June 1976 15CD Boxed Set

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February 13, 2020 - 8:15am

2,627 replies
clayv

Joined:
March 14, 2018
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

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March 24, 2020 - 4:52am

#1201

Mind-Left-Body

Joined:
October 5, 2017

Welcome

I love the Dead passion here. Stray a little bit and take a pouncing if you don't fall in party lines. It was a spot on review, was plenty complimentary and most important was relative to other releases. Stoltzfus, setlist "gripes" would have been if I wrote a thoughtless one liner that said "this box set sucks because the songs are all the same" Not what I did.
Charlie 3 I appreciate your sinncere and objective response. Daverock, thank you for supporting my point whether you intended to or not. That's to say, if these recordings had come from later in the tour, after they had a few weeks to gel again musically, the improv in Playing in the Band would have been "better", having had that timeline you spoke of to develop, as they did in '72. The Orpheum is a good example from July. Much more in tune with one another by then. JimIn MD thank you too for supporting my post. 1976 as I said was as unique a year as any, and I will restate that any one of these shows would have made a great Dave's Picks. Was all I was saying guys. I will say this about 1969, that while the setlists were repetitive. They had less songs to choose from in their canon, but the songs were longer and lent themselves to improv. I would have been clearer about that fact if I had anticipated the defensive posture some have taken. I get it though. I'm going to listen to it again right now!

Take care all. Good talk.
March 24, 2020 - 2:16am

#1202

frankparry

Joined:
June 8, 2007

Repeat set lists

Great reasoning Daverock - I hadn’t thought of that before.
March 24, 2020 - 2:03am

#1203

daverock

Joined:
September 1, 2014

Repeat set lists

In theory, the smaller the set list at any given time, the greater the scope for improvisation and development on specific songs and themes. The most remarkable example of this is from late 1967 to mid 1969. Limited set lists but exponential development. One song that devel0ped almost like a narrative was Playing in the band from late 1971 through 1972.

Not all songs played continually were vehicles for improvisation of course, but maybe if they hadn't played songs on a regular basis they would never have discovered which ones could be developed and extended. If they had only played Dark Star a handful of times in 1968, its doubtful it would have progressed the way it did into 1969 and beyond.
March 24, 2020 - 1:06am

#1204

carlo13

Joined:
April 26, 2017

Thanks again

Thanks again all you guys for the sentiment.
March 23, 2020 - 11:15pm

#1205

Deadheadbrewer

Joined:
February 2, 2010

I met #3866

in Saint Paul, Minnesota. I heard and saw the UPS truck stop on the street this morning (Monday), leaped from my chair, and somewhat broke social distancing parameters by slightly opening the door and gleefully taking the box from the delivery person's hand with a merry, "Thanks!"

The box and music are shiny and silky. Soooooo good . . .

Carlo--sorry for your troubles, man.
March 23, 2020 - 11:13pm

#1206

billy the kid

Joined:
December 3, 2019

Repeating songs

Almost every artist repeats songs, there is only so much material. The Rolling Stones do some of the same songs every single show of their tour.
March 23, 2020 - 9:09pm

#1207

stoltzfus

Joined:
January 13, 2010

Setlist gripes?

?

C'mon...
March 23, 2020 - 8:25pm

#1208

JimInMD

Joined:
June 27, 2011

Repetitive

A repeating theme. The early years were the worst offenders yet there was plenty of variation from night to night even when setlists were similar.. On years where they introduced a lot of new material, they repeated songs.

I don't have this box yet, but that's not going to be my beef with it. 73 was equally repetitive, but the shows were on average an hour longer, the difference being super long first sets and a typically a jammier, far reaching second set.

I don't know, we can pick to death every year, every show the GD ever played. Yes, repetitive, but perhaps not. 76 was as unique a year as any, even if they played the same songs. Look at the first sets of E72. I am so glad they played them, they are great, but they don't get many repeat listens, it's the improvisational second sets that get my attention.

Be good all, just another box set in the life of. The question is.. will I ever get mine?
March 23, 2020 - 8:24pm

#1209

Charlie3

Joined:
September 21, 2015

No Wrong Answer

Sounded like an honest evaluation Mind-Left-Body, no requirement for everyone to share the same opinion. The repetition in the setlists doesn't really bother me, but to be fair, I am often redundant myself. So maybe given my own tendency to redundancy, the repetitive nature of the setlists doesn't bother me as much as it might bother others.
March 23, 2020 - 7:49pm

#1210

Mind-Left-Body

Joined:
October 5, 2017

1976

I ordered this without even looking at what was on it. 5 shows from 1976 is all I needed to know. That being said the sound is outstanding! But like a couple other people mentioned it's very repetitive in the setlists. Probably more so than any other era of their career than pre Workingman's. I think by May 1977 there's a bit more variety in the setlists and even in the performances themselves in May 1977 there is more improv than this box set. The only place they really make some changes is on Slipknot. I'm also a little bit disappointed with the Playing in the Band jams. It felt early in a tour and early in their getting to know each other musically again. I know they put out Blues for Allah and everything and that's one of my favorite records but the live band on these shows is just a little bit repetitive. The energie is great and they sound terrific. Any of the shows would have made a great single Dave's Picks. Put them all together and there isn't as much variety as most box sets. There were so many older songs they could have gotten into the mix. I certainly don't regret picking it up but I think it's an honest evaluation.

Angry Jack Straw I saw your very positive comment about Pacific Northwest box set. Am I the only one that thinks the 1973 shows in that box sound kind of like those bad 80s cassette recordings? The 1974 shows are great sounding to my ears but the 73 stuff has a lot of drops and uneveness to it, hiss, clanky symbols, etc.

Carlo sorry to hear things are going bad your way.

John Perry Barlow

John Perry Barlow

Forums

Dead Store Products

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 . . .

HDCD ETC

I agree

*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.

No comment

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!

Surpised

Just surpised it hasn't sold out yet. It is much much better than I was anticipating - really getting 1976 now.

June 76 is spectacular

6-29-76 needs to be released soon

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.

LDRAZ

send me a PM with your order details and I'll see what the Doc can do about this.

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.

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