As some may have seen on the DFAY twitter feed I purchased the new Spring 1990 (The Other One) box set (There are still a few copies left over at Dead.net, I believe). Let me just say that the shows sound absolutely phenomenal.
Because I’ve limited these pages to officially released material some years might be more represented than others, especially now that two complete tours have been released – Europe 72 and Spring 1990. I happen to be a huge fan of the Spring 1990 tour so there will likely be a healthy serving of Spring 90 in the coming months. I’m sorry I’m not sorry.
From the get-go it was clear that the sound on the Spring 1990 The Other One box set was a cut above. My first “HOLY CRAP!” moment of listening to the box set came with today’s Black Peter therefore it only seemed appropriate to make it the first song from the new box set to highlight here.
I’m in the midst of reading Blair Jackson’s biography, Garcia: An American Life and I just read the following passage after selecting this tune and drafting this post:
For the rest of Garcia’s career, “Black Peter,” so often dirgelike in the early ’80s, would be one of his most powerful tunes, no doubt because it now had a special resonance for him.
The above quote (located on page 358 in the text) comes from the chapter detailing Jerry’s return to performing after his coma in 1986. I read that and thought, “YES! 3/14/90 is a perfect example of this.”
