Dick's Picks Volume 18
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''Dick's Picks Volume 18'' is a three-CD live album by the rock band the
Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...
. It was recorded on February 3, 1978, at the Dane County Coliseum in Madison, Wisconsin and on February 5, 1978, at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa. There are also two songs from the February 4, 1978 show at the
Milwaukee Auditorium Miller High Life Theatre (previously Milwaukee Theatre and originally Milwaukee Auditorium) is a theatre located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The building was extensively renovated between 2001 and 2003, at which point its name changed to the Milwauk ...
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The album was released in June 2000. Disc 1 combines songs from the February 3, 4, and 5 concerts in an order designed to simulate a first set of a Dead concert from that era. Disc 2 contains most of the second set plus the encore from the February 3 show. Disc 3 includes all of the second set from February 5. This release is known to have a patched cut in the original
soundboard tapes A soundboard recording is a sound recording of a concert taken from a direct connection to the soundboard at the venue. Soundboard recordings are considered to be among the highest quality bootleg recordings of live performances though some soundb ...
. If certain soundboards are missing parts of a song those creating the release will attempt to patch the cut if possible. Sometimes this is from an audience source or from an entirely different show. However, there is no database for these fixed soundboards and hence it is up to the listeners to stumble upon such a discovery. Track 4 on Disc 3, Truckin', contains a patch from the Truckin' recorded on 1978-01-31. The patch from 1978-01-31 starts at ~2:00 and ends at ~3:40 on the official release.


Enclosure, article, and fan letter

Included in this release is a single-sheet of paper folded into fourths accordion-style, yielding an eight-page enclosure. The front matches the front cover of the CD, and the two pages immediately inside list the credits for the release underneath a wide black-and-white photograph of the entire band on stage. The next two pages list the contents of the release interspersed with smaller black-and-white photographs focusing more on each of the band's members. The enclosure also features two pages containing a
collage Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...
consisting of a newspaper clipping and a letter to guitarist Jerry Garcia from a fan, with the fan letter partially covered up by a black-and-white photo of the band on stage.


Article

The article is entitled "There's nothing like a Grateful Dead show" and was written by Michael St. John. The CD's credits include a "Special Thanks to J. Corkey Custer/Emerald City Chronicle," which implies it is from the Emerald City Chronicle. St. John focuses on the February 3rd show at Madison, and in the first paragraph the author mentions that "Phil Lesh said that they would have to play in Madison more often." He writes that the two drummers, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, "play together, and off one another, as if they were one." The author goes on to state that "This reciprocal action and reaction is characteristic of how the Dead play in general", and that when they played newer songs off their recent studio release, Terrapin Station, they substituted "intricate improvization" for "the orchestration" on the release. Michael ends his article by stating "Madison hopes that you remember us on your next tour, Phil."


Fan letter

The fan letter is hand-written, dated February 4, 1978, and signed by Paul, a 20-year-old guitarist who is "primarily a jazz fan of the Miles Davis school." Paul writes of how he was impressed by both Jerry's "long improvisations" and his "shorter breaks in the first set", and claims that "you are one of the great stylists of guitar." The letter-writer goes on to state that "What really impressed elast night was seeing an established player like yourself who is still practicing and growing - it's really an inspiration to me as guitarist to keep me progressing." After mentioning how he enjoyed seeing Django Reinhardt's "influence in your playing", Jerry's fan closes by writing "Someday, if I get the opportunity, I'd like to meet you as you've been so important to me for so long from afar."Enclosure included with Dick's Picks Volume 18, 1978, 2000.


Critical reception

On AllMusic, William Ruhlmann said, "The jury-rigged first set is an interesting combination of old and recent material, but the meat of the album comes on the second and third discs, which feature long medleys full of exploratory instrumental passages.... And the performances are typical, with first-set songs like "Passenger" and "The Music Never Stopped" getting feisty treatment, while the second sets run on and on with the kind of unhurried improvising that delights Deadheads and bores people not attuned to the band's tendencies." In ''The Music Box'', John Metzger wrote, "Each of the songs that appear on ''Dick's Picks 18'' is exquisitely performed. Consequently, this is not just a collection for those most rabid of Grateful Dead fans with countless hours of bootleg tapes lying around their abode. Anyone who has wondered just what the big deal was with this band, just might find the answer lurking among the three hours and fifty minutes of music contained in this collection."


Track listing


Personnel

Grateful Dead: *
Jerry Garcia Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician best known for being the principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence ...
– guitar, vocals * Donna Jean Godchaux – vocals * Keith Godchaux – keyboards *
Mickey Hart Mickey Hart (born Michael Steven Hartman, September 11, 1943) is an American percussionist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 until February 19 ...
– drums * Bill Kreutzmann – drums *
Phil Lesh Philip Chapman Lesh (born March 15, 1940) is an American musician and a founding member of the Grateful Dead, with whom he played bass guitar throughout their 30-year career. After the band's disbanding in 1995, Lesh continued the tradition of ...
– bass, vocals *
Bob Weir Robert Hall Weir ( ; né Parber, born October 16, 1947) is an American musician and songwriter best known as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the group disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with The Other Ones, later known as The Dead ...
– guitar, vocals Production: *Recording:
Betty Cantor-Jackson Betty Cantor-Jackson (born 1948) is an American audio engineer and producer. She is best known for her work recording live concerts for the Grateful Dead from the late 1960s to the early 1980s, including the '' Cornell 5/8/77'' album. She is noted ...
*Tape archivists: Dick Latvala, David Lemieux *Mastering: Jeffrey Norman *Photography: Bruce Polonsky, Keith Wessel


Notes

{{Authority control 18 2000 live albums