Dick's Picks Volume Twentysix

Tracks

Duprees's Diamond Blues --> [4:30]
Mountains of the Moon --> [6:45]
China Cat Sunflower --> [5:58]
Doin' That Rag [7:18]
Cryptical Envelopment --> [3:05]
The Other One --> [7:20]
The Eleven --> [7:59]
The Other One --> [1:04]
I Know It's A Sin [4:28]
Turn On Your Lovelight --> [20:37]
Me and My Uncle --> [4:12]
Sitting On Top Of the World [3:37]

Dark Star --> [26:37]
St. Stephen --> [9:18]
The Eleven --> [10:19]
Turn On Your Lovelight [15:25]
Morning Dew [10:47]

Liner Notes:

1969 was a year of contrasts, including Woodstock and Altamont for example. We were still pretty new at the R&R touring game and we played in all sorts of halls. On tour, we rarely could afford separate hotel rooms for everyone, so we shared, something which seems very odd, looking back, but I think it was one of the nicer things limited money did, because we got to know each other pretty well that way.

The venue in Chicago called the Electric Theater was one of the odder ones we played in those days. We had to park on the street and lift our gear into the second floor wall (doors with no stairs) from the sidewalk below. The hall was a cavernous place, nearly square inside and had a series of large speakers hung around the hall in a circle, which were used to provide in-house sound, mostly for disco. The hall was run by Aaron Russo, an imposing, bear-like guy who cut quite a figure around the place. Some years later he turned up, slightly toned down, at one of our shows at Winterland in SF as Better Midler's manager, with her in tow. We generally did psychedelics on a Saturday, but I do not remember for sure if that was true this night, but chances are it was.

I must confess I don't remember details about the venue in Minneapolis which provides the remainder of this release, but in this case the show will speak for itself. As was the familiar mode for almost the whole career of the band, they start off a bit rough around the edges, slowly warm up, and by the second set are flying. Vocals become quite good later in the show, which was not always the case in '69. Technology for monitors had not yet gotten very sophisticated; the great leap in floor monitors was not made until the late '70's, by John Meyer for me when I was with the Starship. It was not until the late '80's that headphones (ear monitors) assume a format acceptable for onstage work.

Cheers,
Bear
9/22/02

CAVEAT EMPTOR

Dick's Picks Vol. 26 was mastered directly from the original stereo 7.5 ips analog tapes. It is a snapshot of history, not a modern professional recording, and may therefore exhibit some technical anomalies and the unavoidable effects of the ravages of time.

Credits:

Grateful Dead
Electric Theater Chicago, IL 4/26/69
Labor Temple Minneapolis, MN 4/27/69

Tom Constanten: Keyboards
Jerry Garcia: Lead Acoustic Guitar, Lead Electric Guitar, Vocals
Mickey Hart: Drums
Bill Kreutzmann: Drums
Phil Lesh: Electric Bass, Vocals
Ron "Pigpen" McKernan: Percussion, Harmonica, Vocals
Bob Weir: Rhythm Guitar, Vocals

Recorded by: Owsley Stanley
CD Mastering: Jeffrey Norman
Tape Archivist: David Lemieux
Archival Research: Eileen Law/Grateful Dead Archives
Cover Art and Package Design: Robert Minkin/www.minkindesign.com
Special Thanks to: Becky and Gary Halonen

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