Lazy Lightnin’ > Supplication was the opening sequence on Kingfish’s debut album in 1976. It also worked its way into the Dead’s repertoire for a good number of years starting with their return from hiatus in 1976 until Halloween 1984 (on occasion the songs were separated, but more often they were played together).
Weir must have a real attraction to odd time signatures because this is another one in 7/4. One of the other things about these songs, in my opinion, is that the backing vocal parts are really important to getting the song right and after Donna left these songs suffered on the vocal end of things.
The Dave’s Picks series debuted in early 2012 and this was actually the last song picked in 30 Days Of Dead in 2011. There have been a few well placed nuggets within that annual contest that foreshadow upcoming releases. There’s no sure-fire formula, but it does make for some fun speculation when the contest rolls around each year.
One final comment about this release. When the artwork was first released I was a bit confused. I didn’t get the relationship between the Dead and lightsabers. Well apparently the first Star Wars film was released on 5/25/77. Once I found that out the artwork made a lot more sense!
Any other officially released versions worth considering? Drop a note in the comments.
Phil’s riff leading into Supplication sounds a bit weak here, almost like he wasn’t exactly sure where he wanted to go. Everyone keeps it pretty mellow at first, and Mickey (I presume) is doing some cool percussion work while Jerry gets his legs under him for this instrumental passage. Keith holds things down on keys, but really doesn’t contribute much here. Bobby’s chord work is quick and agile. About half way through Supplication Phil starts to exert himself which seems to cue the singing. Again Donna’s backing vocals sound really good here. As the energy picks up, Jerry really starts to go nuts and Keith, although not doing anything special, really comes to the front of the mix. One final “Woo!” and everything is now in the past.
This is a great combo and I agree with you that Donna’s vocals are an important part of the songs. They did some Supplication Jams later on that were exciting but my favorite performances are from this era. One of my favorite moments from any Dave’s Picks is the when Supplication emerges from Playin’ on DaP4. My wife and kids happened to be in the room at that point and I blurted out, “Right there! Did you hear that?!” And she just rolled her eyes and said, “This is what dad used to do all the time.” Kind of reminds me of that video posted a few days ago, I Married a Deadhead.
I really, really love this first Dave’s Picks and feel it’s somewhat overlooked, probably because there’s been so much released from this tour. It’s great, though.
One summer night my daughter had a friend over and they decided to “camp” in the back yard and I took the opportunity to turn it up LOUD. Right after the Other One, she came in the house and said, “Geez, dad, think it’s loud enough? You can hear the bass all the way outside,” then she went, “da da da da da da da….DAAAAA!!!” as if she’d heard the intro to the Other One a hundred times. And although she probably doesn’t know it, she likely has heard it a hundred times.
HAHA! That’s awesome Mike. Thanks for sharing – definitely gave me a chuckle. I’m sure my kids will do something similar some day too!
Lazy Lightning
Weir counts this off and it sounds like someone on-stage tries to interrupt him. No dice, Bob says, and the song is off and galloping, seven to the bar. He lassos a rope of fire around the boys and girl, and there is no stopping him. Jerry is no slouch here as he lights into the first solo with all he has. Returning to the verse, there is a minor train wreck and I am amazed that the band is able to plow through without stopping. There is another mis-cue coming into…
Supplication
The beats get cross-wise at the top of this, with Phil and Jerry fighting for primacy. I’m not sure who wins, but it gets sorted out quickly and we are into heavy jam territory. The band sets up a perfect groove above which Garcia and Lesh weave an intense rug of sonic cover. I get the impression that both of these guys are very high. Sometimes that sort of thing works to the better, sometimes not. Here it is probably the latter, although this is not a terrible jam by any measure. Jer’s parts catch fire near the end, and he and the whole band stick the ending. It’s enough to ignite a minor conflagration of crowd appreciation.
Oh, and I think Betty had a dedicated reverb unit to use during recording on this tour. She over-does it sometimes, but usually it sounds big and warm. The Spring 1977 box has many examples of this. There are a couple of moments when all you hear is her reverb effect without any dry vocal, then she (presumably) notices and fades up the vocal signal in the mix.