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    The Latest On Dave's Picks

    The Latest On Dave's Picks

    Limited Edition Numbered Archival Series

    What happens when you take the spirit of Dick's Picks and combine it with the very best aspects of Road Trips? Dave's Picks! Esteemed archivist, vaultmeister, and all-around Dead fiend David Lemieux will curate the finest unreleased shows from the master tapes, brought to life with HDCD sonics by Jeffrey Norman, period photos, and informative liner notes. All four CD releases in 2012 will be limited to 12,000 individually numbered copies and each will come in a digipak printed on Orford stock. The entire packaging, including the trays, will be made of 100% recycled and PCW materials.

    The series kicks off with a uniquely spectacular show from the highly regarded Spring Tour of '77 - May 25, 1977, The Mosque in Richmond, Virginia. You can learn more about this show here.

    Dave's Picks Volume 2 will feature a complete Grateful Dead performance from the Wall of Sound tour, recorded live on 7/31/74 at Dillon Stadium in Hartford, CT. This was one of the final East Coast appearances by the Grateful Dead for almost two years, and is one of the longest, most exceptionally well-played shows of the entire year. The big jams stand out, of course, including "Weather Report Suite," "Eyes Of The World>China Doll" and "Truckin>several thematic jams," but the smaller songs, including a rare show-opening "Scarlet Begonias," "Mississippi Half-Step," "Big River," "Greatest Story Ever Told," "Uncle John's Band" and countless others are also excellent at this A+ show.

    NEW INFO: In addition to all the great music, you can look forward to another digipak with trays made of 100% recycled and PCW materials (and of course a booklet featuring a historical essay and photos). Due to popular demand, we'll be using a heavier paper stock for Volume 2 and all the great Dave's Picks releases to come.

    Throughout the year, David will take you behind the scenes and share with you the process of curating and producing the official Grateful Dead archival series. Watch the new video below and his introductory video at the bottom!

    Video 2

     

    Video 1

     

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    Chrispybaggins
    13 years 1 month ago
    video
    Very nice David I am really looking forward to what you have to offer. Whatcha drinkin in the cup ? CB
  • katky111
    13 years 1 month ago
    Thank you Rhino and GD
    Being somewhat behind the curve, I just received DPs 3 and 29 yesterday and can honestly say that few things live up to the hype like the Dead in May '77 (or June!...how I love the Winterland Box)...so I'm completely jazzed about the way Dave's series is kicking off. I, too, hope to see more pre-70's releases - the big, bad, funky, fuzzy sounds of the '68 Carousel show and FW '69 release are regulars over my speakers! Olompali: very cool suggestion, I've often wondered how much video might be in archive. Dorz11 and patagonianfox: 5/8/77. amen. period.
  • Gr8fulTed
    13 years 1 month ago
    February '73
    I'm anxious to hear early 1973 selections featuring several new Grateful Dead songs and a terrific jazz influence. I love 1974, but it's tough to beat those early Eyes.Madison and Champaign offer 3 wonderful shows. Thanks David for your efforts.
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The Latest On Dave's Picks

Limited Edition Numbered Archival Series

What happens when you take the spirit of Dick's Picks and combine it with the very best aspects of Road Trips? Dave's Picks! Esteemed archivist, vaultmeister, and all-around Dead fiend David Lemieux will curate the finest unreleased shows from the master tapes, brought to life with HDCD sonics by Jeffrey Norman, period photos, and informative liner notes. All four CD releases in 2012 will be limited to 12,000 individually numbered copies and each will come in a digipak printed on Orford stock. The entire packaging, including the trays, will be made of 100% recycled and PCW materials.

The series kicks off with a uniquely spectacular show from the highly regarded Spring Tour of '77 - May 25, 1977, The Mosque in Richmond, Virginia. You can learn more about this show here.

Dave's Picks Volume 2 will feature a complete Grateful Dead performance from the Wall of Sound tour, recorded live on 7/31/74 at Dillon Stadium in Hartford, CT. This was one of the final East Coast appearances by the Grateful Dead for almost two years, and is one of the longest, most exceptionally well-played shows of the entire year. The big jams stand out, of course, including "Weather Report Suite," "Eyes Of The World>China Doll" and "Truckin>several thematic jams," but the smaller songs, including a rare show-opening "Scarlet Begonias," "Mississippi Half-Step," "Big River," "Greatest Story Ever Told," "Uncle John's Band" and countless others are also excellent at this A+ show.

NEW INFO: In addition to all the great music, you can look forward to another digipak with trays made of 100% recycled and PCW materials (and of course a booklet featuring a historical essay and photos). Due to popular demand, we'll be using a heavier paper stock for Volume 2 and all the great Dave's Picks releases to come.

Throughout the year, David will take you behind the scenes and share with you the process of curating and producing the official Grateful Dead archival series. Watch the new video below and his introductory video at the bottom!

Video 2

 

Video 1

 

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What happens when you take the spirit of Dick's Picks and combine it with the very best aspects of Road Trips? Dave's Picks! Early next year, inimitable archivist and vaultkeeper David Lemieux will take on the challenging task of bringing you the very best archival releases the Grateful Dead vault has to offer. Each Dave's Picks release will be selected from the finest master tapes in the vault, mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman, and packaged with period photos and informative liner notes. What's more, all four 2012 releases will be available in a limited, numbered edition of just 12,000 copies! The series kicks off with a uniquely spectacular show from the highly regarded Spring Tour of '77 - May 25, 1977, The Mosque in Richmond, Virginia.

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Let's start with a postive post shall we? This is great. Another year of new releases. Advanced orders to avoid the stress of ordering every one individually. A pre order discount with a bonus disk reward. What more could we ask for? My order is in already. (Runs for cover)
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I've been pretty positive about most everything but I just can't be about this Limited Edition stuff. Sorry but right now like a lot of people, I'm living hand to mouth and I don't have a credit card but a debit card. My payday is still a week away so now I have to: a) hope that some are left a week from now before the eBay scalpers buy them all b) Hit up a family member or a friend most of whom are in the same boat as me or c) sell something that's very important to me, my guitar.
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13 years 1 month
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The idea may be sound,but after all the trouble I'm having getting hold of my copy of "Europe 72" I certainly wont be sending any money off.Numerous e-mails/phone calls etc - all to no avail.They have the box set with my name on it,I keep begging them to take the money - what is wrong with these people ? I'm sorry but I've lost all faith in this.I'm sure the shows will be great but it's just too much hassle.
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17 years 5 months
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I'm all for the subscription concept. Hey, I've already got a couple of sources for the Mosque show but what the hell, neither of them are in spoofed up remastered HDCD, neither of them came with photos, neither of them have a BlairJ essay to acompany them, and neither of them gave me something to look forward to in the mail box. Sign me on for another year of riding the Rhino. Order confirmation email received. Feelin' better about 2012 already! Now, bring on the February 1971 Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, NY run as a box set and this particular Aussie armchair Deadhead will be nicely set.
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17 years 4 months
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Right now it is charging for shipping even though the shipping address is in the states. Please resolve.
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17 years 4 months
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As already mentioned the checkout screen charges for shipping. Please correct. Thanks, Marty
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17 years 2 months
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Subscription series allow producers to get income in advance, and have a good idea of press runs so as to avoid over production and waste. Both of these should result in cost savings. Bit odd to have a subscription series and limited edition....what's the point? What here does limited edition even really mean? I for one will not sign up due to not knowing what might come out in the series. The Mosque show was great, but if its followed in the series by some dreary late Red Roosters and the like, well, thats not for me! It is always good, however to have more Dead shows treated with therespect they deserve, and have careful archival work applied to them w.r.t. remastering, photos, essays and the like. Keep up the good work!
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16 years 4 months
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same thought here allman, i pressed those pay now buttons a little too fast before i realsied that for us ovesea buyers the whole free delivery thing appears to be a myth.. any thoughts on if this is to be resolved for others who have done the same thing?
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17 years 5 months
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Gotta come up with a better logo than that. Hello, Stanley?
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Is this limited like E72 or limited like FW? Not knowing, how would you take a chance? In any event it all sounds so great but the reality is always so different. Too bad we couldn't have the list of titles beforehand to decide.. Even with the bonus disc prices are going up. Avg. is $8 a disc.
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14 years 8 months
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You don't need to make a Shipping selection; you can just skip that.
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17 years 5 months
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Limited edition cutoff gives us insight into the normal sales volume for the Road Trips series?
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13 years 10 months
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The charge for the two steamer trunks was on my last credit card statement.Couple of days ago I decided I'd better get the last Road Trips issue. I get up this morning to this.......:-) :-) :-)
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I spent a few minutes looking at the early announcement for Road Trips and I really think they hit on something powerful there. I have the Vol. 1 No. 1 with grate highlights, I have the 2 full show downloads they offered. They were also going to add to the archive online for a total immersion experience. They were also *going to continue with full-show vault releases*. We really were going to have it both ways. The rest is...well, you know the history. To be completely honest, though I think this will be interesting, I can't see how its any different than the last year or two of Road Trips under a different name. And four shows a year seems like an interminable pace. I am optimistic, but I think I was hoping for something a bit more exciting or innovative.
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wouldn't "Dave's Faves" be a better name?
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I personally have no complaints whatsoever with ANY of these archival series!! I am looking forward to Dave's Picks and can't wait to start my subscription. Of course I always hope that my favorite show (4/22/79) will be considered. Also I wouldn't mind seeing an official release for 8/27/72 Veneta.
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14 years 8 months
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In addition to other benefits, having a set schedule with timed releases allows the producers more freedom to plan bigger projects. To state the obvious, look at the bigger project this year brought with the timed releases of Road Trips. 2012 just became so much brighter- Thank You!!!
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17 years 5 months
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I picked the "Normal" shipping, hoping it would be taken out at check-out. Guess this means I am paying $103 for the four sets. Oh well, live and learn.
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17 years 5 months
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Much better than Lemieux's Chooses.
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15 years 10 months
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what i love about this newly refined approach is the transparency > real open & quite honest it seems, even if capitalism is still in effect. also, specifically incorporating community input via vault@dead.net is great. lastly, the 2011 almanac & related web interface graphix are so much better than what's been coming out of late. the stencil logics & color palette are quite beautiful & dare i say it, seem adult, even. muchas gracias for these efforts, and as always for the sublime GD music offerings. keep on growing.
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16 years 3 months
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I would really want to see new artwork. I've grown very tired of Scott McDougall's work, espcially the Europe '72 covers, because I bought the ltd. ed. box set, the 7200. I KNOW there's an outstanding graphic artist or several artists in the ranks of the Dead Head community, time to give him or her a chance to make a good name for themselves.As for this show, it's about time this show was released. "Dave's Picks" is fine for me as a new release title. I'm still thinking it over if I should get in on the 2012 subscription scheme.
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14 years 8 months
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With art generally being a subjective sort, you're unlikely to find something that's going to please everyone. I happened to find the E72 box covers great and perfectly in-line with the original E72 release and the concept of the release, in general. I'm sure most people would be on-board with giving others a shot at things, but I wouldn't be naive to think that any new artist that comes in is going to be loved by everyone.
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17 years 4 months
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This afternoon, the fee for standard shipping has been modified to FREE. Looking forward to hearing Dave's Picks. Regards, Ted
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they had an album art competition for the dick's pick's series a while back, i think in 2002, starting with DP's #31. (remember the album art thematically changed for this series every once in a while?) the competition for the album cover artwork was announced in record stores on a small poster. there were regionals first and if you won there, then your artwork was sent in to GDP for review at the national scale. i have no idea how the regionals were judged, if there were 1st through 3rd placements & honorable mentions, or whatnot, but the prize for winning a regional was the entire collection of DP's up to that point (incredible!). and then, if you won the national, your artwork was featured for all to see (even better!!). bob minkin, a san francisco based graphic designer won and his digital artwork is featured on DP's 31 - 36. perhaps at some point, a similar open competition approach could be used for the dave's picks series, maybe even incorporating a readers vote?!
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Had to sign up for this. I love the various Archive series and also like the subscription idea as I missed out on a couple of Dicks Picks.I tried to order DP 34 from Best Buy having seen the heads up from some of the guys on these posts. They won't send to the UK but they say if I order it I can pop into a store in the US and pick it up!!!!!!!!
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17 years 2 months
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I don't usually bitch, but if it turns out that I can't get these releases just because I don't subscribe, I'll be pissed. I've ordered probably 2/3 of the RT and Dick's Picks releases, but I don't like the subscription idea and I don't always order the minute they come out--depends if I have the dough at the time. We'll see how this goes. As for a May '77 release to kick off the series, I don't think there will be any complaints there.
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14 years 1 month
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sucks for those who already paid for shipping
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17 years 4 months
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I called the store and they took the shipping charge off my subscription order.
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16 years 1 month
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Wow, nice concept, would love to sign up, but, I just can't do it, this whole E72 debacle has left a real bad taste in my mouth, will these really be limited? will they have the same shitty sleeves? who's doing the mastering? Norman again? Will it be delivered on time and correct or will it be on hold for months and sent to the wrong address? Will the discs come out of the sleeves? or will they rip and scratch the discs? I said it before and I will say it again, once bitten twice shy, you ain't trickin' me again. I will wait and buy one at a time after they have been announced and I can see the product and hear the product, not before. Boy, you marketers at Rhino must think we are all stupid or just so hard up for the music we will do anything, including allow ourselves to be ripped off, to get this music. Sorry, David and the rest of you, not this time. Or, how about this, I will dispute my last order and use that money to buy this one. Ha, then I would have to go thru the entire thing again, bad discs, bad sleeves, bad customer service, you all get my drift. Why bother?
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i would definietly like a better sounding version of the mosque 77 show, i have lived in richmond VA since 1973, but i was only 10 in 77 and didnt know there was anything more to music than beatles/stones/who, actually i did know more than those three bands but not the dead yet, i did see clapton with muddy waters at the mosque a couple years later on the slow hand tour (with my dad) but here i go digressing again my main point is im not sure why they're asking us to subscribe when we dont know all of what we'd be getting i can see how the surprise factor is kinda cool for some folks... but it just rubs me the wrong way i didnt suscribe this year and ended up getting 3 of the RTs, and the latest 76-er is really tempting although im more of a pre-retirement fan
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I didn't subscribe for last year's Road Trips releases, and I got one (also going to purchase two others eventually), so it makes me want to subscribe to this................ but the reason I know I can purchase the other two Road Trips is because THEY AREN'T LIMITED. And THAT is the big change with this release. They are limiting the vault- and that makes me feel like they are alienating people who have been following them for 40+ years. My times have changed. I wonder what Jerry would think about limiting the music he once said was for all once played.
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Like unkle sam I view the new edition with a good deal of scepticism. Are the numbers really limited? "All four CD releases in 2012 will be limited to 12,000 individually numbered copies" could be interpreted as there being 12,000 copies that will be individually numbered and any number that are not individually numbered. Again there is an exorbitant cost for postage to overseas destinations. This is a double whammy as the tax is charged on the combined cost of the item and the postage. Many years afterwards, I still smart from when I purchased the complete Dick's Picks series and found that the cost of postage was over 200 dollars more than the actual cost.I am afraid that after the Europe 72 shenanigans I am really fed up with Rhino and Dead Net.
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Kind of an uninspired "pick" -- hitting the "DP" well again. On the home page there is an animation with several dates that gives way to the (presumably) Dave's Picks logo. Several shows are listed: 6/10/73 Robert F Kennedy Stadium, Washington 6/30/73 Universal Amphitheatre, Universal City 9/11/73 College Of William And Mary, Williamsburg 5/19/74 Portland Memorial Coliseum, Portland 6/23/74 Jai-Alai Fronton, Miami 7/31/74 Dillon Stadium, Hartford 9/28/75 Lindley Meadows, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco 6/14/76 Beacon Theatre, New York 10/3/76 Cobo Hall, Detroit, MI 5/26/77 Baltimore Civic Center, Baltimore, MD 11/4/77 Colgate University, Hamilton, NY 1/22/78 McArthur Court, Eugene, OR
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I'm perfectly willing to sign up for a subscription, but enough of the "Limited Edition" crap already! This is so unfair to the fans. Sure 12,000 maybe enough to cover the initial demand and then some, but what about the new fan 5 years from now or the long time fan who can't spare any money right now but wants to fill out their collection sometime down the line? They are out of luck.
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It is a sad fact that prices soar exponentially for us folks outside the US. The bigger, heavier and more expensive the order, the more the shipping will cost. On top of that, we have to pay tax and import duty on both the cost of the goods and the shipping charge. Sadly this is a fact that cannot be avoided and has nothing to do with Rhino. It is a fact that causes one to sit down and think hard about the cost/value ratio and when the shipping cost alone is higher than the cost of the product ordered, you feel burned - and that is before the customs get involved. I think we have all experienced this at one time or another.
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hopefully none of those shows are released, as I have them all already hahaha
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16 years 3 months
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I responded to the e-mail, just got a response that the shipping charge had been refunded.
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But will us European early birds also get a much lower price if ordered before December 15th? Otherwise, my hope for this new series is not only good shows but also much better album sleeves. I have no special wants at this point but would love to see a complete show from Spring 1967. That would be great. Micke Östlund, Växjö, Sweden
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You seem to have spotted the advantage and disadvantage of the limited edition system. For Rhino it is an advantage in that they will not have excess inventory sitting in a warehouse somewhere for years on end and will recoup their expenses in a comparatively short time. For the customers who do not have the means to buy immediately or those who have not yet discovered the Dead's music it is a big disadvantage because further down the line the only way they will be able to get hold of a copy will be through eBay or Amazon Marketplace or the like - and we have already seen what the prices there are like. It is not only Rhino who are going this way - check out almost any recent vinyl release from anybody and you will most likely find that it is a limited edition, and frequently the numbers are much smaller than 12000. Rhino know how many of these they are likely to sell within, say, a year, and that is how many they will manufacture.
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The "Early Bird" price for us foreigners is $143.50 for standard shipping. Whether or not you think this is a much lower price is down to you. It would seem that we will have to pay around 4x $12 for shipping - but we would have to pay that for individually ordered copies as well. At least this time around the International shipping charges seem to be about right (whereas previously astronomical sums were initially quoted).
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Yeah, I think this is a bit underwhelming to say the least. It's a new series, which is just like the last two series, except limited now. Don't get me wrong, I'm all in, the remastering etc is fantastic, and I pretty much buy anything that is officially released if I'm able. One way to deal with the limited edition discontent would be to offer the music as downloads once the CDs are out of stock. Speaking of that, get with the friggin' 21st century Rhino and release a download series, for God's sakes! My recommendation for Dave's V2 would be 12.1.79.
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Nice, I was wondering what was next & this looks very good. Nice to see that there's plenty of time to get on board too. I'll be jumping in as soon as I get my paycheck next week. Road Trips were good & this looks like it could be even better.
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Plenty of negativity, time to put it in perspective. Dicks Picks were great; Roadtrips were a bunch of fun, although I preferred the original idea where they were tour highlights (Fall 79, etc). Have not bought a limited box set or live set and thought for a minute that it was money wasted. Expect nothing less than another round of amazing discs. Keep it up!
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17 years 5 months
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The massive three set 73 shows are under-represented in live releases. Jump into an amazing RFK!
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17 years 6 months
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Folks, there was a bug where customers signing up for the subscription were getting charged shipping. This was a) a bug and b) bad. It is also now fixed. Customers who were charged will be credited also. So sorry for the trouble, and now back to your regular discussion...
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Dave's Picks? What? Besides it not rhyming and sounding as good as Dick's Picks, it also lacks a lot of originality since Dick's Picks was the original and so well liked. The name doesn't need to rhyme, but Dave's Fave's would have been a much better name all things considered. Just my two cents...