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
Repeats...
Some periods have setlists that didn't vary much, but it would be a crime not to release box sets from those periods simply because there is significant repetition in the setlists. So sez I.
Missing 76 box set
It still hasn’t arrived, so Dead Net customer service has now offered me a replacement. I am told that it will be at least six weeks before it arrives here. I will pay customs fees on the first one that turns up! I am not entirely sure how a box this size goes AWOL, and this is the first time I’ve ever had issues with a delivery from the USA, having been buying stuff from across the pond for nearly 40 years now. It had better be worth it!!!!😀
June '76
Looking most forward to the anniversary day run through of this set.
Starting with Road Trips Vol 4 N 5 into the Boston Music Hall run.
I like that Dave put this out. Same kind of energy from '77. A little more exploring and raw with less predictable segways and setlist slot placements.
What a great era. I used to kind of gloss past this to the more known and widely circulated. What a treat.
Sorry, I couldn't resist...
Segue is sometimes confused with Segway. Segue is a verb that means "to move without stopping from one topic, song, etc., to another." Segway, on the other hand, is a trademarked name for an electric transportation device.
Grammar police, Segway division.
In the pantheon of ironic deaths
I read somewhere once that the inventor of the Segway died after his malfunctioned and went off the side of a cliff (with him riding it) :-O
-edit- Cursory google research shows it was the owner of the company, not the inventor that passed away in this unfortunate fashion. But still, :-O
My current cd player has…
My current cd player has finally given its all to rock and roll. Anyone has recommendation for a HDCD player? Preferably multi-discs function??
Finally arrived
Hi SimonRob,
The package arrived in Finland at 27.5 and I paid custom duties immediately but Finnish Post Company needed another (new) fee, which I was not aware of. Anyway, I got the 76 package yesterday and I am currently listening to it. Wonderful, I am really very happy of the music and how the Dead sounds. I would recommend the 76 package to anybody.
Regards, Juha Pekka
All good things in all good time.
Good to hear you finally received it, Juha. Getting hit for both customs and postal charges is a bit much but nothing to be done about it but to pay up. Now you can sit back and enjoy it.
Narutlee--HDCD
My best advice to you is to forget about HDCD capability and purchase a quality CD player that fits your budget. I have spent hours agonizing over HDCD possibilities the past few years, but have discovered that I don't hear a difference. I finally got a Cambridge Blu-Ray player with HDCD capability, but that decoding can be turned off. I went back and forth with one of the RFK box shows one day, using HDCD, then not. I didn't notice a difference, and in my hours of research found few people who thought HDCD was still a good thing, given the better DACs and mastering processes available to sound engineers these days.
Very few manufacturers are bothering with HDCD any longer, so the quest to find a player gets more difficult every year. You end up spending tons or purchasing a very old player. Or, you could just pick up a nice changer that fits your budget, then use the time you WOULD have spent agonizing over finding an HDCD player listening to the Good Ol' Grateful Dead! :) My most recent CD player purchase does NOT have HDCD. Honestly, I would pick up an inexpensive Onkyo CD changer, then run the digital out through a nice DAC, like the Maverick Tube Magic D2.
BTW--I no longer believe in or care about SACD capability either. And I don't purchase hi-rez music files.
Missing 76 Box set (Part 27)
My box set has finally arrived in Manchester UK, almost three months to the day from posting. I must have gotten lucky cos I didn’t pay any customs fees at all (unlike Dave’s Picks 34, which is a fraction of the size and weight - go figure!) Thanks are due to Dead Net Customer Service in their help in getting this resolved. Yay!
Deadheadbrewer - HDCD
Thank you for the advice! I ended up getting a Sharp bookshelf 5-cd changer to save on space. Nice little setup but hope to upgrade in the future.
My ears aren't cut out to be an audiophile. So this will do for now.
No problem, Narutlee
Send me a private message if you want some help setting up an inexpensive stereo system. For not much, one can get some very good sound.
And the easiest and cheapest way to reach 80% of audio perfection is to simply get a good set of open-back headphones, like the Grado 80s. For that $100, plus maybe $15 more for an extension cable, you will be receiving nearly everything audio has to offer, in my opinion. CAN you spend more on all kinds of gadgets and trickery? Certainly. Will all that spending improve your sound in an appreciable manner? Questionable. Those Grados through your new Sharp system will be nearly the equivalent of a pair of $300 speakers hooked to a $200 amp.
Now, sometimes you do want to listen without the headphones, and that's where we should talk, if you start wanting to upgrade . . .
*RE/ Dylan & The Dead
*Listen back to Bob Dylan and The Grateful Dead’s mammoth 74 track rehearsal session, 1987!
...if anyone remembers, I posted about this when the ‘Giants Boxset’ Boxset was first released. 🙏❤️💀🌹
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/bob-dylan-the-grateful-dead-rehearsal-sess…
*** https://archive.org/details/gd1987-06-01.sbd-rehearsals.fraser.97489.sh…
Love this box
I see this forum has grown quiet, but I just want to say I LOVE THIS BOX! I've more or less finished two passes on it and it will be a go to box for many years to come. One of my favorite things is Jerry's guitar sound, which is sometimes sweet and rich, and sometimes kinda snakey.
This June '76 Box
Agree with the sentiment Nitecat, there is a lot to love about this box, the sound quality is fantastic and the playing is sublime. I dig that '76 sound. The Help - Slip - Franklin's from these shows are all top shelf, they just keep pulling me back into another listen. Currently spinning the 6/19/76 show again, and once again it does not disappoint.
Deadheadbrewer, Please…
Deadheadbrewer,
Please check your PM.
Have a nice day.
Regards.
Nice Box Set,
The packaging and booklet are very well done, The CD cases have cool artwork on them.
Finally Caved
I ordered this recently, since there are less than 1K to go, and I have to say, I'm really pleased with the appearance of this set. It showed up quickly, having avoided the initial rush to get it, and it's a beautiful package. Sounds good so far. I know I'll get much enjoyment out of these tunes, of course.
For those who wondered about the booklet: this is not a defect. I'm in the publishing business, and I know that most paperbacks these days are what's called "perfect bound," which means the pages are glued in. Open the book completely, crease the spine, and you'll leave a mark; open and close it enough, and the pages will start to fall out.
This booklet is more like a very slim version of an old paperback, where the pages are held by string. That means you can open it up and flip through it many times for years to come, with no worries that the pages will fall out. It's both an aesthetic decision and a practical one. So it may look weird on the spine--it's not a paperback?--but it's a quality move. Very nice, and much appreciated on my end.
Looking forward to cranking up that Crazy Fingers!
i just received my copy. it…
i just received my copy. it came in an outer box that had clearly been reused. some of the old labels were torn off, others were partially covered by newer labels. the tape was poorly replaced, but worst of all, the inner box had the cellophane torn and the box was scratched.
i’m so disappointed. for $150 i expect a better product.
these are the first CDs i’ve ordered from this site...if they all come like this, i don’t know that i’ll order again.
i’ve emailed the fulfillment company. hopefully i’ll hear back soon.
24/192 FLACs are Upsampled
Testing with Lossless Audio Checker shows the June 1976 FLAC download in 24/192 format
( https://store.dead.net/music/digital/june-1976-flac-192-24-1.html )
and the Pacific Northwest '73-'74- The Complete Recordings FLAC download in 24/192
( https://store.dead.net/music/boxed-sets/pacific-northwest-73-74-the-com… ) to be "Upsampled."
I have notified Jeffrey Norman and Rhino. I sent Jeffrey the logs of the LAC test results showing 80% of the June 76 files being upsampled. While he was very nice in his response, he had no explanation for the finding. Rhino has not responded to any e-mails. It is important to note that the files on both test “Clean” after downsampling to 24/96, which, likely, means the files, were originally digitized at 24/96 or digitized at 24/192 and downsampled to 24/96 for mastering. Whatever the case Rhino needs to disclose this fact on their web site or change the files for sale to 24/96.
I just received my copy of…
The shipping box is collectible in itself.
Fabulous Shows
I am a relatively new deadhead (5 years or so) and had never really focused on 1976 because in some ways it seemed like it was a warm up for the greatness of 1977. At first listen to the box set, I thought there were some great moments, but it really didn’t change my opinion (I admit likely because of my bias going in). However, I put the June 14 Beacon show in the regular rotation and found myself coming back to it regularly, so I decided to re-listen to the whole set and my goodness, what a great batch of shows this is. Every show is very well played and every night had greatness as well. Several of these shows are in the regular rotation now and even as a newbie, I can see how the band was progressing from these shows, to the early 77 shows (I love the Swing show), which then progress to the spring and fall 77 shows.