobby and chilling out for a while, maybe rapping with some friendly sane person, some of those audience members would wander back towards the stage for additional mindwhipping.

[this review duplicated from my review of the Charlie Miller transfer of this recording]

Just saw DSO perform this in Seattle, but I thought the first set was just fine! Sure, maybe not as "on" as some of the later '72 shows, but come on!...this show was rip roaring! Brought two friends who had never experienced the Dead and they were instant converts, so great to see to see them smiling from ear to ear!

Just saw DSO in Seattle and they recreated this fantastic show. The first set is very misleading and didn't really get moving, the second set hits you hard and doesn't stop getting better and better until the very end. The Weir jams in Other One was unexpected. Like one comment below said, the magic was hidden in the second set and became one of the most beautiful sets I think I've ever heard.

Kudos to Dark Star Orchestra for recreating this classic and keeping the music alive for us.

I love the Weir parts in the Other One jam section.

Funny how the Other One doesn't really fit the rest of the playing this night...

Not necessarily worth listening to the whole show unless you've got the time; there are a couple of annoying cuts and it's not the most energetic performance (though an average '72 GD show is still pretty great) . However as mentioned the Other One jam is rather unique, and definitely worth a listen. And that's followed by a lyric flub by Weir that made me laugh out loud.

7-25-72 is not a show that gets mentioned much....on the whole it's one of those shows from that summer West Coast run that's just too mellow & subdued to catch fire, so it will always hide in the shadow of the shows from the end of August.
But....it has one of THOSE moments....hidden inside the second set.
Truckin' is a standard '72 version, not as supercharged as it could be; Garcia's playing is wiry, but they don't take it out much, instead winding down to the Other One drums....
And yet, when the Other One starts, nobody really feels like playing it, they tease the riff a little and then wander off into a different zone. Garcia plays some mysterious repeating phrases, and you can feel them about to discover something....
There's a brief cut in the tape, and we come back to Garcia and Lesh playing stately contrapuntal lines like classical violinists. All of a sudden the waters calm and the universe opens.....it sounds a lot like the end of Lesh's bass solo in 2-15-73 when Garcia joins him....yes, it's that gorgeous.
But here Weir joins them, and they start taking it somewhere else - chords materialize, a thematic jam that's something like a cross between the Spanish Jam and Goin' Down the Road.... It builds, they start playing harder, and then Garcia starts playing slide and whips out some Allman-like lines. It only lasts about six minutes, but as far as I know it's unique; I don't recall hearing this theme in other shows. Yet it's one of those things everyone should hear, like the "Beautiful Jam" from 2-18-71.
All things end, though....they return to the Other One, and of course Weir instantly forgets the words! They hurry through the rest of it without much jamming, although there is one of the gnarly Lesh solos that he was doing in late '72.
They recover themselves in Wharf Rat, a strong and well-sung version. Garcia's solo at the end is magnificent, climbing the desperate heights before softening down to end on notes of quiet resignation.

Promised Land has Mr Weir very prominently featured, above everyone else; I don't think I heard Keith @ all. It almost sounds like someone played a guitar OVER the original recording it's that loud---it's almost annoying. Sugaree has the same issue with Bob's part. Hearing it in head phones, Bob's part is the only one you hear in your right ear & everyone else is rather low in the left. Wait---the rest of the band is now heard @ about 1:50 into Sugaree & the sound is more balanced. The sound balance issue hasn't carried over to any of the other songs, so all's well I guess.

Other than the balance issue in the beginning, the music is put together as well as is could have been in the summer of '72, which is to say it's really good. As good as in Europe or a month later in Veneta, OR? Not quite, but I have NOTHING even remotely bad to say about this performance. I think it's a couple notches above what was released as an official download from GDP last year, the whole of 7/22 & a few songs from 7/21---both at the same theatre as this show. Unforunately I've not gotten to The Other One yet which it's been said in the previous ratings & in the GD Forum is WAY out there---I can't wait.

Solid 4 Stars (1972 Stars, so that's pretty F'n good)

***7/2/07 ammendment---this show was @ a different Paramount Theatre than the 21st & 22nd shows, and the official D/L release was the whole of the 21st & part of the 22nd. And about THE OTHER ONE---all I have to say is "WOW!!!" Another thing about the jam section of TOO---the "weird" little jams start @ about 6 min into it, not 13 min. Though they do continue clear through until Bob f's up the lyrics.

I agree with this review. The rest of the show is OK, but not great. There's an odd little jam out of Truckin, and The Other One is very exploratory; perhaps they got lost in it. It's quite worth a listen. The sound is excellent barring a few minor dropouts.

Just llistened to the second set of this show for the first time. It sounded about average for a summer 72 show, until about 13 minutes into The Other One. At that point the song morphed into 2 or 3 different melodic jams (I've never heard on any other shows), and an extended Phil solo. Michael Getz decsribed this more eloquently in the Taping Compendium. Four stars for the show, but five for The Other One.