Grateful Dead: “Dave’s Picks 2020 Bonus Disc” (2020) CD Review

If you have a subscription to the Dave’s Picks series of Grateful Dead concert recordings, each year you receive a bonus disc in the mail. This year that disc arrived with Dave’s Picks Volume 34, and features selections from the show the Grateful Dead played on June 22, 1974, the night before the show presented on Volume 34. This show was performed at the same venue, the Jai-Alai Fronton in Miami, Florida. Most of the songs selected for this disc come from the second set, with one notable exception.

The disc opens with “Playing In The Band,” which was the first set closer that night. The energy is high almost right out of the gate. You can decide for yourself whether Donna’s early howl adds to or subtracts from that, but soon after that moment, the band begins to get into more interesting territory anyway. Yeah, just a few minutes into this version, the band is off into a spacey jam. It is like they are deconstructing the song, tearing away layer after layer, until there is near silence at one point. Then, satisfied, they build from there. These guys were so good at that, particularly in 1973 and 1974, when the jams often had a really free and jazzy flow. And they find a good jazzy groove here, and let it take them where it will, even as it eventually takes them out of that groove altogether and into stranger places, where perhaps these guys are most at home. They do, however, eventually launch back into the main body of the song, and do so with a great force. This “Playing” is nearly a half hour long, and is definitely worth listening to.

This disc then takes us to the second set opener, “China Cat Sunflower,” which has a kind of smooth, laid back feel to it. The jam, though not reaching any great heights, is totally enjoyable, with a pleasant groove, and of course it eventually leads to “I Know You Rider.” It’s a good rendition, and takes on a great energy when Jerry sings the “headlight” verse. That’s when this track really grabs you. We then skip to the end of the second set, this disc containing the final three songs. The first of those is “Eyes Of The World,” a song I am always happy to hear, particularly versions from 1973 and 1974. There is a lot of joy to the playing, making it so much fun to dance to. “Sometimes we live no particular way but our own.” I love what Phil does on this version. The jam here is so good, and it includes that extra section near the end that was a part of the song only in 1973 and 1974. The jam eases into “Wharf Rat,” another of the band’s best songs, this one with a more serious, somber tone. Yet there is something hopeful in a line like “But I’ll get back on my feet someday.” Those Deadheads who eschewed drugs called themselves Wharf Rats. The “I’ll get up and fly away” section has tremendous power in this version. The disc then concludes with a good rendition of “Sugar Magnolia,” with a long pause before the “Sunshine Daydream” section.

CD Track List

1. Playing In The Band
2. China Cat Sunflower >
3. I Know You Rider
4. Eyes Of The World >
5. Wharf Rat >
6. Sugar Magnolia
   

Dave’s Picks 2020 Bonus Disc was released in early May, and shipped with Dave’s Picks Volume 34.