Grateful Dead: Dick's Picks 08

Grateful Dead: Dick's Picks Vol. 8-Harpur College, Binghamton, NY May 2, 1970 (3-CD Set) If there were a college course taught on Grateful Dead bootlegs (and if there isn't one, there should be!), the concert preserved on Dick's Picks Vol. 8 would occupy a prominent place on the syllabus. That's because this evening at tiny Harpur College in upstate New York was for years probably the most highly touted and sought-after single show on the tapers' circuit (Jerry Garcia himself later singled it out as a memorable performance); and it appears here, complete save for one song, on this 3-CD set. The first disc offers one of the most beguiling acoustic sets the Dead ever performed, full of gems ('Dire Wolf,' 'Black Peter,' 'Uncle John's Band') from the already-recorded-but-not-yet-released Workingman's Dead, plus a passel of old folk and blues tunes highlighted by a beautiful, slow-burning version of 'I Know You Rider;' it's doubtful the band ever harmonized as beautifully as they do here, a