Imagine being so anal as to nit pick the GDs process of improvisation and playing as if their lives depended on it.
They are figuring it all out and if you connect all the dots within the tours one can see how it all came together for them.
They didn’t practice jams. Jerry ran scales and could incorporate notes into his runs that some call noodling but jazz and free interpretation listeners know as their process.

Without the monitors and equipment off today they deftly weave between jazz and blues.

Don’t be the Get Off My Lawn guy who picks at the process. Pick up an instrument and try and create new music in an exciting way that brings a new experience every night.

Of the 5 August '68 shows we have, this is probably the lesser one: most like '68/least surprises. We have just over 26mins of the first set, and most of the show is in mono. You'll dig it if this is yr fave era, and either way this 18½min Alligator is a must-hear.

First Set. The beginning of St. Stephen is clipped and we're missing a few songs before this. Likely either a Lovelight or Midnight Hour, plus a Morning Dew, Schoolgirl, or China Cat; or less likely a BioDtl or Clementine. An average '68 set.

Second Set. This is a stand-alone Dark Star, and almost a straight run through. Jer asks to turn off the strobe light. There's a brief cut @1:48 on all sources for Cryptical and a cut in The Other One @3:27 of 1 or 2mins. The show then gets better, with a fun Potato Caboose. It has a lengthy Patricia jam @5:30 (aka Jam in 13/8), in fact the focus is on Phil for this one. The source is now in stereo (with the channels switched). Alligator has the first few seconds clipped, but it's a great example, including the worthy drums solo (about 4mins in Jer starts to play but they edge him out for a bit longer), and the peak-of-show ending jam, which has another brief cut. Listen for Phil throwing spanners at Jer. Caution (cuts at both ends) builds more than expected, then leads to a Bid Goodnight.

1st Set:  C
2nd Set: B-
Overall = 3 stars

SOURCES: The cotsman_14915 is still the best source. The St. Stephen>Eleven is slightly fast and needs -1% pitch. So does Alligator>Bid Goodnight, and it also needs the channels switched. The miller_gastwirt_sirmick is a partial copy. The jools_20083 is a partial source and runs slow. The
koucky_gmb_92733 is partial, and substitutes the Alligator>Caution from 8/21 [with several minutes edited].

Much better than more recent versions.

I am wholeheartedly affirming praise for this Alligator. The "Jam" is superlative (with no side jams).
This Caution is also a knockout, real subtle.
"Power" jams don't reach this level.
The Dead sounded great by August 1968.

this show will bend your mind

With some sort of eloquence this by far surpasses the lengths to which the Dead musically progressed as- nothing but true extension of one’s intrinsic spirit, that is music unhindered in its most tender stops walking upon clouds from which beneath we stare, looking up at what music transcendently raises us to. New Potato Caboose surely has transcribed its beauty to this quick place they passed through- August ’68, in which they began to become the shape of their tight and powerful playing of ’69. Though a stop along the way, as each era is, this one most certainly towers above most and gives us a transcendent view from which we can peer to all other eras and see from where they came and to where they go. It is here that they raise this; early ‘68’s comparison-lacking progression becomes what 69 solidifies in strength. The jams merely morph into the more mature and yet youthful form for which they never truly retain, only embody in each moment. What a beautiful embodiment of progression

Might be from 2 different sources.

Around the other one it starts to sound really good.
The alligator-drumz-jam-caution is tight.

Night before is ?!?!!!!!

i agree this starts out kinda rough, with a st. stephen that is hard to hear, but they more than make up for it with some really hot tunes. The eleven following it is really nice, a bit mellower than some of the really firey ones in this year, but just as impressive. The dark star is nice, but i strongly disagree with L. Rosely that it is better than the previous night (8/21); imho that is the best dark star up until the fillmore run of early '69! The Other One is also very good, but perhaps the most impressive part of this show is a mindblowing Alligator>Caution that just never quits. Phil really throws out some agressive, almost funky lines. and although the Caution is short, it's one of the most intense i've ever heard; psychedellic heavy metal in 1968! on my initial listen i wasn't as impressed with this as 8/21 or 8/24 (TFTV) but i think it stands up to the rest of the run quite well.

SQ = VG Stereo, for the set 2 jams at least (in TOO Jam, some *snaps* last few min but not intrusive)

Lasting blasting interest at least: Jam #2 > TOO Jam
Now that's a blazing/amazing j for jerry/journey...
Amazing how the band is tight/right/w/Jer who is beyond amazing, on freaking/fucking/fire!

For all around all the different styles for all the mad miles from here to eternity...

G is the greatest g.

There are three versions of this show here at archive. This one (called cotsman) is the best: it has the material from 8/22 and is complete. The version called Jools is also from 8/22, but contains only the second half, and is missing some of the best material of the show.
In the one called koucky, the porton from Alligator is definitely from 8/21 – it is note-for-note the same as for the 8/21 show here at Archive.org.

The show starts with a nice St. Stephen, still only a few months old, but sounding much like 1969’s Aoxomoxoa, complete with bells. Jerry’s vocal volume is low in St. Stephen, but comes up in The Eleven. Jerry and Phil duel it out in an inspired jam in The Eleven, fast and electric and just flying. From those heights the band makes a smooth landing right into Death Don’t Have No Mercy—just a fabulous transition. Death is a beautiful performance: powerful vocals by Jerry, perfect organ embellishments, and tight playing and jamming rise and fall in intensity, as do the best Morning Dews.

This Dark Star is one fine example of crafted ensemble improvisation, as tight and masterful as anything from 1974 or 1977. It exceeds the excellent Dark Star of the previous night. August 1968 is the beginning period of the best Dark Stars.

The Dead play a dynamite Other One. It’s tempting to call it one of the best of the year, but there are so many good ones in ‘68. Jerry and Phil are zooming, Bill is going nuts on drums, Pigpen putting the icing on the confection. There’s a nice transition into New Potato, which really rocks. We get an extended Phil solo here, which is rare after 1974.

This Alligator really smokes (the one in Cotsman, the actual 8/22 version). It starts with Pigpen delivering a great vocal. The jam after drums is as exciting as those in the Other One and New Potato, with Jerry and Phil in the zone.

Pigpen gets back into it in Caution with some psychedelic vocals setting the mood for the blast off into space, fueled by the rockets of Jerry’s soloing, coming down for a landing safely into Good Night. Near perfection.

I really like this show.
But this show is part of a great run of shows on 4 consecutive nights: 8/21, 8/22, 8/23, and 8/24 (released as Two From the Vault – which is probably actually one show, from 8/24).

good caution and feedback jams. the pigpen days in the 60's were awesome, this is a good example. worth a stream maybe not a download. all about preference though. give it a listen


it gets four stars for from me

I have a recording marked 8/22 with the Set list as follows: Dark Star>Stephen>Eleven>Death Don't, Lovelight, Alligator, Caution>Feedback, Goodnight.

My Alligator thru Goodnight is definately what is found here as 8/22, Dark Star through Lovelight is definately from 8/21 according to what I have found here. (and is just sick by the way!!!!)

The recording thru-out my cd sounds to be from the same night. No differences in the sound of the recording. It led me to believe that what I had was the complete set from one night, for the longest time until I saw/heard what is here.


I guess someone took the first half of the second set of 8/21, and spliced it the second part of the second set of 8/22, to make one incredible show?????? Is it at all possible my recording IS just one show? highly doubtful from what now have come to see.

The last 4.5 minutes of this Eleven is comparable to the Playin's of 72-74 in an open improvisational sense. The jamming becomes so intense the listener experiences a whole new level of sound and intent>spontaneous creation.

My only comment goes to Flashbak, are you sure you dont work for the F.B.I, my God son you have done your tracking, Also this is a great show

Thanks to Jimi below for raising this question once again. Perhaps eventually someone closer to the source can clear this up, maybe Gans himself??
Anyhooo - let me say I was gonna skip DLing this show because I mistakenly thought I already had it. This is the 8/22 show Jimi mentions from GDlive.com that I also have. And BTW - even though it's an MP3 format version, it IS in stereo and it's surprisingly VERY good quality (256K encoding). 8 tracks of incredibly hot playing, esp. the Death Don't. Whatever date that show actually is - it's worth having, so head over to GDlive.com and get it!
Now to this here show and the confusion. Applying Occum's razor to the problem, my best guess would be that this indeed is the REAL 8/22 show, in full. Since the apparent source is from Dick to David Gans, I would tend to trust they got the dates right, no? The fact that the first set is a mono source may mean it was from a radio broadcast, like the famous KSAN reels. The only mistake in the above show is that Dark Star should come before St. Stephen, as it almost always did. How always? Deadbase only lists St. Stephen played without Dark Star before it TWICE in 1968. First on 6/7/68 when they reversed them as St. Stephen>Dark Star, and then again ?? on 8/22. So the odds are heavily in favor of this tracking being in error, as the text file admits.To be honest, I have not yet DLed these songs, and so I may revise my opinion on the Dark Star position later.
The main differences between the 8/22 version on GDlive and this one, is that the former one includes a Lovelight to close Set 1, whereas this show features The Other One. Both contain the Alligator to the WBYGN sequence, but the GDlive version chops up the tracks differently. Finally, as the CD cover included with the other version shows, it was a circulating bootleg, and is more likely to have a wrong date.
My best guess, Jimi, is that the show you and I have is actually 8/20 at the Fillmore, which does not
circulate for some reason, on LAMA or anywhere to my knowledge. The maddening thing is that in 1968, the set lists were all so similar that many shows almost identical.
As is obvious to anyone that has heard these August 1968 shows, they were really riding a high wave at this point, maybe the best of the year. Listen to "Two From the Vault" on August 24th and you'll see. Hopefully, the remaining Fillmore shows from 8/20, and later from 8/30 and 8/31 will appear.
cheers,
Dr. Flashback :-)

This is a great show no matter what date it was played on.
Unfortunatly, to add too the 8/22/68 confusion I have a show that floated around on bootleg cd for a while that is the same source as this from Alligator till the end.However,it has 4 trax(Dark Star,St. Steph/the 11,Death Don't,and Lovelight)at the begining of the show that are different from this.These songs are in stereo and appear to be from the same source as the end of the show.However there are fade outs and ins so you can't be sure.
It is a great show also and a little higher quality.If you don't have it,it is worth finding also.
Whenever these songs were played they are great and worthy of anyones collection.

UPDATE 4/15/05 : I just saw the above mentioned show w/ the same date on www.gdlive.com for dwnld.

This version is indeed stupendous. I'd have to agree that this is among the best ever played. However, the reviewer below says that this version is the filler on the remastered Anthem. This is not correct. The filler comes from 8/23/68, the very next day. Excellent show, nice St. Stephen>The Eleven.

Just as I have correctly picked "THE" Hard To Handle of all Hard To Handles, I'm going to help you all and pick THE Gator>Drums>Caution of all time. And this is THE One, kids. So highly regarded by Latvala, et all, to be played loudly and clearly at the Jerry Memorial... so damn fine as to be played by Gans on his radio show, and ULTIMATELY so damn fine as to be picked as the filler on the remastered version of Anthem Of The Sun. I don't care if you download it here or buy the disc but you just gotta have this little jewel in your collection or life isn't complete. It's a Pig, Jerry, Phil smorgasborg with a little Bobby/Billy/Mickey for the spices. Jerry's runs are endless, AS USUAL. Phil's bass is aggressive, AS USUAL. Pig's vocals are... er... piggish, AS USUAL. The 68 tone of Jerry's guitar is there in full bloom. The boys JAM it and JAM it good and hard. First listen to Spoonful on Wheels Of Fire by Cream... surely you youngsters know who they are... then play this Gator>Caution... no comparison. For cohesive jamming The Dead in 68 blew out The Cream Of The Crop. All ya gotta do is listen and you'll have to admit it's true. I only speak the truth. I know of what I speak. Have fun!

Albeit a somewhat shaking start a fine early concert through out including an excellent Dark Star and Jam-Caution-Feedback. Worth the download for sure.