WHAT'S INSIDE:
Five complete, previously unreleased performances on 17CDs
Des Moines, IA 5/13/73
Santa Barbara, CA 5/20/73
San Francisco, CA 5/26/73
Washington, D.C. 6/9/73
Washington, D.C. 6/10/73
Recorded by Kidd Candelario, Betty Cantor-Jackson, and Owsley Stanley
Newly restored and speed-corrected audio by Plangent Processes
Mastered by Jeffrey Norman
Liners featuring notes from Canadian author, Ray Robertson, The Owsley Stanley Foundation, and Legacy Manager and Audio Archivist, David Lemieux
Art and Design by GRAMMY® Award-winning Art Director, Masaki Koike
Custom-dyed Tenugui and an exclusive poster featuring an illustration by Mary Ann Mayer
Limited Edition Individually Numbered To 10,000
Exclusively At Dead.net
"There’s the simple fact that the band members were old enough and experienced enough by now to be virtuosos on their instruments (what other group—rock or jazz or any other kind of music—could boast a trio of spectacularly singular talents such as Garcia, Lesh, and Weir?) but were still young enough to want to play and play and play some more, the happy, itchy inclination of youth. As a few of the shows in the Here Comes Sunshine boxed set attest, it wasn’t unusual for a 1973 concert to exceed four hours. And within the shows themselves, there are nearly nightly examples of hour-long orgies of tune-linked songcraft and juicy jamming." - Ray Robertson, HERE COMES SUNSHINE 1973 Liners
8 years in and the Grateful Dead are a little bit of everything to everyone. They are putting up textures and tones of rock, of jazz, of country, with set-morphing vibes and long stretches of improvisations that are completely keyed into the sum of their parts. Keith Godchaux is here with his cascading notes. Donna Jean too. Both finding their footing and keeping things steady in the wake of Pigpen's unfillable gap. The spring of 1973 feels transformative for the Dead - no more so than the May and early June shows, complementary yet remarkably different, soon-to-be cornerstones of everyone's tape collections, and now, 50 years later, set to be part of the band's official canon.
HERE COMES SUNSHINE 1973 is a limited-edition, 17CD boxed set with five previously unreleased, highly sought-after Dead shows, including: Iowa State Fairgrounds, Des Moines, IA (5/13/73), Campus Stadium, UCSB, Santa Barbara, CA (5/20/73), Kezar Stadium, San Francisco, CA (5/26/73), and Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, Washington, D.C. (6/9/73) and (6/10/73).
During the spring, the band road-tested most of the songs they would record that summer for WAKE OF THE FLOOD – their first studio album in three years – including early live versions of “Mississippi Half-Step Toodeloo,” “Row Jimmy,” “Stella Blue,” “Eyes Of The World,” and, the set’s namesake, “Here Comes Sunshine.” Also tucked into the collection are songs destined for the Dead’s 1974 studio album, FROM THE MARS HOTEL – “China Doll,” “Loose Lucy,” and “Wave That Flag,” a precursor to “U.S. Blues.”
The new repertoire slipped neatly into the fluid setlists alongside songs honed on the 1972 European tour (“Jack Straw,” “Tennessee Jed,” “Brown-Eyed Women”), Chuck Berry perennials (“Promised Land,” “Around And Around”), classic country (“Big River,” “The Race Is On”), and incredible jam sequences: “He’s Gone”> “Truckin’”> “The Other One”> “Eyes Of The World.”
Due June 30th, the individually-numbered, limited-edition 17CD set features vibrant graphics and custom-designed folios by GRAMMY® Award-winning Art Director Masaki Koike, a custom-dyed Tenugui and an exclusive poster featuring an illustration by Mary Ann Mayer, and liner notes by Canadian author Ray Robertson, The Owsley Stanley Foundation, and David Lemieux. And, of course, it features newly restored and speed-corrected audio by Plangent Processes, mastered by Jeffrey Norman.
Digital convert? We've got you covered too. On the very same day you can collect your hi-definition download.
DAVEROCK
May I suggest to you (and everyone else) a quick jaunt through the 30 trips box set?? I went with parts of the first 6 shows last night and had a fantastic time doing it!!
Of course, West Coast Pop Art Experimental band is a good one too.
Waiting for my box, but I got TONS o' stuff to listen to, including but not limited to: New Zappa, 2 Alice Cooper re-issues, 100 Bill Frisell cds, etc. etc.
Life is good, Music is the BEST!!
Here Comes Sunshine Cover Art
Looks like my HCS Box will be "available for pickup" at the P.O. tomorrow. It may be Monday, but as soon as I can get back into town, I'll scan & correct Masaki Koike's artwork, and post a linque.
Just catching up here – was in Boulder for D&Co's monster shows – their best yet IMHO. I totally get that Dead & Company aren't the Grateful Dead, and neither are they a cover band. Going to miss them and the tribe next summer unless some of the players morph into something new, different and Dead which they just might... Didn't realize Oroborous, BlueCrow, NiteCat, GratefulHan and others were in Boulder. Wish we could have hooked up at Folsom or Shakedown.
Sorry to keep reading tales of woe from folks still waiting on and having probs with this box not to mention unexpected VATs, fees and shipping hassles. Hope your boxes show up and/or are made whole soon. Glad to see reviews of the music starting to pop up!
And don't give up on Seastones Proudfoot – you're not the only fan around here! Onward.
Download Update
I received an email indicating I would receive new Apple lossless by Wednesday.
Hopefully that does the trick and it appears different folks are getting different timetables for this, but bottom line is they are paying attention now and it is worth it to email Rhino about any problems.
Final Sound Cuts With Digital Downloads (final analysis)
FYI, I finished extracting all 5 shows and
found a few more dropouts
RFK Stadium, Washington, DC (6/9/73)
18_Truckin (8:57 silence > 12:32 END)
RFK Stadium, Washington, DC (6/10/73)
02_Beat_It_on_Down_the_Line (0:38 silence > 2:10)
26_Promised_Land (1:08 silence > 1:09)
Let's wait and see if they fix them. Hard to believe this wasn't analyzed before
making them available.
Sunshine Box
8574 just arrived in Indy.....the only discs that were loose were the first discs in every show. Everything else nice and secure. Have not played any yet, and I am one of those that never looks at the setlists before playing. This is the first boxset I have ordered as most don't fit my budget, but I could not pass on this, as this was the year of my first show....October 1973, Indiana State Fairgrounds. I am going to let my twin 3 year old 2nd cousins use the artwork enclosure for coloring. I'm excited to see what they create. Really looking forward to hearing the Iowa show.
In the U.K.
Daverock and other U.K. heads - did Royal Mail email you about the import charges or leave a card about it? I haven’t heard or seen anything yet here in Nottingham
Glue on 6/10 Discs
I too had spots of glue cemented on to a few discs (namely the first two of 6/10). I was able to get it off of one of the discs, but it had eaten away at the plastic surface so I didn’t even bother trying to get it off of the other one. I just submitted a request for replacement with Warner customer service. There was significant scuffing on one of those two discs, too. The rest of the discs in the box looked ok. I’ve had to get multiple discs replaced from both the Listen to the River and In & Out of the Garden (along with numerous Dave’s Picks). Warner has come through for me each time, so I’m hopeful that these will get replaced, too. Still, it is a hassle to have to deal with this every damn time.
While the packaging of these boxes is gorgeous, cardboard is just NOT a good medium in which to house what should be treated with the care and respect that these deserve. And the quality control at wherever these get pressed and packaged is godawful. Even DaPs that come in plastic trays are often riddled with scuffs and scratches. In over 30 years of buying CDs, Dead releases are the only ones that I ever encounter this on.
UK
Frank
If you have the USPS alternate tracking number then you can use the parcelforce tracker to find it. If it is being held then you can either wait for their letter requesting payment to turn up or use their contact number to get the 17 digit code that you can then enter into their website to pay the duty. My copy was delivered today. One of the discs was loose but otherwise they are visually OK. I’m part way through the second disc of the first show and so far so good. I’m looking forward to hearing the rest.
Damaged Discs
I would definitely contact them. They need to know about all of this nonsense because it's totally unacceptable and if they receive enough complaints maybe they'll actually start putting out quality materials.
UK
Frank - I got a letter from Parcel Force Worldwide yesterday, informing me of the money owed to them. The office it came from was Norwich, the nearest city to Lowestoft, where I am.
Mr Ones - that's a good idea going through some of those 30 Trips shows. Those first 6 shows are the ones I have played the most, by some distance. I might have to leave it a while though. Inspired by our friends on Pick of the Day, I cracked open the 78 box earlier today, to play 7/1/78. Having played that, I found 7/3/78 calling my name.
On Monday I will be joining the chorus singing about this 73 box. Hopefully not another post all about scuffed discs etc-but if that's what arrives, I guess that's what I will be putting out. Fingers crossed!
HCS
8466 has arrived and for the most all intact. There were a few cd's with no tracking and the other discs to be off by 1.
So far no other issues ripping them.
However, I will note I was super nervous since I never received an e-mail confirmation or shipping notice. I only had my CC charge to go on.
I do wonder how this would have played out if I never received it.
Rock on!
JGB GarciaLive 20.....
....is so damn good. Thank you. Awesome liner notes from Blair Jackson. Did John Cutler record this? All it says is "original recordings produced by..."
Nonetheless. I need more early '80's JGB.
Happy 83rd Birthday Ringo....
....time for some last fives.
The Beatles - Abbey Road.
That's a start.
I met #7526 accidentally, in Saint Paul, Minnesota
Ended up coming through UPS, I guess because I ordered the HCS coffee mug as well? I'll open it up tomorrow morning while sipping coffee from the mug . . .
Be kind, rewind . . .
First show
Since someone was asking for some comments on the music I’ll try. I’ve only heard the Des Moines show so far. On a first listen the first three CDs made me think this was a very good ‘73 show, a little wonky to begin, but I’m not looking for perfection. Then I put the final cd on. Oh my. This lifted the show to a new height. I particularly liked TOO into Eyes. This is a fantastic show worth the price on its own. Now on to the rest.
#1002
Light scratches and glue, Boo!
1973 Grateful Dead, Yay!
Currently ripping and inspecting...
2 discs jostled despite what I'm certain was tremendous care by UPS/USPS...
Let's make it a Grateful Day all! :-)¯ :-) :-)¯
P.S. HEY NOW PTB SEND DaP 47 EARLY PLEASE!!
-edit- Solid picture on P. 25 of the main book. To come in a helmet is to come prepared... :-)
IOWA
Just finished my first-ever taste of IA from the "73 HC Boxset......UNBELIEVABLE !!!....... I played Box of Rain twice.......IA got some great shows, as did Indy. No problems on any disc.....additionally, maybe I've been fortunate, but I've never had ANY issues with any of my DaP's releases......... Ready for the next show.....going by dates in the set, so I am going to wait until after Svengoolie tonight.
Stax Box
Browsing through recent posts from the last few days and saw Daverock's reference to the Written in Their Soul box set. I saw that and it does look interesting.
If you have not already checked it out, take a look at Soul'd Out: The Complete Wattstax Collection. 12 CD's with everything from the August 20, 1972 Wattstax concert and several associated live recordings from the Summit Club in September 1972. Chock full of fantastic live soul, all of the commentary in between songs, Jesse Jacksons "I am somebody" speech, some early live Richard Pryor, and a pretty cool hardcover book.
You can also get a version with just the 6 discs comprising the Wattstax concert, and a single disc complilation of highlights. But honestly, the full set is well worth the extra cost for the associated recordings. If you dig Stax you will dig the full collection. Fantastic live sets by Isaac Hayes, the Staples Singers, Albert King, the Bar-Kays and others at Wattstax, and some hot sets at the Summit Club from Johnnie Taylor, Sons of Slum backing the Emotions, and Little Milton. A whole lot of killer live soul.
Still waiting for the HCS box.
02618
Arrived in my "mailbox" on Friday, on the initial inspection was a small indent on the upper right front corner, no big deal after I unwrapped the cellophane shrinkwrap and slid the outer blue "collar" off and back on several times. Only one disc was out of its protective pocket, disc 1 of 5/13/73, all the rest are in perfect condition.
The first show I played was 6/10/73 - was my first rock concert and my first Grateful Dead show. It sounds much better than my previous tapes and CD-Rs of this show.
On page 25 of the essay booklet in the Jonathan David Sabin photo, if I recall correctly, I believe I am in this photo, although obscured. I remember seeing the guy standing on the sound reinforcement tower scaffolding with the white tee shirt. I remember the guy sitting in our row of seats not wearing a shirt and a short beard. I am hidden behind the shirt. I can see my cousin who was a student at American University at the time, making this box set a really valuable time tunnel for me. By the way, I was a mere 16-year-old teen who was escorted into this event.
I first heard Truckin' on the radio back in early 1971 and that was the bus. Although the first time I heard Truckin', I thought it was a new Steppenwolf song as I thought session musician Howard Wales sounded like Goldy McJohn at the time.
A great big thank you to Dave Lemieux, Mark Pinkus, Ivette & Doran, and whoever had the final say to include the aforementioned photograph.
Update - glue removal PSA
Couldn't be patient any longer so went to the big city to get 91% isopropanol aka 91% isopropyl alcohol. Worked like a charm on the glue - took 2 or 3 quick attempts with a couple/few drops each time and a soft cloth to remove all residue and the cleaned discs look "min"t. Yay, very much Yay! Funny thing was, one of the specklets is not glue (the one the I discovered on Disc 1 of Iowa) - it had a slightly different/lighter appearance, maybe its acrylic or maybe its a true imperfection on the playing surface, whatever it is it, is totally impervious to the isopropanol. It was the first one I tried and I thought "this is a failure" but when I tried the others they cleaned right off. So not all spots are necessarily "glue".
Like I said, all discs "ripped" but there were sonic anomalies where the spots are. With Iowa Disc 4 the glue speck was in Sugar Magnolia and the initial ripped copy had a ~10 second gap, and funnily, after the track was "finished", the last ~10 seconds of the track were played again. Just played the cleaned CD and play through was clean like I hoped.
Anybody who got a defective/damaged CD should feel free to ask for a replacement no questions. I'm programmed to try to fix something if it can be fixed. Definitely will be asking for a replacement of the Iowa Disc 1 with the mystery substance/imperfection and in my reach out I'll detail every disc that had an issue. Before that I need to listen to all the ripped tracks to make sure there's nothing else lurking that I missed, as was the case with that Disc 1. At this point I just have to shake my head at the whole spectrum of ongoing issues with these releases. The only other time I had a glue issue was way back with the Wall of Sound Road Trips, Disc 1, a big ole smear of it on Playing in the Band. Didn't know how to clean it and asked for a replacement copy and that one also had Disc 1 glue but somehow I managed to still make it play (not sure how).
DJMAC (and other ALAC folks) - glad to hear that help is on the way!
R5Z - Yeah IOWA!! I fell in love with the jam sequence ca. winter 2010 as it was in regular rotation for a repeated night time red rock desert commute back and forth to Escalant. So awesome to have this show released and in this dream of a box set no less. I found myself streaming part of that '73 Indy show yesterday afternoon. Another great Fall '73 show. Hadn't realized they did a sweet Playing sandwich around Mississippi 1/2 Step and Big River.
Jeff Smith - Yeah Boulder was awesome!! So glad you made it. Now I'm wishing I was at the Gorge.
Charlie3 - funny that you should mention that WattStax concert - recently came across the film footage of Rufus Thomas performing Funky Chicken and my jaw dropped. What an awesome rave up it is and the whole crowd scene is glorious. It had me looking into that WattStax, never had heard of it.
Born Cross Eyed. You got a grate first concert!...
....my first rock concert was Iron Maidens Powerslave tour. Blew my 15 year old mind. I was also escorted there by my high school friends mom, who told us when she dropped us off, "be safe and have fun!" It was the first concert for both of us and we abided by her wishes. We said to ourselves, "We need more concerts!" after that show.
And 55 year old me still agrees.
You toob that Powerslave tour. Great one to pop ones cherry at.
Marco and I still go to shows. He went all in. Mtheoryaudio on IG. That's him. Heavy metal to the end.
Box did arrive
8 out of 17 discs will need replacement. Was attempting to film an unboxing and instead filmed the state of the discs immediately out of the box. I was able to get everything ripped, no chance to listen to all 19 hrs 46 min to see if it ripped correctly. I did notice issues ripping a few disc's. Reinserted them, tried again, seemed to work. Will find out in days ahead if any skips or other issues. I think I still have a couple skips on June 76 box to correct on one show, come to think of it.
Oh, and a complaint I haven't seen here or on Steve Hoffman is that my poster was bent. They didn't make it flush, and the fold is in the middle of the poster. It sucks because there are only two "extras" in this box and one of them was deformed by poor quality control. And just under half the discs. Luckily, had some alcohol wipes from work for the few glue blobs. Just glad I have a video I'm going to include in my request for replacements, but disappointed my unboxing of Here Comes Sunshine turned into a sad Samba in the Rain instead. So far, through one disc of Des Moines, the sound is good. Not sure I'd go as gaga over it as I have seen, but also haven't hit the Betty portion.
Box set #07099
It arrived at the Post Office on Friday the 7th but I have only listened to the first CD from 5-13 this far. It played okey all the way through.
Normally it takes a while before I listen to all boxes all through because I don't fancy being forced to do it right away. Some boxes from the past are actually still unopened because I listen to a lot of other music and don't like to be forced to listen to that music either as fast as I can. Besides these boxes all are in limited edition and I prefer to purchase them when they are made available here on Dead net rather than buying them from eBay-"sharks" to "fantasy prices".
Now, 1973 is among my favorite Grateful Dead years, so I will go through this box "pretty fast". If some CD's are malfunctions then I do hope they will be replaced without having to send the entire box set back to California.
I have no complaints so far on the box set as a whole visually speaking, except maybe that some CD's are not attached to the actual covers. But I don't think those CD's have been sliding around in the mail. I found the inside stuff pretty tight packed after all.
Well, so far I feel good about the whole thing. Okey, so the "book" is only twenty-six pages but that doesn't matter to me. I seldom find time to read the thicker books that come with the box sets, so twenty-six pages are good to me unless the books are made up of mostly pictures.
Micke Östlund,
Växjö, Sweden
Update! I had to know ... fourteen of seventeen CD's was read properly by my CD-player and three was read after some searching by the player. All seventeen started properly on track 1 though. This is all I can do for the moment. Hopefully they all will play through in a normal way. We'll see.
Charlie and Stax box
I agree on the stax box,,,, looks GREAT. I've been holding off, because of price. I've spent a lot of money on "stuff". Thought I'd try and hold off till Christmas and tell wife or son to get me a copy. Maybe get it before then? :-)
Bad Discs
I have no knowledge of how the manufacturing process for these sets work, but as someone who had no issues with my set (#4615), I'm curious if the edition numbers for the people with bad discs are close together.
Is there anyone who had bad discs within 100 numbers of mine?
Written in the soul Stax
I can’t comment on the box, but the music is very good especially when you consider that they are demo recordings. I have streamed the contents on Amazon music over several days and enjoyed it tremendously.
Colin...is that Peter Brotzmann's pic?
I saw his obit in the paper today...never heard of him...listened a bit on U toob...and now here is his image on your avatar?
Verrry interesting...
Stax boxes
I agree with Charlie -The Complete Wattstax Concert that came out earlier this year is great. A wide variety of music from the orchestral sweep of Dale Warren and his Orchestra, to Gospel to blues to funk... to Rufus Thomas. It's very much a recording of a cultural event, which means there are quite a lot of stage announcements and politicising going on. A continual emphasis, from those making such announcements,that this is an opportunity to show the world how responsible and well behaved and intelligent they all are. Rufus Thomas seems to have missed the point of all this, turning up in hotpants, doing the Funky Chicken. He encourages everybody to leave their seats and get on down, which they appear to do with enthusiasm. In fact, most of the 5th cd is given over to people on the stage trying to get everybody to go back to their seats.
Incidentally, I got the 6 cd version, which I believe features all the music played at the original concert, but is missing the Summit recordings.I got a separate copy of Johnnie Taylor At The Summit, which came out in 2007 minus a track.
Another good Craft Box set of Southern Soul is "The Spirit of Memphis 1962-1976" by Isaac Hayes. The 1st cd features the very well known tracks he produced. The 2nd his Volt and Enterprise singles and the 3rd cover versions, including a live set from 10/1/72. The 4th cd is amazing - called Jam Master it features extended jams from live gigs in the 70s. The last two tracks on this are an 18 minute "Groove-A-Thon" followed by a 33minute "Do Your Thing". Mind bogglingly brilliant.
Rufus Thomas
That Funky Chicken and the dancing frenzy it kicks off absolutely rules. Love it. And no, I don't think for a second Rufus Thomas missed "the point". Pretty clear that the folks wanted to dance!
Rufus
Bluecrow - I wasn't having a go at Rufus Thomas - his set is a highlight of the day for me too. Just a gentle pop at the organisers - Jesse Jackson and his cronies - who do seem to be stressing the educational importance of the day at the expense of stirring up some action. I can understand why....but still, there's an awful lot of telling people to get off the grass.
Alan Skidmore
PROUDFOOT
My avatar is, currently, the cover of a newly released boxset ‘A Supreme Love’ by Alan Skidmore, a British sax player. It’s a retrospective 6 cd set of music between 1961 - 2019. As the title suggests he was very influenced by John Coltrane. I haven’t played it yet because it only arrived yesterday and the GD boxset still has my attention. Among the many albums that he played on (not represented here) was the Bluesbreakers ‘Beano’ album.
I do have a few albums by/with Peter Brötzmann, a remarkable free player. Everyone should hear ‘Machine Gun’ at least once.
Thank you colin for clarifying
I was able to get through about half of Machine Gun earlier today
A little something
Watching video of Bowie's Jean Genie
There's a scene of him in an urban area
He's right by THE Mars Hotel
Cool
Now You Doing, You Doing The Funky Chicken
Daverock, my apology for the misunderstanding! The groove the band is laying down behind him is crazy tight and crackling with energy - that organ, the congas, the horns - Holy Mother of Funky Goodness! Would have loved to see that groove stretched out way longer. The whole thing fills me with joy.
You raise your left arm up
And your right arm too
Let me tell you
Just what to do
Flap your wings
Feet start kicking
Now you doing
You doing the funky chicken
Rumor has it bluecrow was flapping his wings and kicking his feet in Boulder!
Good condition
My HCS box arrived in good condition. I was able to rip all the discs.
With each DaP and boxed set I order, I see more reports of people with damaged discs. I have been lucky so far that I have only had to replace one disc one time a few years ago. Mary E. helped me sort that out.
I am surprised that they can't get the downloads working on this set.
I was glad to see D&C in walking distance from our home here in Boulder. My wife had to talk me into it though. After all those years of Furthur, and after having seen the Wolf Pack at Radio City, I was a little skeptical. I look forward to whatever any of the boys do next.
Thank you in advance JeffSmith for the artwork scans.
28 Years ago tonight
I was there . . . .
16 row floor near center
So Many Roads
I was also there….
About mid-field, Phil side.
And about this time, 10:18, we were in Space…..
This release needs an all-music edition
After overestimating the demand for the box the past two years they have now done the opposite. I wonder if there is any regret that they didn't produce a few thousand more. While the downloads are a great option, I think there are enough fans of physical releases to warrant an unnumbered version in a slipcase as they did with GET SHOWN THE LIGHT.
Funky Chicken
Bluecrow- no problem at all. There's a great Rufus Thomas cd available ffrom this era, with the above name, that came out in the short lived Stax remasters series. That series also has a great sounding "Born Under A Bad Sign" - with bonus tracks, by Albert King.
"Machine Gun" by Peter Brotzmann is a blitz of a track. The cd I have got has that track, followed by another 17 minute version. So you can listen to over 32 minutes of it one go. If you're hard enough.
Cover art scans?
Good day. Box 4079 arrived. Lowest number yet of any box set. Has anyone posted the cover art scans? I can't seem to find them in the thread. Much appreciated.
'Sunshine Merch
Has anyone else ordered and received spin-off merch related to this release? In particular the "drape"... I've checked my billing which is presented in just about the most unintuitive format possible, and it's definitely paid for. However it still shows as "pre-order", whereas box 4098 arrived in country on Thursday last week. (UK)
In the meantime, as always, thanks to the gang who put this package together. My landlady handed it over to my wife in person this am. She said "I know this is one of his super special packages and I didn't just want to to leave it on the step!" Good person right there! We live on their land behind locked gates and she gets all of our mail and obviously has sussed that GD time is Special time! :-)
Same old same old
Given up on digital downloads. Never had one that worked first time. The worst - the 50 Anniversary American Beauty which took me two months to get the hi-res I ordered... standard 44.1 was what was delivered as hi-res first time round.
Can't understand why they don't outsource this to a company THAT KNOWS WHAT IT'S DOING...
It's the real thing
The fabled box was delivered this morning, and I am well pleased. I opened it with a bit of trepidation, and noticed that the first cd in the first packet had come loose. But it seemed free of blemishes. The others all looked firmly wedged in their slots, and I think I'll leave them there till I prise them out to listen. This is the same for all the shows, the first cd is loose but seemingly scratch free and the others are all wedged in. Hopefully it will be like those Road Trips cds. I had to get some of those out with a knife the were packed in so tightly - but they all played alright.
I have just played the first cd from Iowa 5/13/73, and I really like the sound. Also the way the band are so integrated - each one of equal importance and working together to find the way forward. Quite different from the three 1978 shows that I played at the weekend, which at times sounded a bit like a great lead guitarist fronting a competent band. They sound as though they are all in it together here. Great strat tone from Jerry.
As no one has come out and said this first cd is the best of the box, I think I have got some great music ahead of me this week.