Grateful Dead - Dick's Picks 12. 6 180 GRAM VINYL LP

6LP, Box Set, 180g Vinyl, 2-Piece Hardshell Box, Insert, Hand-Numbered, 1 Side Stenciled

Dick’s Picks Vol. 12—Providence Civic Center 6/26/74 & Boston Garden 6/28/74 was the one. Which is interesting, because that Pick is a little different, combining the second sets of two different nights instead of offering a single show.

But it’s the exception that proves the rule—the playing is so extraordinary, and the repertoire so unusual, that one can understand why Dick Latvala played more curator than archivist here. Side A picks up the second set from Providence three songs in, featuring a short jam that leads into what many have labeled the most extraordinary live version of “China Cat Sunflower” ever recorded, complete with a sublime transition (“Mud Love Buddy Jam” a.k.a. “Mind Left Body Jam”) into “I Know You Rider.” 

The revelatory moments continue throughout the Providence set, highlighted by a dazzling, 15-minute “Spanish Jam.” But the second set of the Boston show—which appears here complete, after a superb encore performance of “Eyes of the World” from Providence—is the one that has passed into legend among Dead fans (a performance of Phil Lesh and Ned Lagin’s electronic music piece “Seastones” provides an appropriately adventurous interlude). The set boasts one of the most renowned live jams of the band’s career, a flawless, 14-minute “Weather Report Suite: Prelude/Pt. 1/Pt. 2-Let It Grow” leading into a 27-minute “Jam” that is simply one of the most far-ranging, telepathic improvisations ever played by, well, anybody. That this set also includes a separation of the “Sunshine Daydream” section from “Sugar Magnolia” for only the second time ever is just gravy.

This is, of course, a “Wall of Sound” concert, so we’re working with something of a special audio source to begin with. So, we enlisted Jeffrey Norman to master the release for vinyl from the original tapes (pictured on the enclosed insert), and enlisted Clint Holley and Dave Polster over at Well Made Music to cut the lacquers. Gotta Groove Records, our manufacturer of choice, has pressed the 6 LPs on to 180-gram black vinyl housed inside a two-piece hardshell box, and we have a little stencil surprise for ya on Side L. Limited edition of 3000 hand-numbered copies

Side A

Providence

1.     Jam

2.     China Cat Sunflower

3.     Mud Love Buddy Jam a.k.a. Mind Left Body Jam

4.     I Know You Rider

Side B

1.     Beer Barrel Polka

2.     Truckin’

3.     Other One Jam

Side C

1.     Spanish Jam

Side D

       1.   Wharf Rat

2.     Sugar Magnolia

Side E

1.     Eyes of the World

Boston

2.     Seastones

Side F

1.     Sugar Magnolia

2.     Scarlet Begonias

3.     Big River

Side G

1.     To Lay Me Down

2.     Me and My Uncle

3.     Row Jimmy

Side H

1.     Weather Report Suite: Prelude/Pt. 1/Pt. 2-Let It Grow

Side I

       1.    Jam

Side J

1.     Jam (cont.)

2.     U.S. Blues

Side K

       1.   Promised Land

2.     Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad

3.     Sunshine Daydream

4.     Ship of Fools