The lead material here -- and theoretically the main selling point, too – is the Feb. 25, 1966 Los Angeles show which has been accurately billed as “an A+ soundboard.” No question there – it’s super-clean, betrays next to no hiss or generation loss, has great instrument separation, etc. It’s also an inspired, bluesy performance. (Whether or not it’s the “earliest known Dead show” as it’s also being billed as is debatable, but we’ll allow that statement to stand in the context of earliest known booted show – Hot Wacks patrons are encouraged to post their own verifying or conflicting comments, as I’ll admit I’m not as knowledgeable in Dead matters as I probably could be.) The rest of Disc 1 is up to snuff too. Note that tracks 13 and 14 don’t appear to be from a concert, but more likely are from a rehearsal or informal jam session where someone had a tape recorder running – as such, and at only two songs, it doesn’t qualify as a “concert” proper.
On Disc 2 you get three songs from Monterey Pop that, as best as I can tell, has been booted before. Quality is, again, excellent. The track “The Beatles Are Not Coming” isn’t a song but an extended stage announcement regarding the “Are they?/Aren’t they?” coming rumor regarding the Beatles’ no-show at Monterey, and it’s pretty funny. The Fillmore West portion, while a line recording, suffers a bit from loss of high-end, but it’s still quite clear. The track “Tripped Out Weirdness” is just someone on the stage laughing and goofing and leading the audience in a silly chant for about two minutes while the drummer does some impromptu kit repairs.
Given the general high sound quality overall for this 2-CD set I’m rating it a “9” even though a sliding scale of 7 to 9 is probably more accurate. And the artwork, by the way, is a lot of fun, done in old-school acid-poster design with the hard-to-read lettering and graphics, etc. Very much in the spirit. -- OSWALD
