Grateful Dead

I too have had 2 issues with this box set. 1 - my booklet had been bent during packing and I have 1 defective disc Disc 17 (disc 1 of 5/21/73 Seatle. Big scuff mark and skips on track 9 and fails to pick up on track 10 /11 / 12 after skipping.)

Got the standard response from Rhino - filled in the forms and nothing back from them yet. Both complaints now over 30 day s outstanding - any advice on how to proceed.

BTW -- a lot of fantastic music on this set -- but also a lot of recordng issues -- most of which have been already mentioned. This too is making me question whether to buy complete boxes in future ??

My big beautiful insane Pacific Northwest box arrived on Thursday afternoon, September 13. I opened it up, examined it for damage or weirdness. I found lots of weirdness, but no damage at all. It was (and is) perfect, but I was busy so I put it away on my living room bookshelf. Yesterday, November 4, I took the box into my office and started ripping and listening to the CDs. This is astonishingly beautiful music. The playing is intense, inspired, and precise, and the clarity and detail of the recordings (as rendered here) are breathtaking. There are some flaws scattered about – dropouts and balance issues – but for me these flaws do not detract at all from the immensity of the greatness of this box of beauty. These are among the greatest Grateful Dead recordings I’ve ever heard (and I have 288 hours of Grateful Dead recordings ripped so far). So thank you for this fantastic effort. A lot of work and care went into this, obviously. Similar to some of the Mosaic boxes of classic jazz recordings, this one is for people who want to hear all of it, not just curated highlights.

Hey I just saw your message in thread, I think I got it all sorted out with email to customer service. They replied with replacement disc on the way.

I appreciate the speedy response and help.

Time to rock out !!!

Spinning some 1985 Grateful Dead

I see this too, but there is a silver lining.. I am seeing lots of new folks step up and post positive comments, reviews and keep the vibe alive. The yang is there too.. a bit of complaining and the blem CDs and manufacturing error rate provides more than a valid reason to complain. I would consider providing CDs that play a core competency.

Still we get some good with the bad and new inputs and perspective is a good thing. I hope we didn't lose more than we gained.. there are a few I have not seen in a while that consistently added to the mix.

I would agree with the points below, but it may also be the fact that there are multiple recent release threads - e.g. this PNW box thread, the DaP 28 thread and the DaP 2019 Subscription threads. Who knows, hopefully it will pick up again.

I think Reijo has a point.

Drifters, I see your point too. But I like that show and am still glad it got released. The China>Rider, WRS and Jam after Truckin' are very nice and I really like the young Peggy-O's which are somewhat special and rare. The fade is on the source recording so the choice is whether to release the show or not.. all the remastering in the world is not going to bring the vocals up in the mix.

Dicks Picks used to place a caveat emptor on the back of the jewel case regarding sonic anomalies and the ravages of time, etc. The other point to make about some of these box sets is the tendency to make something very good and slip in a show that might not have made it as a Dave's Picks. Sort of slip one in on is. I don't think this is the case for this box, but 30 Trips had a couple of these. For $30 a show, and being a bit of a completist myself I am ok with it.. but I see the other side of things. I am sympathetic but happy to see these old tapes get special treatment. I appreciate the efforts they went through making this sound as good as it can.. but that's just me. One opinion.

Love the latest Dave's Picks.. but a topic for another thread. Talk about exceeding expectations...

They should really put these chats right under the product page the way it was previously. There are now less and less posts cause it's simply a headache to find these threads. I think the community is thinning out because of this. Steve Hoffman Forums is a great alternative community for GD superfans who want to chat up these releases or anything else.

I totally understand there may be sound issues with recording sources that are 30-50 years old. Recently we've had the heavy 'reverb' on the GSTL from '77, the splice in Dave's 27, Eyes of the World, which seemed to enrage so many, and now the various issues with PNW. Bill and Donna are high in the mix at times and some say Jerry is too low.
My complaint is on disc 1 of Portland '74. From about halfway into Sugaree thru El Paso the vocals are practically inaudible. Like karaoke versions. Which admittedly is kinda fun in a weird sorta way. But c'mon.
Maybe there should be a page or paragraph or Something in the already included literature by the producer/engineer where they could address and acknowledge some of the issues with a particular release.

What's the old saying? "Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining". And don't say nothing and pretend that everything is just exactlty perfect. By saying Nothing it only makes people wonder if it's only their disc/equipment/ears/delusion.

Perhaps I am behind in reading all these posts.. but the mix issues on my CDs seem to match up with the mix issues on the soundboards in the Archive. This means either the problems with the mix exist on the source master reels or all these sound engineers are hitting off the same crack pipe (which I guess is a possibility albeit a slim one). So remixing the entire box would likely yield the same result, but at great expense and causing much confusion for all.

Just to make sure I was not seeing double (hey.. it happens), I took some time to compare the PNW box to my source soundboards that I pulled down from the archive long, long ago. The issues with the mix are consistent comparing one show to the next.

Is this another poke to make sure we have maintained our sense of humor? ….remixing the entire box seems a bit silly perhaps, but not very much fun.

Again, I could be missing something..

One thing comparing my recordings to these did yield.. the PNW box sounds better than what I pulled down. Even the 73 shows sound quite good to me and my system with and without headphones.