Dick's Picks Volume 4 is the fourth live album in the Dick's Picks series of releases by the Grateful Dead. It was recorded on February 13 and February 14, 1970, at the Fillmore East in New York City, and released in February 1996. It was the first of the Dick's Picks CDs to have three discs. It was also the first Dead album to include the song "Mason's Children".
"Dick's Picks Volume 4" was the second album of live material from the 2/13/70 and 2/14/70 concerts. The first was "History of the Grateful Dead, Volume One (Bear's Choice)", which was released in 1973.
The Grateful Dead played three sets of music at each of these concerts — a relatively short electric set, an acoustic set, and another, longer electric set, followed by an encore. "Dick's Picks Volume 4" contains the complete third sets of both shows, plus two additional songs.
The Fillmore East shows.
On February 11, 13, and 14, 1970, the Grateful Dead — along with the Allman Brothers Band and Love — performed at Bill Graham's Fillmore East auditorium in New York City. The February 13 and February 14 Dead shows were widely regarded as among the band's best concerts, even before the release of "Dick's Picks Volume 4". In addition to the evidence offered by "Bear's Choice", high quality soundboard bootlegs of the concerts had been in circulation for quite some time. In a 1993 poll of Grateful Dead tape traders, based on the concert recordings then in circulation, the 2/13/70 show was ranked #2 on the list of all-time favorite Dead tapes, and 2/14/70 was #17. (The May 8, 1977, concert at Cornell University's Barton Hall received the top ranking.) The same poll rated the 2/13/70 versions of "Dark Star", "The Other One", and "Turn On Your Love Light" as the best ever. (The "Dark Star" played on August 27, 1972, in Veneta, Oregon, was ranked #2. The February 27, 1969, version from the Fillmore West, included in "Live/Dead", was #9.)
Selections from the Allman Brothers Band's performances at this set of concerts were released as the album "Fillmore East, February 1970".
Enclosure and liner notes.
"Dick's Picks Volume 4" is the first release in the series to include an enclosure. Consisting of a single sheet of paper folded into thirds, it is six pages long and about the same size as the CD case.
The front page duplicates the cover of the CD and the back shows a photo of the venue. On the inside, the first page lists the contents of and credits for the release and next to that is a full-page black-and-white photograph of the band performing. The last two pages contain liner notes.
Liner notes by Bear.
The liner notes were written by Owsley "Bear" Stanley, who recorded the show. This short essay briefly reviews the place these shows hold in the band's history and spends some time discussing the sound equipment the band used at the time.
Bear writes that the PA system "worked pretty well most of the time" but that "Monitors continued to be a vexation until 1978." He goes on to describe the system used for the shows in some detail to "help those technically inclined to understand why this recording sounds the way it does."
Following these technical notes, the author goes on to make some personal observations, noting that "Taping was just something that I always did and the performance was always more important than getting the tape right." He then mentions that the Allman Brothers also played during these shows, and "Everyone was having a real good time."
Bear closes with some nostalgic musings, stating that "Listening to these tapes again after so many years was a real treat for me, remembering what a good time we all had in those early days of youth and hijinks."
Critical reception.
"Dick's Picks Volume 4" received a rating of five stars out of five from "Rolling Stone", "The Music Box" magazine, and Allmusic.
Greg Kot of "Rolling Stone" wrote, "But when the early Dead were at their best, few American bands were better in concert. Exhibit A is "Volume Four", which culls highlights from two masterly 1970 performances at the Fillmore East. Here the full range of the band's arsenal is represented: the luminous 'Dark Star', a raging 'Not Fade Away', the sheer nastiness of McKernan on his showpiece, 'Turn On Your Love Light'."
In "The Music Box", John Metzger said, "I don't think I need to tell anyone about the performance of the Grateful Dead on February 13 – 14, 1970, as these have long been fan favorites... If you have never heard the February 13 performance of Dark Star / That's It for the Other One / Lovelight, you must be living in a cave or have never seen the Grateful Dead. It's one of the most amazing performances they ever did. Over 90 minutes of pure bliss that is sure to convert the unconverted."
William Ruhlmann of Allmusic wrote, "It isn't just the set list that makes this a legendary show, it's the playing: amazing interaction among the players on every song, with Garcia noodling his way to nirvana. While it would be an exaggeration to say that if you own this three-CD, three-hour-and-ten-minute album you have all you need of the Grateful Dead on disc, the overstatement is only slight."
On Jambands.com, Dan Alford wrote, "This performance really needs no introduction; it's one of the most famous two night stands in the Grateful Dead's history, and if you don't think 5/8/77 is the best GD performance, it's possible you think 2/13/70 is... Easily one of the best moments of the 30 year trip."
"Grayfolded".
Over 14 minutes of the 2/13/70 version of "Dark Star" was included on the Grateful Dead / John Oswald plunderphonics collaboration project "Grayfolded". The section of music used was the jam in between the first and second verse, affectionately called the "Feelin' Groovy Jam" by Deadheads, because of the musical similarity to Simon &amp; Garfunkel's "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)". The section of "Grayfolded" where this can be found is on Disc 2, track 2 called "73rd Star Bridge Sonata".
Set lists.
The concert set lists for the 2/13/70 and 2/14/70 shows at the Fillmore East were:
[a] appears on "Dick's Picks Volume 4"
[b] appears on "Bear's Choice"
[c] appears on "Long Strange Trip"
Caveat Emptor.
Each volume of "Dick's Picks" has its own "caveat emptor" label, advising the listener of the sound quality of the recording. The label for "Volume 4" reads:
"This compact disc has been digitally remastered directly from the original half track 7 ;templatestyles src="Fraction/styles.css" / ;1⁄2 ips analog tape. 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."
Track listing.
Disc one
"February 14 – first set:"
"February 14 – third set:"
"February 13 – third set:"
* Dark Star – 18:20 →
* Feelin' Groovy Jam (Paul Simon, arr. Grateful Dead) – 3:05 →
* Dark Star – 8:08 →
Disc two
"February 13 – third set, continued:"
* Cryptical Envelopment (Garcia) – 1:55 →
* Drums (Hart, Kreutzmann) – 7:36 →
* The Other One (Weir, Kreutzmann) – 13:47 →
* Cryptical Envelopment (reprise) – 6:39 →
Disc three
"February 14 – third set, continued:"
Personnel.
Grateful Dead
Production
Notes.
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