It's like mike mcdonald and gregg allman had a baby. Love Brent.

^Dear Mr Fantasy, no one sings it like Brent

is money.

def aliens brah.

Keith was out before the accident bc of his drug use. Brent has grown on me over the last few years. His songs were kind of overwrought, but I thought he had a great harmony voice. My buddies call Donna Jean "The Screamer." I don't want to downplay her contributions in the 70's. Plus I always thought she was hot.

My favorite song that featured Brent's voice was the Weight. His singing was eery and melancholy but so wonderfully soulful. Plus he could hold it down on the keys well. Brent was the man.

@raydog said:

Keith was out before the accident bc of his drug use. Brent has grown on me over the last few years. His songs were kind of overwrought, but I thought he had a great harmony voice. My buddies call Donna Jean "The Screamer." I don't want to downplay her contributions in the 70's. Plus I always thought she was hot.

This is true. Imagine being kicked out of the GD for using drugs. Keith must have used a lot of drugs.

@parrott56 said:

@tstavely13 @ckess22 Just took a break from watching "Downhill from Here" to read this thread. What an incredible show -- really 7/17/89 is perhaps my favorite show of the year, or at least top 3. July '89 is the t i t s.

Most definitely...people seem to point to the Hampton shows bc of huge bust outs and deeper (read longer, IMO) as the best of 89. I think 7/17 is better...but it also has a visual record, which doesn't hurt it at all. And Brent's badass presence on the keys is a big part of that.

@the_Crested_Hogchoker said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Axn-RWi2Po0

I like the part about the gangbang

G-G-G-Gentlemen start your engines

Brent Mydland is a boss

Since I am in my early 20s I never had the chance to see a Grateful Dead show, but luckily there is YouTube. I really enjoy going through YouTube and listening/watching a show. Makes me wish I had the chance to the them play in person.

I love Gentlemen Start Your Engines. Such a raw, sexy song

jam. band.

Git 'em Brent! Sic'em Boy!

@_________________________ said:

I read or heard form someone on here, probably MJZ1974, that they Dead wanted to explore a lot more sounds, but Keith, the guy before Brent, refused to play anything but his baby grand. He was about to be kicked out of the band, but he died in a car accident. Brent added so many sounds and layers to the band. He's gone from 1979-11-04 is a prime example. The jam sounds like aliens and shit https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn :ANd9GcRjfbH8Dr8U2omX2AExuknuHtYzkG0yux4ilOsEzZJ-6UOiRgsT

http://archive.org/details/gd1979-11-04.senn-unknown.minches.84210.flac16

Keith was kicked out of the band before he died in a car crash! Jerry didn't like the fact that he was stealing his china white!!

Brent was the man what a voice little light, tons of steel and dear Mr fantasy all favorites of mine!

@Roofless_Sheds said:

my favorite Brent comes from '79-80, when he was still the 'new guy' and had the nervous energy that comes with the territory. you can hear him and the band feeling each other out, and whenever something absolutely brilliant happens, you can tell the whole band is blown away, and there's a great sense of mutual admiration and comaraderie.

if you haven't heard 'The Fox's Den' from November 1980, it will blow your mind. the best-sounding indoor AUD i've ever heard, and a phenomenal nonstop second set, with my favorite Space melting perfectly into The Wheel:

http://archive.org/details/gd1980-11-30.nak700-set2.wagner.miller.90497.sbeok.flac16

Set II

Scarlet Begonias ->
Fire On The Mountain
Samson And Delilah
Ship Of Fools
Playing In The Band ->
Drums ->
Space ->
The Wheel ->
China Doll ->
Around And Around ->
Johnny B. Goode

E: Uncle John's Band

Thanks for the suggestion- this is a burner. I've got it cranked right now

@AugustWest2001 said:

@_________________________ said:

I read or heard form someone on here, probably MJZ1974, that they Dead wanted to explore a lot more sounds, but Keith, the guy before Brent, refused to play anything but his baby grand. He was about to be kicked out of the band, but he died in a car accident. Brent added so many sounds and layers to the band. He's gone from 1979-11-04 is a prime example. The jam sounds like aliens and shit https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn :ANd9GcRjfbH8Dr8U2omX2AExuknuHtYzkG0yux4ilOsEzZJ-6UOiRgsT

http://archive.org/details/gd1979-11-04.senn-unknown.minches.84210.flac16

He did have a polyphonic synth, it's all over spring '77. I love late '77 & '78 because he switched to a Yamaha cp-90 (the same page used pre-'93).....great sound.

I had heard that about Keith only using the piano as well... but it always seemed to me like in '77 and '78 there were sounds that absolutely could not have come from a piano, like in the middle of Estimated jams, etc. Thanks for clarifying

Oh hells yes this thread rules!
"Brent Mydland's voice...." was badass. So 80's.
I agree w/ the AugustWest2001 that it's like a lovechild from MacDonald & Allman. Which is just awesome to even think aboot. Heh.

one word sums up Brent's voice to me.....BLOWS!!

That Alpine 89 show has been one of my favorites for a long long time....

My fav is when Brent sings a verse in Little Red Rooster. Soooo bad ass!!! He was so talented and
Such a tortured soul. But the connection he had with Jerry on stage is the stuff that dreams are made from.

@YorkvilleBeerLover said:

This has lead me to find when the let Brent finally in on the Rooster vocals. I'd actually like to find the exact moment - when he too a verse the room went nuts! I feel like it was 85ish

At least as far back as '82, but I'm not sure of the exact date that he first sang his trademark "hen house" verse.

@BajaPhish said :

"Brent and Jer duals are the best[/quote]

I love the duels w/Jerry. Brent was also the one who would really get Jerry to smile and laugh while playing. You can really see it on Truckin' Up To Buffalo and One From the Vault.

@spencur6 said:

Ok so i've been listening to spring 90 a lot lately. And I gotta say I prefer pigpen's voice to brent but for the 88-90 era he does an excellent job. But seriously He does some interesting stuff on the keys. @docdocformayor which one? they're all stellar.

Sorry- the July show- a few days after 7/4/89 - the exact date is alluding me

In the late-80s, my posse and I felt that the new infusion of power energy was coming, at least in part, from Brent. The Hammond/Leslie combo always brought great power waves through the audience, especially in simmering Fires. During that 7-7-89 show, I was about 10 rows back from Brent when he kicked in that "Blow Away." While it wasn't my first time seeing that song, I thought it raised the roof (well, whatever roof on a roofless show). After the "wait a minute," a buddy of mine intoned that Brent was picking the rev-up Pig role of yore. He goads Jerry into fanning the frets, and there's a tremendous thunder.

The Gregg Allman/Michael McDonald thing is apt. While it could be cheesy at times, it was refreshing that he was shamelessly, unapologetically who he was. That tone could be syrupy sweet yet infused with dark, catalytic pain. No, it ain't Pig, but it fit the times.

In Providence '87, friends of mine hung with him in the lot, and there were many enough late-night bar stories floating around to confirm that despite some darker moments, he was just one of the boys. On stage though, he was capable of lighting a fire under the scene.

I was a serious fan, and when my tix for the Richfield '90 shows came, it was hard to imagine seeing them without Brent after 8 years of him growing on me. The Copps '90's "Jude" debacle hinted at the darker side of his dark, something which felt like it was pending. What a loss.

@Skiguy said:

@_________________________ said:

I read or heard form someone on here, probably MJZ1974, that they Dead wanted to explore a lot more sounds, but Keith, the guy before Brent, refused to play anything but his baby grand. He was about to be kicked out of the band, but he died in a car accident. Brent added so many sounds and layers to the band. He's gone from 1979-11-04 is a prime example. The jam sounds like aliens and shit https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn :ANd9GcRjfbH8Dr8U2omX2AExuknuHtYzkG0yux4ilOsEzZJ-6UOiRgsT

http://archive.org/details/gd1979-11-04.senn-unknown.minches.84210.flac16

Keith was kicked out of the band before he died in a car crash! Jerry didn't like the fact that he was stealing his china white!!

Brent was the man what a voice little light, tons of steel and dear Mr fantasy all favorites of mine!

Although things appeared to be going well for the band, problems were arising with their two newest members, Keith and Donna Jean Godchaux. While touring during the late 1970s the band began to use freebase cocaine.[30] Donna frequently had excessive vocal issues while performing live, and Keith was becoming dependent on hard drugs. Both of those issues were causing complications with the band’s touring, and they were asked to leave the band in February 1979.
Following the departure of the Godchauxs, Brent Mydland joined as keyboardist and vocalist and was considered "the perfect fit". The Godchauxs then formed the Heart of Gold Band before Keith Godchaux died in a car accident in 1980. Mydland was the keyboardist for the Grateful Dead for 11 years until his death by narcotics overdose in July 1990,[31] becoming the third keyboardist to die.

sorry to whom ever decided to vote me down for being blunt and stating the facts!!