Check out the Weather Report Suite Prelude tease by Bob in TOO reprise, more than 1 1/2 years before its first official appearance. The Truckin'>Drums>Other One>Me & My Uncle>Other One, while short compared to later explorations, contains some fierce jamming and stop-on-a-dime transitions. HtH peaked in 1971, with Bill Graham calling this version, which appears on "Fallout from the Phil Zone," the best ever, "Can there be any question?" BTW, the Phil Zone version is also an audience recording - maybe from the same source. Weir has solved the "Bobby problem" by now, driving the boogaloo rhythm of this song with a staccato attack that sticks in your head. Cumberland Blues is a ferocious version Hard to Handle even better. The sound on this audience recording is better than many sound boards. This recording is a great showcase for the 71 sound (much better than the unremastered source, which is a half-step high the whole show). Meanwhile, the jams were all there - the rocking, the screaming Jerry leads, the Phil bombs, the spacey jams, the transitions - just shorter and more concise. It grabbed you in the belly and didn't let go. It was a nasty, gritty, raw sound that grabbed you by the ears and shook your head. The music was disgusting." But the very of the sound could be a source of great excitement. The sound went all to hell in Dan Healy's words (as quoted in Rock Scully's book, Living with the Dead), "The sound was terrible. In 1971, they tightened up even further this was the year of 5 minute Playin's and 10 min. The Dead had already retrenched a bit in 1970, stepping back from the swirling maelstrom of their 68-69 style and releasing two very songwriterly albums - not a prepared piano or sound of thick air to be heard. had left the previous year, and Mickey departed early in 71.
The last vestiges of the 60's were over or fading away, Owsley was in jail, T.C. That's what the Dead were in pre-Godchaux 1971.