Buckle up as we take a deep dive into Giants Stadium!
What's Inside:
5 Previously Unreleased Complete Giants Stadium Shows On 14 Discs
7/12/87 (24-track masters)
7/9/89 (24-track masters)
7/10/89 (24-track masters)
6/16/91 (48-track masters)
6/17/91 (48-track masters)
Blu-ray/DVD video of the complete 6/17/91 show, mixed in surround sound Mixed from the multitrack master tapes by Jeffrey Norman at Bob Weir's TRI Studios Mastered in HDCD by David Glasser at Airshow Mastering with Plangent Processes restoration Individually Numbered, Limited Edition of 10,000
By 1987, the Grateful Dead had lived many of their nine lives but were about to embark on one not a soul had seen coming. In The Dark, their first studio album in seven years, had spawned a hit (A TOP 10 SINGLE FOR THE GRATEFUL DEAD?!) and "Touch Of Grey" begat a new generation with their fanny packs and their MTV and their undeniable quest to join the party already in progress. And boy, did the Dead let them in! But not without fine-tuning their sonic vibes to meet the new demand.
"The Swamp," as Giants Stadium was affectionately known, along with the grandstands the Dead had been frequenting, would seemingly equate with BIGGER and LOUDER, but the band "remained determined to give equal weight to the more subtle, oblique elements; to the exploratory improvisation and rhythmic complexities; to the fine details of the most heart-rending ballads as well as the weirdest dissonances in the jams."
With GIANTS STADIUM 1987/1989/1991, we retrace this journey from their 1987 breakthrough to their 1989 revelation ("the closest they ever came to sounding like a really polished stadium-level rock act, but the band’s penchant for breaking out of the constraints of song structure and into freewheeling improvisation will remind you just who you’re listening to here") to their transformative return in 1991, aided by elegance of Vince Welnick and Bruce Hornsby.
GIANTS STADIUM: 1987, 1989, 1991 features five previously unreleased shows that were recorded at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ on: July 12, 1987; July 9 and 10, 1989; and June 16 and 17, 1991. Originally recorded by John Cutler, each show has been mixed from the multitrack master tapes by Jeffrey Norman at Bob Weir's TRI Studios in San Rafael, CA, and mastered in HDCD by David Glasser at Airshow Mastering. The first three shows are mixed from 24-track masters. The final two from 1991 are the only Grateful Dead shows ever recorded to 48-track masters. We’re rounding things out with a little visual stimuli - the entire multi-camera 6/17/91 concert recording on either two DVDs or a single Blu-ray, both with a surround mix by Norman.
Due September 27th, this release is limited to 10,000 individually numbered copies and available exclusively from Dead.net. We highly suggest you grab a copy while you can so you can sit back, relax, and enjoy all the exclusive content we'll be rolling out.
Prefer your boxed set byte-sized? The collection will also be available for HD digital download in FLAC and ALAC, exclusively at dead.net, on release day. You can pre-order it now too.
In My Life....
....ended. Short but sweet, now Wait is up. Dammit. Now I need to listen to the whole record. No regrets.
Run For Your Life....
....now, this particular song is dark as fuck. 12 year old me just enjoyed the rhythm. 51 year old me says "Damn Beatles, y'all getting vengeful."
It's an evil song with an awesome beat.
JA
My favorite Jefferson Airplane varies from time to time, but Surrealistic Pillow and Crown of Creation seem to consistently occupy that position, both are good from start to finish. Really dig If You Feel on Crown of Creation, and some of the mellow stuff like My Best Friend or How Do You Feel from Surrealistic Pillow, absolutely can't go wrong with either album. Also, if you haven't already, check out Quah by Jorma, some really nice mellow songs on that album.
Divert Alert!!....
....Burgers by Hot Tuna just might be better than any Airplane record. Might.
I prefer my Burger with pickles and American cheese.
Burgers
Vguy, you are correct, sir, Burgers by Hot Tuna is a great album. The debut Hot Tuna album is awesome as well, just a cool sound to some of that stuff. I saw Hot Tuna at the Chance in Poughkeepsie, NY in the mid-80's and it was a fantastic show. The Chance is an old opera house, so acoustics in the balcony were excellent and it provided a cool view of the stage from above. Good times.
And I love her
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsUB6Jia4v4
Any PMJ fans? All their folks are way too talented...leave some for the rest of us. Your princess is in another castle.
JA - Hot Tuna Transition Point
The JA album Bark is interesting because half of the album seems more like Hot Tuna - songs Wild Turkey, Feel So Good and Third Week in the Chelsea. The song Pretty As You Feel on that album is possibly my favorite single song by JA, and the rest of the album is not my favorite. But the good stuff still makes the album worthwhile, Feel So Good and Pretty As You Feel alone justify the album.
She said she'd always been a dancer
Not gonna lie...I always get a kick out of those old dance videos. Very impressive. Just like the music, I like the compilations that blend all the different styles.
A great one, to Uptown Funk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1F0lBnsnkE
This one's been around so long, I think it was emitted when the big bang invented the internet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab9i0s4WEY0
And one you all may know.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHf6tiFkr2s
Jefferson Cheeseship
White Rabbit is just a monster of a song. Grace is bone chilling... and I mean that in the sense of, gives me the chills, not baked out across a couch. What's that other single? Somebody to Love. Meh... the early Jefferson Airplane records were like the rest of the San Francisco sound at the time, tinny and thin, horribly produced.
Shout out to Jorma and Jack for being the blues backbone of that band and carving out a subsequent career.
Led Zeppelin (one, the first album) radically improved sonics in the rock album industry. "Distance makes depth," Page would say, regarding miking John Bonham's drums. Of course Bonham wielded his drumsticks like the mighty hammer of Thor, which did make things easier, but still - the first Zep album blew everything else away sonically. The next best at the time would have been what George Martin did with the Beatles. The Stones got there, eventually.
Cream were horribly produced, and it's a damn shame. There's a Cream box called, "Those Were The Days." To my knowledge, it's most everything the band did including a beer commercial - that's right, have a peek:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z9tXP5IsRg
Now that both Jack and Ginger have crossed over, it's too bad their groundbreaking work along with Slowhand wasn't produced by Jimmy Page - it's a bit thin.
Which connects this ramble to Jefferson Airplane. Moments of brilliance, disappointing sonics.
Jefferson Starship, however, sounds exponentially better:
Jane
Miracles
Find Your Way Back
Count On Me
(We Built This Shitty) will go unmentioned for obvious reasons.
\m/
Jefferson Starplane
Bathing at Baxters was always the stand out JA album for me, and still is.
I also still like the trio of albums that were credited to various people, but were seemingly orchestrated by Paul Kantner ... "Blows Against the Empire" "Sunfighter" and "Baron Von Tollbooth," the latter home to the original Mind Left Body track. All feature Jerry on guitar on some tracks, to great effect.
It should also be noted that although "Blows.." is credited to Jefferson Starship, it is light years ahead of the easy listening mid 70s Jefferson Starship. In my opinion.
More UK delivery problems?
The UPS tracking information for my Giants Stadium box set shipment certainly isn't instilling confidence that Rhino has learnt its lesson from the DP31 international shipping fiasco.
Apparently, according to the tracking data, the shipping option chosen by Rhino was UPS Worldwide Saver, which includes:
"Second business day delivery by end of day to Mexico and major metropolitan areas worldwide".
Well that isn't going to be cheap, and the prospects for avoiding further demands for absurd enormous additional freight charges (and refusals to release the package), just like were attempted by UPS with DP31, are looking decidedly not good. Especially as the current status is shown as delayed due to a "missing commercial invoice".
Hope I'm proved wrong, but I'm getting a bad feeling about this.
Anyone else in UK/Europe with tracking updates, or delivery news, that might suggest a reason for optimism?
some things
In My Life,,, tear jerker for sure, maybe what wows me the most is the difference between the age of the "singer" and the age the "writer" was at the time. Want a nice cover? I always loved Bette Midler's cover of this song on the "For the Boys" soundtrack. (oh yeah, huge shoutout for "Stuff Like That There" from the same soundtrack)
PMJ - How can you not like stuff like that! I'm not use to seeing a tap dancer locked into one place, most be hard. Most tappers seem to "travel" while tapping. (my opinion)
Muleskinner - you sly devil. You put up that "David Hoffman" link. I watched, first you know there is not political talk allowed here. Second I didn't know "Bernie" had a career before politics and went under the name David Hoffman! (…. So then, Earl says to me, Maybe it time we go to lunch and we went, but we did not eat with the top 1%! We ate at a local café and had local food!) (in my best Bernie voice)
Again this site sucking money out of me. Everyone mentions so many artist it's impossible to keep up.
UK Delivery
Foghat
I’m staying positive. My item has been labelled for UPS but doesn’t appear to have shipped yet. It does say they are using UPS Worldwide Saver and that sounds expensive. The UPS website describes this as
‘UPS Worldwide Saver offers guaranteed afternoon delivery in 1-3 days for your international shipments. Export: Delivery by end of day. Next business day delivery to Canada and for documents to Mexico.’
Let’s hope for the best. If anyone from the distribution team reads these pages can they check the correct delivery method is being used before too many leave the warehouse.
UK Delivery - or not...
Shipments to the UK seem to be releasing one by one, over a period of time. My order still shows as “processing, not shipped”. Needless to day, my various inquiry emails to Customer Service have gone unanswered...
Good news?
Despite the optimistic mail that stated "Good news. Your order is on the way." when I check the UPS tracking, the only entry says "Label created. Order Processed: Ready for UPS" which was dated 11th. It does not indicate that it has shipped yet. Delivery to my address in the Netherlands is supposed to happen by the end of the day on the 14th. I will be extremely surprised to see a shit-brown van pull up outside my house tomorrow.
I cannot figure out why Rhino take a lot of care to get the music mastered to a high standard but then cut as many corners as possible and try to save as much money as possible on CD manufacturing (but that backfired on them), customer service and now warehousing. This really makes no sense to me.
Assorted Ramblings
Giants; really getting a lot of mileage out of this one. The 87 is nice and tight, of course the 89s are great, FALL 89 DAVE! , but the more I check out 91 the more I want to check out!
Ripping madness: been ripping up discs from dawn till doom.....my Xmas “miracle” just keeps getting better and better...of course went for the 73 and 74 stuff first, TASTY! Probably will shift into 69 position next, get me some dirty dead!
BLU-RAY Audio.......BRING IT! That would be beyond amazing! I’m sure they won’t because probably not enough demand, but you know “a girl can dream”
JA etc.....not as up on all that as I should be.....always sorta love/hate with them.....some stuff is awesome but some is kind of awkward, imho....Blows against the Empire is my go to favorite, Quah is an all time favorite. If I’m in the mood for that style it’s usaully Quah that gets played....Actually one time we saw Jorma he was sitting down like he was playing solo acoustic, but was using an electric with all kinds of peddles and pitch transposers, all kinds of weird shit. It was at this smallish Jazz club back in Buffalo called the Tralf. So we score the table right in front of him, like we were pouring him beers etc......great night! Speaking of cool tiny venues,
THE CHANCE: that place was so cool, saw the Radiators and ? Something else?, perhaps Little Feat? Can’t recall, remember the Rads show though, really fun night.
EUROPE: good luck to all our brothers and sisters across the pond! Hopefully all y’all won’t have all the hassles this time around. But if it helps, I’d say the general consensus is this ones gonna be worth it!! Can’t understand how the modern world with all the so called improvements seems to just completely fuck up even the most simple things. I guess that’s what happens when the only thing that’s seems to matter anymore is money? This darkness has got to give!
Ok, unfortunately these damn bookshelves aren’t going to build themselves, so back to work....
Oh No, It Wasn't The Airplanes Killed the Beast...
...it was beauty killed the beast. Check out the album Bless It's Pointed Little Head for some killer live JA. Smoking.
blows against the empire
The Jefferson Starship of BATE has no relation to the later band and the trademark/copyright issues.
This first starship was a PERRO project (planet earth rock and roll orchestra) ...the bay area musician's
concept... many of which are on that most classic of albums.
cheers
Charlie/pointed head
Yassss, a dear departed friend (Died years ago at 42, first friend to go is tuff, especially so young..), he was always turning me on to great stuff I probably otherwise might never heard of (kind of like hanging out here), anyway, he looooved the airplane. That’s where I got turned on to Blows. so I’m assuming he’d have broke out pointed little head, he certainly talked about that and chromium nun a lot.....so maybe I’ve heard, but I don’t remember....perhaps I should talk to Santa bout some space shipped out airplane tuna!
It’s mind blowing how you can spend so much of your life diggin’ tunes and still miss so much!
Bless it's Pointy Little Head....
....it's a Jack Casady fest!
Airplane are a definitely aquired taste. Some hit. Some miss. Hot Tuna usually hits the target more often than not. Jorma and Jack storming along.
Bless Its Pointed Little Head
Among the very finest live albums out there! Jack Casady's bass playing is worth the price of admission. The 2004 remaster has several additional songs and would be the one to look for if you are new to this album and plan to make a purchase. I revisit this album frequently...
All the best...
My teenager in me reminded me....
.... "remember Queensryche?" Yes I do. Thanks inner Vguy.
Holds up....
7.1.78....
....the best of the box. Apologies to Red Rocks. Sometimes the sweat brings out the best.
UK Delivery
Bluray box number 3769 just arrived safely in the UK this morning within 3 days of being shipped by UPS Saver despite missing part of my address on the shipping label. As expected, I had to pay £26.88 in "Government Charges" (aka VAT/Sales/Import Tax at 20%) and £11.50 in "Brokerage Charges" (aka UPS ripoff fee).
Unclear why the new warehouse (run by Direct Shot Distributing in Franklin, IN) took over 3 weeks to ship but at least I didn't get a demand for £75 freight as happened with Dave Picks 31. Hopefully they'll get DaP32 right.
Listening for after work tonight sorted.
UK delivery
This sound promising - got the normal email from the deadstore with the information "shipped" /"on it's way- finally... on saturday.
Estimated delivery october 14th - still waiting in Oslo, Norway...
Just processing
Waiting for a shipped-mail since weeks. Helplessly waiting ... somebody else?
7/1/78
Vguy-i always loved that first show too. I think that might be my favorite Estimated of all time.
I’ve been getting a ton of mileage out of this Giants box. It is really well done and sounds better than most. I’ve been playing the shows from this box, along with the shows from the 2 Spring 90 boxes on shuffle from my computer at work-has been such a joy (and a great way to make work more enjoyable)....
On the way...
Well, my box set is supposedly on its way according to the UPS website. But wait, it arrives when?
In Transit
Rescheduled Delivery Date:
3/10/2020 by End of Day
Just got my CD/DVD (was…
Just got my CD/DVD (was ordered some time ago, but as a birthday gift - so only opened it this morning). Its awesome. Well worth the wait. Great packaging and great presentation. Great booklet. Great images. Great, everything. My only suggestion would be that folks who shelled out for the CDs ought to be given a digital download as well. As it is, in order to play this on my iphone, I need to go and rip it off the cds and make it digital on my computer. Not a huge hassle, but not fully seamless. To include the digital download for folks who have purchased the hard copy doesn't seem that difficult (and I know Dead.net has done that for other releases in the past). In any case, I was at each of these shows and reliving the 87 show right now (my poor office mates won't hear anything else today).
80sFan 7/1/78
I'm putting it on right now, thanks for the tip. I've listened to that Estimated several times since the box came out, but I may not have been HEARING it, as they say.
One of my favorite things about this message board is finding out what other people think is top shelf. Heck I have a soundboard show from 8/30/69 on my phone titled "Vguy's Dark Star", as well as a warning in the notes field of the DaP 9 Dark Star that says "careful, gives Jim nightmares".
We'll see where a focussed listen to the 7/1/78 Estimated leads me. As far as Estimateds go I've long been a fan of DP 18 from early Feb '78, and I also think the 30 Trips and DaP 15 are pretty good. 78s are where Estimateds are at IMHO.
Re: Favorite Estimated's
7/1/78 is high on my list too.. but I can never nail down favorite versions. They seem to always be the last one I listened to or the next one I am going to listen too.
7/1 is such an unusual show and I think forcing them out of their fixed grid opened up other areas of creativity. The whole show is crackling with energy.
06/17/91 Drums
06/17/91 Drums. Absolutely amazing. Those two knew how to fill a huge stadium with such strange sounds. I've always loved "drums" from the later Dead days, and this is a great one.
Led ded falstaff
That falstaff/cream commercial is funny as hell.
Rocking the Cradle
Another good Estimated from 1978 is on the bonus disc of Rocking the Cradle, from 9/15/78. They aren't the best shows of the year, these from Egypt, but that Estimated, tucked away out of sight, is one of my favourite versions.
I also agree that 7/1/78 is the best show in the 78 box.
7/1/78 is good
but to say it's better than 7/8/78...
nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnooooooooooooooooooooo.
through gritted teeth: I am NOT a robot.
7/1/78
Easily my favorite of that box as well. That last sequence is simply fantastic! 7/8 I had a copy of for years, and it's a good show for sure, but in a hypothetical world where 7/1 circulated in the same batch of Bettys at the same time, I'd think people would rave about the day the Dead opened for Willie Nelson and blew Arrowhead Stadium away just as much as those Red Rocks debuts. It's not a perfect 2 hours, but not many shows are.
Similar Yet Different....
....i'm bored, so i felt like posting this question. Which song do you prefer. Man Smart, Women Smarter or Iko Iko. Or is it Aiko Aiko?
Arrowhead Stadium 7/1/78
Don't forget as late as deadbase VI they still had this show listed as two sets!! All we had were audiences of 7/1, 7/3, and 7/5!! We all had the boards of 7/7/78 and 7/8 and the song list of the second set is so strong especially Estimated through the 3 encores that night that ended with Werewolves!! I love this box set because no one had the first 3 shows on board tapes... One day i hope January or February 79 turns up if they were ever recorded!! House Boat tapes, Owsley soundboards... I really enjoy when we get these upgrades!!! Be good everyone have a good night... bob t
The whole scene...
Mustve been interesting
Grateful Dead
Outlaw country stars
Hooooot
If it had been George Jones instead of Waylon Jennings, it would have been an even more fascinating juxtaposition
July 78 Box
I love that July box , and 7/1/78 is really good. I got that box because of everyone's recommendations and 7/1 was widely regarded in those recommendations. I also think 7/7 is actually a better show than 7/8 at times. I guess I switch.
Last 5
In the interest of reading what others are listening to I offer up a Last 5, both GD/non GD.
GD:
1. DP8 5/2/70 Binghamton, NY - Including the NRPS set. A college kid with $5.00 in his pocket couldn't go wrong with this show.
2. Archive: 10/19/71 - the debut of KG as well as 6 new and soon to be classic GD songs. KG sounds like he's been with the band for months. I don't think we'll see this released since it was a radio broadcast...the same reason DaP18 wasn't 7/18/76 and DaP22 wasn't 12/5/71.
3. PNW Vancouver 6/22/73 - 'Bird Song'...'nuff said.
4. Rocking The Cradle 9/16/78 - sans 'Sunrise' & 'OMSN' encore. The 2nd set stands out for me. Best of '78? Nah, but I like it.
5. Giants 6/17/91 - An 'Eyes' opener plus 'Might As Well' and 'New Speedway Boogie'..what's not to like?
Non GD:
1. Poi Dog Pondering - Volo Volo Thanks to Vguy72 for the reminder...I haven't listened to these folks in awhile.
2. Stereolab - Jenny Ondioline/Ping Pong/Wow And Flutter EPs/1 CD.
3. Blind Willie McTell - Atlanta 12 String
4. Richard Thompson - Sweet Warrior
5. Richard Thompson - The Cold Blue Film Soundtrack Thompson wrote the music with instrumentation consisting of a string quartet, 4 French horns, oboe, clarinet, double bass, guitar, harmonica and percussion. The movie/documentary might be of interest to film buffs since it documents the noted director William Wyler's experiences with crews flying B17 bombing missions during WWII. I haven't seen the film myself but can hear how the music would fit the subject matter.
Ween performed Chocolate and Cheese....
....in it's entirety yesterday.
JamBase: Ween Performs 'Chocolate & Cheese' At Desert Daze.
https://www.jambase.com/article/ween-chocolate-cheese-desert-daze
....great album and sad that I wasn't there.
Re: 7/1/78, The Whole Scene
There is an interesting point in history that just might collide with 7/1/78 Arrowhead Stadium.
It is well known that Willie is a staunch advocate for legal Marijuana. I read or saw an interview a long time ago where he described the point in time where he gave up (or drastically cut back) on alcohol and decided weed was safer and more productive vice.. He stated it was a reaction to an acid trip he had I think "at a festival" where someone convinced him to take a hit the day he had to play. The context of the interview seemed to be one of the fourth of July parties he had.
He went into detail describing it was difficult to play on acid and singing seemed strained like the way he wanted his voice to sound was not the way it came out. (Lord knows many of us have been there). He walked away from that adventure not doing acid or alcohol but weed seemed just fine. I think my memory is mostly true to the original story he told.
I always wondered if the festival where he dosed might have been his 7/1/78 4th of July Festival? I mean.. No, never mind. There's little to no chance the travelling GD carnival would have willfully dosed Willie Nelson... Never mind.. that's crazy talk :D
Edit: This isn't the original article I read, no mention to alcohol.. but close enough.
https://time.com/3843900/willie-nelsons-pot-lsd/