During the mid-1970s, the Grateful Dead saga was unfolding like a Greek classic. The Sisyphean Wall Of Sound had nearly broken the band. From it spawned a Medusa head of countless side projects, all deliciously fruitful but woefully not the same as the whole. The chorus lay in wait, pondering the reemergence of their heroes, and wondering if "THE LAST ONE" had really been it...
But in early 1976, Apollonian light and healing would shine upon our intrepid wanderers once again. No more epic battles for the people with cops and lines and tightness, the Dead would return triumphant in smallness, playing intimate theaters and renting equipment along the way. No more ticket scams and greedy promoters, they'd give back with first ever mail-order ticket program, one that had a few kinks to work out but eventually served the fans well.
Musically, June 1976 signaled a Golden Age of harmony and prosperity for the Dead. It marked an Odysseusian-like return for Mickey Hart. Donna Jean was in lock-step with the sirens' call. Jerry and Bob delivered orphic delight with solo musings like "Mission In The Rain" (the only tour they ever played it on), "The Wheel," and "Cassidy," emboldened by group effort. There was fresh repertoire from Blues For Allah, breathing new life to the Dead's continually morphing sound - as Weir once said of the '76 tour, they wanted to play "a little bit of all of it." Old favorites were re-envisioned with cascading tempos and unique sequencing, making the crowd question if they'd ever heard these songs before. And there was comfort and joy in the familiarity of watching the band make it up as they went along. By all means, it was clear that the bacchanalia of live Dead would reign on.
And now the revelry from this epoch, evidenced by the near-studio quality sound captured on two-track live recordings by Betty Cantor-Jackson, lives on, bolstered by Jeffrey Norman's HDCD mastering. It's housed for posterity in a handsome box featuring original art work by Justin Helton. It’s documented in liners by Jesse Jarnow and photos by Grant Gouldon. And it’s ready for a spot on your shelf.
As part of our pre-order for this Dead.net exclusive boxed set, we'll be delivering downloads of each listening party - one for each show included in JUNE 1976 - to purchasers from now until the March 20th release. Order at any time before release and you'll receive all the listening parties to date.
Individually Numbered, Limited Edition of 12,000
What's Inside:
- 5 Previously Unreleased Complete Shows On 15 Discs
- Boston Music Hall, Boston, MA 6/10/76
- Boston Music Hall, Boston, MA 6/11/76
- Beacon Theatre, New York, NY 6/14/76
- Beacon Theatre, New York, NY 6/15/76
- Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ 6/19/76
- Sourced from Two-Track Master Tapes, Recorded By Betty Cantor-Jackson
- Mastered in HDCD by Jeffrey Norman
- Restoration and Speed Correction by Plangent Processes
Gerd
Just made a beer/wine run to get some French wines for the upcoming Paris and Lille E72 shows, and saw Weihenstephaner 1516 Kellerbier on the shelf. Grabbed a six-pack of it! Hopefully it's a good representation of what you're drinking . . .
1st Show--not to impugn your noble project, but what about just listening to the shows off Archive.org?
Deadheadbrewer
you're right, seems very close. Can't wait to get to the Kellers and enjoy the old traditional stuff.
F... off Corona.
By the way, this night we're expecting temperatures below freezing, too.
Take care and enjoy Copenhagen!
Coordinating our drinking
With the upcoming E72 show venues. THAT'S the kind of quality content I'm here for.
Political leaders
The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher is an excellent collection of short stories by Hilary Mantel. A good introduction to her work, too.
1st show
Don’t waste your time digitizing cassette tapes, you can get better sounding stuff for free using torrents, or just stream from archive.
I digitized my tapes at the end of the 90’s, then got rid of it all because there was better sounding digital that came from the masters, not my multi-gen cassettes.
It takes a lot of time to do it right.
You’re better off spending that time learning how to do torrents.
Skulltrip totally agree!!
Dark Star into Sugar Magnolia from 4/14/72 use to get rewound a lot back in the walkman days by myself.....very cool transition!!! bob t
On the subject of presidents
I’m reminded of a Monty Python sketch :-
“ have you seen page eight ? Nixon’s had an asshole transplant “
“ oh , have you seen the stop press ? “
“ no “
” the assholes rejected him “
@ slow dogs great minds...
Think alike. Except for the Morris series I've read your suggestions. Although I must admit I'm getting a bit annoyed waiting for the final version of Caro's book. The trouble with starting at the beginning with a perfectionist is you can wait a lifetime. I started his series in the 90's. Another example is Manchester's Churchill. Both authors just grab you and bring you in. His books show another problem, he had a stroke. He could no longer concentrate to write. He chose Paul Reed. Close but no cigar.
I'm up to Zoot Allures with FZ so I still have plenty to go
Re: Bob T Rewind
Yup. Same in my Walkman days. Gets plenty of rewind on my iPhone too.
The Universe is under no obligation to make sense to you
Hey, 1STSHOW70878-----check your PMs...………..
Rock on rockers!
Doc
Digitizing tapes
Thanks doc and ice-cream for bringing me into the 21st century. Already have access to the good stuff right here and through friends (thanks doc). I'll play the tapes in the '95 Mercury Grand Marquis Mom left me. Sweet ride, but not what I pictured myself in. So what's the best single play home audio CD player? Let's keep it under $400 if we can. Cheers!
Tone tips for electric guitar...
"Try rubbing an inverted slice of pizza along the entire length
of the fretboard, from nut to bridge. Pay particular attention
to the pickups - mash the slice firmly down into them, caking
cheese and sauce all around and into the housings.
Leave the guitar to sit out in the rain and snow... the
temperature change will allow the strings to contract,
locking in the oils. Bring the instrument slowly back
up to room temperature, let your dog lick the grease from
the strings, and you'll achieve superior tone to make even
a seasoned pro jealous."
1stShow, 25 year old Grand Marquis
That’s a classic car now.
CD players are getting hard to find, especially 6-disc carousel.
Just get a good BluRay player, it will play CD’s and DVD’s too.
Re: Led / Box / E72
...got any tricks for getting pavement asphalt off the ivory inlays on the fretboard?
As for the pizza grease.. Dawn seems to work best, get it first thing in the morning, while your head still hurts really bad. That seems to work best for me.
I finally finished the 76 Box. I am detecting a trend.. they seem to focus more on the sound on the first couple shows from these boxes. From the first note, the sound was impeccable. Same with July 78 and Spring 90 TOO. But the later shows did not seem so crisp. Not whining, what I mean by not sounding so crisp, the sound is like 1/10th of 1% off, barely noticeable in the later shows but the first show seems to sound better to my ears. Not in anyway meant to be a complaint, but I think someone has figured out that people pretty much make up their mind on these box sets from the getgo, by the end of the first show perceptions are starting to congeal so they really make some effort to make the first show in the box sound as good is it possibly can.
The sound is impeccable nonetheless.
I want to follow-up on what another poster said a few weeks ago, something about repetition. I initially poopoo'd it, but after listening to five straight June '76 shows I was able to put my finger on what stood out to me and relates to their post. It's the sound of the Travis Bean that might fit that bill. I'm more a Wolf, Alligator and Tiger fan, more depth and strength.
What I like about the June 76 sound is the comfortable, hanging in the living room dynamic vibe they were able to convey. Balancing both sounding tight and rehearsed with a looseness and laid back improvisational style. I really like it. I also like Dave's Picks 18 (Orpheum 76) and Dave's Picks 28 (Capitol Theatre 76). Not for everyone, but if this is your thing, this box sounds perhaps as good as these tapes ever will.
I hadn't planned on taking the E72 trip this time, but all this talk. Well, perhaps after I file my taxes.. I don't know if I have the time for the full tour this time though. Perhaps. I was always partial to both 4/14 and 4/17. 4/14 might have the better DS, but 4/17 has that outrageous Caution Jam. Now where I did I put that Visine bottle anyway...
Daverock
You nailed it on the See emily play being one of the fits only one era songs. There is a floyd box set that includes all their albums except the one song 'see emily play' which is a shame. Strange. P.S.. I have the box set somewhere but cant find it at the moment.
Where's the hit?
A Floyd box without See Emily Play doesn't sound much fun. I suppose that's a consequence of issuing albums only box sets- a lot of the best records of the 60s were singles, and they weren't included on albums. Off the top of my head I can think of Strawberry Fields Forever, Jumpin' Jack Flash and Purple Haze - all missing off albums you might think they would have been included on.
I like the Early Years Box of 1965-1967 material, which includes the Syd singles. Although it does include a 1967 gig with the vocals missing, half a cds worth of pre Pipers pop where they sound a bit like a youth club band, and half a cd's worth of experimental jamming. With the emphasis on experimental. Perhaps a better bet is the 3 cds version of Pipers featuring the superior mono version, the stereo version with the jaw dropping channel switching at the end of Interstellar Overdrive, plus a 3rd cd of various Syd singles, outtakes etc. Including the era defining Emily, of course. Unfortunately, it misses out on Vegetable Man and Scream Thy Last Scream, which are on Early Years.
Going back to Quicksilver...to me they went off drastically after Happy Trails. I can't think of any other great band that fell so far, so fast. I've also got several of the live cds that have come out over the last 10 years or. They are alright...I can never remember which are the best ones. None of them have the class of the First, Happy Trails or Maiden of the Cancer Moon/Lost Gold and Silver.
Currently spinning 5/8/77. I have long thought this show to be overrated. To the extent that I had forgotten how great it is.
Missing Boxes?
Anyone else in Europe still waiting for their delivery? I've tried tracking via UPS and it says it arrived in the UK on 28th March but there have been no other updates since. Every day I hope it will arrive with no luck. Anyone else having this issue?
No delivery
You're not alone, couple of us already posted about this....
Thanks Jim
I gave the box set a thorough review the week it came out. That included the great sound, the the energetic performances, the busy playing, the great vocal melodies or harmonies or unisons lol, whatever you call it. The one thing I pointef out as a less than great virtue was the repetitive set lists. I even went as far as to explain why I thought they were sticking close to the same thing, which was to allow themselves to get to know each other as this new lineup that included another drummer and a much different approach to the old classics. Kudos for your honesty and not just towing the party line (and double kudos because this has akways been the case with you). I took a virtual beating for going against the grain of the message board frequent posters, so I'm happy to hear someone with an experirnced ear and some credibility say it. And I will repeat my closing remarks, that any one would have made a good Dave's Picks, and I would have bought it even if I had heard it first. After a month I think the Slipnot on DaP 28 is the best of the 4. There's usually an extra visine in the middle console of the car.
76 box in UK
I got a card from Royal Mail through my letterbox this morning
Having paid £30.27 I can expect delivery to my house near Reading on Friday 17th
Light at the end of this tunnel...…..
New Potato
Same here,
last tracking update by UPS: Arrival Germany on March 28th.
As I understand the system, the domestic shipping will be done by the local postal service, here DHL.
If you check tracking with DHL (same tracking number) it says: Waiting for data.
Sunshine Daydream
Any delivery in Germany yet?
Same procedure as every year: they got it in Scotland, they got it in Tecino. But here in the middle of Europe, in the wonderful region of Franconia as far as I can see no Box in sight, nowhere at all. Just have to wait and look out for the parcel post man ...
By the way we've got a lot of various types of delicious beer (Kellerbier, Biobier, Solarbier, naturtrüb, unfiltriert ...) around here.
And: Sisters and brother, stay healty!
Some things...
Fourwinds & Deadheadbrewer - 11/19/72, maybe not in vault, but I have a decent copy if needed.
Simonrob - never heard of the Ronnie wit lp, I'd like to pick up a copy of that :-) Sadly an orange version of wit would be a 45, not enough wit for an lp!
That quicksilver messenger service collection of 7 albums going for 200 bucks,,,, guess that will wait.
JiminMd - tax day,,,,, I heard because of Budweiser, I mean Corona, tax day has been pushed back 2 months to help Americans. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.....
Daverock - costing me money again with your mention of box set of Piper at the Gates. Got one used via Amazon, said "like new, with no wear", 40 bucks. I bit,,,, don't let the old lady know! Hard to hide stuff since she's stuck home at this time.
SQ on '76 box...
I think JimMD might have alluded to this or it's just me. Yes, to my ears the 6-10 show had literally pristine sound, and so far it's my favorite among the five. At some points in later shows, I thought I detected relatively brief passages of sub-par sound -- "sub-par" as measured against the astounding clarity of the sound overall. Like, passages where I imagined the tape damage had taken a bit of a toll. Just not the lush, full SQ of the standard set by these amazing tapes. ("Amazing Tapes," is that a Dead tribute gospel song?)
Of course, I indulge when I listen to these shows. So it could be my imagination or wax build-up ....
And not complaining! The last two decades have been a Deadhead's dream. Way back in the day, say ~1975-76, when we got our first tapes, there were always monumental glitches, giant cuts in songs, or the tape would run out during Dark Star-zzzzuuuuuuuiiiiiiiitttttttttt end of show. So the recovery of so many tapes and the clean-up and loving preservation and mix/mastering has produced a bounty of good times.
At this point, even if I got a little burned out by the pace of releases, we're on this journey of discovery of the constantly morphing of an extremely well-documented band that we -- or I -- could not have discerned as I happily tramped to every nearby show. Or hitchhiked to a few, early on. Now we can do a Christopher Walken imitation in a silk smoking jacket, selecting various vintages from our over-packed shelves. Count me in.
Lots of Love for 4/15/70
Can't say it's my favorite show in the box, but I can say I don't like any shows better. USGD Prime.
Yes.. I know we have an extension on tax day, but since I do them myself and each year they seem to get more and more complicated.. I need to get it done so I can get back to having my shelter in place life back.
Sound quality
Every show in this Box sounds better than the copies I already had. Significantly better.
Three cheers for Plangent and Norman.
Repetition of the songs from Blues For Allah is expected since they weren’t being refined pre-hiatus and they needed to be adapted to live performance.
As far as repetition goes, it doesn’t get more repetitive than Europe 72 (except for the 60’s). For example, China>Rider was played 18 times that tour out of 22 shows. Chinatown Shuffle was played 20 times. Mr. Charlie was played 22 times out of 22 shows. And the list goes on. Consult your local DeadBase for additional information.
Dennis
The big advantage of the Ronnie LP was that anyone can own a copy. You don't need a turntable because both sides were blank so there was nothing to hear. All you could really do was look at the cover - or roll joints on it, the traditional use of LP sleeves.
The QMS 7 album collection for $200 that you mention - are those the Culture Factory reissues? I saw them and decided that was not worth it as only the first two albums would ever get played.
@ daverock
Being British this might be a slap duh for you. In the 60s the Beatles didn't put hits on concurrent ( British)lps as they felt that was a rip off of fans....imagine that. There are many examples which is why they put out 2 discs of non lp tracks/ hits
11/19/72 - Dennis
Thanks Dennis for your kind offer. I have many sources of this show every time it's upgraded I DL.
This show was a Taper Section or Jam of the week a few times. So I hope it's in the vault would be nice to finish off this three night run.
ps, Listening to it now from Taper-Section source sounds good once you get through the mix issues. Bird Song is really good. This show has that southern tang too it.
Albums/Singles
Having literally grown up only hearing US versions of Beatles albums, it took me over 5 years from the late ‘80’s(when I first got to hear Beatles albums as they were intended to be heard), to really understand their true catalog.
Non-LP B-sides in America were the exception rather than the rule. As far as Beatles, I think of You Know My Name(Look Up The Number), The Inner Light, maybe I’m Down, and a small handful of others. We didn’t realize how much we were being ripped off.
As far as The Grateful Dead, I’m fairly sure that in the late ‘60’s/early ‘70’s, there probably were not a large number of UK and European Dead fans, so if tapes were one’s first exposure, that might give the opposite of a US Beatles fan experience. Meaning that I only heard LP tracks, where as you probably heard so many songs on tapes that I was completely oblivious to.
Just grateful that time and technology has allowed these perversions to be corrected.
Stay safe, stay healthy.
Gonna break out the 2 ‘76 shows that were mentioned recently, as I’ve not played them in a long while.
Found box!
I thought if I posted on here it would arrive, low and behold got the customs slip today. Seem like easter must have delayed for some of us! Looking forward to getting this and hoping anyone else without will have it soon. Have a good day all!
On topic... for once...
Just finished listening to the 5th and last show in the box. What a truly fine release. After unpacking it there was the amazement at the box itself and the beauty of the artwork. When the first CD started there was a wow moment at the quality of the sound, even before enough music had been heard to judge the quality of the performance. That also turned out to be exceptional (in my opinion). The other shows are also top notch, making the entire package a true gem. Well done to all involved, both in '76 and now. You did good!
Back off topic, I have just received a mail from nrps.net announcing that Omnivore are about to reissue the New Riders "Field trip" album, remixed and remastered. CD and digital versions come out later this month and a 2LP version will come out in a couple of months time. This is, of course, the Sunshine Daydream Veneta '72 performance where the New Riders opened for the Dead. The original Kufala CD release from 2004 had disappointing sound quality considering it was recorded on 16 tr. - presumably by the same crew that recorded the Dead afterwards. Maybe now will it be significantly improved. I certainly hope so.
Real Gone Dead
...looks like a sale going on at Real Gone on a bunch of long-gone picks; get 'em while you can if you don't have 'em already:
https://shop.realgonemusic.com/collections/sale
And, I agree that 4/14/72 is cream of the crop - especially that Dark Star - when I did my Dark Star write ups from the whole tour a few years back , this one got my Top Ratings.
Also feeling the love for 4/15/70....gonna put that one on shortly.
Be well People
Sixtus
Snafu - singles
No, that's a good point. In the 60s, bands weren't ripping people off putting already released singles on albums. Up to about 1967, though, as you doubtless know, bands focussed far more on singles than on albums. So, with a few noble exceptions (ie. Rubber Soul and Revolver), the best records by the British bands up to 1967-the Kinks, Yardbirds, Stones, Beatles, Pretty Things for example - weren't on their albums, they were the singles. Some of the American releases were different in this timespan-1963-66, to include the singles. Sometimes, even the B sides eclipsed what was on the albums of the time. The Stones' Child of the Moon', B side to Jumpin Jack Flash, is one of their best ever waxings. From 1968, but still.
On The Dead...4/15/70 is as good as every one says it is. That Other One really packs a punch.
Dennis...good buy, getting the Pipers box set. I'm sure your wife wouldn't mind that one pitching up at the front door - essential!
Jim and tax day
I thought I was making a joke, that uncle sam would NEVER push back tax day,,,, then I heard they had. Egg on my face!
Dave Stone & Simon Says
Well I may slip the Piper Past the Problem of a Perturbed Partner. Simon's pointing out of the New Riders release, caused me to spend even more of that which there is never enough. It took all I had NOT to go look at the Real Gone site Sixtus brought up. (I'm lying, I looked)
Ha..
No, no egg on your face the mistake is all mine. I don't make a good bookworm. I've always done my own taxes and since I have been working on my own the last few years it just keeps getting and more complicated.. but I can't see throwing good money after bad to hire an accountant.
Almost finished with DiP 18, Winter 78. Great show.. I never noticed the sound issues but yep.. not as good as what we are getting now. I want to do a compare to the Scarlet Fire from this show to the one from80 Fox Theatre Atlanta, Dave's Picks 8. I bet the sound from this Matrix meets or exceeds the Healy board from 78.
Icecreamcakekid
Today is your 2nd negative response to my June 1976 repetition remarks, so I guess I need to address it. For one thing your comments are so poorly conceived I almost feel embarrassed for you. But then I consider the fact that this is the second time you've done this, with your Deader-than-thou condescending overtones, that I can only assume you're out trolling.
Allow me to take the liberty of letting you know how laughable your remarks are.
For starters, repetition for Blues for Allah songs is expected, yes. On that we can agree, because it's the album they were supporting that tour. But that's not where the unwelcome repetition is coming from, as I pointed out in my first post, where I specifically said Slipknot! offered some good improv. Help on the Way / Slipknot! / Franklin's Tower was only played three times. Crazy Fingers was only played once, and The Music Never Stopped constitutes less than 5% of the entire box set. It's like you didn't even look at the setlists before you opened your mouth, you just thought "Dehhhh, Blues for Allah just came out so there's gonna be repeats"
Laughable as well that you compared the repetition of a five show box set to a 22 show box set. Of course there is going to be a lot of repetition in the 22 show box set, especially one that was recorded with 1) a lot of new material audiences had never heard before (which you already acknowledged was okay in the case of Blues for Allah, so you made my point for me thank you), 2) they had three fewer studio albums to pull material from on the Europe 72 tour, 3) the average show on the Europe 72 tour was a half hour longer (almost half the shows have 4 discs), so yeah, the number of repeats will go up). This is just an embarrassing apples to oranges comparison. Besides there is so much awesome improv that accompanied the Europe 72 songs, one would think you'd never even listened to it. 10 Dark Stars and 5 Other Ones ain't even close to the musical variation of 5 Cassidy's, 5 Tennessee Jed's, and 5 Disco Dancin's. That's what's at the heart of the repeated song observation with the June 1976 box set (overall musical variety). There's way more variety in Europe 72 than June 1976. Bananas and coconuts. Ridiculous comparison.
But 22 performances vs 5, longer shows versus shorter shows, more studio albums versus less. That's all got to hurt your head icecreamcake kid. Let me simplify it for you.
I'm being generous here because I counted the Help on the Way triplet as 9 when really it's 3.
June 1976 has 44 different songs in 5 shows
May 1977 has 54 different songs in 5 shows
July 1978 has 55 different songs in 5 shows
And this is great, Get Shown The Light has 50 different songs in just 4 shows.
You should have taken your own advice and consulted your local DeadBase.
Two big mistakes
I wonder which is the bigger mistake. The Boston Red Sox trading away Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees or Vee Jay Records letting the Beatles get away to Capitol Records.
Wow mind-left-body
Aren’t you uptight. I don’t see how pointing out the repetitiveness of other years makes me deader-than-thou.
Why did you even bother buying the Box if you knew how repetitive the shows are?
The Fillmore: East Meets West 1970 Box
Could you imagine this as a box four shows from Fillmore West June 1970 along with four shows from the Fillmore East September 1970.
Imagining "Outside the (Fillmore ) Box Thinking?"
I like your style of thinking! East meets West in a GD Fillmore box circa 1970. . .. Sign me up for one of those. I'll bet that listening to an audio -- without knowing which coast a particular audio sample is from -- will tell you whether it is East or West. East coasters are louder.