''Dick's Picks Volume 15'' is the 15th

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th centur ...

in the

Dick's Picks series The discography of the rock band the Grateful Dead includes more than 200 albums, the majority of them recorded live in concert. The band has also released more than two dozen singles and a number of videos. The Grateful Dead formed in the San ...

of releases by the

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 show recorded on September 3, 1977, at Raceway Park in

Englishtown, New Jersey Englishtown is a rapidly growing Borough (New Jersey), borough in western Monmouth County, New Jersey, Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The community is located within the Raritan River, Raritan Valley region. As of the 2020 Uni ...

. Also appearing at the event were the

New Riders of the Purple Sage New Riders of the Purple Sage is an American country rock band. The group emerged from the psychedelic rock scene in San Francisco in 1969 and its original lineup included several members of the Grateful Dead. The band is sometimes referred to ...

and

The Marshall Tucker Band The Marshall Tucker Band is an American rock band from Spartanburg, South Carolina. Noted for incorporating blues, country and jazz into an eclectic sound, the Marshall Tucker Band helped establish the Southern rock genre in the early 1970s. Wh ...

. The band performed to a crowd estimated at between 100,000 and 150,000 attendees. Comparisons to unofficial releases reveal that there is an edit to the song "He's Gone," removing a mistake by Garcia where he repeated the song's chorus rather than singing the bridge. This was the first Dick's Picks released after the death of

Dick Latvala Richard Allan Latvala (26 July 1943 – 6 August 1999) was an American tape archivist for the Grateful Dead. He started the CD series ''Dick's Picks'', a series that selects live music from Grateful Dead concerts. The first volume of ''Dick's ...

for whom the series is named. The liner notes include a picture of Latvala with the following message: This is the first Dick's Picks to use the High Definition Compatible Digital (

HDCD High Definition Compatible Digital (HDCD) is a proprietary audio encode-decode process that claims to provide increased dynamic range over that of standard Compact Disc Digital Audio, while retaining backward compatibility with existing compact ...

) CD format.

Enclosure and review

The release includes two pieces of paper stapled together in the middle, yielding an eight-page enclosure. The front duplicates the cover of the CD and the back contains a circular drawing of a grey

cyclopes In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, the Cyclopes ( ; , ''Kýklōpes'', "Circle-eyes" or "Round-eyes"; singular Cyclops ; , ''Kýklōps'') are giant one-eyed creatures. Three groups of Cyclopes can be distinguished. In Hesiod's ''The ...

skull with a single crossbone backed by blue sky with some clouds. Inside, the first page on the left features a color photograph of the band on stage, and the page on the right lists the contents of and credits for the release. The two pages in the middle contain a two-page review of the show, and the last two pages contain a small photograph of

and a large photo, from high up and behind the stage, of the crowd at the show. The "People of Earth" message mentioned previously appears on the bottom of the left side of these two pages, under the photo of Dick.

Review by Martha Megill

The titles of the review are "Concert Attendance Takes Planning", in fine print, above "Grateful Dead Fan Is Happy, Satisfied" in bold typeface. The review is an account of the show from the ''

Asbury Park Press The ''Asbury Park Press'', formerly known as the ''Shore Press'', ''Daily Press'', ''Asbury Park Daily Press'', and ''Asbury Park Evening Press'', is the third largest daily newspaper in the state of New Jersey. Established in 1879, it has been o ...

'', dated September 6, 1977 and written in the first person by Martha Megill. The review is very personal and starts by describing Megill's three-mile walk from where she and her friends parked to the concert area. After describing a few ways she and her friends found to mitigate the hot weather, the author briefly mentions being barely able to hear the shows by the backup bands, the

and

. About two-thirds of the way through the article Martha mentions that "by 6 p.m. the air had cooled slightly," and it was finally "time for the Dead." Although the first song "proved to be no louder than the previous music," she writes that "the sound improved gradually" and "by the last set the sound was great." Megill claims that their song "Truckin' ", the last song before the encore, was "the highlight of the entire day" and that the "One hundred thousand people

n attendance N, or n, is the fourteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages, and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

were ecstatic." She then ends the article by stating that she agrees "wholeheartedly with the many bumper stickers I saw. 'There Ain't Nothin' Like a Grateful Dead Concert'." She closes her review by asserting that everyone there heard "some excellent music" and had "a real good time."Enclosure included with ''Dick's Picks Volume 15'', 1977, 1999.

Track listing

Disc one :''First set:'' #"Introduction" (Scher) – 0:41 #"

Promised Land In the Abrahamic religions, the "Promised Land" ( ) refers to a swath of territory in the Levant that was bestowed upon Abraham and his descendants by God in Abrahamic religions, God. In the context of the Bible, these descendants are originally ...

" (

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 ...

) – 5:08 #"They Love Each Other" (

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) – 7:41 #" Me & My Uncle" ( John Phillips) – 3:52 #"Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleloo" (Garcia, Hunter) – 13:34 #"Looks Like Rain" (

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 ...

, John Barlow) – 7:52 #"

Peggy-O The Bonnie Lass o' Fyvie (Roud # 545) is a Scottish folk song about a thwarted romance between a soldier and a woman. Like many folk songs, the authorship is unattributed, there is no strict version of the lyrics, and it is often referred to by it ...

" (traditional) – 9:18 #"New Minglewood Blues" ( Noah Lewis) – 5:20 #"

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, John Dawson, Hunter) – 8:13 #"The Music Never Stopped" (Weir, Barlow) – 7:03 Disc two :''Second set:'' #"Bertha" (Garcia, Hunter) – 8:35 → #"

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) – 6:00 #"Loser" (Garcia, Hunter) – 8:37 #"Estimated Prophet" (Barlow, Weir) – 9:29 → #"Eyes of the World" (Garcia, Hunter) – 13:17 #" Samson and Delilah" ( Rev. Gary Davis) – 6:40 Disc three #"He's Gone" (Garcia, Hunter) – 14:18 → #" Not Fade Away" (

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer, songwriter, and musician who was a central and pioneering figure of rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texa ...

, Norman Petty) – 19:58 → #"

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,

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 ...

, Weir, Hunter) – 10:05 :''Encore:'' #

"Terrapin Station" (Garcia, Hunter) – 11:02

Personnel

Grateful Dead: *

– lead guitar, vocals *

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 ...

– drums *

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 *

– bass, vocals *

– guitar, vocals *

Donna Jean Godchaux Donna Jean Thatcher Godchaux-MacKay (born August 22, 1947) is an American singer best known as a member of the rock band the Grateful Dead from 1972 to 1979. In addition to the Dead, she performed with the Jerry Garcia Band and the short-lived ...

– vocals *

Keith Godchaux Keith Richard Godchaux (July 19, 1948 – July 23, 1980) was an American pianist best known for his tenure in the rock group the Grateful Dead from 1971 to 1979. Following their departure from the Dead, he and his wife Donna formed the H ...

– keyboards Production: *

– tape archivist *Gecko Graphics – design *

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' ...

– recording *Jeffrey Norman – CD mastering *John Cutler – magnetic scrutinizer *Jim Anderson, John Oliver – photography *Martha Megill – liner notes; from ''Asbury Park Press'', September 6, 1977.

References

{{Authority control 15 1999 live albums

Enclosure and review

Review by Martha Megill

Track listing

Personnel

See also

References