Insights and meditations on life love and picking up hookers from the great one. See his mind at work, jump on the wagon and ride.

Overlooked gritty superfunk. Bobby solos, then Jerry takes him to school. Phil, meanwhile is nuking the world big time.

Subtle and musical, slithers its way into an epic Lovelight. Nicely different from others of the era, no NFA sandwich.

Another raging inferno. Benefits enormously from a great mix where everyone's audible and you hear Bobby's part. Hot stuff.

Carries forward the intensely creative force of the TOO before it. A glory.

Listening to this show end to end and you can tell they were feeling experimental and exploratory all night. The first set is full of swagger, but somehow it seems like they're trading precision for that x-factor, constantly pushing outward and furthur, ready to burst. It comes on strong in the second set and you hear it getting together in the Bird Song before this. Then there's this. It's goes completely off the chain with this monster, all the way out and into places unknown before to music. Then, just when you think it's expanded beyond all recognition, a blue-ribbon landing into a hot MAMU, (pity about the cut), then right back into the beast in totally different space-time. But wait, it isn't finished, and we get the closing Cryptical - five more beautiful minutes of it, slow-grooving us back to more recognizable places on earth while still hammering hard before the mind-settling WR.... This is TOO and the Dead at their highest levels and I can only imagine what it was like for those lucky ones who got to catch it live. Thanks Archive!

Could listen to this forever. Fall '74 shows off some of their greatest collective musicianship, and this whole segment from Seastones to Wharf Rat (over an hour and ten minutes of constant creativity) shows it beautifully. They were just burning so very brightly during this phase before the hiatus.... (Plus I dig bizarre electronic weirdness, so for me this represents a special time in the band's history with Ned sitting in.)

Love this one with its waves against the docks indeed. Check out one of my favorites, May 19th '74, for another beautiful evocation of the background ocean rhythms and sounds as they fade it out. Sonic portraiture at its finest.

This show is totally underappreciated on this site. Was it off the archive for a while and unknown to those who haven't picked up the RT? It's the real deal throughout and just has me stopped in my tracks in my tour through '71s. Been stuck here for about a two-weeks. Tight jam, awesome transition, brilliant mix, all cylinders firing. Could go much higher in a crowded field of excellent China-Riders.

Solid and swinging: A superior and sublime submission.