Dick picks again; 16 volumes and counting

The recent death of the Grateful Dead's official "tape archivist" Dick Latvala, responsible for the highly coveted series of live releases known as "Dick's Picks," left many fans, myself included, concerned about the series' future. But Dick left behind a lengthy list of intended future picks, and the release of "Dick's Picks Volume Fifteen" and, most recently, "Volume Sixteen," a spectacular, mind-altering show from the Fillmore Auditorium that is now available for order through the Dead's Website, proves that Dick saved some of his best picks for last.

While there are numerous live recordings already available from the same year, most notably "Filmore East: 2/11/69" and "Live Dead," "Dick's Picks Sixteen" far outdoes the other shows both in terms of the intensity of the band's playing (or jamming, I should say), which is stunning, and their willingness to explore the farthest reaches of psychedelic mayhem while never losing track of their focus or cohesiveness as a collective group.

The first set gets things going with stellar versions of "Good Morning Little School Girl," which features Pigpen in top form both on harmonica and lead vocals, a blues-soaked, groovy "Easy Wind," and a rollicking "Good Lovin," all of which are a mere tease for what's to come.

The real reason why this release is an essential component of any Dead collection is illustrated in the second and third disks, which essentially comprise one extended jam (approximately 94 minutes), that features Dead standards of the time ("Dark Star," "The Other One," "St. Stephen") as well as embryonic versions of future Dead standards "Uncle John's Band" and "Playing in the Band" when they were still jams without the addition of vocals. The "Uncle John's" jam is so beautiful, one almost wishes the Dead withheld from ever adding lyrics, good as they are.

The "Dark Star" that starts it all off is surely one of the most crisp, flowing versions the band has played. Garcia simply wails on guitar and Phil Lesh thunders on the bass with subtle intensity. The band returns to the "Dark Star" two more times before the night is over, using the song's volcanic energy and solid groove as a spring board to launch into other songs and jams. Lesh's "Other One" teases are too solid to be ignored, and the band quickly follows his lead, after a "Feeling Groovy"-esque jam, into a blistering version of the song that drips with psychedelic energy. Tom Constanten's eerily Gothic work on the organ leaves one wondering why he remained with the Dead for less than a year - he far surpasses Pigpen on the organ, and his presence leaves Pigpen free to focus on what he does best-vocals and harmonica. The "Caution (Do Not Stop on the Tracks)" that sandwiches the "Playing" jam (then called the "The Main Ten" jam), again features Pigpen in a gritty, freestyle rap that ûexemplifies his ability to rouse and rabble the crowd.

The emotional "We Bid You Goodnight" that concludes the show is a fitting, albeit off-tune, example of the close bond the band and audience developed during the course of the show, influenced perhaps by the psychedelics that flowed freely at Dead concerts throughout the sixties and seventies (remember that the Dead's earliest source of funds was none other than "acid king" Owsley Stanley, who also recorded the show), but also, and more importantly, by the sheer energy and power of the music, characterized by intense, improvisational jamming, excellent (for Dead standards) vocal harmonization, and the willingness to explore the unknown and familiar in order to draw the audience into their radically altered reality.

"Dick's Picks Volume Sixteen" is probably best summed up in the words of the Digable Planets: it's "Psy-Che-Del-ic and Phat." Check it out.