Grateful Dead—Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall, Kansas City, KS, November 13, 1972
Every once in a while, I stumble onto a really special Grateful Dead recording. This night in Kansas definitely qualifies. What makes this particular gig really shine—aside from the beautiful playing—is the quality of the sound. There were several shows during this fall '72 run that Bear resorted to audience taping, producing really sweet room recordings. Owsley experimented with the placement of the mics, and to a certain extent with kinds of mics (he was limited in the choices available and, as a result, preferred an omnidirectional type of setup).
The result is a sonic wonder. And although it’s only a fragment of the full show, it’s a Dark Star suite that’ll set your head on fire. Garcia’s guitar work is riveting, and the jam really gets going post-verse. Jerry ventures off into a slashing, irregular jam, and Kreutzmann follows. In due time, the rest of the group join in and explore some affecting spontaneous themes. After the verse and some stirring feedback, Lesh begins to pepper the soundscape with deep, yearning bass notes. He soon enters a solo that is halting at first, but in time becomes a stomping, bluesy strut. Keith’s rumbling wah-wah piano is especially sparkling near the beginning and after Phil’s post-meltdown solo. And, as he so often is inclined to do, Jerry pushes the unit into a new direction, leaning into what becomes a full-speed-ahead Feelin’ Groovy theme with adventurous ensemble twists. The transition into Morning Dew is faultless, which the crowd duly acknowledges.
Owsley Stanley had a long and storied relationship with the Grateful Dead, beginning in 1965 at an early Acid Test in Muir Beach. Bear was a constant tinkerer with sound equipment, and many developments in the band's sound wouldn't have happened without him. During his time as the sound engineer for the Dead, Bear started what became the long-standing practice of recording the band while they rehearsed and performed. His early reasoning for creating his “sonic journal” was to improve his ability to mix the sound, but the fortuitous result was an extensive trove of recordings, many of which lie in the Dead’s vault today. This is one such document. Like many of his tapes, the sound is exquisite, and it’s remarkable how clearly and completely it captures what it was like to be in the audience that night at the Memorial Hall in Kansas City.
Don’t simply take my word for it, though. Plug in some good headphones and cue this weird and beautiful thing up.