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 22, 2020 - 6:21pm

#1261

alvarhanso

Joined:
January 16, 2014

Americana influence

For sure Garcia and Hunter were into bluegrass and the Dead in 1970 were identifying with trying to get a Bakersfield sound, but Hunter isn't writing story songs in 1968; he's writing psychedelic poems, or having them dictated by a cat. Bringing country elements like Bob's cowboy songs isn't the same thing as the drastic reshaping of the paradigm that began in late 1969-70. Is that all attributable to The Band? Of course not, but their pervasive influence surely reached intense music lovers like Garcia, Weir, Lesh, and Hunter. They were already fans of Dylan, and they were aware that they played not only with Dylan, but with Ronnie Hawkins, and were a band playing rock'n'roll throughout the US and Canada, and they were a tight band. When they put out their first two albums, they did redefine rock music, maybe not in such an immediately identifiable way as Jimi Hendrix in 1967, but to musicians, and people who listened to the words, they provided just as much of a new direction as Hendrix. Hunter and Garcia appreciating bluegrass didn't mean they could find a way to bring it into the Dead, nor that they even wanted to given the nature of the trip in 1968-69. We can certainly agree they found it necessary to expand their musical interests and palette, because they incontestably did so, and they didn't write a rock opera, but they did write songs about everyday life, ones that seem so timeless, many who hear them think the Dead are covering some old classic when it's Hunter's Jack Straw.

Whatever level of influence, they really seemed to get along well given their many associations of the years.
March 22, 2020 - 6:15pm

#1262

icecrmcnkd

Joined:
October 20, 2015

The Last Waltz

I have the DVD on my quarantine list of things to watch.
March 22, 2020 - 5:41pm

#1263

Angry Jack Straw

Joined:
October 2, 2012

Dave

Agreed on The Band.

Way underrated. I bang on forever about how Traffic is underrated. The band is equally so. Just great stuff.

I would put the Last Waltz just under E72 in the rankings.

And just to be clear, the gap between FW69, E72 and the rest of the releases is monumental.

When we first got married, my wife asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I told her, a copy of the Last Waltz.

She never bought it. I got all kinds of bullshit instead . So, I had to get it myself. Four years later. Best $9 ever.
March 22, 2020 - 4:56pm

#1264

icecrmcnkd

Joined:
October 20, 2015

First pass completed

Last 5
June 76 Box
15
19
10
11
14 (started here)

No defects detected, now time to import to HD and convert to various file formats for my music players and car stereo.

In the meantime, I am palate cleansing with ABB 02/70, the Bear’s Sonic Journals raw recordings in 24/96 download. I bought the CD when it came out, but then bought the downloads of the unedited recordings that were used to make the CD. The downloads have cuts and splices where the reel ended. I recently noticed that due to demand they now offer the unedited raw material on CD.

https://owsleystanleyfoundation.org/bears-sonic-journals/allman-brother…
March 22, 2020 - 4:46pm

#1265

RobbZ

Joined:
October 25, 2011

Alligator Wine--The Cure?

What the hell could it hurt?......Maybe "Screamin Jay Hawkins" was on to something.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI3YzuzwK44
March 22, 2020 - 3:42pm

#1266

daverock

Joined:
September 1, 2014

The Band

Hopefully one day the penny will drop ! They are clearly very respected and had an enormous impact on others in the late 60s. I wonder if a lot of pre 1960s American music had slipped out of young peoples consciousness by 1968. With the impact of The Beatles , psychedelia and heavy electric guitar based rock, maybe music like country, ragtime, rockabilly etc had become obscure, so that when the Band looked to these genres for inspiration they were quite unique for the times. Whereas for the last 30 years or so, the older genres of American music have become more widely available, thereby limiting the Bands impact as time has gone by.

I really like some of the other late 60s American bands I have heard recently-Cactus and Grand Funk coming to mind, but I seem to miss the boat when it comes to the Band. Maybe they were too subtle ! I wouldn't knock them at all...my loss.
March 22, 2020 - 3:12pm

#1267

Jason Wilder

Joined:
September 21, 2011

Agree on the Band's influence

But disagree about the bit on Hunter.

Your comment leaves out the fact that the Dead, Garcia, Weir, and Hunter were very much into "Americana" stuff, folk, bluegrass, and much more before getting psychedelic in late '67. I mean, listen to Mother McCree's. Or Bob (Hunter) & Jerry.

For me, while I love the Band, I think the Dead were always gonna return to their roots. And psychedelia was not it for any of them. While Big Pink assuredly had an influence, so did the fact that the Anthem/Aoxomoxoa weirdness & studio sessions had left them in the red.

A course correction to something more streamlined, basic, and easy to lay down needed to happen. And CSN were also a big influence as well with vocal harmonies. You can hear that on Workingman's & Beauty.

Anthem to Beauty is a nice video if you do not have it.
March 22, 2020 - 2:56pm

#1268

Angry Jack Straw

Joined:
October 2, 2012

Rankings

Every time a new box set is released, this topic seems to appear.

Despite my insomnia issues, I did not purchase the 76 box set. For those who did, glad you are enjoying it. That being said, my rankings remain as follows:

FW 69 complete. Small, but powerful. Every time I listen, I am blown away.
E72. The gold standard. If you could only purchase one box, this is it.
PNW box. Yes, a sleeper, but I love the sound. Completely understand those who rank it lower.
W73, W77. Both awesome for different reasons. Both quintessential.

TTATS gets lots of votes, but the later years move it down the list for me.

Stay six feet apart people!
March 22, 2020 - 1:07pm

#1269

alvarhanso

Joined:
January 16, 2014

Re: The Band breaking new ground musically

Haven't read the Greil Marcus book, but Music From Big Pink is so influential and new in 1968 that it influenced bands like our own good ol' Grateful Dead, Cream (Clapton wanted to leave Cream and join The Band, but he was afraid to ask them to join), Jimi Hendrix Experience, and tons of later bands to be open to exploring earthier topics, and doing so with music with roots in blues, bluegrass, jazz, rockabilly, jugbands, that we now term "Americana". The Dead were so immersed in this sound they did back to back albums where contemporary rock critics cited The Band as an obvious influence on the wild psychedelic band from San Francisco. Nobody argued that Creedence Clearwater Revival's massive success influenced the Dead to change, and they were both San Francisco bands, but the band of Canadians with an Arkansas boy with lyrics sometimes telling a timeless story had a big impact on the Dead becoming the band they did. I can't imagine Robert Hunter writing Brown-Eyed Women, Jack Straw, Brokedown Palace, Ripple, etc. without Robbie Robertson's influential songwriting, which was far less obscure than Bob Dylan's. Also, Duane Allman supposedly said that his favorite guitarist was Robbie Robertson. Their reach was widest amongst musicians, and their impact was felt through the way music changed and progressed by looking back to older styles. But they also landed on the front cover of Time the very week Workingman's Dead hit record shelves, so they had a massive mainstream impact as well.
March 22, 2020 - 12:26pm

#1270

gr8ful0221

Joined:
November 4, 2011

Thank you!

Just THANKS to all involved in making this box possible, and making sure it was released NOW unleashing limitless joy into the world. All aspects of this release are amazing.

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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