Grateful Dead – Dick’s Picks Vol. 2: Columbus, Ohio 10/31/71 [Hand-Numbered 2xLP) – New LP

Vinyl 2LP, Hand-Numbered, 180g, Remastered, Stenciled 4th Side.  Dick’s Picks Vol. 2.  Halloween evening featuring a band called the Grateful Dead. For, on that 1971 night—presented on a three-sided double-LP—the group played the most ethereal, dreamy, and, yes, spooky version of “Dark Star” ever recorded; it’s almost as if Jerry Garcia was communing with his ancestors (and maybe John Coltrane) for the first seven minutes of his beautifully structured, contemplative and yearning solo. Then, after the vocal verse, Garcia, rhythm guitarist Bob Weir, and bassist Phil Lesh take turns suggesting a new improvisational theme before the band picks up on a two-note theme and Garcia launches into some of the most ecstatic guitar playing ever captured  (labeled by some the “Tighten Up” jam after the Archie Bell & the Drells song; others hear an embryonic “Eyes of the World”). The rest of the show keeps flying high during “Sugar Magnolia,” a rare, early-‘70s performance of “St. Stephen” and a great “Not Fade Away”/ “Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad”/ “Not Fade Away” medley rounds out the show…a “hallowed” performance indeed. Dick’s Picks Vol. 2 has seen a very limited vinyl release before, but that release cut its lacquers from CD files. As the recent saying goes, “Lordy, there are tapes!” Yup, Jeffrey Norman of Mockingbird Mastering has gone back to the original Scotch reel-to-reel tapes (pictured in the gatefold inner spread).