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    lilgoldie
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    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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  • #581
    Brian2005l
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    Thoughts on sound
    I think sometimes people here talk past each other on sound quality so I thought I'd see if I could inject some clarity. Here are some of the different elements to a good sounding recording that I see folks mentioning (my own terms): 1) Mix - how loud is each musician? The fewer tracks you have, the less you can tweak this. I think this is primarily why people care about the multi-track issue. 2) Balance - how much bass, how much treble, etc. (for all players); too little of one and you lose notes, too much and things sound unnatural. 3) Pitch - changes in how fast the tape plays affect tone (think Alvin and the Chipmunks); people with perfect pitch can detect slight variations apprently. I count myself lucky that I cannot. 4) Zits - tape hiss; skips; scratchy bits. Older tapes have more. 5) Separation - how easy is it to locate each sound spatially when you're listening on headphones/stereo systems? How easy is it to distinguish sounds from different instruments? 6) Other quality factors - do the voices sound tinny? Is the bass muddled? Do you get all the overtones on Phil's bass? Are notes amorphous "blrrrps" or do you hear the sound of a string being struck? It strikes me that the Spring '90s stuff had balance problems - lower bass frequencies were quiet and sort of muddled - listen to how much louder Phil gets as he plays up the neck. And I felt it had some mix issues - Jerry's voice was often low, sometimes his guitar was, cymbals were very high, Phil was relatively low. However, outside of that, they sound fantastic. Brent's keys, in particular sound amazing to me. They're round and full and they shimmer. Older recordings tend to be flatter, tinnier, scratchier, and hissier, but to my ears a lot of them have superior mix and balance. I personally think the Europe 72 stuff sounds great all around. I think Rockin' the Rhein was a multi track release, so that would explain the mix differences.
  • #582
    thismikebenz
    Joined:
    '80s releases
    In response to two groups of people on this thread, the people complaining about sound quality and the people complaining about the dearth of mid to late '80s releases. I believe I've read and heard several places that aside from the inconsistent performance quality in the mid to late '80s (due in no small part to the ravages of various powdered drugs' effects on men become rich old and famous rather than young, hungry and ambitious), there were not very good recording media in use for sound board recordings. THerefore, a lot of '80s shows will either sound crappy or not be released. Hey, at the time, they weren't always hauling around excellent recording gear with the intent to release these shows, and we're lucky to have what we have. I am amazed that I can have access to the shows that predate my '80 to '88 touring years. Sure, I'd love to see commercial releases of, say, Alpine Valley '88, but if the tapes in the vault aren't the highest quality, well, neither were the performances, and therefore maybe not worthy of the full treatment.
  • #583
    thismikebenz
    Joined:
    what order to listen ?
    I will listen to them all in chronological order, from start to finish. Depending on what day they arrive, of course, I may not get to listen to them all in one day. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to listen to one show per day over the course of a week or so, with various family members enjoying them in the car or in the living room stereo, or on headphones in my computer at work.
  • #584
    cbs73
    Joined:
    oops
    duplicate...
  • #585
    cbs73
    Joined:
    Just speculating...
    RE: Sunshine Daydream. I wonder if this isn't some cross-promotion between the movie owner and the GD. Maybe we will see the movie come out on Blu-ray, but not from the Grateful Dead & Rhino. Hopefully the soundtrack would be available as a physical release or download from dead.net. Would work out well for all parties, I think...
  • #586
    reijo29
    Joined:
    Sunshine Daydream
    Yes, I checked out the teaser China Cat video. Great to see a youngish GD jamming out in the daylight. Not so great seeing a bunch of completely wacked out nude topless & bottomless hippies frolicking about.....
  • #587
    rne
    Joined:
    SUNSHINE DAYDREAM
    I've just received an e-mail talking about the one-day-only screening of "Sunshine Daydream", restored, with new audio mixes by Jeffrey Norman. I guess this will be released on a CD/DVD set soon, won´t it??
  • #588
    wilfredtjones
    Joined:
    re: vinyl
    I can't bring myself to get the DP vinyl because the flips would kill me. I'm too used to the seamless jams on the cd. I did go with this year's 'Rare Cuts' and last years 'Winterland '71'. They are fantastic quality (art and soundwise) and I would very highly recommend them...
  • #589
    mrmike5
    Default Avatar
    Joined:
    Which one of these are you gonna listen to first?
    I'm a Dead newcomer (post-Dead mostly, although I did enjoy a single show in 1985...ahh...) and, while I've gotten into it, I'm not sure if there's a special moment that is *the* highlight that's worth targeting for a first spin or if I should just fire them up in order? I have a couple weeks off at the end of June and will spend some time checking them out in detail then but, for now, do any of the people who've got boots of these shows have a priority as it were? I agree the vinyl conversation is interesting. I miss my vinyl sometimes but have become a creature of convenience.
  • #590
    deadegad
    Default Avatar
    Joined:
    Thanks to all for the vinyl tutorial!
    Thanks everyone for giving me some insight on vinyl vs digital. When I have the $ it looks like I'll invest in a turntable and a lot of Good Ole Gd Vinyl!
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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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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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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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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.
product sku
081227965365