1 69-2-27 Fillmore West, San Francisco Live/Dead (23:07)*
2 69-2-07 Stanley Theater, Pittsburgh (14:07)**
3 69-4-13- Glenn Miller Ballroom, University of Colorado at Boulder (23:57)
http://www.sendspace.com/file/2nhh1o
188 MB
*This file is accidentally mistagged as 8/22/69 Fillmore West, another great version I was originally planning to include. You may want to burn this track second to keep chronological order, or you my wish to just leave it off altogether if you have
Live/Dead. I just had to include it since many regard it as the definitive version, and it's from the 1969 U.S. tour.
**The Velvet Underground opened this show; it's too bad Bear didn't record them.
1 69-5-07 Golden Gate Park Polo Field, San Francisco (22:17)
2 69-8-16 Woodstock Max Yasgur's Farm, Bethel, NY (19:09)*
3 69-11-02 Family Dog at the Great Highway, San Francisco (30:06)**
http://www.sendspace.com/file/4hfgt6
234 MB
*A cut too long to possibly include on the Woodstock (the "Peace & Love" festival that they demanded to be paid in front for) soundtrack; maybe it was never even recorded for it. This is the Bear recording.
**This is one of the longest recorded versions. The very longest, however, is from 5/11/72 Rotterdam, NL, clocking in at 48:38.
"Dark Star" 1969 line-up: Jerry Garcia (guitar, lead vocal); Bob Weir (guitar, vocals); Phil Lesh (bass guitar, vocals); Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (organ, percussion); Tom Constanten (organ); Mickey Hart (drums); Bill Kreutzmann (drums).
While I fully realize that this one is an even worse idea that the
Sister Ray compilation haha, I'm pressing forward anyhow. I've also kept the files at a fairly high bitrate (the vbr average is 440 kbps or so) and that also means longer download time. In addition, these sendspace links, as we all know, will not last very long.
Of course, one can always easily listen to live Grateful Dead online at
www.archive.org which has this neat little flash player feature now that's an upgrade to their streaming.
All of these stellar performances from the U.S. Aoxomoxoa 1969 tour were expertly recorded by infamous chemist Owsley "Bear" Stanley utilizing a Ron Wickersham-designed mic splitter into the PA and the recording inputs of a mobile 16-track. These are among the very first concert recordings by anyone to ever be engineered thusly.
These selections were compiled so that I can put them on when I know I'm not going to have a lot of time (like during the day when I'm working) to be able to go to the stereo and pick out songs. I realize the same lengthy tune repeated over and over may be too boring for some. And it's also a tad odd to listen to "Dark Star" without it being followed by "St. Stephen">"William Tell">"The Eleven" as they usually, but not always, sequenced it live.
At any rate, years ago I also made a four-disc DIY Grateful Dead compilation that covers their entire career. I think the first Dead comp I ever made was for "Drums">"Space." I knew people with lots of bootleg cassettes and I made my own 90-min cassette from different versions.
"Dark Star" was included by Jim Henke, chief curator for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, on the list of the 500 most influential songs in rock and roll.