New or renewed appreciation for a given song can come from anywhere. In terms of Cassidy what made the difference for me was a discussion over at the RUKind forum. One of the regular contributors over there goes by Rusty the Scoob. He’s a bass player and well-versed in music theory. I think he was explaining modes or something similar in a video and he used Cassidy as an example. Seeing the application of a concept like modes in an erudite manner really opened my eyes to Cassidy and what was going on there. So a song that I previously wrote off, more or less, came to be more interesting in my opinion.
The other motive behind this selection was 1976. It’s kind of a funky year because the Dead were knocking off the rust from their hiatus. On the plus side, a more conventional sound system meant that this was the era where Donna started sounding better because she could hear herself on stage. Her duet with Bobby here showcases that improvement, in my opinion. Also, when I looked at the track timing for this one it was on the shorter end so I wanted to give a good listen to a shorter version of the song to see if it still had all the markings of a good airing. My thoughts are below but you can make up your own mind.
I love everything about this release. It’s a show I hadn’t heard before, with an interesting set list and it’s got a ton of energy (just like most shows from this year). This is also possibly my favorite cover art of all the Dave’s Picks so far, not that that’s very important.
Cassidy is just a great song all around, whether it’s the early versions with Donna, the acoustic versions from 1980 or the later years when it became a set closer. Also, the studio version on Ace is spectacular!
Most people reading this blog are probably already familiar with Barlow’s essay on this song but if anyone has missed it here’s a link. It’s definitely worth a read If you like the Grateful Dead.
http://www.litkicks.com/BarlowOnNeal#.VBkb4c90y5g