Dick's Picks Volume 8
Dick's Picks Volume 8 is the eighth live album in the Dick's Picks series of releases by the Grateful Dead. It was recorded on May 2, 1970 at Harpur College (now Binghamton University) in Binghamton, New York. It was released in mid-1997. The album contains the entire concert, except for one song — "Cold Rain and Snow", which was played between "Good Lovin'" and "It's a Man's Man's Man's World". The first two verses of "St. Stephen" are also missing. The first set of the concert was acoustic, and was  recorded in stereo. The second and third sets were electric, and were recorded in monaural. In a 1993 poll of Grateful Dead tape traders, the 5/2/70 show was ranked #6 on the list of all-time favorite Dead concert tapes. Caveat emptor. Each volume of "Dick's Picks" has its own "caveat emptor" label, advising the listener of the sound quality of the recording. The label for volume 8 reads: "These compact discs were mastered directly from the original half track 7½ ips analog tapes recorded at this show. The acoustic set was recorded in stereo. The electric sets are  monaural. While the reason for this remains a mystery, spurious electrical activity is suspected." Enclosure and article. The release includes a single page folded in half yielding a four-page enclosure. The front matches the cover of the CD and the back contains a small photo of the band performing on stage inside an oval-shaped frame against a background of clouds that merges with the clouds on the CD's cover. Inside, the page on the left lists the contents of and credits for the release and the page on the right contains an article about the show. Article . The article was written by Richard Walinsky, is dated May 5, 1970, and is reprinted from the "Colonial News SUNY Binghampton". The piece has a very excited tone and the author writes using a sort of stream-of-consciousness style. He includes single-sentence paragraphs in all caps and uses incomplete sentences such as "Painted. Tripping. Stoned." and "Whoo. Whoo. Screams. A Bird Call." to express his extremely high opinion of the show. The author opens his piece by stating that the "concert was the finest in Harpur history, the finest the Dead have ever given on the East Coast  to my knowledge. And the finest concert I've ever seen..." About two-thirds of the way into the article Richard includes a section entitled "it's in the Kool-Aid" and asks a rhetorical question: "The hour grows late and the Dead is giving their best concert on the east coast and where? At Harpur. Here. Binghampton dinktown USA and the Dead are amazing." Walinsky closes his review by mentioning the last two songs of the show: "Viola Lee Blues with three buildups, the last ending with people screaming and shouting and Garcia pulling the most phenomenal notes out  of one guitar. And We Bid You Goodnight, which they don't stop singing because no one will let them go. "But they do and the concert ends. "five and one half hours. "It's in the music."