GRATEFUL DEAD Dick's Picks Vol.8 - Harpur College Binghamton 1970 (3-CD)

(Real Gone Music) 24 tracks

If there were a college course on bootlegs of the Grateful Dead (and if there weren't, there should be!), the concert included on Dick's Picks Vol. 8 would occupy a prominent place on the syllabus. For that evening at tiny Harpur College in upstate New York was for years arguably the Tapers' most lauded and coveted show (Jerry Garcia himself later called it a memorable performance); and it appears here, complete except for one song, on this 3-CD set. The first disc offers one of the most beguiling acoustic sets the Dead ever played, full of gems (Dire Wolf, Black Peter, Uncle John's Band) from the previously recorded but not yet released Workingman's Dead, plus a number of old folk and blues songs highlighted by a beautiful slow-burning version of I Know You Rider; it's doubtful the band ever harmonized as beautifully as they do here, and the unforced atmosphere is simply charming. Discs two and three present the (very) electric Dead at their best, with a healthy dose of sleazy soul 'n' blues served up by Pigpen; the version of The Other One in the 40-minute medley that opens the second set is second to none, and the third set's Viola Lee Blues features not one but three stunning crescendos, while their version of the seldom-played James Brown tune It's a Man's World is as gritty and gut-busting as the band gets. The closing We Bid You Goodnight is twice as long as usual because the enthusiastic crowd wouldn't let it go out of print for years, and a must for any self-respecting Dead library.