Coming out of a 48 min jam to open the set, this one is like a small visitation before another huge jam>Eyes. A big epic indeed.

Overlooked space-jazz masterwork. Mercurial and vast. Listen to it as the outcome of the Space before it and BANG! you're on a deep ride furthur.

10mins of absolute weirdness. Incorrectly listed as Seastones - but Jerry, Keith and Billy are there with Phil and Ned. An outrageous corker. Scary.

Show opener with mix off: not perfect but interesting to hear Phil/Bobby interplay (almost exclusively), which is rare for '74 recordings.

Uncategorizably brilliant transition jam. Sweet sweet Rider. Overshadowed by the immortal PITB that follows. Give a spin, it won't disappoint.

The Billy/Bobby interplay is clear - and beautiful - in the mix, which is a rare treasure. It reminds me of being at shows and being able to focus (when focus was even possible) on different combinations of the boys at play, depending on where you were in the audiospace. This isn't the most polished or most experimental version you'll hear. It isn't even the most well-played. It is,however, bursting with creative synchronicity and it quite simply doesn't resemble any that went before it. PiTB is a study in the Dead's evolution, and within one year it went from the weirdly apocalyptic psychedelic jam "The Main Ten" to a twangy country warble with its off-kilter meter and explosive energy. Within another year we arrive at Veneta and PiTB is there with Dark Star as one of their vehicles for interdimensional exploration. This one stands at one of the junctures.

Right on, unstrucksound, glad you dug it!

Little known fact: Phil has twenty fingers. Evidence? This song.

Good goddamned hot, this one. So much energy, they're just giving giving and giving.

Sure thing, Deadhoe69, but here it's uptempo, fresh, and pushing forward. Later ones don't (for me) have that essential pulse as the earlier ones. And Jer's vocals here push it forward with meaning and soul. There's a pulse here that sometimes I lose in the later ones. He's right, this is a good call. You'll love it. I do.