Dick's Picks, Vol. 9: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, 9/16/90 [Live]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
This show from September 16, 1990, the second night of a six-show Madison Square Garden run, catches the Dead in a period of transition. Brent Mydland had passed away less than two months earlier and former Tubes keyboardist Vince Welnick had made his Dead debut a mere 9 days before this show. In addition, pianist Bruce Hornsby began his tenure as a semi-regular member the very night before. As you might expect with all of the new blood, the band sounds a bit tentative feeling each other out, but when they are comfortable, they cook. Welnick is still finding his way through the songs and experimenting with often-harsh sonic textures, though for some reason he remains prominent in the mix (and you thought it was just your seats!). Hornsby, however, is the real star of this show, blending in beautifully and tastefully on acoustic piano and bringing out the stateliness in many of the Dead's tunes. Hornsby finds the ragtime in "Tennessee Jed," lends firepower to "Samson and Delilah" and "I Need a Miracle," and spruces up a number of spontaneous creations. Jerry Garcia clearly feeds off Hornsby's playing and responds energetically. Unfortunately, their little musical love affair didn't last very long, as Hornsby's appearances became more sporadic until he left for good in the spring of 1992. This document makes you wish their partnership had gone further. --Marc Greilsamer

Tracks:

Hell in a Bucket (7:03)
Cold Rain and Snow (6:42)
Little Red Rooster (10:21)
Stagger Lee (8:32)
Queen Jane Approximately (7:47)
Tennessee Jed (10:35)
Cassidy (6:26)
Deal (9:48)

Tracks:

Samson and Delilah (8:10)
Iko Iko (10:15)
Looks Like Rain (8:47)
He's Gone (16:26)
No MSG Jam (7:50)
Drums (8:59)

Tracks:

Space (10:49)
Standing on the Moon (9:28)
Lunatic Preserve (5:45)
I Need A Miracle (5:19)
Morning Dew (13:12)
It's All Over Now Baby Blue (7:35)

Amazon.com

This show from September 16, 1990, the second night of a six-show Madison Square Garden run, catches the Dead in a period of transition. Brent Mydland had passed away less than two months earlier and former Tubes keyboardist Vince Welnick had made his Dead debut a mere 9 days before this show. In addition, pianist Bruce Hornsby began his tenure as a semi-regular member the very night before. As you might expect with all of the new blood, the band sounds a bit tentative feeling each other out, but when they are comfortable, they cook. Welnick is still finding his way through the songs and experimenting with often-harsh sonic textures, though for some reason he remains prominent in the mix (and you thought it was just your seats!). Hornsby, however, is the real star of this show, blending in beautifully and tastefully on acoustic piano and bringing out the stateliness in many of the Dead's tunes. Hornsby finds the ragtime in "Tennessee Jed," lends firepower to "Samson and Delilah" and "I Need a Miracle," and spruces up a number of spontaneous creations. Jerry Garcia clearly feeds off Hornsby's playing and responds energetically. Unfortunately, their little musical love affair didn't last very long, as Hornsby's appearances became more sporadic until he left for good in the spring of 1992. This document makes you wish their partnership had gone further. --Marc Greilsamer

Customer Reviews:

Worst in the series. .......2005-12-24

I don't really have much of a problem with the Dead releasing concerts from this era; even though most of the shows they played around this time really weren't all that great, there are still some really awesome ones that deserve a release in this format. However, this concert definately isn't one of them. Vince doesn't seem to know what he's supposed to do wtih most of the songs... and his volume's turned up, so the listener has to endure his fumbling all over all three discs. The rest of the band seems really worn out and confused, which makes sense; they had just lost Brent, who had been playing with them for more than ten years and was at that point an integral part of their sound.

I suspect that this is one of those concerts released as a DP because of "historical value." It was, after all, one of the first concerts without Brent in the picture. Unfortunately, the band doesn't seem to have adjusted to the lineup change quite yet. If you want to hear a great concert from this approximate era, try Dick's Picks 17. Just whatever you do, stay far away from this show. It is completely unparalleled in its suckiness by any other volume in this series I've heard so far (and I've heard a lot of them).

Not Worth Buying.......2005-09-16

There are simply too many other good shows by the Dead to spend too much time with this one. I disagree with the reviewer that thinks that the MSG '90 six-night run was really that special and agree with the reviewer who emphasizes the greatness of '89. In general, Welnick and Hornsby helped Jerry along there at the end but the awesomeness of the late eighties was gone. I went to about 70-80 shows in Jerry's last five years and didn't feel any of them to be the equal of Hampton '87, '88, '89, Greek Theater '87 & '88, Alpine Valley '89, Landover '90 or many, many others from Brent's final years. One certainly does wish that more East Coast shows from the late 80s, especially the Warlock shows, would be released on cd. In general, at this stage, one wants to hear the Grateful Dead at their most sublime, their most powerful, their most beautiful, and shows like this one are not that, at least not all the way through (I liked the Morning Dew on this both at the time and on this cd). Admitedly, there were only some shows that were like that, and even fewer like that when one listens to them 15 years later sober on a car stereo, but there were ones like that. Why not release those many, many wonderful performances on cd first. Sure, there are subjective determinations involved as just exactly which would make that list, but when I was on tour I recall heads being fairly unanimous as to the best shows of a tour, at least among those heads who were listening to the music. I am not one who has managed to hold on to my old bootleg cassette collection, so that I really appreciate the release of these on disc. I just wish there were more of them, especially from the best performances from the period when I was catching shows.

And the band winds down into that good night..........2005-09-02

Some lovely stuff on this album such as the He's Gone>No MSG Jam>Drums>Space section where everybody really shines. Morning Dew has some excellent singing and playing by Jerry. I Need a Miracle has some good energy and those songs make this CD worth buying. But much of this album is as sleepy as the Dead ever got while still managing to hold it together. Dick's Picks Vol. 9 is a good album, not a great one. Unfortunately it's a snapshot of a band in slow decline: Jerry's sounding creakier in the vocals (which I kinda like) but his guitar playing doen't have the fire he used to be capable of. Most disappointingly, the drummers often plod along in an almost perfunctory thud, whack kind of groove. They aren't really engaged for some of this album rather they seem to be cruising on autopilot. Keyboardists Bruce Hornsby and Vince Wellnick were fairly new additions when this was recorded and everybody was feeling their way about and so the music is a tad stiff at times. But that's understandable. Often though they inject some well needed instrumental enthusiasm to the proceedings despite some of the odd timbres Vince experimented with.

Overall, DP 9 isn't bad, but isn't essential either. The energy level just isn't high enough for my tastes despite some very good playing and moments of beauty. For me the nineties were characterized by a gradual decline in the bands abilities/energy until by '95 they were a pale shadow of themselves with Jerry barely able to play or sing. So while DP 9 is good, compared to their peak years of '72 to '78, (not to mention '80 and '81) it's kinda sleepy.

Pretty Good Gig -- Poor Sound.......2003-02-13

The gig here is pretty good, considerably better played than the gig on Dick's Picks 17, but the very muffled sound quality lets it down badly. I would have given it four stars were it not for the poor sound quality.

beautiful and powerful..........2002-09-17

Having read the negative reviews posted regarding this show, I just had to chime in with my take. This is a show which truly rewards repeated and careful listening...the tasty blues interplay on Little Red Rooster, Jerry and Bruce having fun all over the place, and, I don't care what you nay-sayers think, a beautiful and powerful second set. Morning Dew gave me chills the other day and the jam after He's Gone is wonderfully magic. Granted there are some weak spots, but that's all part of this show's charm. Sit down on a cool and windy fall day and enjoy this one!!!

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