Grateful Dead

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNC3OciAF3w

... 1-18-78~ Stockton with bonus disc of 1-17-78 Sacramento!If there has to be any more 78s.

....looks like LA. Here I come.

Era schmeara......btw that 4-6-82 Truckin is sans the doo dah man. Bobby was distracted by a veritable hen house of hot mainline girls!

Hear! Hear, Bolo! I couldn't agree more. Whatever era tickles your ear-sockets, plug it in and hang on for the ride, I say. Personal preference is always between you and you.

Over 100 billion people have set foot on this planet during its history, most of whom never experienced the joy of hearing a single note of music performed by the Grateful Dead. I feel blessed to be among those relative few who continue to reap the benefits of the Dead's collective musical genius. It borders on the miraculous that, for 3 decades, folks had the foresight to record most of their concerts so that we Deadheads may now enjoy this blissful music in all its fully-Normanized, HDCD splendor. In the grand scheme of things, I'm of the opinion that any GD era is a wonderful era, and any GD show is a wonderful show. Except Boreal, but mostly because of the traffic, heat and dust. And the "Day Tripper" encore.

Haven't a clue, Minas. Clearly (or not so clearly) it's open to interpretation. But whatever he's saying, I'm digging his posts so far. Refreshing change from the usual kvetching, grousing, and one-upping that seems to permeate these forums. Though he does appear to be in need of weed. For his ailing eyesight, I believe...

So I thought I'd look once more at recent releases and see if they fit a pattern, re: the ABCD Enterprises angle. 2016's '78 box's liner notes bears the note, "Tapes provided through the assistance of ABCD Enterprises, LLC," as well as "Tapes recovered and restored by Rob Eaton." 2017's '77 box references ABCD Enterprises and the Special Thanks includes Eaton's name. Jibes with what we've heard. Eaton tracked down the couple who bought part of Betty's locker and tape stash, cleaned up the tapes and helped get the couple in touch with the GD org. DaP 20/2016/Boulder '81 lacks any reference to ABCD. DaP 21/2017/Boston '73 (a fave) references ABCD, thanks Eaton. DaP 22/2017/NYC '71 (fave) references ABCD, thanks Eaton. DaP 23/2017/Eugene '78 references ABCD, thanks Eaton. DaP 24/2017/Berkeley '72 (a fave) references ABCD, thanks Eaton. There's a dozen shows, released 2016-2017, from the ABCD returned tapes stash, with Boulder the lone non-ABCD release; it might even have been a fall-back project while they worked over the returned tapes. We know Dave has stated his predilection for releasing returned tapes promptly (see the "houseboat tapes"), which injects some excitement/drama into the vault release program. That approach happens to dovetail with the theory that the band didn't buy back tapes but agreed to allow ABCD a share of the profits and possibly agreed to a rapid, successive release of returned tapes, which has indeed transpired. The dozen shows referenced above range from 1971 to 1978, so that's quite a range of years, and bodes well for the future. Plus, somehow I get/got the sense that the ABCD tape stash includes several dozen reels/shows -- in other words, so many that Dave can and will take a break at some point and maintain part of his own DaP plans in place before the ABCD tape trove was available. I'd guess that the vault has an ample inventory of '77 and '78 tapes, thus the releases (primarily the boxes) have favored those years. Again, a nice dovetail: a trove of returned tapes for years well represented in the vault allows Dave to put out two boxes and not really dent his 77-78 stash. I'd even guess that DaP 25 and 26 will be based, at least in part, on returned tapes from ABCD. Dave may already have said as much. I don't think this year's box can draw on '77 or '78 in deference to variety, but with the ABCD stash ranging from '71 to '78 (that we know of), the ABCD returned tapes might still contribute to a box from '73 or '74 -- my current guesses of the 2018 box focus. Obviously had some time on my hands today... but the upshot is positive for anyone who likes the '70s shows. One last thought: I'd guess that with the Anthem re-release providing an opportunity to put out a '68 show, that for 'balance' DaP 27 and 28 will include a '69 show and an early '80s show. Well, enough of my thoughts.

hendrixfreak - I loved your comment: "there may have been some arrangement to get returned tapes released relatively quickly... That way, the folks holding the tapes received some recompense for their willingness to provide the tapes". GREAT POINT... never thought of that! Why would any knucklehead relinquish possession and control of the tapes (in return for what is likely a "time of sale" recompense) unless the time of sale is near-term? The Dead could just throw them in the back of the Vault and say "Thanks!!! Maybe we'll release it someday!"... Suddenly you realize you have relinquished possession and control of the reels and will be reduced to logging in here every day to see if it'll ever get out - sucker! Requiring a near-term release is smart - I'd be paranoid that Dave/Rhino might tilt toward non-royalty releases (based on profit, or simply principle!), and/or the show would instead be somehow leaked through the trading community just to spite those who have "spent years trying to hold the Dead hostage for THEIR OWN music, man!"...

I couldn't make head or tails of that Peachy post. What was he saying?