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’72 Five-pack Released to Fill Gap in Listen to the River Delay

- 20-disc Grateful Dead set pushed to Oct. 8

In 1972, the Grateful Dead as on-stage singers were still catching up to the Grateful Dead as composers.

The playing was often as exquisite as the vocals were abysmal, with pianist Keith Godchaux, bassist Phil Lesh and guitarist Jerry Garcia in particularly fine form as the band embarked on another new - one Dead drummer, Bill Kreutzmann; one Dead woman, Donna Jean Godchaux - era.

As the vault masters prepare for the delayed-to-Oct.-8 release of Listen to the River: St. Louis ’71, ’72, ’73, they’ve issued a five-song sampler from Oct. 17-19 of the middle year. And it proves the singing/playing dichotomy in the extreme.

“Black-Throated Wind,” “Brown-Eyed Women,” “Comes a Time,” “Brokedown Palace” and “Jack Straw” are each hampered on the mic - from Bob Weir’s atonal screeching on “Black Throated” to Garcia still learning to control his voice on “Comes a Time” to the antithetical “harmonies” on “Brokedown.” Yet each of these numbers, to varying degrees, features terrific aural groupthink and single-minded moments from Keith Godchaux, Lesh and Garcia.

It’s one of those packages that can simultaneously cause a listener to think, Why did anyone listen to this band? and Why didn’t more people listen to this band?

Hear it here.

10/4/21