I always enjoy checking out the Grateful Dead's new releases on Spotify, but in recent months (even years?) I've been seeing a lot of unofficial releases. I have no idea where they all come from, but I'm not complaining. It's always handy to have a quick way to check out some unknown material, and this time it was Full Moon Over Town. A live concert from December 30 1985, at the Oakland Coliseum Arena, that is released by Wolf Tree. I hadn't looked at the setlist beforehand, so I was quite surprised when, after about 45 minutes, West L.A. Fadeaway suddenly started again. What happened? Full Moon Over Town (the title is a reference to Stagger Lee's opening verse) is only a fraction of the full concert. The seven songs that make up the album are all from the first set (opener Gimme Some Lovin' -> Greatest Story Ever Told is missing from this release), but they sound fantastic. The setlist definitely includes some of my favorite songs, and I even appreciate Little Red Rooster. It'll never be my go-to song from the Dead, but there's a kind of reverb/echo on the vocals that actually works somehow. I have no idea if it was originally intended or if there was a technical glitch (I think the former, since Looks Like Rain has a similar effect), but the set also contains just a really beautiful version of Looks Like Rain. Since Bob Weir's passing a few weeks ago, that song seems to have an even heavier impact than before. In any case, the setlist for the full concert is also something to get excited about (Crazy Fingers!), so I hope a full-fledged release of this comes soon. The Charlie Miller release on Archive sounds pretty good too, so that will have to do for now.
Tracklist:
- West L.A. Fadeaway
- My Brother Esau
- Stagger Lee
- Little Red Rooster
- Tennessee Jed
- Looks Like Rain
- Don't Ease Me In
Comments
Post a Comment