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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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  • Lovemygirl
    Joined:
    *Re/ 1976 New Release.

    https://shop.realgonemusic.com/products/grateful-dead-dicks-picks-33?_p…

    Grateful Dead: Dick's Picks 33
    ...”Fresh from a year-and-a-half touring hiatus, and back to full, two-drummer strength, the Dead opened for The Who as part of Bill Graham’s historic Day on the Green concerts in 1976. This 4-disc set—which is among the cleanest soundboard recordings in the entire series—captures both dates in their entirety, and features one of the most monumental medleys (and that’s sayin’ something!) in band history with a 60-minute, 10-song journey through St. Stephen/Not Fade Away/St. Stephen/Help on the Way/Slipknot!/Drums/Samson and Delilah/Slipknot!/ Franklin’s Tower/One More Saturday Night on the first day. Day two offers excellent takes on two solo Garcia favorites, Might as Well and The Wheel, that were new to the concert repertoire and a particularly fine Ramble on Rose. Bill Graham had honored the Dead by selecting them to close the year’s stellar series of Day on the Green concerts, and that—perhaps coupled with the presence of formidable co-headliners The Who—sparked some of the band’s finest performances of the period.”

    Songs: DISC ONE 10/9/76 (Set One): Promised Land; Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo; Cassidy; Tennessee Jed; Looks Like Rain; They Love Each Other; New Minglewood Blues; Scarlet Begonias; Lazy Lightnin’/Supplication; Sugaree DISC TWO 10/9/76 (Set Two): St. Stephen/Not Fade Away/St. Stephen/Help on the Way/Slipknot!/Drums/Samson and Delilah/Slipknot!/Franklin’s Tower/One More Saturday Night; U.S. Blues DISC THREE 10/10/76 (Set One): Might as Well; Mama Tried; Ramble on Rose; Cassidy; Deal; El Paso; Loser; Promised Land; Friend of the Devil; Dancing in the Streets/Wharf Rat/Dancing in the Streets DISC FOUR 10/10/76 (Set Two): Samson and Delilah; Brown-Eyed Woman; Playing in the Band/Drums/The Wheel/Space/The Other One/Stella Blue/Playing in the Band/Sugar Magnolia; Johnny B. Goode

  • icecrmcnkd
    Joined:
    Grand Funk RR

    On the Wikipedia page there is a photo from Flint where the wording on a Grand Trunk RR bridge was changed to Funk.

    This was commented on by Michael Moore, who is from Flint, in the movie “Roger and Me” (I believe that is the movie where he mentions the Grand Funk graffiti).

  • icecrmcnkd
    Joined:
    Unnecessary jamming

    Generally frowned upon by the music industry and the majority of music ‘fans’.

    What a sad life to not enjoy extended jamming.

  • JimInMD
    Joined:
    Re: SimonRob

    I guess Homer is in fact unhip.

  • JimInMD
    Joined:
    ..

    Time to upgrade that old ford Pinto for a 1976 lime green AMC Pacer. Fortunately, I finally found my dream car audio system, the rest will fall into place nicely.

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-NEW-OLD-STOCK-IN-BOX-KRACO-KS-699-8-TRACK-…

    Partay on folks.

  • Roguedeadguy
    Joined:
    Grand Funk Railroad

    Funny to see them come up. They could certainly jam back in the day.

    I saw them awhile back, probably circa 2005 or so, at a local festival. They still put on a good show and this being Michigan, they drew quite a crowd. If you've ever wanted to see several thousand UAW members simultaneously rocking out in a park, that was your best shot :)

    Fun fact: There is an actual rail system called the Grand Trunk Railway, which starts in Montreal and winds through Ontario and into Detroit. That's where they got there name presumably.

    Like with many bands, they were best before they got big. The red album "Grand Funk" is a banger.

    Here's a funny bit of commentary I found on AllMusic.com

    Built on fuzzed-out blues riffs, simple lyrics, and at times *seemingly unnecessary jamming*, Grand Funk's songs are mild in nature.

    There is no such thing as unnecessary jamming. Unnecessary singing, maybe.

  • simonrob
    Joined:
    July 3, 1971

    On that day almost 50 years ago, Grand Funk Railroad made their much-hyped British debut by headlining a free concert in Hyde Park, London. Naturally I felt obliged to attend. Being an open air job in England in rained of course. Not like at Bickershaw the following year, but rain never improved a day out. Opening act was Heads, Hands and Feet with Albert Lee on guitar. A bit of a supergroup, sadly I remember nothing of their set whatsoever. Maybe it was something I consumed. Second up was Humble Pie with Peter Frampton on guitar and the irrepressible Stevie Marriot. It was quickly apparent that Grand Funk Railroad were going to have to be a bit special to better Humble Pie's excellent set. Grand Funk Railroad had been widely hyped up as the loudest band in the world and beyond that us Brits knew nothing about them at all. What was instantly obvious was that Humble Pie had been louder than the loudest band in the world. Grand Funk Railroad's set lasted about an hour and was just a collection of uninspired heavy riffs, a bit like a poor man's Black Sabbath. High point was the drummer attempting a snare drum solo with his head. That that was the high point says it all. Nobody in the crowd had much in the way of expectations and so it turned out. But it was free. Rock on Humble Pie.

  • fourwindsblow
    Joined:
    2nd 2020 box

    Will be a retrospective of the first five years of grateful dead it will be 10 to 15 shows.
    Every five years a similar box will be released celebrating all six eras of grateful dead.

  • unkle sam
    Joined:
    Grand Funk Railroad

    Wow, flashback. These 3 guys were so big back in the late 60's early 70's. I was a big fan and did finally catch their live show back in 76, we're an american band tour. Mark Farner was a good guitarist and the power trio had the world by the balls back then. The first exposure to them for me was the Live 2 record set, which had smoking versions of paranoid, inside looking out, t.n.u.c. and into the sun. All very loud and rockin'. After that, I had to hear their first lp, the red one and on time, but their big hit was I'm your Captain>Closer to Home from the Closer to Home lp. Survival was the follow up lp to that and it had a couple of great tunes on it, I can feel him in the morning, feeling all right (traffic cover) and Gimme Shelter (rolling stones cover). My old roommate was from Michigan and had grown up with them, he knew them when they were Terry Knight and the pack. Terry Knight had somehow convinced the band that they should sign over the rights to all of their music to him and they were in court for years trying to get their music back. I hear Mark Farner got religion and was into gospel and religious music for a while. I guess all those drugs and groupies took their toll on Mark. But back in the day, they could fill up stadiums and pack any venue they played at and they held the record for a while as the loudest band ever, until the Who broke that record. Haven't had a flashback in a while, nice colours.

  • daverock
    Joined:
    Unhip

    Nice clip of Homer Simpson on Grand Funk Railroad - I've never seen that before. I never heard Grand Funk in the 70s, but they were often compared to Black Sabbath in the British music press, and were always mocked. I liked Black Sabbath ( and still do), but I never got round to Grand Funk. I used to see their album covers when I was flipping through to see what Dead was on offer, too.
    In 1976, The Ramones first album came out and that was a complete game changer. Overnight almost all of the classic rock bands suddenly seemed dated . Any late 60s or early 70s band I hadn't already heard would have to wait 15 years or so for discovery.
    Not many bands escaped this purge, and the ones that did were the less successful ones in the time frame-1968-72. It was a case of....say goodbye to Crosby Stills Nash and Young...say hello to Iggy and the Stooges and the MC5.

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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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17 years 5 months
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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 5 months
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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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17 years 5 months
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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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9 years
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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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11 years 4 months

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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17 years 5 months
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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 9 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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12 years 2 months

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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9 years

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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8 years 6 months
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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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9 years 1 month
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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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4 years 9 months
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The packaging and booklet are very well done, The CD cases have cool artwork on them.

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11 years 3 months

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 11 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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4 years 1 month
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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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17 years 5 months
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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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4 years 1 month
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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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8 years 2 months
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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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