Grateful Dead

Man! Keith is in top form on Bobby McGee and Deal! Mississippi Half-Step & Truckin' too. This nice bonus live show from Reno goes real well with Dave's~13,42,Xtra disc 2022, Dick's~24, Dave's~9, and the 2018 pNw box's 1974 sets. Feels like I can retroactively follow them in spirit {at least sonically} from the HiFi! Kind of similar to the pNw box's 1973 shows fitting into a mega playlist with last years Sunshine Box. Speaking of Boxes, I bet we get a Dave's chat in July regarding a September release. Gotta put aside more money now because Neil Young got his Archives 3 coming out tentatively around the same time, Autumn.

P.S. I got a weird shipping notice a few days ago with a clickable tracking link that went to nowhere but an oopsy daisy message webpage from Fed Ex. Though the disc came yesterday without issue, so moot complaint there now. The what if is still bad.

Bobby goofs much of The Other One lyrics but still a solid version musically. The real surprise is in the jam, very near the end. Sounds like they're playing in the groove of the Loose Lucy coda or perhaps going to segue into that song. Row Jimmy takes the helm instead, always a good Keith & Donna era tune!

I got a shipping notice on friday and it is still sitting at label created this is the most annoying entity to deal with! Suck all the air out of for me. Thank you again Warner, what an absolute Cluster F!

Ned Lagin's synthesizer effects on Unbroken Chain that are very prominent on my old (Mofi) vinyl copy seem to have been almost totally buried in the mix on this new CD version. The synth part was an unmissable part of the music on my old copy but now I struggle to hear it at all. I don't consider that this is an improvement.

Is it just me or has anybody/everybody else noticed this.

Overall the sound quality on this new version is great, apart from that missing synth.

UPS/USPS updated today. Should be here Friday. Unless, of course, it gets stuck in Rossford (Lodi) again.

“Now the Shorelines Beckon: Hawaii/Alaska '70 '80 ! Primo!

Simonrob, noticed that as well, the synth on Unbroken Chain seems bit different and muted. For those still waiting, wondering, at the risk of HeyNow, I ordered my copy while back from Big River, less expensive, free shipping (money money) and UPS hand delivered it to me in my driveway yesterday morning, my mail goes to a PO Box. It does appear that rumors of Shorelines Beckon are real, the price for being free... (15CDs) must be about a buck fifty.

....been posting over 👉.
The Roses is a smiling mess lol.

For those who care: that cut on the front of the slipcase is deliberate. It's not due to the inept handling of a boxcutter. It's supposed to be the embossed version of the antenna on the (flat) back cover. I returned my first copy (Amazon) only to see the same cut on the replacement copy. Lousy design choice, in my opinion.

It's bad news if you have had two copies, both with a cut on the slipcase. My copy has no cut on the front of the slipcase, but the hotel antenna (or flagpole, who knows?) that you refer to is slightly raised as one of the embossed elements on the front of the slipcase. I think it's a nice touch.

5 12 74 is good n hot

I have an unofficial copy

But 40$...

Best to put that toward the new box

If this is still available in a couple months, I might go for it

Hmmmm....

God bless the Grateful Dead

Skip it, they'll be around forever.

I ordered the picture disc, the mars pin, and the 3 cd reissue.
I have gotten NO NOTICE OF SHIPMENT AT ALL and the view order shows NO link to track. I emailed them about it and have heard NOTHING back and no change to my order status ...
did they forget about me? or are others having this issue as well?
I know they took my $ ... I'm about to dispute the charge soon ... do better Rhino.

It's a bit stiff isn't it?

Sorry to hear about that.

Marye?

Can you help Mr. West?

Resist temptation, PF

It’s $34.98 on this site and less elsewhere.

August West I bought the ugly rumors vinyl the picture disk and the CD I got a ship notice Saturday never went out until Tuesday. They have it on fedex ground currently in Joplin MO suppose to maybe possibly be here Friday but who knows. I sent them 2 emails and heard nothing. They suck period full stop. FedEx ground? Why dont they offer expedited shipping like well every other entity these days? I am sure it will get there for you but you are not alone. Warner is ponderous!

Am I tripping or was the green vinyl sold out and now not?

I'll let fate decide. If I see it at Silver Platters (local CD store) for cheaper in the coming months I might get it. It's just not a majorly high priority right now.

PF as noted, Big River has it for just over $30, free shipping if you spend over $35, so find a $5 item you can use. Tax, yeah unless you live in NH or DE.

Doesn't matter, both suck. My Fedex stuff NEVER showed it coming, just coming. Then I saw it was and "Innovation" shipping. They jerk you off for a week or so, then the USPS brings it anyway.

JUST SHIP WITH USPS TO BEGIN WITH!!!!

Also stuff SHOULD be ready to go on release date, NOT, we sent a list to ups on release day, they need to print labels and box. So a week later it really starts to move. Once the PO gets it,,, next day for me everytime.

Sorry same old rant!

Enjoy
Dennis

email for shipment was quickly followed up with a delay in shipping notice??

They seem to really struggle with moving frieght

....this Reno show is new to me. I don't recall Bobby ever butchering the lyrics in TOO, yet here we are.
The segue into Row Jimmy more than makes up for it though. 🍻

Says it left Rossford, OH, which is about 105 miles from my house. What that really means is it’s on a truck, waiting to be filled with other USPS Mail Innovations items to be sent to Cleveland. Once the truck is filled, it’ll leave. It could leave today or four days from now. Once USPS gets it in CLE, I’ll get it the next day.

Sometimes I’ll get updates. Sometimes it just magically appears.

Teacher appreciation cards

I had 50$ on an Amazon gift card from the end of the year

Ordered FTMH

:)))))))))))))

Should be here tomorrow

:))))))))))))))

Glad to hear that Proudfoot! That’s nice that your students and their parents appreciate you. I teach middle school, 7th and 8th grade STEM; Robotics, Pre-Engineering and a Forensics/Biology class.

Y'all be cool

Mars Hotel showed up unannounced, Fedex says they have no record. :-)

Nice to know when LP's are coming in Texas heat, but noooooo.

Had to swing by the post office and the kind lady behind the counter grabbed mine out outta the hamper. Just got it ripped to iTunes. Will be listening shortly!

In the house

:)))

....yup. The new The Warning record arrived today. Ambient temp 109 degrees here in the desert. Came slightly warped.
Who are The Warning you say??
Check em out.
Been paying close attention to those ladies for a couple of years.

can confirm, The Warning are the real deal.

....talented, awesome stage presence and pretty. Three for three. Then again, I'm a sucker for all girl bands. Especially all sister bands. Rare.
Keep Me Fed is a helluva record. Not ONE throwaway track. Produced extremely well. Paulina is an incredible drummer. Daniela's guitar tone is fuzzy and on point. And Alejandra keeping the bottom line like nobody's business. Catchy riffs, anthem type songs and unapologetically in your face at all times. Good job. Keep this up and they are definitely going places. Been stepping up their game recently with cool videos as well.
They are doing it the right way.
And it all started with an impressive cover of Metallica's Enter Sandman when they were 13-16 years old.
Played Jimmy Kimmel Live the other night and nailed it.
I wish them nothing but the best. 🍻
The fans have shortened the names. Pau, Dani & Ale. Rock on ladies.

When they do the 50th of Blues for Allah

They will include 6/17/75

Yes
Yes
Yes

Time will tell

Talk of sister bands reminds me of Fanny. Worth checking out.

welp ya beat me to it... I had a draft post going yesterday about Box Set speculations. And one of my riffs was a San Francisco '75-'76 set. SNACK benefit at Kezar, 6/17/75 Winterland, then the remaining Orpheum material from 1976. That would be six dates total, but prob only 15 CDs. But iirc the SNACK gig is GD + Merle, so maybe there are licensing issues with that

All this talk reminded me of an old movie called The Hallelujah Trail. Big comedy from 1965. It had one character who was funny to a 9 year old.

Taking advice from Oracle Jones, a local guide and seer (but only when under the influence of alcohol).

Thru out the movie they give a good belt of booze and he "sees"

Worth a watch.

So you can spend, spend, spend, and (doh!) save, save, save.

Well, SPIN THIS!

I understand merch (and, oh, music too I guess) make good bank. But the incessant promotional "newsletters" and online gimmicks and the minimal product announcements is a tad too much.

That is all! Many wonderful things happening in HF land, but felt this bulletin would do it.

Cheers!

To pick up 5.0 🤞
Once again UPS got er to D town muy rapidido only to have Dejoys angry lamesters not be bothered to scan it, so it could take four times as long to go a couple hundred miles within state.
But hey, at least it’s here (supposedly) which is what really counts.
I just feel it’s my patriotic duty to rail against the tyranny and corruption of incompetent dictators of any ilk lol 😝

Hmmm, kinda wondering why not many comments on this release?
Especially about the audio…

I keep meaning to buy it, but then opt for something else instead. I am sure it will get here eventually. It's not my favourite Dead album - but I have never heard it on cd, so I am interested to hear what this makeover sounds like.

Hey OB,

I have one listen to the Reno show in my car. I was withholding comment until I listened on the home system. However, I will say the sound quality seems a little up and down.

What are your thoughts?

Oh, and I now own my fourth copy of Mars Hotel.

…the show.
Listen closely to the piano whenever he turns up to solo…
Give it a few songs…

My two cents.
I didn't buy WOTF 50th or Europe 72' 50th, I was on the fence about this one. I have never heard (read) really anything good about this show but at least it came with a complete show. I'm not really impressed and probably didn't need to own it. While I'm sure this is an improvement, I feel like we can definitely tell there is something going on there that impacts both the sound and the playing. It makes perfect sense to me that no one ever spoke highly of this show, but i guess it bridges a gap or is historically important?

I commented on the audio of this release some time ago after listening to the studio album and the first disc of the live set. The studio stuff sounded much, much better than my old lp, no surprise there. But I thought the live stuff pretty uneven, in terms of the audio quality. Couldn't hear Weir's guitar, vocals were up and down in the mix. Since I wrote that, others have responded to say they thought the audio was really good, so I guess it's a little subjective.

Now, having heard the 3rd disc, I'd say the audio gets better in the second set, but it's still weird: the bass will suddenly get louder than everything else, or a vocal will, and then settle back to a more normal level.

My theory is that this somehow has to do with the high winds that they were dealing with that day, and also maybe unfamiliarity with the WoS. Like maybe the wind would start blowing, and somebody couldn't hear something so they turned it up, and then the wind let up a little and they turned back down. Or something like that. Bottom line: I think the live audio is acceptable but not great.

Now, do you need to buy this? Well, I'd say so. There are enough good songs on the studio album and the audio there is enough of an improvement to justify buying something you probably already have. I doubt if I will return very often to the Reno show, but it's still good to have. That's my take anyway, your results may vary.

I listened to the remastered MH for the second time last night. Very sweet sounding. The harmonies are lush. I was more aware of different instruments I'm hearing having been informed by the excellent series, Good Ol Grateful Podcast, which has been doing deep dives into each song on the album. I highly recommend the podcast.

The Reno show recording takes a little time to get together. The second set is pretty hot especially the Truckin>TOO. I'm a little biased because Reno was my second official WOS show. I do remember the band taking a little time to get going.

On various systems…

There’s aaaaaaaalot going on here lol.
I think it’s perhaps sonically one of the worst releases yet?
Fortunately most won’t hear it.
I’ll just touch on some of the more prevalent items.

Since there was nobody really mixing the wall, and it was one of the first official wall shows, you can perhaps hear them adjusting volume etc more than usual.
Best way to learn gear is to mess with it, and live is always different then elsewhere.
And that’s why your hearing all that adjustment: because most of this system was controlled directly by the musicians. An interesting idea except for occasional volume wars lol.
My first impression of this show was “sound check show” for the tour…
They seem extra laid back and to be having fun, but definitely getting used to things, and I’m sure the wind effected that! Lots of opsies, and other weirdness too.
It’s not bad, but I’d call it mediocre by high bar 74 standards.
It’s interesting historically, checks the gap box, and there are some good moments, just perhaps not the most consistent outing.

But the unfortunate thing I noticed a lot on first listen was distortion.
All kinds…
Sometimes guitars, which are less easy to detect, occasional bass when he pushes certain things, but most notable is the piano!
Basically every time he really starts pounding from El Paso on…
This isn’t necessarily an on common thing on these old tapes, but it just seems more noticeable on this one.
Perhaps the gain settings on the tape mix board were up and combined by the direct instrument feeds, and I think KGs pre amp levels especially, and/or something to do with piano mics? I believe I read they had to basically invent something for that too, which maybe didn’t have set just right at this one!
Maybe Kid was kinda busy with other things and didn’t get a good chance to properly monitor the tape, so as they continued to get louder and push direct levels etc, he didn’t have chance to readjust?
All kinds of possibilities. Tape age, even with full treatment, an old oversaturated tape could be slightly over crispy.

On less revealing systems it’s a tad harder to discern, but on the good system it reveals a whole lot of distortion, almost unlistenable at times…though you get used to it after initial surprise.

I’ve tried it via my good server/DAC , which feeds to different zones, I’ve tried just the disc via an Oppo Blu-ray on one of those zones with different pre amp and no separate DAC etc, so it’s not the server, DAC or main pre amp, or second zone. Haven’t tried the car yet…
I don’t think it will matter. Less noticeable perhaps, but once you hear it, it doesn’t go away lol Volume makes it more noticeable.
That’s why I think it’s baked into the tape.
I don’t think this is a defect.
And I’m betting that 97% of folks out there won’t notice it for various reasons.

I agree with Conekid, who I believe stated that though it’s not good enough for a Dave’s, and it would be kinda lame disappointment in a box, but for this “bonus” material it fills the gap, kinda goes with the theme, though 6/20 included more album songs and is a much better show ( Probably too long, and maybe saving it as the prime 74 shows are dwindling). I know he says he doesn’t have any lists, but come on, how could you net lol. It’s ok Dave, nobody will think poorly of ya lol ; )

So what is left to ponder?
Here’s my thoughts, of course your mmv!

5/25 audio was subpar, but a good 74 show with nice jam sequence
6/8 audio meh, mediocre show, nice playing sandwich!
6/20 is more 74 caliber goodness!
6/26 & 6/28 is it worth rehash if whole shows are usable in the vault?
6/30 good but not RJ.
7/21 better still? Except for Aud only?
7/25 ahem, hear foot tapping…
7/27 good show, big sequence light perhaps, but lil one outta US nice, and that Playin…oye!
I need to go through the hacked up stuff, but not sure I’d prioritize any of this?
9/14 and 9/20 are good, I’d call the 21st a step behind?
Some of these suffer from jam light…
That just leaves WL. Which lol, somehow I’ve not done the complete shows yet.
So I’ll wait until I do so this fall…

Hey Oroborous, Crow, et al – Great discussion about the inner workings of the W.O.S. Lots more moving parts than some of us lightweights usually stop to think about. Thanks for jump-starting the conversation Oro.

5 12 74 rocks