''Dick's Picks Volume 1'' is the first

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

in the ''

Dick's Picks 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 Sa ...

'' series of live releases by the Grateful Dead. It was recorded on December 19, 1973 at

Curtis Hixon Hall Curtis Hixon Hall was an indoor sports arena, convention center, concert venue, and special events center which was located at 600 Ashley Drive along the Hillsborough River in downtown Tampa, Florida. It opened in 1965, and was the primary co ...

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

, and contains a rare recording of the band playing the blues standard "Nobody's Fault but Mine". As the first of the ''Dick's Picks'', the album was considered by

Deadhead A Deadhead or Dead Head is a fan of the American rock band the Grateful Dead. In the 1970s, a number of fans began travelling to see the band in as many shows or festival venues as they could. With large numbers of people thus attending strings ...

s to be a significant breakthrough. All previous live Dead albums (except ''

Vintage Dead ''Vintage Dead'' is a live album by the rock group the Grateful Dead. It was recorded at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco, California, in late 1966 (thought to be September 16, 1966), and released in October 1970. ''Vintage Dead'' was produc ...

'' and ''

Historic Dead ''Historic Dead'' is a live album by the rock group the Grateful Dead. It was recorded at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco, California in late 1966, and released in June 1971. History ''Historic Dead'' was produced as a vinyl LP on the Sunf ...

'') had been based on

multi-track recording Multi-track may refer to: * Multitrack recording, the process of mixing individual sound sources to a single recording * Multi-track diplomacy, a method of conflict resolution * Multi track, a process of civil litigation in England and Wales ** ...

s, which can be remixed extensively before being commercially released. ''Dick's Picks'' were created using stereo (two-track) concert recordings. This made possible the release of many more Dead shows that exist in the band's extensive tape vault. The series was named for Grateful Dead tape archivist

Dick Latvala Dick 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 Picks'' w ...

"Caveat emptor"

Each volume of ''Dick's Picks'' has its own " caveat emptor" label, advising the listener of the sound quality of the recording. The label for volume 1 reads: "The recording herein has been lovingly remastered directly from the original two-track master tape and is therefore not immune to the various glitches, splices, reel changes and other aural gremlins contained on said original. Dick's Picks differs from our ''From The Vault'' series in that we simply did not have access to complete shows (nor the modern mixing capabilities afforded by multitrack tapes). But we think the historical value and musical quality of these tapes more than compensates for any technical anomalies... In other words, what you hear is what you get. And what you get ain't bad!"

Track listing

Disc one

#"Here Comes Sunshine" ( Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter) – 14:13 #" Big River" ( Johnny Cash) – 5:23 #"Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo" (Garcia, Hunter) – 7:29 #"Weather Report Suite" (

Eric Andersen Eric Andersen (born February 14, 1943) is an American folk music singer-songwriter, who has written songs recorded by Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Linda Ronstadt, the Grateful Dead and many others. Early in his career, in the 1960s, ...

, Bob Weir,

John Perry Barlow John Perry Barlow (October 3, 1947February 7, 2018) was an American poet, essayist, cattle rancher, and cyberlibertarian political activist who had been associated with both the Democratic and Republican parties. He was also a lyricist for th ...

) - 15:56 #"Big Railroad Blues" (

Noah Lewis Noah Lewis (September 3, 1891 – February 7, 1961)Eagle, Bob; LeBlanc, Eric S. (2013). Blues: A Regional Experience. Santa Barbara, California: Praeger. p. 238. . Previously, his birth year was also reported as 1890 or 1895. 1891 is general ...

) – 4:06 #"

Playing in the Band "Playing in the Band" is a Grateful Dead song. 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 the s ...

" (Weir, Mickey Hart, Hunter) – 21:11

Disc two

#"He's Gone" (Garcia, Hunter) – 10:48 → #"

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 Wo ...

" (Garcia, Weir, Phil Lesh, Hunter) – 9:18 → #"

Nobody's Fault but Mine "It's Nobody's Fault but Mine" or "Nobody's Fault but Mine" is a song first recorded by gospel blues artist Blind Willie Johnson in 1927. It is a solo performance with Johnson singing and playing slide guitar. The song has been interpreted an ...

" ( Joseph "Blind Willie" Johnson) – 5:53 → #"Jam" (Garcia,

Keith Godchaux Keith Richard Godchaux (July 19, 1948 – July 23, 1980) was a pianist best known for his tenure in the rock group the Grateful Dead from 1971 to 1979. Biography Godchaux was born in Seattle, Washington, and grew up in Concord, California ...

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 ...

, Lesh, Weir) – 8:11 → #"The Other One" (Weir, Kreutzmann) – 1:57 → #"Jam" (Garcia, Godchaux, Kreutzmann, Lesh, Weir) – 6:12 → #"Stella Blue" (Garcia, Hunter) – 8:45 #"

Around and Around "Around and Around" is a 1958 rock song written and first recorded by Chuck Berry. It originally appeared under the name "Around & Around" as the B-side to the single " Johnny B. Goode". Cover versions The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stone ...

" (

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...

) – 5:37

Personnel

Grateful Dead

* Jerry Garcia —

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featu ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

—

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

— drums * Phil Lesh — bass, vocals * Bob Weir — rhythm guitar, vocals In the CD liner notes,

Donna Jean Godchaux Donna Jean Thatcher Godchaux-MacKay (born August 22, 1947) is an American singer who was a member of the Grateful Dead from 1972 until 1979. Biography Donna Jean Thatcher was born in Florence, Alabama. Prior to 1970, she had worked as a sessi ...

is listed in the band lineup and credited as "giving birth"; she had temporarily stopped touring with the band as she was about to have her first son, Zion.

Production

*Kidd Candelario — producer, recording *

— tape archivist *Bruce Polonsky — photography *Gekko Graphics — design *special thanks to Nagra 2791 and Jeff Briss

References

{{Authority control 01 1993 live albums