Bobby's warmup after a CRS opener helps kick off one of the best 1st sets of 1976. Part of the brief era when they mic'd and mixed Donna beautifully

Gets right weird as part of a deep PITB sammy. How many first set spacemelts are there in '76? Something in the water for this hometown show???

How these guys (and gal) could turn such a cheese-ball song into massive lift-off spaceship jam event horizon is a modern miracle of music.

Smooth running, out of a very cool, thematically coherent Drums. Beautiful harmonies. Every Wheel is an elegant treat from '76, and this is a beaut.

On of the post-haitus ones that stretch and groove and go every-which-way. What a treat.

Hey Darkstar67: I totally dig what you're saying here, and agree that focusing in on Mr. K's work is always rewarding. It's one of the harder things to admit, though, that as much as I love Mickey, the one drummer period is musically more interesting to me. The synchronicity and telepathy of Billy and Mickey was undeniably powerful, but the ability for Billy to contribute as a full improvisational member of the collective was much greater as a solo drummer (in my opinion, but also, I think in his too). I'm not trying to dis Mickey or the great drums/space era, and hey, I got on the bus in the 80s, so with the exception of a pile of old Maxell 90s from earlier eras, the two drummer setup is the Dead I knew and followed until the archive was bestowed upon us. I just hear Billy's work from '72-74 and think, damn: Here's someone who plays the drums melodically, and can converse as a musical equal with Jerry and Phil (and Keith and Bobby), and you can stand his work up next to anything by the greatest drummers of our age: Tony Williams, Jack Dejohnette, Elvin Jones, or John Bonham, or Billy Cobham, or even, (gasp!) Keith Moon.

Robot Apocalypse thanks to Phil and Ned. Grinding sky saws and 6th-dimension alien machinewars probably ripped through more than one sensitive head and laid them out with one grindingly bad trip. Me: I love this stuff. Not cuz I'm a badass (I'm not) but because I'm a Freak who loves being blasted into a billion molecule-sized sound nuggets and reconstituted just a wee-bit furthur out. Warning: do not try to convince any newbies with this Godzilla Rampage.

Hot stuff as the band is still getting in gear and smoothing out some kinks in the Wall of Sound. Enjoy some of Ned's Martian zapgun weirdo effects during the break as they banter with the lucky lucky crowd.

This actually sounds to me more like a '74 jam than the psychedelic TOO monsters of '72. In either case, it's a beautiful long exploration, always dancing close to the madness and finally melting down in a few places. Special shout out for Keith, who sounds like he was playing with some new toys on this. Anyone know off hand what rig he was driving at these shows?

Vastly underrated. Maybe when heads think "September '72" they go straight to the Spectrum? If so, then you're missing out on a brilliant, sparkling, soaring Bird Song right here.