''Dave's Picks Volume 51'' is a three-CD live album by the rock band

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...

. It features the complete concert recorded on April 13, 1971, at the Scranton Catholic Youth Center in

Scranton, Pennsylvania Scranton is a city in and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Scranton is the most populous city in Northeastern Pennsylvania and the ...

. It also includes bonus tracks comprising the previous night's second set at the Civic Arena in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, as well as tracks from October 24, 1970, at Kiel Opera House in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

. The remaining songs from the St. Louis performance were included as bonus tracks on ''

Dave's Picks Volume 48 ''Dave's Picks Volume 48'' is a three-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains the complete concert recorded on November 20, 1971, at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, on the campus of University of Cal ...

''. ''Dave's Picks Volume 51'' was released on July 26, 2024, in a limited edition of 25,000 copies. The cover art, designed by Steve Vance, is a nod to the TV show ''

The Office ''The Office'' is the title of several mockumentary sitcoms based on a British series originally created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as '' The Office'' in 2001. The original series also starred Gervais as manager and primary charac ...

'', which took place in the concert's location of Scranton.

Critical reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, Timothy Monger wrote: "After a couple volumes devoted to late-'70s and '80s classics, ''Dave's Picks'' returns to the source with a spring 1971 show featuring the original Grateful Dead quintet of Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan.... Fans of classic era Dead will enjoy hearing Pigpen still in his prime on this nimble and focused volume." In ''Glide Magazine'', Doug Collette said, "Most songs that would grace the '' Skull & Roses'' double LP released that autumn are featured in these setlists.... With their range of choices for ''Dave's 51'', the curators seem to say improvisation took many forms within the oeuvre of the Grateful Dead. There certainly isn’t much extensive jamming on the first set of 4/13, but the second set is perfectly scintillating from start to finish."

Track listing

Disc 1 :''First set:'' #"

Casey Jones John Luther "Casey" Jones (March 14, 1864 – April 30, 1900) was an American railroader who was killed when his passenger train collided with a stalled freight train in Vaughan, Mississippi. Jones was a locomotive engineer for the Illinois Cen ...

" (

Jerry Garcia Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician who was the lead guitarist and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence during the counterculture of the 196 ...

, Robert Hunter) – 5:38 #" Mama Tried" (

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential figures in country music, he was a central pioneer of the Bakersfield ...

) – 3:20 #"Loser" (Garcia, Hunter) – 7:06 #"

Big Boss Man Ray Washington Traylor Jr. (May 2, 1963 – September 22, 2004) was an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler best known for his appearances with the WWE, World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the ring name (The) Big Boss Man, a ...

" (

Luther Dixon Luther Dixon (August 7, 1931 – October 22, 2009) was an American songwriter, record producer, and singer. Dixon's songs achieved their greatest success in the 1950s and 1960s, and were recorded by Elvis Presley, the Beatles, the Jackson 5, B.B ...

, Al Smith) – 5:46 #"

Me and Bobby McGee "Me and Bobby McGee" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson and originally performed by Roger Miller. Fred Foster shares the writing credit, as Kristofferson wrote the song based on a suggestion from Foster. A posth ...

" (

Fred Foster Fred Luther Foster (July 26, 1931 – February 20, 2019) was an American record producer, songwriter, and music business executive who founded Monument Records and Combine Music. As a record producer he was most closely associated with Roy Orbi ...

Kris Kristofferson Kristoffer Kristofferson (June 22, 1936 – September 28, 2024) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was a pioneering figure in the outlaw country movement of the 1970s, moving away from the polished Nashville sound and toward a m ...

) – 6:18 #"Bertha" (Garcia, Hunter) – 6:25 #"Cumberland Blues" (Garcia,

Phil Lesh Philip Chapman Lesh (March 15, 1940 – October 25, 2024) was an American musician and a founding member of the Grateful Dead, with whom he developed a unique style of improvised six-string bass guitar. He was their bassist throughout their 30 ...

, Hunter) – 4:56 #"Big Railroad Blues" ( Noah Lewis, arranged by Grateful Dead) – 5:08 #"

Playing in the Band "Playing in the Band" is a song by the Grateful Dead. The lyrics were written by Robert Hunter and rhythm guitarist Bob Weir composed the music, with some assistance from percussionist Mickey Hart. The song first emerged in embryonic form on th ...

" (Weir,

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 ...

, Hunter) – 5:09 #" Hard to Handle" (

Otis Redding Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...

Alvertis Isbell Al Bell (born Alvertis Isbell; March 15, 1940) is an American record producer, songwriter, and record executive. He is best known as having been an executive and co-owner of Stax Records with Jim Stewart based in Memphis, Tennessee, during the l ...

, Allen Jones) – 9:10 #"

Sugar Magnolia "Sugar Magnolia" is a song by the Grateful Dead. Written by Robert Hunter and Bob Weir, it is one of the most well-known songs by the band, alongside such hits as " Truckin'", " Casey Jones", " Uncle John's Band", " Touch of Grey", and fellow su ...

" (Weir, Hunter) – 6:47 Disc 2 :''Second set:'' #"

Truckin' "Truckin" is a song by the Grateful Dead, which first appeared on their 1970 album '' American Beauty''. It was recognized by the United States Library of Congress in 1997 as a national treasure.''Grateful Dead: The Illustrated Trip'' . Jake W ...

" > (Garcia, Lesh, Weir, Hunter) – 9:05 #"Drums" > (Hart,

Bill Kreutzmann William Kreutzmann Jr. ( ; born May 7, 1946) is an American drummer and founding member of the rock band Grateful Dead. He played with the band for its entire thirty-year career, usually alongside fellow drummer Mickey Hart, and has continued to ...

) – 4:25 #"

Good Lovin' "Good Lovin" is a song written by Rudy Clark and Arthur Resnick that was a #1 hit single for the Young Rascals in 1966. Original version The song was first recorded by Lemme B. Good (stage name of singer Limmie Snell) in March 1965 and writ ...

" (

Rudy Clark Rudolph Clark (October 29, 1935 – September 3, 2020) was an American songwriter credited with hit songs such as " If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody", " Got My Mind Set on You", "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)", and "Good Lovin' " ( ...

Arthur Resnick Arthur Resnick (born 1937) is an American songwriter, record producer and musician. His most successful songs as a writer include "Under the Boardwalk" (co-written with Kenny Young), "Good Lovin'" (co-written with Rudy Clark), and " Yummy Yummy ...

) – 18:55 #"

I Second That Emotion "I Second That Emotion" is a 1967 song written by Smokey Robinson and Al Cleveland. First charting as a hit for Smokey Robinson and the Miracles on the Tamla/Motown label in 1967, "I Second That Emotion" was later a hit single for the group du ...

" (

Al Cleveland Al Cleveland (born Alfred W. Cleveland; March 11, 1930 – August 14, 1996) was an American songwriter for the Motown label. Among his most popular co-compositions are 1967's " I Second That Emotion" and 1969's " Baby, Baby Don't Cry" performed by ...

Smokey Robinson William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. He was the founder and frontman of the pioneering Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he ...

) – 5:44 #"Greatest Story Ever Told" > (Weir, Hart, Hunter) – 2:41 #"

Johnny B. Goode "Johnny B. Goode" is a song by American musician Chuck Berry, written and sung by Berry in 1958. Released as a Single (music), single in 1958, it peaked at number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Hot R&B Sides chart and number eight on its pre ...

" (

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, guitarist and songwriter who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and de ...

) – 3:56 #"

Uncle John's Band "Uncle John's Band" is a song by the Grateful Dead that first appeared in their concert setlists in late 1969. The band recorded it for their 1970 album '' Workingman's Dead''. Written by guitarist Jerry Garcia and lyricist Robert Hunter, "Unc ...

" (Garcia, Hunter) – 6:31 :''Bonus tracks – October 24, 1970 – Kiel Opera House:'' #

Me and My Uncle "Me and My Uncle", often also written as "Me & My Uncle," is a song composed by John Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas, and popularized in versions by Judy Collins and the Grateful Dead. It relates the journey of a narrator and his uncle from s ...

" ( John Phillips) – 4:21 #"

Friend of the Devil "Friend of the Devil" is a song recorded by the Grateful Dead. The music was written by Jerry Garcia and John Dawson and the lyrics are by Robert Hunter. It is the second track of the Dead's 1970 album '' American Beauty''. Like most of ''Amer ...

" (Garcia, Hunter, John Dawson) – 4:06 #" Cold Rain and Snow" (traditional, arranged by Grateful Dead) – 6:51 #"Attics of My Life" (Garcia, Hunter) – 6:28 #"Casey Jones" (Garcia, Hunter) – 4:51 Disc 3 :''Bonus tracks – April 12, 1971 – Civic Arena:'' #"Truckin'" > (Garcia, Lesh, Weir, Hunter) – 8:36 #"Drums" > (Hart, Kreutzmann) – 3:15 #" The Other One" > (Weir, Kreutzmann) – 10:46 #"Wharf Rat" (Garcia, Hunter) – 9:39 #"Me and Bobby McGee" (Foster, Kristofferson) – 6:01 #"Casey Jones" (Garcia, Hunter) – 5:39 #"Sugar Magnolia" (Weir, Hunter) – 7:01 #"Deal" > (Garcia, Hunter) – 4:46 #" Not Fade Away" > (

Norman Petty Norman Petty (May 25, 1927 – August 15, 1984) was an American musician, record producer, publisher, and radio station owner. He is considered to be one of the founding fathers of early rock & roll. With Vi Ann Petty—his wife and vocalist—he ...

, Charles Hardin) – 4:07 #"Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad" > (traditional, arranged by Grateful Dead) – 7:09 #" Turn On Your Lovelight" ( Joseph Scott,

Deadric Malone Don Deadric Robey (November 1, 1903 – June 16, 1975) was an American record label executive, songwriter, and record producer. As the founder of Peacock Records and the eventual owner of Duke Records, he was responsible for developing the care ...

) – 11:31

Personnel

Grateful Dead *

– guitar, vocals *

– drums *

– bass *

Ron "Pigpen" McKernan Ronald Charles McKernan (September 8, 1945 – March 8, 1973), known as Pigpen, was an American musician. He was a founding member of the San Francisco Sound, San Francisco band the Grateful Dead and played in the group from 1965 to 1972. ...

– keyboards, harmonica, 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 *

– drums (disc 2 tracks 8–12) Production *Produced by Grateful Dead *Produced for release by David Lemieux *Executive producer: Mark Pinkus *Associate producer: Ivette Ramos *Recording:

Betty Cantor-Jackson Betty Cantor-Jackson (born September 18, 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 live album '' Cornell 5/8/77' ...

*Mastering: Jeffrey Norman *Art direction, design, cover art: Steve Vance *Photos: Peter Corrigan

Charts

References

{{Grateful Dead 51 Rhino Entertainment live albums 2024 live albums