Grateful Dead - View from the Vault III

Rating:
Summary: great video
Review: Brent was alive and well when this show took place. i know i saw him in july of this year just a month after this show. brent's last show was tinley park in chicago in late july he left us a week later. the dead were on fire that summer so this is a keeper.

Rating:
Summary: This Will Be On All Available Dead Videos
Review: I guess there are 2 types of fans of the Grateful Dead: Deadheads (really diehard types that would enjoy the video even if the quality was at a half a star, and the Dead were having an off night). Then there are non-Deadheads (casual fans that want the best concerts available of that group). I have all available Dead videos (didn't get GD movie - waited a little too long), and love them all (guess which type of fan I am). To the non-Deadhead fans, I would say get The Closing of Winterland, Downhill from Here, and (maybe because of Bruce Hornsby) View from the Vault 2. Then continue your quest for the perfect concert video (my personal choice is a toss up between The Last Waltz, and Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense).
Now. For the Deadicated, Deadhead fans, I would recommend anything & everything available (including Grateful Dawg). Forget the reviews from some of the others about the cheesie psychadelic effects, forget the comments of "this concert wasn't as good as", and forget the "it was better live becase they edited" comments. When it comes to Garcia and The Grateful Dead (in the illustrious words of Robert Hunter)"Like a Steam Locomotive Rolling Down the Track. He's Gone, He's Gone and Nothings Gonna Bring Him Back" so enjoy what's out there. Kudos to Monterey Home Video for making these concerts available.

Rating:
Summary: For exigent music fans
Review: I like this dvd. It is really good, considering they included 6 songs from an Oct 87 show at Shoreline.

The Summer 90 performance here is good. Before I get further into explaining 'good' i must say the band looks a bit lazy. But in good spirits. Since my other favorite band is Yes, I am used to seeeing more interaction between the musicians. But don t get me wrong. I saw 6 GD shows and own 1000 hrs of their material (as an enthusiast) and the interaction that they would engage in normally was darn good.

The China Cat > rider is a strong point. Also the Baby Blue encore. Additonally Big boss man is great to see in a year where it didn t get much rotation.

Big River is also a standout.

Furthermore the opener LTGTR > trucking is much full of energy.

It would be nice if GD productions would release some more 'vintage' material (if it exists). I and others would be really thrilled to see some 1971 or '72 material on video.

Thanks.



Rating:
Summary: Very unusual second set, good bonus segment.
Review: The Dead's third View from the Vault installment takes us to their home court of Shoreline Amphitheater in June of 1990. These would sadly turn out to be Brent's last Bay Area shows with the band before his death from drug overdose. Like most Bay Area shows, I was in attendance for this one, and it was one of the more unusual shows I saw. The first set is fairly average, but features Truckin' into Touch of Gray and a rare Garcia version of Big Boss Man. What makes this show special is the second set. Garcia experiments with a number of different MIDI effect sounds on his "Rosebud" guitar. Brent is clearly in bad shape on his "We Can Run," forgetting large portions of two verses. Weir lets loose at the end of Estimated Prophet, with his "worry about me no" falsettos, which stimulates director Lenn Dell'Amico to introduce some great video effects. But the really amazing part is that after Terrapin ends, Garcia, Weir, and Lesh continue to jam wildly all through the part where "Drums" would normally be. Eventually, Mickey does move to the big drums at the back of "the Beast," but the guitarists play on endlessly and with great imagination. Though you can't really tell from the DVD, there was a point when everyone left the stage and the music is only carried on by Dan Healy and Bob Bralove. The band returns and delivers a fragile rendition of the rare China Doll, followed by the obligatory Weir rocker, "Sugar Magnolia." There are six first-set bonus tracks from the Dead's first run at Shoreline in 1987, which I also attended. Weir and especially Kreautzmann appear surprisingly younger here for it being only three years earlier. Garcia is generally much more inspired and active, playing on his classic "Tiger" Irwin guitar. During Minglewood, Weir sings, "T for ... wherever the hell we are ... a trash-heap" referring to Shoreline's being built over a landfill. I heartliy recommend this DVD to fans of this later Grateful Dead period, for the strange and beautiful Jam and Drums and Space section of the second set and the contrast between 1987 and 1990 versions of the band.

Rating:
Summary: Very unusual second set, good bonus segment.
Review: The Dead's third View from the Vault installment takes us to their home court of Shoreline Amphitheater in June of 1990. These would sadly turn out to be Brent's last Bay Area shows with the band before his death from drug overdose. Like most Bay Area shows, I was in attendance for this one, and it was one of the more unusual shows I saw. The first set is fairly average, but features Truckin' into Touch of Gray and a rare Garcia version of Big Boss Man. What makes this show special is the second set. Garcia experiments with a number of different MIDI effect sounds on his "Rosebud" guitar. Brent is clearly in bad shape on his "We Can Run," forgetting large portions of two verses. Weir lets loose at the end of Estimated Prophet, with his "worry about me no" falsettos, which stimulates director Lenn Dell'Amico to introduce some great video effects. But the really amazing part is that after Terrapin ends, Garcia, Weir, and Lesh continue to jam wildly all through the part where "Drums" would normally be. Eventually, Mickey does move to the big drums at the back of "the Beast," but the guitarists play on endlessly and with great imagination. Though you can't really tell from the DVD, there was a point when everyone left the stage and the music is only carried on by Dan Healy and Bob Bralove. The band returns and delivers a fragile rendition of the rare China Doll, followed by the obligatory Weir rocker, "Sugar Magnolia." There are six first-set bonus tracks from the Dead's first run at Shoreline in 1987, which I also attended. Weir and especially Kreautzmann appear surprisingly younger here for it being only three years earlier. Garcia is generally much more inspired and active, playing on his classic "Tiger" Irwin guitar. During Minglewood, Weir sings, "T for ... wherever the hell we are ... a trash-heap" referring to Shoreline's being built over a landfill. I heartliy recommend this DVD to fans of this later Grateful Dead period, for the strange and beautiful Jam and Drums and Space section of the second set and the contrast between 1987 and 1990 versions of the band.

Rating:
Summary: a great DVD! gets you where you want to go.
Review: The dvd is awesome. Good staple of songs... Jerry and Bobby in good form. A great seller too!

Rating:
Summary: a great DVD! gets you where you want to go.
Review: The dvd is awesome. Good staple of songs... Jerry and Bobby in good form. A great seller too!

Rating:
Summary: fantastic show
Review: This DVD presents the fantastic 6-16-90 Shoreline show, sadly only a few weeks before the loss of keyboardist Brent Mydland. The band is in great form, and the set list is first rate. Lots of highlights: Truckin', Touch of Gray, Cassidy, China>Rider, Estimated > Terrapin, Sugar Magnolia... (the only real weak spot is the evening opener "Let The Good Times Roll" which almost seems like a sound check... the rest of the show cooks). The 1987 Shoreline bonus cuts are great as well. Sound and video quality is quite good. Like the other two Views, the sound is two channel stereo directly from Healy's mixing board... crisp and detailed. Luckily, they keep the psychedelic video effects tasteful and only during jam parts which affords a good view of the band. This is an excellent DVD.

Rating:
Summary: great show
Review: this show from 1990 is one of brent mydland's final performances and he is in good form (even though he forgets the words to we can't hide), but to me jerry garcia really sticks out in this show. in the 2nd set he just takes over. from terrapin station to china doll, garcia leads the band into a long jam ad at times its almost like he's the only one you hear. i bought this dvd at a the other ones show. i enjoyed the show, but after viewing this dvd, i was reminded of how much garcia can never be replaced. i rate this as the best of the VFTV dvds to be released so far. it is a more solid all around show then the previous. the bonus material is wonderful also. they give us 2 songs (hey pocky way, my brother esua) that wern't frequently played. if you're a fan i'm sure you have it. but if you never saw the dead, this is a wonderful introduction to the live concert they were so famous for.

Rating:
Summary: Very good show, cheesy special effects
Review: Viewed as a live music video, the 'psychedelic' special effects go more than overboard and seemed amateurish. So as a whole video, i just give it 3 stars. Without the added effects, I would have rated this a 5.
I found that the special effects would start just about the same time i was getting into the 'space' of the song, so I guess in some ways it was right on cue. Unfortuately, the distraction took me out of my mental and spiritual space.
I wondered if Monterey Video could have offered these DVD in dual format, giving we, the viewer, the option of watching or not watching the special effects.