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    clayv
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    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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  • billy the kid
    Joined:
    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.

  • Mind-Left-Body
    Joined:
    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.

  • JimInMD
    Joined:
    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.

  • Dennis
    Joined:
    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)

  • Dennis
    Joined:
    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!

  • daverock
    Joined:
    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!

  • Sixtus_
    Joined:
    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

  • simonrob
    Joined:
    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.

  • New Potato
    Joined:
    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!

  • Deadheadbrewer
    Joined:
    Thanks, Dennis!

    I fortunately have a good copy of 11/19/72.

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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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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.

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!!!!😀

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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.

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17 years 1 month
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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.

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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

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8 years 8 months
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My current cd player has finally given its all to rock and roll. Anyone has recommendation for a HDCD player? Preferably multi-discs function??

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In reply to by simonrob

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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

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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.

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14 years 5 months
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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.

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In reply to by jpkamari

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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!

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In reply to by Deadheadbrewer

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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.

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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 . . .

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*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…

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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.

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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.

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The packaging and booklet are very well done, The CD cases have cool artwork on them.

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In reply to by MadDoc

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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!

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13 years 7 months
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Just surpised it hasn't sold out yet. It is much much better than I was anticipating - really getting 1976 now.

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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.

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

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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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