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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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  • taphedfrek
    Joined:
    not a kidnapper
    Let me assure everyone that I am not one of the goat people. if i had any master tapes i would return them free of charge to their rightful home in the vault. i would hope for a complimentary copy if they were released!
  • Star Dark
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    The Hostaged Betty Boards
    Hi Taphedfrek - This guy matches the New Yorker's description of the Betty Board "owner:" http://petaluma.patch.com/articles/local-goat-rescue-has-big-dreams-for… Of course, his batch doesn't likely contain Cornell '77. Nevertheless, I suppose you could make a donation.
  • Star Dark
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    Joined:
    Anna - No
    Anna - No - You completely misread my post. I was simply advising taphedfrek that the individual mentioned in the hyperlinked story matches the description of the Betty Boards guy featured in the New Yorker article (a retired teacher with goats etc.). I have no reason to believe taphedfrek IS that person. Just made a couple of minor edits to mitigate the confusion.
  • Anna rRxia
    Joined:
    @Star Dark
    Are you saying that Taphedfrek is one of the people hostaging Betty Boards to help goats? That the guy is actually on this thread advocating for a paycheck from the Dead for their own music? Like people who buy from Rhino to later resell on E-Bay, I find the whole motivation to make money off the Dead very strange. What did they ever do to you? Keep ticket prices reasonable even after they became wildly popular? C'mon. A band this generous (at least while Jerry was still alive) deserves NOT to pay to get it's own music back. On the other hand, deadheads of like mind can do whatever they want to. Like give to the Rex Foundation or help starving children.
  • frankparry
    Joined:
    Hidden tracks
    You know, I wouldn't discount the possibility of a few hidden tracks along the lines of those on DP29 - disc 3 of 5/15/77 looks a little short for instance!
  • guit30
    Joined:
    77
    Bums me out, I'm on Disability, can't afford this. My Favorite year. The samples are sweet, What's going on with Bobby, is his Shoulder ok? Jim
  • dstache
    Joined:
    I won't post my usual gripes
    I won't post my usual gripes about the cost (hooray!). I've been requesting for years that 5/12, a Great show, be released in its entirety. For years all we had was an AUD that required one to be in a generous mood to even consider it listenable. Then the Winterland '77 box gave us most of the second set. Thank you Rhino for finally giving us the whole show. As for the other shows, 5/17 has long been a favorite and 5/13 is at least very good. I graded 5/11 as below par, but another listen on an A+ recording will probably change my opinion. I don't have a grade for 5/15. Looking forward to this very much. Thanks again!
  • kgr375
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    Joined:
    Great Box Set
    Thank you David and everyone involved, not to mention the band. Can't wait to get this one. Hope it arrives soon. Next up, or sometime soon, how about Fall of 73? I think there are a few shows that go under the radar from that period. Quite notable is San Diego, 11/14/73, just a few days before the great Pauly Pavilion release from 11/17/73. Love what you folks are doing. Thank you, Ken
  • One Man
    Joined:
    Money for Tapes
    No, man. Do NOT pay for those tapes. They are being held for ransom and we already have listenable copies. And it would be unconscionable to give money to someone hoarding that little slice of history. They suck. Give your money to a worthy cause, not an evil one.
  • JohnL
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    Joined:
    Mastering techniques of new releases
    Just curious if anyone knows how these new releases are being mastered. Here is a blurb from Jeffrey Norman from the site regarding the remastering ofDP 3 and 4 for the limited vinyl releases "“I was excited to get the chance to remaster the early Dick’s Picks’ releases for vinyl…they were originally mastered for CD in 1995-96, and I was looking forward to hearing the 1/4″ source tapes once again, 17 years later. What I didn’t expect was the dramatic improvement the new mastering gives to these classic releases. The original CD resolution is 44.1KHz/16bit (as is any released CD), while the mastering I am now doing for the vinyl releases is 96KHz/24bit. I’m now using a state-of-the-art analogues to digital converter (Pacific Microsonics Model 2)….and I’ve probably gotten better at doing this over the years! I used the original CDs as a guide for the new mastering, but when listening to the CDs I feel like I’m listening in black and white, while the new mastering feels like I’m listening in color. It’s very exciting!" Sounds kind of limiting for the vinyl, which should be all analog. But it makes me think these will be offered in high resolution digital in the future, since the digital transfers are there and sound so much more "colorful" Any one have insight as to how the May 77 box is being mastered, and if it's the same methodology as for the DP vinyl remasters, why not offer up the higher res transfers for download? and why not 24/192?
user picture
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Member for

15 years 7 months

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
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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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Member for

7 years 9 months
Permalink

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.
user picture
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Member for

7 years 9 months
Permalink

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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Member for

6 years 3 months
Permalink

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