GRATEFUL DEAD: Dick’s Picks Vol. 28
Saturday, July 28, 2012 at 03:01AM • The Legendary Series of Peak Live Shows, Carefully Culled Straight from the Band's Vaults
• Dick's Picks 28 Is Considered One of the Stand-Out Volumes in the Series
“Dick” was Dick Latvala, the official tape archivist for the Grateful Dead until 1999, whose inspiration and encyclopedic knowledge of the band’s vaults spawned the fabled Dick’s Picks series of live Dead concert recordings. Comprised of 36 volumes, Dick’s Picks follows the band on its long, strange trip through a multitude of eras, tours and venues, featuring handpicked shows that display the band at its visionary, improvisational height. Now, Real Gone Music is finally bringing this unparalleled cache of Dead concert brilliance to record stores—many of these volumes have never been available at music retail, and the others have been unavailable for close to a decade!
GRATEFUL DEAD: Dick’s Picks Vol. 28—2/26/73 Pershing Municipal Auditorium, Lincoln, NE 2/28/73 Salt Palace, Salt Lake City, UT (4-CD Set)
These two 1973 concerts take place about two weeks after the Dead added a large number of new, jazzy numbers to their repertoire, one of which (“Eyes of the World”) plays a central role in both shows excerpted here (though these are not complete shows, only one song, “Deal,” that was played either of these nights does not appear here in at least in one version). As usual, it’s the medleys that hold the most jaw-dropping feats of improvisational derring-do; the first night’s “Dark Star/Eyes of the World/Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo” is seamlessly sublime (or is that sublimely seamless?), while the second night’s “Truckin’/The Other One/Eyes of the World/”Morning Dew” covers a prodigious amount of terrain, from raucous to frenzied to lilting to lyrical in the space of nearly one glorious hour. Also noted with pleasure is the appearance of “Box of Rain,” which the Dead performed live sparingly. Presented in HDCD sound—never before available in stores!
Songs:
Lincoln, NE February 26, 1973
Disc One
- Promised Land
- Loser
- Jack Straw
- Don’t Ease Me In
- Looks Like Rain
- Loose Lucy
- Beer Barrel Polka
- Big Railroad Blues
- Playing in the Band
- They Love Each Other
- Big River
- Tennessee Jed
Disc Two
- Greatest Story Ever Told
- Dark Star
- Eyes of the World
- Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo
- Me and My Uncle
- Not Fade Away
- Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad
- Not Fade Away
Salt Lake City, UT, February 28, 1973
Disc Three
- Cold Rain and Snow
- Beat It On Down the Line
- They Love Each Other
- Mexicali Blues
- Sugaree
- Box of Rain
- El Paso
- He’s Gone
- Jack Straw
- China Cat Sunflower
- I Know You Rider
- Big River
Disc Four
- Row Jimmy
- Truckin’
- The Other One
- Eyes of the World
- Morning Dew
- Sugar Magnolia
- And We Bid You Goodnight

