Grateful Dead

I had a friend get married in Vegas 17 years ago. One day, it was “only” 113 degrees. Yes, it was a dry heat, but it’s the closest thing I can think of to being inside an actual oven!!
I was there for 5 days, and spent a total of 15 minutes outside (except for travel to & from Elvis Wedding Chapel). Never again!!
Just got my box yesterday, and only had time for disc 1. Like DAVEROCK, only this first disc was loose. It played perfectly. I’m just going to go through in order, all 17 discs. This weekend should be a blast!!

:)))

Yeah, when will we ever get that show…

Has anyone gotten all good files from a ALAC download? Got an email from WMG on 7/7 saying replacement files would be sent to me by 7/12, which came and went with nada. Things are moving from incompetence to arrogance at this point.

Just a quick question to anyone who might have an answer for me, and possibly others, about this box set. Since it seems like it sold out so much faster than the sets from the last few years, here's my question...

Did this set actually sell out this fast, or were sales halted due to the numerous defect problems that I have been reading about in this forum?

Just wondering before I go ahead and purchase one from eBay at 2-3X the price, that may also be defective.

Luckily I have had zero problems.

I do consider myself fortunate in that regard.

Thanks for letting me know. Serves me right for not pre-ordering like I have the last few years...when the sets DIDN'T sell out immediately. A mistake I will doubtfully make again.

Speculation, this set sold out more quickly for a couple reasons, everyone knew there was a 10K limit and two-three of the shows are virtual holy grail candidates, awaited for years, if I can use that term without offending any Monty Python people. When it was able to be ordered more than two months ago, no one knew there would be production issues, many people knew they wanted it including those who profit by resale. By holding them to replacement for each and every defective, maybe WMG/Rhino does better with the next box.

Received replacement files via email a few hours after my most recent post today. New files are good. Heart attack warning, though, MAKE SURE to fully delete to the trash all old files before importing new. If the old file remains, for some reason it controls and the issues remain. This happened on my first re-import and I almost lost my mind before double checking and noticing the import date was 7/1, not today. Upon full deletion to trash, the new file replaced it when I imported it again.

Don’t buy an overpriced Box online that could be defective, get the download once Rhino has fixed that mess.

Since many of the download files have been reported to be defective, did Rhino make copies of the CD’s to be used as the download files?
There have been reports of CD’s not ripping correctly (at least half of my CD’s made defective files when I copied them to a HD), so maybe Rhino had an intern rip a Box Set and they used that as the download files.
That would be a rookie move as well as doing it on the cheap.

"Holy Grail shows"

Yep.

my mind hears David Bowie "TVC15"

now you know

....it reminds me of Run-My initials.
Now you also know.

It took me a minute, but I got it. Run-your initials. Awesome!! Also, just found my favorite Brown Eyed Women-of all time. Never my favorite tune, but always liked it. This version (disc 3 of new box) just has that je ne sais quoi. The vocals, particularly Jerry’s phrasing and enunciation, superb!! On to disc 4 and the end of show 1. Hard to be down when your listening to these diamonds, and have 4 more shows waiting. Thanks Dave & all. Great stuff!!
We’re not worthy!!

All four discs are free of blemishes and play/burn without a problem. It says "Made in Germany" on both the package and discs; I doubt they could sell it in the EU if this were not true. All my German-made discs going back a decade, including the stand-alone releases for most of the box sets as well as the 50th anniversary editions, look and play as if they just rolled off the factory floor. Maybe they should use this German factory to produce future box sets and DaPs. They might cost a bit more but the excellent quality control will more than make up for it.

Sam Cutler

Thank you for all the work you did with the Grateful Dead.

Fare you well my friend
Fare you well my only true one
All the birds that were singing
Have flown except you alone
Going to leave this broke-down palace
On my hands and my knees, I will roll, roll, roll
Make myself a bed by the waterside
In my time, in my time, I will roll, roll, roll
In a bed, in a bed
By the waterside I will lay my head
Listen to the river and sing sweet songs
To rock my soul
River gonna take me
Sing me sweet and sleepy
Sing me sweet and sleepy
All the way back home
It's a far-gone lullaby
Sung many years ago
Mama, mama, many worlds I've come
Since I first left home
Going home, going home
By the waterside, I will rest my bones
Listen to the river and sing sweet songs
To rock my soul
Going to plant a weeping willow
On the banks green edge it will grow, grow, grow
Sing a lullaby beside the water
Lovers come and go, the river roll, roll, roll
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river and sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I found 2 defective discs in my Here Comes Sunshine box: 6/9/73 DISCS 1 & 2 - glue. I was always lucky with the discs - no scratches or glue problems, until now.
How do I go about replacing these discs? What is the procedure?

BCE, if it's just glue bits, it will be quicker and done if you source some 91% isopropanol (sp?) and DIY. Found it for $3 at a local pharmacy, after trying 70% which just half melted and smeared. 91% with gentle swabbing worked for me. Discovered six of my 17 HCS discs had glue on edges which caused skipping on some final tracks. Since plenty people were having issues, plus considering it took five weeks to replace a defective Dap46 disc, I could not wait... once treated, most discs are fine. Now the scuffs/scratched ones, ask for replacement, those cardboard slip cases are not CD friendly. RIP Sam, looking back at the parts he played for the music I was into late 60s into mid 70s, he had so much to do with making it all happen, including Watkins Glen. Vguy, thanks for nudging me back into Phish, with access to that Serious radio channel this summer, delving into excellent live shows from what used to be our little local Vermont band. An old friend offered me a ticket to one of the upcoming MSG shows, and if not such a logistical challenge, as well as a huge crowd show, would be there.

Rhino is putting out a 3cd set of live shows from the Matrix in 1967.

If interested.

I think my computer is crapping out, so I maybe gone for a while. First my tablet crapped out after 9 years and now my desktop (also 9 years old) is powering off out of the blue. Ran some basic test,,,, something in the motherboard/cpu. I HATE getting a new computer,,, so much shit to move!

Your solution worked quite well. I used CVS Brand isopropyl alcohol 91% and CVS cotton balls and that removed the glue. It saves me time so I don't have to wait 5 to 6 weeks or more for replacement discs from WEA/Rhino/Dr. Rhino. The affected track was Playing In The Band - it would skip at about 15:00 and then stop. It plays well now.
Thank you.

Levee gonna break. Yeeshk DMCVT, still raining?

Sam the Man!
His book is a trip if you haven’t read it…
Yep, thanks for all ya did “mate”, so much that most folks don’t even know.
May the four winds blow you safely home!

I was fortunate enough to have met Sam at Lockn Music Festival when I purchased his book. He took the time to discuss a few things, tell me some stories and take a picture with me, which of course he insisted it be taken with the two of us inside a large picture frame so he said "you've got to have a picture frame if we're going to take a picture!" I will have to dig up that picture from my digital storage and properly frame it. RIP Sam. You lived quite a life! Thanks for doing all you did in your time. Peace

Very intense line of Tstorms went through last night, flash flood alerts of course, high wind forecast, up to 1" hail. Two funnel clouds seen but no touchdowns. Thousands of people lost power, Burlington area was spared, it was not big bad here but the thunder and lightning was wild. Major crop damage for flooded farmers near rivers which is most in this hilly place. One death from drowning now confirmed. Still lots of roads closed, some bridges out, people stranded but a wonderful outpouring of volunteers, people helping people in most affected towns like Montpelier, Barre, Ludlow.

Guess that’s the upswing of terrible disasters: the best part of the human spirit comes alive!
Hang in there amigo, this darkness gotta give…

Y'all be cool.

RIP, my good sir.

From Des Moines...Holy Mamma Daddy! That's one for the books. I love the way the band was really starting to stretch out the transitions. Sounded way better than when I caught the Eyes/China in the car the other night. I will use this one to turn others into our way of thinking, if you know what I mean, and I think you do. On to Santa Barbara...Hey, that's my home town. The weather is really nice here.

For sure, the scratched discs is a bummer, and one I'm finding bothersome as I listen, finding skips in what seemed like good rips. Luckily just a handful of tracks after spending time extracting carefully the first time around in Windows Media Player, though not checking ones I had to re-rip. Had to download Exact Audio Copy, which I hadn't used in over a decade, but it took care of the problems I've found thus far. The funny thing is even some of the discs in better shape had skips, and some of the most scratched had no problems ripping, and no skips in the playback. Life is just full of little ironies like that.

But the great aspect of this box is the music. Wonderful, vibrant, adventurous music being played by wonderfully vibrant and adventurous young men that were also haunted by the spectre of their fallen former leader just weeks before these shows. One of the great joys of this box is finally a set of releases that really lets Keith shine in the mix. His work on Loser is fantastic, little nuances one never hears on other releases, even multitracks, even Europe '72 Complete. Here, he is fully engaged in the musical conversation. Not really driving it like Jerry, Phil, and Bob, but much more emphatic and colorful in what he does add in these shows. And it sounds even better and more prominent than the three shows that follow that were released in PacNW. I'll be the brave one to test that statement following this listen and re-rip. Since somebody mentioned now 4/2 through 6/26 was all released now, figured I'd load up a USB with that plus DaP 16 3/26/73 (Somebody's gotta listen to that WRS Prelude> Dark Star> Eyes>Playing, and DaP 32 3/24/73 with its own He's Gone> Truckin> 20 min Jam> 4 min Dark Star> Sing Me Back Home to slog through as well. But with DaP 4/2/73, we do get to check yet another recordist: Rex Jackson. (*whispers* this tape may be the best of them all soundwise, if not even close to my favorite playing wise)

Also, Kezar sounds soooo much better than the tape I had 25 years ago, which was one of my first 3 Dead tapes (just sets 1 and 2, I think), and that I think was a KSAN broadcast, so not Betty's wonderful work. Digging 6/9, and for the first time in the box, Phil has that richer sound, and that's because it's Bear recording now. This is such a fascinating box.

....I caught that reference sir.

Funny enough, partly was a reference to things could be worse, as I was playing Here Comes Sunshine, while seeing the wake of the flood in VT, though nowhere near bad floods, this was on 4 outside Woodstock. And the places where so much devastation has occurred: Ludlow, Barre, Okemo, Londonderry, Montpelier I was at just a week before the floods taking pictures of the beauty. So, by comparison a box set with over half the discs scratched before I got them is small potatoes, and the music, when ripped carefully at 1x if need be, is glorious. Also, String Cheese was playing their song Lost as I typed. And my wife and I were supposed to be there, but now that we're two weeks from closing and moving from Boston to VT, we couldn't make (excepting the wonders of livestreaming) an epic night with John Fogerty and Cheese crushing the second set and encore at Red Rocks. The Lost reference is an added bonus

Two worthy Dead pieces just out, one by Anthony Fisher, Daily Beast, the other one, Michael Cohen, MSNBC. Welcome to Vermont Alvarhanso. Hope your new place is nowhere near a flood plain. Familiar with that stretch of route 4, the one and only major road east west through central Vermont so others might know. Friday a week ago, before the Monday deluge which caused so much damage to the towns you noted, a section of route 4 was closed near Killington due to mud slide from heavy rain. On this end of route 4, worst damage from Monday seems to be the Lakeland golf course at Quechee Club which is in the flood plain. A temporary bridge on the White River washed out. Woodstock village still has a boil water order. The Ottauquechee River comes off Killington mountain, runs through Bridgewater and Woodstock, route 4 follows it east to the White River. Three bridges on that river remain closed as far as I know, at Quechee village, Taftsville and at the club. Concerns with the concrete dam at Simon Pearce, Quechee near the covered bridge. Federal disaster relief now approved, people can contact FEMA. With 3-4 inches of rain predicted tomorrow, flash flood alerts are already issued. Jerry Jam up north was cancelled, but there's JRAD mid August at Jay Peak. Please feel free to PM if I can be of any help, sounds like you know Vermont. Finally made it all the way through the first show in the box, glue cleaning done and things dried out for now. Loving it, 1973 was the year I saw the Dead twice with these shows in the middle of that time.

Thanks DMCVT. Perfect way to start the day.
Now on to 6-10-73 while watching the Scottish Open.
Life is good.
Cheers
Edit: Breaking news on 47 on the 46 thread.

Has anyone actually gone through the process of reporting defective discs and getting a positive response from customer service, ie "yes, we will send you replacement discs"? I got a response today from a Heather at "WMG Damaged Returns" and the key phrases were, "Please send us a photo/video of your item for our records (highlighting the damage, if possible). In the meantime, we will look into potential resolutions and update you as soon as possible." ... So I sent pictures of my damaged disc and am awaiting resolution. I'm a little leery given the wording ... I'd rather hear "we will replace your bad disk" instead of some unspecified "potential resolution." I just hope they have additional copies of the CDs and can actually replace all the damaged disks we've all received.

....damage control worked for me regarding a shattered Dave's glass.
It was packaged in paper. The replacement was packaged in bubble wrap. Just like all the other ones were.
I remember laughing and shaking my head when I opened it. "WTF? LOL".
But dead net came through.

Greatest Story reached a peak for me in 1973, and the one on 5/20 must be up there with the best. Great raging guitar from Jerry. The highlight of this show, though, is surely the jam from Truckin' to Eyes. Especially the two connecting jams before and after The Other One. The one before is credited on the sleeve in it's own right as an individual track, called, surprisingly enough "Jam". But the one that grows out of The Other One isn't. It sounds quite unique to me - again made by Jerry's incredible solos.

....unpopular opinion here, but did Des Moines get the better show?
Need to digest this further. Gimme a week.
I too, am a Greatest Story fan daverock.
Also a huge Here Comes Sunshine fan. Got five more! 👋
Was huge news when they brought it back in the '90's.
It's rumored that Welnick brought it up. If true, good on you sir. RIP.
HCS just lopes along. Good tune.

6/10/73 rules supreme in this box.

6/10/73!!!

....comparing and contrasting.
It's all about timing.
And mindsets.

6/10/73 is the creme de la creme of the box

Update.
Rhino have told some people it will be 8 weeks until the solution is communicated.That makes it the end of August.
One of the senior Rhino people has been posting about this issue at Hoffmans.They are definitely aware of it and that the only satisfactory solution is replacement discs not refunds or discounts.Again it costs not much more than nothing to press CDs so if they have to do that it shouldn’t be an issue.Do not accept any solution that doesn’t involve replacement.
One interesting thing that has come out has been discussion about issues of discs that don’t play even though they have no visible damage.This has been occurring haphazardly in Dead releases since about 2020 although never as prevalent as with this release.Rhino changed manufacturing plants in 2019 and have had zero problems with releases by other artists.The only difference they can put it down to is that Jeffrey still uses HDCD for transfer and that affects the coding although these discs aren’t HDCD.People with players where a light comes on when HDCD are still seeing that light.In some totally random unexplainable way that might be affecting playback with some discs on some players.I said might about all of this but Rhino is talking about removing HDCD from the chain in future.
The biggest villain here is the fool that designed this totally disfunctional packaging.Hang in there everyone and don’t give up until you get your replacement discs whenever that might be.
Finally asking for pictures is ridiculous.How does it help people who have visibly perfect discs that just won’t play?Compare with Universal that when there was slight warping on some of the discs of the 8 disc Hard Luck Stories box that only prevented ripping sent out complete replacement sets to everyone who asked for them.Having people analysing photos and then picking out particular discs to send out doesn’t seem that cost effective to me.
Edit-Just checked and the packaging is designed by Masaki Koike who has apparently won a Grammy for this stuff.They might want to return it in shame after they have designed something that has damaged thousands of discs and no doubt will eat into Rhino’s profit margins on this release.

....spitting facts.
It's a roll of the dice re GD releases.
Always has been since Rhino entered the picture.

VGuy - great HCS on 5/26/73, too. Slight skip at the beginning of this track - hopefully nothing permanent. Bob seems higher in the mix on this show than in the two earlier ones.
Alan - good points all round. Not having a mobile phone I couldn't take photo's of a cd even if I felt inclined to.

Through disc 1 of the final show in the box with close headphone or hooked up to the big boy stereo. CDs and ripped.
My first impressions are that each show gets progressively better in terms of performance. I might come up with some specific examples (Disc 2 of 6-10 PLAYING IN THE BAND) Makes sense if you think about the Dead's touring schedule at the time. I might personally go with Iowa over Santa Barbara on account of Jerry's voice, but each show definitely warrants a close headphone listen or better.

P.S. Shout out to the well-placed HC Sunshine tease out of Truckin' on 6-9 (this may be the sleeper show for me as I hadn't ever heard this one)

-edit- Kezar could well have been the standalone show, but 6-10 is a grate choice, nonetheless. I am looking forward to many more spins on these and I am glad the quality check went well for me despite the glue not having been quite dry

Once again the “taper” show was overhyped.
I’ve only listened once so far, but felt though it has several significant moments, it’s overhyped.
Iowa has been the wildcard sleeper, though Kezar stood out too.
But, as I say, only one time through so far…

That 6/9 Playing is industrial strength. Show is tighttighttight. The He's Gone > Trucking. Eyes > China Doll. Awesome Sugar Mag to close. Best Loose Lucy maybe ever!! Do it!!

Every one of these shows is gold. Great playing. Favorite era. Sound quality is pretty much out of this world crystal.

To be clear I'm an "Iowa" kid, as in 5/13 was my show in the this box and the rest just gravy ; )

The 5/13 jam sequence is always gonna be a top shelf favorite.

But yep - 6/9

Oh, and 5/26 Kezar. and 5/20 Santa Barbara.

I'm slowly making my way through this show by show. Up to the last disc of 6/9/73 so far.

It's hard for me to point to any one show as "the one" from the box. I think Dave L's point in the video about the smaller moments really nails it. Most of the big jams center around combinations of He's Gone, Truckin', The Other One and Eyes, with PITB being a consistent jamming vehicle falling into various set locations. The smaller moments in songs that aren't necessarily jam focused seem to have the extra oomph and to me are the real highlights.

It'll take more time for me to digest and pick out specific moments, but imagine if you've listened through the whole set, it's all good. A nice companion to the PNW 73 (and 74) shows.

....Chunky Shrapnel.
Jazz I say!!

Box arrived today.
3 scratched discs I’ll be after replacements for but no glue residue.
Scratches don’t show up in photos due to resolution and light probably so hopefully Rhino don’t cause aggravation if they really intend to go through thousands of photos trying to spot damage.
I have worked how this problem was caused.Unlike every other box set I own where the discs fit in cardboard slots without covers the discs come in and out to the side rather than up and down from the top.Because of this they have correctly ascertained that they won’t be as secure so have made the slots slightly smaller.Enough to damage thousands of discs.Idiot design and asI posted at Hoffmans a clear fail in any Industrial Design 101 course.