Road Trips: Vol. 2, No. 2 - Carousel 2/14/68 (2 CD)

 (6 customer reviews)

I had somewhat overlooked this Road Trips series until I saw some of my favorite shows released on it - 6/16/ and 6/18/74, and now this - so I'd say this is an even more worthy purchase than Dick's Picks Vol. 22, being that 2/14/68 is probably the Dead's best show of the year. The first half of the performance includes nice early versions of what would become the Live/Dead material; much of it is still in the embryonic stage, but it is rewarding none the less. But during the 2nd set (dedicated to the memory of Neil Cassidy who recently died) we get a start to finish live performance of Anthem of the Sun, the Dead's Live/Studio hybrid, including near definitive versions of New Potato Caboose, and as other reviewers have mentioned, Alligator. THE Alligator, folks, the one that is actually used for the live portions of Anthem. And The New Potato is bested only by the absolutely EPIC version on Two From The Vault. Not to mention, there is a GREAT Phil Lesh (bass) dominated version of...Read more

This show is one of the most prized shows among tape traders and was always one of the cornerstones of just about everyone's collection. The thing was that for many years people only had copies of the second set but know we have the whole show!!!

Valentine's Day of '68 found the band sharing a bill with Country Joe and The Fish at the Carousel Ballroom. The band were in the process of recording both live and studio stuff for what would become their second album that Summer. The first set kicks off with a great Morning Dew which is followed by a then common Good Morning Little School Girl. The first set concludes with short, hot, early versions of Dark Star->China Cat Sunflower->The Eleven->Turn On Your Lovelight with Dark Star being just over 6 minutes and The Eleven just over 5! For the cd, we get some great filler to round out the disc: Viola Lee Blues from 1-20-68 in Eureka, CA; Beat It On Down The Line and It Hurts Me Too from 1-22, 23-68 Seattle WA and Dark Star from...Read more

If you, like I, have had this show on cassette for decades, you can now have that best ever version of Alligator complete without have to flip your tape. The whole show's mix is identical, straight from the soundboard. Gritty, yet pristine. I'm generally an LP guy, but this CD has been instrumental in catapulting me into the modern age of audio.
The only thing I can complain about, is that it includes a few extra tracks from another show during the same time period. Although they're good, they don't quite live up to the Carousel show. They had to put them on the end of the first disk due to time constraints. Would have been better as it's own disk, just like the bonus disk, which also is from another show. That, though, is the beauty of CD. You can just push-button away, and hear them as you wish.

If you consider yourself a Deadhead, you'll know this is a must-have!