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The Grateful Dead - Downhill From Here

The Grateful Dead - Downhill From Here

List Price: $29.95
Your Price: $26.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best Live Video Available
Review: This is by far the best Grateful Dead I've ever seen - for many reasons: sound and video quality, performance, selections. . . But the most important aspect that puts this particular video above every other is the fact that it is pure performance video. Little or none of that dreamy, colorful overlay stuff that distorts the performances and, in IMHO, is overused on all other live GD recordings. This can be watched over and over. It's the Greatest!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Worth it for the ¿China>Rider¿ alone.
Review: This is certainly one of the top 10 "China>Rider"'s the band ever played. Holding its own against many from the holy era of '72-'74. The intro. by Bob, Jerry and Brent is excellent and intricate. The camera angle is perfect, though brief, in capturing Weir's intro. and is proof of how great a guitarist he is. He is often too underrated, sometimes venomously. He delivers his "sun gonna shine" line powerfully. But this is trounced by latter day Jerry nailing his "headlight" line and wailing away through out. There is plenty of JEF (Jerry emotional factor) on this one and the whole show in general. The jam between the two songs has Jerry shredding and making spiraling spaghetti notes on his Tiger guitar and wrapping them around any and all within earshot. Brent is sonically painting away. Lesh is thumping all along but finally begins to emerge out front with a pulsing "Rider" gallop and is in the Zone. The Rhythm Devils are clearly in sync. "It" is happening.

The song choice is excellent and well played. Even the obligatory show opening "Let The Good Times Roll" is nicely played. Other highlights include a rare, for the year, "All Over Now" and an ever increasingly rare "Cumberland". The "Deal", actually from two nights later, has a heaping scoop of cherry Garcia. A "Playing>UJB" is always nice no matter how many times you've heard it. This leads to another emotive performance by Jerry playing an excellent "SOTM". By placing his ballad in pre-drums this allows the band to rock out of drums with a "Wheel>Gimme Some Lovin'>GDTRFB>NFA" trainload of good ol' Grateful Dead. Then the band stuns everyone and brings them to their knees with the first breakout of "We Bid You Good Night" since 12/31/78. 'Nuff said. If you never saw the Grateful Dead and wish you had buy this DVD. If you can find the entire legendary three night run on CD get them too.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A moment Frozen in Time!!!
Review: This is certainly one of the top 10 "China>Rider"'s the band ever played. Holding its own against many from the holy era of `72-'74. The intro. by Bob, Jerry and Brent is excellent and intricate. The camera angle is perfect, though brief, in capturing Weir's intro. and is proof of how great a guitarist he is. He is often too underrated, sometimes venomously. He delivers his "sun gonna shine" line powerfully. But this is trounced by latter day Jerry nailing his "headlight" line and wailing away through out. There is plenty of JEF (Jerry emotional factor) on this one and the whole show in general. The jam between the two songs has Jerry shredding and making spiraling spaghetti notes on his Tiger guitar and wrapping them around any and all within earshot. Brent is sonically painting away. Lesh is thumping all along but finally begins to emerge out front with a pulsing "Rider" gallop and is in the Zone. The Rhythm Devils are clearly in sync. "It" is happening.

The song choice is excellent and well played. Even the obligatory show opening "Let The Good Times Roll" is nicely played. Other highlights include a rare, for the year, "All Over Now" and an ever increasingly rare "Cumberland". The "Deal", actually from two nights later, has a heaping scoop of cherry Garcia. A "Playing>UJB" is always nice no matter how many times you've heard it. This leads to another emotive performance by Jerry playing an excellent "SOTM". By placing his ballad in pre-drums this allows the band to rock out of drums with a "Wheel>Gimme Some Lovin'>GDTRFB>NFA" trainload of good ol' Grateful Dead. Then the band stuns everyone and brings them to their knees with the first breakout of "We Bid You Good Night" since 12/31/78. `Nuff said. If you never saw the Grateful Dead and wish you had buy this DVD. If you can find the entire legendary three night run on CD get them too.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not all that
Review: This is not a bad video by any stretch of the imagination, but it is certainly not deserving of the 5 stars that it has gotten. First off, though it looks like a complete show, it actually isn't. L.A. Fadeway, Desolation Row and Deal are from 7/19, while the rest of the show is from 7/17, and is missing the Row Jimmy, Masterpiece, Push Comes to Shove and The Music Never Stopped. I'm not sure why they did this, but I would prefer the whole 7/17 show. The songs that were added are questionable, considering this run of shows had such favorites as Scarlet Begonias, FOTD, Box of Rain and Terrapin, to name a few, that all would have been better than what they picked, especially L.A. Fadeaway. That right there cost this video 1 star.

The second star gets taken away because this is really on quite average in terms of the Dead musically. Although I think Bobby's flubbing of Playing's lyrics is pretty funny, it is representative of this show just being average at best. Dead Ahead (yes, I know it isn't on DVD) is way better, as the Grateful Dead movie, in terms of music and magic. Don't get me wrong, this is still a worthwile video that will get repeated air time, it is just average as far as other Dead videos are concerned.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Hello Everyone
Review: This movie is wonderful. Not only does it beautifully capture the true feeling of attending a Grateful Dead concert, but also depicts Jerry at his fatest. The show begins with a forklift lowering Garcia onto the stage while the other members cower in fear of being crushed by his unmeasurable hugeness. Set I closes earlier than expected when the stage suddenly collapses under the immense weight of Captain Fats. Set II starts strong with Brent Mydland leading the band into a steady groove during China Cat Sunflower>I Know You Ryder. The surprises keep on coming when Jerry picks up Bob Weir and eats him during a climax in Desolation Row. The show closes with a horrifying but exciting encore when Garcia bounds off stage in search of a ButterFinger being eaten in the Lawn section of Alpine Valley, leaving thousands of enthusiastic fans flattened in his wake. A good time was truely had by all who attended this show...except for the people who were subsequently eaten or crushed by the bands enormous front man.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The last weekend at Alpine Valley
Review: This video does an excellent job capturing the sound and feel of the Grateful Dead at Alpine Valley, East Troy, WI. All but the last three songs of the first set is from July 17, 1989, an excellent show. "Desolation Row & Deal" make it worth the combination of two seperate shows from the weekend. Tight shots of the band allow viewers a peek at how the Dead created their special sound. The full moon hanging over the stadium that night would have been a nice addition. A solid performance from Let the Good Times Roll to We Bid You Goodnight.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: My first Dead
Review: This was the first experience with the Dead and I'm glad it was because it led me to a whole new world of music. After watching this a second time after hearing much more of the Dead's music, I truly appreciate this great film. The Dead were never really known for their energy on stage, but rather for the music they played. This has some really decent music ("Built to Last", "Desolation Row", a great "Deal", "Drums", "Johnny B Goode", and "Not Fade Away"- just to name a few) but it also really great as far as the energy goes. Jerry was all smiles and was moving quite a bit. It's a great reminder of how great the Dead really were. This is an awesome DVD, although I can't seem to find it on Cd.........

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: It's like your there.....
Review: Truly a must have for any dead fan. If you have never been to a Dead show, this is the closest thing to it. They don't stray off the concert and show alot of tripy images as the music goes on. There are many camera angles with lots of close-ups. You see more on this DVD than you would at any concert. There are no interviews just the band doing what they do best. It's clearly the best DVD concert I've seen yet.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Gotta get down to the Cumberland Mine....
Review: Well, whats to say of an amazing concert--recorded on video for future prosperity... and then digitally re-mastered and released on DVD. Aside from being mastered on video tape, the visual aspect is captivating. The audio is of extremely high quality, and the caliber of the show is top notch for that time period. The band is having fun, the crowd is having fun... and with the right preparation, you too can "be there!". I highly recommend anyone interested in an amazing band displaying its playing prowess to order this DVD. Oh, the only difference I noticed from my VHS to my DVD is that in the first set when they splice in the footage from the follwing night, they fade it down and make it absolutely clear that it is a different show--whereas in the VHS version, it is seamless and aside from Bob Weir's shirt change, one may well have not even noticed. Whoa, oh oh it's Magic!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: wow!
Review: wow! this video is awsome every one is playin with there most power and intensity especialy jerry garcia and micky hart. jerry's rifts are amazing but the best part of the whole vidoe is "drums" (the drum solo) it's so kick ass so buy this vidoe its worth it.


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