Grateful Dead

Here's my logic: a) Dave said "a variety of formats" for this year; b) the news that (2) shows were in 48-track and that the tour was filmed; c) they released that sweet "Shakedown" from Chi-town 6-22-91 (caught the show from a distance); d) no Bolo clues because enough has already slipped out and content is kinda obvious; e) I've discovered something like 90 vault-released shows (maybe 250 discs?) on my shelves (just '66 to '74) that I need to catch up with.

If this was a small box, I'd jump; would love to re-hear all the shows I attended and I like that Jer appears clean and Bruce is onboard.

But if it's a big fatty, it'll be the first big fatty I ever turned down. Talking boxes and joints here, gents, not partners!

...where you love is baby.
Before you let that box go down.....

I'm with you Hendrix. A big box, right now.. might cool things off around here. $150 to $250 unless it's really rare, really well recorded and really special.

30 trips put many a marriage round here on top secret, box set double probation that has not expired just yet.

Just my two cents.

Edit: And god forbid the tariff's, shipping, trade war price hike for our friendly friends across the pond. That issue needs to be sorted out before boxzilla2 hits the streets.

Train kept a Rollin (Aerosmith- get your wings album) their best album by the way.

I definitely would agree that a 4-6 show box is the sweet spot, I am just wondering where I am going to put it as I am now out of box set shelf space. This is also further complicated by the release of the Motown Complete No. 1's Box Set, which has a pretty cool looking box shaped like a house. First world problems.

I have been pleasantly surprised by the sound quality on DaP 31, I think Bluecrow's write up was on point. The Scarlet-Fire transition was cool, and the PITB was pretty cool as well, just had a chance for kind of a quick listen so far.

Two Trains - Little Feat, from the album Dixie Chicken, a classic album from start to finish - besides title track Dixie Chicken, songs Fat Man in the Bathtub, On Your Way Down and Juliette are highlights for me.

Seriously, 12/3/79 limited edition field is BLANK!
Selling them ALL on ebay now?
TOTAL BULLSHIT!

There is a slot move on the river I live on called Fat Man in the Bathtub. All I can say is if you ever saw it.. or more accurately saw a boat move through it.. you might agree it is aptly named.

It is a cool move though.. and a nod to Lowell George and Little Feat.

One of my favorite names for a rock climb is seeds and stems (Sunshine Wall, Washington State). Also aptly named and brings back visuals of the days when you had to clean your weed.

I guess those days are behind us, thank goodness.

I was looking on eBay at those selling theirs and they all seem to have a number out of the “supposed” 20,000.

I’ve fired off en email to the GD store trying to find an answer for the missing “limited edition” number...

Phish has a couple....
https://youtu.be/96eoebsNsJs

https://youtu.be/mFVJgaMIgYQ
Got my shipping notice today. Clicked the shipping progress link. Says delivered. #3046 in hand....

I hear you guys on the blank LE. It never happened to me but I hear it happens quite often. I know that some slip ups happen but who is doing the quality control on the stamping machine. I mean it's not really about the # but come on. This on top of shipping problems. Where's quality control. Where's Ralph nader?

..or Bob the Builder.

It's likely an honest mistake.

"Lets keep the limited numbering exactly perfect on that ever classic, sought after Swing Auditorium show, ditto for the stealth first two shows in the 1970's but print 50,000 of that 79 show - most being unnumbered, and flood the market."

Still, it shows a blatant disregard for standardization and quality control. I am totally surprised and aghast.. :D

I've gotten some before that had no numbers because they flubbed-up and forgot to send mine to a new address I'd given them. So I got the extras they always make just for said mix-ups and mistakes.
Never heard of these right out of the gate though. Unsettling...things keep getting weird with Dead/Rhino.
Good luck to all, especially the gang overseas.
:O)
...starting to think maybe I am a robot.

....is 20,200. Seems legit.

I'll need an adult diaper. Okay, just sayin'.........

BTW, I think that once it gets goin', this 12-3-79 is a really fun show, almost flawless and spirited. At first, "return-to-cassette" threw me, but hey, if I was hip enough 40 years ago to value this tape (I actually sought and obtained the great auds for 8-12-79 and 8-13-79, just to see "where I'd been") I would have loved to receive this cassette in the mail. And this is a particularly excellent cassette. And performance, damn! It's a fun set with promise.

Just checkin' in, halfway through Disc One DaP 31........

I finished it and it's great. I only wished s.o.c. lasted longer.

So have the grasshoppers made it your house yet?

....there is a pic online of the Luxor light with a major swarm loving it. There's also an online joke about how God picked the wrong pyramid.
Good stuff. Almost ate one accidentally yesterday. Like deadheads, they are everywhere. Like. Everywhere.
Found one in my dryer. Don't ask me....
Had a pretty wet spring here in the desert. Apparently, there are specific factors to create swarms like these, and Vegas fit the bill. Better than mosquitos or roaches though 👍
They also apparently love neon. Vegas was fucked from the get go.

....then count me out of that group. Sounds grate! 💚 Jack-A-Roe

I'm hoping that some of the '80s stuff recorded on cassette sounds this good, I like seeing some '80s stuff in the DaP mix. Can't imagine '79 has the only decent cassette master in the vault.

Thanks for the clarity . . .. I do, however remain suspicious of government. Those extra money charges are a bummer.

Having mailed Dr. Rhino about the international shipping fiasco, I have now received a reply from the good Dr. or more likely from a lackey in customer service. I won't bother posting it here as it is the same generic, nebulous mail that others have received and has already been posted here at least once. It is devoid of real information and offers no advice as to what one should do. Inadequate response Dr. Rhino.

No updated response since July 26 from Dr.Rhino, no response from UPS and "my" copy of DP has been sitting in Louisville from July 24 'til now. Not an inspring service and certainly not worth over $90 of postage, when I have already paid for postage. What has gone so awry? The old system worked ok. Maybe time for Dave's Picks to move to the digital arena, although I love and have a preference for holding the media. If it is genuine mistake say so, if this is deliberate incompetence then say so, and please let us know what is going on.

Maybe we will get our copy of DP31 when we "meet up at the movies" on Thursday?

I can't imagine them flogging many copies of this next box set in Europe as things stand. No matter what year its from.

As much as we want it all we get new release fatigued. For me the financial balancing act of seeing live shows and staying up with the latest shiny objects here isn’t an easy one. The PNW box was fairly large after 30 Trips. It still hasn’t sold out. My guess is this is 88-91 and probably three to four shows. Peace.

It is too bad Jerry is so messed up. That band is playing well and the sound quality while not that good is certainly better then that Boise show. Jerry is not sharp, I find his singing here painfully slow. Compare Althea here to the one on the Go to Nassau, the Terrapin has no life. Bobby does his best to rescue this show, but he can’t pull Jerry out of the mud. I love the first two Dave’s this year and looking forward to a new box which I hope covers all eras. I was at the 6-17-89 and it is definitely in my top ten of shows I attended.......Peace

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ksp2qN5TaJA&fbclid=IwAR11ZN_FgRVVxTVwU4KE…

07/27/74
Civic Center - Roanoke, VA
Set 1:
Bertha
Mexicali Blues
Row Jimmy
Jack Straw
Mississippi Half-Step
It Must Have Been The Roses
Me And Bobby McGee
Tennessee Jed
Playin' In The Band
Set 2:
China Cat Sunflower
I Know You Rider
Me And My Uncle
Ramble On Rose
Big River
U.S. Blues
Promised Land
Brokedown Palace
Not Fade Away
Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad
Johnny B. Goode
Encore:
Eyes Of The World
...love’n it so far! 🙏❤️😎

I'm with you Hendrix, about half-way through Disc 1, but I've long been a fan of this show. Same VGuy, love this show and the sound quality. Pure fire from fall '79. As with this whole Uptown run, the first sets are solid, but they really bring it in the second. This second set clocks in at over 100 minutes!

new release waiting for the first listen. lots going on this summer.

Jerry's voice in late 1979...iffy. the much-loved 12/1/79's China Rider has a whispering Jerry vocal. but, again, I don't listen to the GD for the vocals.

seeds that were silent all burst into bloom: for a long time I thought 5/7/89 was a load of bollocks. for years I tried it, and never took to it. then yesterday while Ubereatsing: glory. It sounded magnificent. I was truly shocked.

"c'est la vie say the old folks, which goes to show you never can tell" - Chuck Berry

if you haven't heard it yet, check out the US Blues > Promised Land. very cool.

First of all, let me say that my heart goes out to all of our members not in the U.S. To be asked to pay such a ridiculous UPS charge is outrageous. I can only imagine how those folks, who order everything, must be feeling. I hope Dr. Rhino can work it out for them.

I am here in CT., and my DaP31 is out for delivery as I write this. YAY! But why, after 8 years of DaP31's, are they requiring a signature for this delivery? They didn't ask for that when they delivered the $750 Boxzilla, but they want it for a $25 DaP31? Must be a helluva show! Lol. Luckily I will be home today, but that is not always the case. I phoned UPS as soon as I saw this, but they will not change it. As soon as I have it in my grubby little paws, I will contact Dead.net and tell them to make sure they change this for the next shipment to me. Somebody at their new warehouse needs to get straightened out, and fast.

Rock on

i didn't need to sign

Re: DP31 UK Postage Charge: Having just spent 20 minutes on the phone to UPS they are adamant that the £73.92 Postage Charge is a result of Rhino Entertainment - I pointed out that the postage cost is ridiculous and that surely this charge is down to UPS, but no it is with Rhino Entertainment. How can anyone charge that price for posting a CD package, unless it was like a 12 hour deliver timescale, is beyond me. I am greeting a bit fed up with Rhino's silence.

Not had anyone try and deliver DaP31 yet, will post if they do and they demand silly money - I shall refuse delivery - I fully expect Rhino / Dead Net to sort this out. They sorted out disc problems with Pacific NW etc. These things do take time - clearly a f*** up from Rhino.

Years ago my kid had a teacher who 'ran' the train club at the school. I like the guy and had just started doing cd burning so I burned him two cd's. The Rolling Thunder series. Two full cd's of train songs. I you'd like I can put up on dropbox and hit you with a link.

But just for no reason, I search my music folder and came up with over 1200 hits of "train", ok a chunk was Garcia's train songs (stop that train, mystery train), but still a considerable amount. Trains have always been popular props for movies and music. They represent travel and power. I feel there are at least two types of trains songs, songs that are actually about trains and songs in a "train" beat. Cumberland blues I consider a train beat. FYI - the clack comes from where the pieces of tracks meet. If they weld all the tracks together you get no clack!

SSSSSooooouuuuuullllllllll trainnnnn.

Did you get my PM about something I put up for you? If not needed, let me know. Don't want to take down until you have or say you have.

Dennis

That really sucks for our British friends...At this point, it would be cheaper to grab a copy off Ebay! Ridiculous...
Since Dave was too busy to work on DaP 31, I'm guessing the box will be BIG, maybe 10 shows. Not looking forward to video though, not sure I can watch a whole show with Bob in his toddlers' shorts :-)

Just had UPS at the door again. They still want the £73.92! The delivery guy was asking if we’d sorted out the problem yet. I said that we were still waiting for action in the US.
Is anything going to be done? The lack of any visible response is very disappointing. Let the European fans know what is happening. Will it happen again with #32 which I have on order? Will it happen if I order the New box set? We need information now.

Well UPS pushed another “sorry we missed you” note through my letter box this morning together with an invoice which confirms that the £74 is entirely for transit costs. They say that this is the final delivery attempt so I presume that if I do nothing they will return the item to the US unless someone at Rhino takes action to arrange to redeliver. As Rhino seems to be trying to avoid any action, I quess the next step is to contact my credit card company to get redress.

Another UK subscriber here. The tracking on my DP31 now shows that it has been returned to the US this morning after two days in Castle Donington, England. UPS have not tried to deliver mine so I am guessing Rhino have recalled them. The parcel originally left the States on the 26th which might be later than those that received the outrageous demands. Hopefully all will be sorted soon. Looking forward to the box set announcement on Thursday.

My problem when assessing post-Keith Dead is twofold. First, there's the temptation to compare to what came before, and for me, there is no comparing 1972-1974 Dead to what came after. Good moments and good shows, but there's always a part of me that wishes EVERYTHING from 1968-1974 was released before any other shows got picked. Irrational and impossible, of course. But a man can dream.

My second problem is getting through entire shows. While there are FANTASTIC front-to-end shows from post '77 (think 3/24/90, 10/16/89, 12/26/79, 11/30/80), this ain't one. The first set is competent, without any real trainwrecks, but nothing to write home about. Althea is always welcome here, but this one is a bit slow and deliberate (an issue which plagues the the second set too). Jerry's vocal decline is in sharp display here (the Ramble on Rose crescendo is especially painful). The highlight of the set is definitely TMNS, but this isn't a top 20 version of the tune.

The second set has some good moments, but none sustained. The Scarlet plods, but the transition jam and the Fire find a nice groove and lock in. The Terrapin is also slow and plodding, and Jerry's vocals are a bit shredded here as well. The PlTB jam does find some nice new spaces, and is probably the best part of the show. I only wish they played it longer before the D>S interlude. Nothing post-drums grabs me here. Yeah, the Truckin' hits a nice peak, but everything that leads up to it is subpar (especially the transition from Rat).

Now the bonus material....this is hot stuff. I agree with those who have said this might be the best part of the run. It's a bit unfair to cherry pick the meat of a show and say its better than the main release, but it is. The Franklin's > Jam is particularly good and, unlike the 12/3/79 show, discovers new ground.

The uneven performance of this pick had me thinking that the pendulum has swung back too far in favor of complete shows. While the Road Trips series unnecessarily chopped up majestic shows like 10/11/77, 8/6/71, 6/16/74, 6/18/74, and the entire MSG '90 run (should have been a box), the Dave's series is missing chances to make a first-rate compilations. 3 discs of the meat of the entire Chicago run could have been much more successful and more likely to get repeated listens from me. This is all just my opinion, of course, and if you love this show, more power to you!

I think (and hope) DaP 32 will be a return to 1972-1974, and I think past years suggest that it will be. 2018 was the only subscription period to not feature a Pick from those years, and that was probably because of the PNW 1973-74 set. With '69 (Aoxomoxa, and potentially the Live/Dead 50th), '70, '77, '79, '80, and the probable latter-day Dead box featured in 2019, the Golden Era is the logical choice for #32 to fulfill Dave's "variety" prediction.

That's an intriguing idea, could've been something along lines of Dozin' compilation. Like that disc 2, which is the bulk of the masterful 3/24/90 set 2, you would need to have set two of 12/5/79. Definitely the best of the run, imo.

And not because it looks like just took a shower either.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j6A5-26YOs

Hoping these shows were included in the box.

just to throw in my 2 pence/cents worth , I've had no notification e.mails of pending delivery or demands from UPS though if I were to receive a request for £73 some odd quid I would quote them a line from Withnail & I :-
" You can stuff it up your arse for nothing and fuck off while you're doing it "

it's gonna make any potential box ordering a bit of a roulette

The tracking info that I can see on the UPS site is all over the place. The package starts its journey in Indianapolis, IN, presumably a WMG shed. on 7/24 in the early evening. Before midnight the same day it has made it to Louisville, KY, to a UPS shed I guess. There is the first sign of trouble - the activity log states "A missing commercial invoice is causing a delay." Half an hour later it seems to be back in Indianapolis. That is pretty fast, but there are not a lot of miles between the two places. Two hours later it is back in good ole Louisville. At 8:23am on the 25th it was being processed at the clearing agency and at 4:43am (Central European Time) on the 26th it appears to have arrived in Rotterdam here in the Netherlands. The activity log states: "Duties or taxes are due on this package." This is not what is stated elsewhere on the UPS website, where it states that the package is free of Government charges, brokerage charges and BTW (VAT) but there is the freight charge of EUR 81.88. The activity log then states: "Import cash on delivery charges are due on this shipment." At 12:22 the same morning of the 26th (in the relevant US time zone) the package is scanned in the UPS facility in (Yep, you guessed it...) Louisville, KY. Since then there have been warehouse scans in Louisville on the 27th and the 30th. I have received no communication in any form from UPS about charges or delivery and no UPS van has come near to my house to attempt delivery.

My fervent hope is that the item is indeed back in Louisville, recalled due to action by Rhino and that they will either reship it without the freight charge or return it to Indianapolis so that Rhino can ship it again, this time using the tried and (reasonably) trusted method that they have used in the past. That method may take about two weeks, but it least it doesn't impact my blood pressure or my wallet.

Someone on the Eurotraders list has been badgering UPS over all this and got a response that they have been trying without success to contact Rhino/Warner to try and sort what they are now realising is a serious problem causing major chaos to their European operations.

So UPS say they have been trying without success to contact Rhino and Dr. Rhino has stated that they are working with UPS to resolve the issue.

Unfortunately I think it is more realistic to believe that UPS are more likely to be trying to sort this out than Rhino. Time after time Rhino have committed acts of such gross ineptitude that it is hard to believe that they are still in business. As for communication, surely no one is as deageningly silent as Rhino. Possibly, hopefully, UPS will refuse to do business with Rhino ever again.

I am curious to know if or when I shall see my copy of Dave's 31.

Mr Jack Straw...I agree with the part of your post describing DaP 31, the rest I disagree with, which means nothing of course. I too, thought some of this show was a bit.....wont say flat, perhaps subdued is the word? I must preface this by saying that I’m comparing to other fall 79 shows.....
I think it is a good show, I thoroughly enjoyed it, I think it sounds great for a cassette master, the set list is good, there are definetly some high points, but felt a few times like Jerry was not fully on this night.....(all of your examples for instance, though I did not feel as intensely as you did)
So once again, I wonder about the show selection for this release, as has happened in the past, some of the recent 71s, the fall 83, and the Berkeley 72 show come to mind...all good shows, but i.e. “what about the night before/after” etc....
Now before everyone’s panties get all in a bunch, I fully admit I’m being “the picky deadhead” here! As I’ve said I love it and I’m glad I have any/all these wonderful shows to listen to etc, but, perhaps others might also feel like there was a stronger show available, especially as a representation of this fine tour! Just a thought, please don’t kill the messenger! ; )
Ok, enough nit picking, I’m glad to have this show, and REALLY glad they used a little variety. Sorry Mr JS but there were 30 years not just 5, so some of us want the best of ALL years! No doubt that was the sweet spot, but there are hundreds more, from most eras, that move me just as much! But that’s just me, which as I say means nothing!

I hear what you are saying, Mr. Jack.. but I would still rather see whole show releases with perhaps filler on disc 3 from neighboring shows.

I could be in the minority, but I don't mind having a few songs or even a full disc that get skipped from time to time.

I just don't trust them on deciding what to cut vs. keep (remember Morning Dew on the Wall of Sound Roadtrips) and the shows themselves tend to lose cohesiveness and flow when they cut stuff out. @$9 a disc, I would rather have the full shows then to buy an official release and rebuild the full show myself with what's available on the archive/traders market. I do skip the occasional Mexicali from time to time.

I see your points. I would expect periodic releases from outside some of our comfort zones once or so a year. I have a few shows on my wall that I have not listened to in years but I feel somehow I already got my monies worth from them.

As an alternative point.. I consider much of the first set material from 72 to be very similar and it often doesn't get the repeat listens that the meat of the show does. ..but I would hate to not see it included. 74 is one of my favorite periods but there are a few shows where they seem to get lost on a tangent that I don't always want to revisit.. but again I don't like to see them cut out.

Still waiting on mine.. it takes some extra time to reach the backwoods. Hopefully today.