Dave's Picks Volume 17 Explained

Dave's Picks Volume 17
Type:live
Artist:Grateful Dead
Cover:Daves-Picks-Volume-17.jpg
Alt:Two skeletons in formal attire operate mechanical devices. In the foreground is the Wall of Sound concert sound system, and roses.
Released:February 1, 2016
Recorded:July 19, 1974
Venue:Selland Arena, Fresno, California, USA
Genre:Rock
Length:197:29
Label:Rhino
Producer:Grateful Dead
Prev Title:Shrine Exposition Hall, Los Angeles, CA 11/10/1967
Prev Year:2016
Next Title:Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ, 4/25/77
Next Year:2016

Dave's Picks Volume 17 is a three-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains the complete concert recorded on July 19, 1974 at Selland Arena in Fresno, California. It was produced in a limited edition of 16,500 numbered copies, and released on February 1, 2016.

Each year a different person creates the album cover art for the Dave's Picks albums. For 2016 the designated artist was Justin Helton[1] Depicted on the cover of Volume 17 are two skeletons and the band's Wall of Sound concert sound system.

Critical reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine, writing on AllMusic, said, "... the repertoire... doesn't distinguish this show as much as its muscular, elastic snap, where the band is equally eager to delve into funky murk and launch into outer space.... the real pleasure of the Fresno 1974 show is how it showcases everything the Dead could do at that moment—the burnished folk, the old-time rock & roll, the country and funk—and shows that the band was still finding ways to turn the whole thing inside out and back again."

Track listing

Disc 1
  • First set:
    1. "Bertha" (Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter) – 6:33
    2. "Mexicali Blues" (Bob Weir, John Barlow) – 4:06
    3. "Deal" (Garcia, Hunter) – 4:55
    4. "Beat It On Down the Line" (Jesse Fuller) – 3:45
    5. "Row Jimmy" (Garcia, Hunter) – 8:20
    6. "Me and Bobby McGee" (Kris Kristofferson, Fred Foster) – 6:28
    7. "Scarlet Begonias" (Garcia, Hunter) – 8:52
    8. "El Paso" (Marty Robbins) – 4:39
    9. "Tennessee Jed" (Garcia, Hunter) – 7:54
    Disc 2
    1. "Playing in the Band" (Weir, Mickey Hart, Hunter) – 29:14

    Interlude:

    1. "Seastones" (Phil Lesh, Ned Lagin) – 15:13

    Second set:

    1. "Brown-Eyed Women" (Garcia, Hunter) – 5:11
    2. "Me and My Uncle" (John Phillips) – 3:11
    3. "It Must Have Been the Roses" (Hunter) – 5:54
    4. "Jack Straw" (Weir, Hunter) – 5:28
    Disc 3
    1. "He's Gone" > (Garcia, Hunter) – 14:55
    2. "U.S. Blues" (Garcia, Hunter) – 5:55
    3. "Weather Report Suite" > – 18:47
      • "Prelude" (Weir)
      • "Part 1" (Weir, Eric Andersen)
      • "Let It Grow" (Weir, Barlow)
    4. "Jam" > (Grateful Dead) – 9:35
    5. "Eyes of the World" > (Garcia, Hunter) – 16:32
    6. "China Doll" (Garcia, Hunter) – 6:33
    7. "One More Saturday Night" (Weir) – 5:21

    Personnel

    Grateful Dead

    Additional musicians

    Production

    Notes and References

    1. Everett, Matthew (January 21, 2016) "Local Designer Justin Helton Named 2016 Artist in Residence for the Grateful Dead's Dave's Picks Series", Knoxville Mercury. Retrieved January 22, 2016.