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    lilgoldie
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    Joined:

    What's Inside:
    • Five Complete Shows
    • 5/11/77 St. Paul Civic Center Arena, St. Paul, MN
    • 5/12/77 Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL
    • 5/13/77 Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL
    • 5/15/77 St. Louis Arena, St. Louis MO
    • 5/17/77 University Of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL
    •14 Discs, 111 tracks
    •Mastered in HDCD by Jeffrey Norman, Plangent Processes playback system for maximum sonic accuracy
    •Artwork by Grammy Award-winning graphic artist Masaki Koike
    •Period Photos by James R Anderson
    •Historical Essay by Steve Silberman
    •Individual show liner notes

    MAGICAL, MYTHICAL MAY 1977!

    If you're a Dead Head, chances are you've spent many an hour expounding upon the distinction of May 8, 1977, Cornell University, Barton Hall. Well, at the risk of preaching to the choir, we'd like to reintroduce you to a series of shows that matches said greatness from that same gloriously fertile season. While Barton Hall is well known, the astounding tour that surrounded it has occasionally flown under the radar due to the uneven quality of tapes in circulation. May 1977 is set to change all of that with a boxed set that zeroes in on this high-water mark in the Grateful Dead's long strange trip.

    For a band resurrecting itself after a 20-month hiatus, there was a great frenzy of expectancy that surrounded the Spring of 1977. We anticipate a grand reoccurrence of this fervor with the release of May 1977, a 14-disc boxed set featuring five complete shows from consecutive stops on that magical tour. Mastered in HDCD by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering, the "psychoacoustic phenomena" as Jerry once put it, of St. Paul Civic Center Arena, St. Paul, MN (5/11) Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL (5/12, 5/13), St. Louis Arena, St. Louis MO (5/15) and Coliseum at the University Of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL (5/17) can now finally be appreciated. Each of these shows finds the Dead delivering punchier, more focused sets, tightening up the framework; each night turning out first-ever renditions ("Passenger,""Iko Iko,""Jack-A-Roe"), unloading potent new pairings ("Scarlet Begonias">"Fire On The Mountain", "Estimated Prophet">"Eyes Of The World"), classic covers ("Dancing In The Street") and soon-to-be staples ("Estimated Prophet," "Samson and Delilah"), and ultimately rising up to paradise.

    And now for the nitty-gritty...

    Due June 11, May 1977 is limited to 15,000 individually numbered copies. Presented in a psychedelic box that boasts an intricate die-cut design created by Grammy®-winning graphic artist Masaki Koike, the set also includes a book filled with stories about each show, as well as an in-depth essay by Dead historian Steve Silberman, who delves deep into the history behind the tour and the band’s return from its extended hiatus.

    Once these 15,000 boxes are gone, May 1977 and its shows will never be available again on CD. However, the 111 tracks will be made available on release date as FLAC and Apple lossless full-set-only downloads for $99.98.

    Like its predecessors Europe '72: The Complete Recordings and Spring 1990, we expect May 1977 to sell out. Your best bet is to pre-order it now, then sit back, relax, and enjoy all the exclusive content we'll be rolling out over the next few weeks right here and on Facebook.com/GratefulDead and Youtube.com/gratefuldead.

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  • #311
    hbob1995
    Joined:
    Weir is da' Man!
    I have always been a big fan of what Bob does and to what he brings to the band. He is vastly underrated as a guitarist. He adds just what the band needs to bring out the best in the tunes and he plays off of Jerry very nicely. I am also a huge fan of the songs he has written and his cowboy tunes always ramp up the show. Watch him on any dvd and you can see what a good time he has but also how very serious is he about playing his parts. The Dead always were a great example of synergy, the sum of the parts is way more then just adding up the individual talents.
  • #312
    reijo29
    Joined:
    Skipping......Weir
    A Help/Slipknot would have been nice if it was played on one of these 5 shows. Would definitely trade that for Row Jimmy. That is my skip song, it has a nice laid back reggae feel but always goes on for ever and ever and ever.... I love & respect Bob's coloring in on rhythm guitar but he crosses the line on the 90 box set with all that midi stuff. (in some shows more than others. The Nassau show is loaded with him on midi but the Copps show he lays off it except for Space-which is where it works). Jerry uses the midi somewhat tastefully. That midi effect can cause some awful schlocky, processed, imitation keyboard synth sounds. At times it really ruins it for me, they already had Brent behind the keys so there was no need for Bobby to add those sounds. I am sorry but if you see Furthur today you notice how Bobby plays rather pure straight through a tube amp. All that late 80's early 90's experimenting with cheesy gurgling midi effects was (at least in hindsight) a mistake.
  • #313
    mustin321
    Joined:
    Skip Songs & Bob's Playing
    I am not boasting about this, because I don't care if someone doesn't like a particular song, but I never skip any songs. I am completist and I usually try to listen to the complete show. That being said, if I ever skipped a song, it would most likely be a Chuck Berry tune. With Bob's playing, when I first started to listen to the Grateful Dead, it was really hard for me to tell what Bobby was doing. His playing is amazingly subtle and completely unique to any other guitar player. I agree with what others posted on here about him fitting in with Phil & Jerry. More often I hear people praising Phil or Jerry but Bobby, I think, is a greatly underrated guitar player. I think David Crosby described him as being the 2nd lead guitar player in the band. I think that is pretty spot on because he rarely seems to play a "conventional" rhythm part. I am a guitar player and sometimes, while watching a show, Ill try to copy what he is doing and Im always surprised at how odd his style is but also how perfect it'll fit in with the rest of the song and how it fits in the middle of what Jerry & Phil are doing (and whomever's keys part) Loving May 77 box 14466!
  • #314
    hbob1995
    Joined:
    Likes / dislikes
    Obviously we will all have our faves and our not-so-faves. I myself have always loved Sugaree. Jerry cranks on this tune and I always love it! I am not a big fan of LLR and I definitely do not care for Stella Blue or Morning Dew. I am really loving the Estimated Profits & Passengers in this box. New tunes at the time. I myself would never skip any tune. Maybe I am crazy like that, but I just feel if I am listening to a complete show, I should listen to the complete show. But that's just me. To each his own. That's what makes this Dead world go around. I will probably not to listen to anything but this box set for several more weeks. Then I will definitely be starting to salivate for the next DaP. Can we never get enough "new" stuff? Addicted I remain.
  • #315
    estimated-eyes
    Joined:
    skip songs
    Everyone has to admit there are skip songs. Why would you suffer through listening to your least favorite song when you know there is a kicking number, maybe your favorite, right around the bend? For me, Looks Like Rain is usually a skipper, but then a good one comes along like on the UCLA 73 show. This is going to be blasphemy and I can already hear the moans and insults heading my way, but I rarely ever listen to Stella Blue. I have heard good ones, but I pretty much do not like that song and skip it almost every time. The melody just does not grab me and it makes me want to go to sleep. I like Sugaree fine though-- especially 1984-85 versions. Re: Bob Weir. The guy is fantastic and I have really appreciated him more and more in the post-GD era. I had friends in the 80s and 90s who hated Bob-- perhaps it was the Daisy Duke shorts and Izods, but they could not stand him. I liked that a Jerry ballad (Stella Blue maybe) was frequently followed by a rockin' Bob tune to get us up again.
  • #316
    tree1270
    Joined:
    Skip Songs etc.
    I will never forget a show with my buddy at the Boston Garden when his desire for food outweighed his desire to listen to a version of Althea. Vendors were walking around soliciting food and right in the middle of the song he yelled out “Hey Pizza”! We proceeded to pay the vendor down the aisle and change was returned. Before the end of the song, a pretzel vendor walked by and he yelled “Hey Pretzel”! So much for hearing Althea that night. If Bobby was with us he would have given him another “Shut the #%!% up”!
  • #317
    paulb
    Joined:
    To Sugaree or not to Sugaree......
    We all can't like every song to the same degree. Some songs we never want to here and some that we certainly want more than others. With some my friends there were always the "bathroom" songs. I've always liked sugaree. Look Like Rain too, some great Barrow lyrics and I love Jerry on this tune.But, we shouldn't be afraid to or have apologize for not liking a song. As long as there's no hate behind it, all critique is welcome. Now, I've always been a big Bobby fan. He's one of my favorite singers - inside the Dead world or out. And I dare you to find better rhythm guitarist anywhere. I hate to just call him just a rhythm guitarist he much more than that. He does a lot lead work, too. The whole WRS Prelude is all Bobby. Check out Bobby's solo acoustic demo for WRS on the Wake of the Flood expanded version. Just great. And the Spring 77 Box is just awesome
  • #318
    Nufc
    Default Avatar
    Joined:
    UK Delivery
    It's arrived in the North East of England......but not in my home until I've paid £26.60 (including £8 handling fee) qnd collected it tomorrow morning from the local Royal Mail depot. Buying the Dead and doing your bit for the Country....got to love it!
  • #319
    Star Dark
    Default Avatar
    Joined:
    Skip Songs etc.
    It's a testament to the band's range, diversity, and longevity that we have so many things to disagree about(!) To wit: I happen to LOVE Victim or the Crime, Throwing Stones, West L.A. Fadeaway, and a few more tunes others find as cringe-worthy as I find Sugaree. On the other hand, farked-up Playin' in the Bands really bother me - even when the long stretches are fine. Go figure! Re Skip Songs: "Around and Around" (along with the maligned Sugaree) has my vote. Re Dancin': Garcia's extended DITS solos were often terrific. I've learned to embrace the disco.
  • #320
    Syracuse78
    Joined:
    To Palmer....
    You asked about any good jamming Dancin's. I was at 11/9/79 in Buffalo, and it was a *fantastic* show. The energy that night stood out to me more so than probably any other show I saw. This was released on the first Road Trips (great call TPTB!), and I highly recommend it. The DITS has got this very cool electronic sounding jam in it and just rocks, all the way into Franklin's Tower. What a way to open the second set! Check it out.
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Submitted by lilgoldie on
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Dead Store Products

What's Inside:
• Five Complete Shows
• 5/11/77 St. Paul Civic Center Arena, St. Paul, MN
• 5/12/77 Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL
• 5/13/77 Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL
• 5/15/77 St. Louis Arena, St. Louis MO
• 5/17/77 University Of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL
•14 Discs, 111 tracks
•Mastered in HDCD by Jeffrey Norman, Plangent Processes playback system for maximum sonic accuracy
•Artwork by Grammy Award-winning graphic artist Masaki Koike
•Period Photos by James R Anderson
•Historical Essay by Steve Silberman
•Individual show liner notes

MAGICAL, MYTHICAL MAY 1977!

If you're a Dead Head, chances are you've spent many an hour expounding upon the distinction of May 8, 1977, Cornell University, Barton Hall. Well, at the risk of preaching to the choir, we'd like to reintroduce you to a series of shows that matches said greatness from that same gloriously fertile season. While Barton Hall is well known, the astounding tour that surrounded it has occasionally flown under the radar due to the uneven quality of tapes in circulation. May 1977 is set to change all of that with a boxed set that zeroes in on this high-water mark in the Grateful Dead's long strange trip.

For a band resurrecting itself after a 20-month hiatus, there was a great frenzy of expectancy that surrounded the Spring of 1977. We anticipate a grand reoccurrence of this fervor with the release of May 1977, a 14-disc boxed set featuring five complete shows from consecutive stops on that magical tour. Mastered in HDCD by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering, the "psychoacoustic phenomena" as Jerry once put it, of St. Paul Civic Center Arena, St. Paul, MN (5/11) Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL (5/12, 5/13), St. Louis Arena, St. Louis MO (5/15) and Coliseum at the University Of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL (5/17) can now finally be appreciated. Each of these shows finds the Dead delivering punchier, more focused sets, tightening up the framework; each night turning out first-ever renditions ("Passenger,""Iko Iko,""Jack-A-Roe"), unloading potent new pairings ("Scarlet Begonias">"Fire On The Mountain", "Estimated Prophet">"Eyes Of The World"), classic covers ("Dancing In The Street") and soon-to-be staples ("Estimated Prophet," "Samson and Delilah"), and ultimately rising up to paradise.

And now for the nitty-gritty...

Due June 11, May 1977 is limited to 15,000 individually numbered copies. Presented in a psychedelic box that boasts an intricate die-cut design created by Grammy®-winning graphic artist Masaki Koike, the set also includes a book filled with stories about each show, as well as an in-depth essay by Dead historian Steve Silberman, who delves deep into the history behind the tour and the band’s return from its extended hiatus.

Once these 15,000 boxes are gone, May 1977 and its shows will never be available again on CD. However, the 111 tracks will be made available on release date as FLAC and Apple lossless full-set-only downloads for $99.98.

Like its predecessors Europe '72: The Complete Recordings and Spring 1990, we expect May 1977 to sell out. Your best bet is to pre-order it now, then sit back, relax, and enjoy all the exclusive content we'll be rolling out over the next few weeks right here and on Facebook.com/GratefulDead and Youtube.com/gratefuldead.

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7 years 4 months

Submitted by icenine2 on Wed, 01/31/2018 - 14:07

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When will this be available as downloads again? I own the high-res digital download of Get Shown the Light and it is spectacular.
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7 years 9 months

Submitted by Sawwwn on Thu, 07/12/2018 - 07:03

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Oh man! Still waiting for these (May 77 and July 78) to be available for download! Please open this up or at least stop listing them as available. Killing me.
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7 years 9 months

Submitted by Sawwwn on Thu, 07/12/2018 - 07:04

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Oh man! Still waiting for these (May 77 and July 78) to be available for download! Please open this up or at least stop listing them as available. Killing me.
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6 years 3 months

Submitted by DanielSpace on Mon, 08/13/2018 - 13:02

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I think a fundraiser for the tapes is the dumbest idea Ive ever heard.
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