Grateful Dead - View from the Vault 1-3

Rating:
Summary: Great Shows
Review: Great shows, although some of my favorite songs are missing...that is okay VFTV4 has them.

Rating:
Summary: In a word: Terrible.
Review: How anyone could rate this debacle above one star is beyond me. First of all, this is not the Grateful Dead that you hear playing all your favorite songs. This is a sad and withered remnant of the once great band. I love the Grateful Dead so I decided to buy this box set hoping that, although the shows are from the early 90s, that the band could still rock. Unfortunatly, I was wrong. Their playing is awful. Its sparse and sprinkled with lame synth garbage with whatever keys player they dredged up this time, it really doesn't matter who. They play such classics (hint: sarcasm) as Wang Dang Doodle, Touch of Grey (which was, incredibly, their only chart topper even though its an awful song), My Brother Esau, and sundry other lame songs. Do yourself a favor, if you love this band, don't buy this box set, its like watching a dying lion. You know how powerful it was in its heydey, but all you can see now is a sick, mottled mess. Stick with their audio stuff.

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: Great DVDs, cool idea
Review: I went to these shows, all of them and I love that they made these DVDs. Its so nice to see the show again and relive some great moments of my life. The set lists are good to great and the quality of the DVDs is good.

I love the RFK DVD, it has the Dark Star that I remember so well. That was a great concert, a classic for certain. Id have made a DVD of the 1990 show, but the clips from that show are well worth it. I also love having DVDs of their underrated newer stuff that a lot of boneheads cant seem to enjoy since they are stuck in the past or prejudice against the newer stuff.