The Deadhead's Taping Compendium, Volume 1: An In-Depth Guide to the Music of the Grateful Dead on Tape, 1959-1974

Will the Dead's music continue to be sought and traded a hundred years from now? Perhaps, but regardless of that possibility, this book and its two proceeding volumes will continue to stand as unique testaments to the art of the band. Currently marketed as resources for tape traders, these volumes will evolve into something much more vital as the members of the band and their fans fade into time. Never has music been more thoroughly documented and described in the context of it composers. Unprecidented! Imagine a biography about John Coltrane that included descriptions of each performance of his career! If future generations are curious about The Grateful Dead, they will be interested in the band's art, not the personal flaws or outside experiences of its individual members. I believe these volumes will outlive all the many conventional biographies about the band. They cover the things we should be allowed to know about The Grateful Dead. The rest is "better left unsung."

I bought this book when I was just beginning to trade Grateful Dead tapes, and now I use it every time I set out to make a trade. This book gives me at least some idea about the show before I trade for it, allowing me to pick only shows I'm really interested in. In short, I highly recommend it to anyone who is at all interested in collecting Grateful Dead tapes.

I find it difficult to express in words how wonderful this book is. Any fan who has ever had a tape of a Grateful Dead show will fall in love from the first lines of the book. Having the shows reviewed by fans of the band, and where possible, those that actually attended these shows, gives the reader the feeling of actually having been at the show. I also echo the comments of another who read this book about "mistakes" in the book: not everyone was able to find the "perfect copy" of every show. Did this skew the reviews? Probably not. As a fan for many years, I have cherised some of the most God-awful sounding shows because of the music. I send a huge thank-you to Michael Getz & John Dwork for getting this book out to us, and can't wait for the next two!

Unlike other GD books, including old stalwarts like 'DeadBase' and 'Goin Down the Road..' as well as relative newcomers like 'Sweet Chaos' and 'Dead Reckonings', the 'Taping Compendium' is both an invaluable resource as well as great fun to read. It really does stand alone with one foot in the world of literary and historical musicology and the other in the world of beancounters and data crunchers. The data is solid since it's all based strictly on available audio tapes (and you can't get much better documentation than that!) whereas the descriptions of the shows are mostly thoughtful and interesting, providing a colorful backdrop for considering the intricate details of the bands early music. Oftentimes the reviews really do transport you back to a smokey dancehall or theater in the late 60s and damn if I didn't get patchouli oil stains on my copy! Other historical aspects of the early taping scene include interviews with some of the original taper-dudes and these are also enlightening and enjoyable to read. The real utility of the book, however, has to be the surprisingly complete (well nothing in the world is 100%!) section on tape reviews which describes all the live grateful dead concert music that circulates on tape. Even more, there are plenty of tips that allow anyone with an interest to begin their own collection of live grateful dead concert recordings. Although there is no way to avoid the occasional sideways glance from the experienced trader when one first starts out trying to build a collection, a careful read of Tiedrich's chapter on trading etiquette will at least allow you to get your foot in the door and pull it out before ALL the toes are chewed off. In the end, this book (and future books in the Taping Compendium series) will be regarded as required reading for anyone with a desire to explore fully the intriguing carnival that is grateful dead concert tapes.

For anyone interested in the fine performances the Dead created before the later years, this book is a must. Nearly every concert is throughly reviewed, and written in a style that is creative and colorful. Alas, DBase is no longer needed! The compendium is here to stay! One minor note though, not enough was mentioned of Keith in the 7.19.74 first set! Yow! But, the 72 Dark Stars receive an ample and satisfying amount of coverage. Lesh filling, Garcia great!