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    What's Inside:
    • 60 page hardcover Smyth-Sewn book featuring essays by Dennis McNally, David Lemieux, and Blair Jackson and photos by Jim Anderson & Mike Laurentis
    • 25th Anniversary Tour Program
    • Official Band Letters
    • 6 Ticket Stubs
    • 6 Cloth Sticker Backstage Passes
    • 1 Tour Laminate
    • Official 1990 Band publicity shot
    • 6 complete shows on 18 discs
          • 3/16/90 Capital Center, Landover, MD
          • 3/19/90 Civic Center, Hartford, CT
          • 3/22/90 Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, ON, Canada
          • 3/26/90 Knickerbocker Arena, Albany, NY
          • 3/30/90 Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY
          • 4/2/90 The Omni, Atlanta, GA

    Box Dimensions: 12-1/8" x 3-1/8" x 12-1/8"
    Recorded and Mixed Live by John Cutler
    Mastered by Jeffrey Norman in HDCD
    Original art by Wes Lang
    Individually Numbered, Limited Edition of 9,000

    Introducing The Next Box: Spring 1990!

    And now for something a little different. This year's box set - Grateful Dead: Spring 1990 - offers six complete shows from the epic spring '90 tour, one concert from each city the band played, personally selected by Dead vaultmeister and archival release producer David Lemieux. The sizzling six are: 3/16/90 Capital Centre (Landover , MD), 3/19/90 Hartford Civic Center, 3/22/90 Copps Coliseum (Hamilton, Ontario), 3/26/90 Knickerbocker Arena (Albany, NY), 3/30/90 Nassau Coliseum (Uniondale, NY) and 4/2/90 The Omni (Atlanta, GA).

    In his "Producer's Note" in the beautiful book that is part of the box, Lemieux, who attended the first 10 shows on the tour, states, "To my ears this was the last tour that was consistently great, where every show is excellent, not a dud in the bunch." And Grateful Dead historian Dennis McNally's comprehensive and informative insider's essay in the box is titled "The Last Great Dead Tour." These guys know what they're talking about.

    Basically, the band had been on an upward trajectory since Garcia's return to the road in the spring of '87, following his near-death the previous summer. Of course, 1987 was a trip in itself, what with the unexpected mega-success of In the Dark and their first hit single, "Touch of Grey." But the momentum just kept building with each subsequent tour, as Garcia got back up to full speed (and then some!) and the group as a whole was as unified as they had ever been since Brent joined the band in the spring of '79. New original tunes were popping up and the old favorites were imbued with a freshness and spirit that was so uplifting and inspiring. The band was having fun again, and it was downright infectious.

    The group's fall 1989 shows-as documented two years ago on the Formerly the Warlocks box (two shows from Hampton, VA, 10/8-9/89) and on the 2001 release Nightfall of Diamonds (a single night in NJ, 10/16/89)- kicked the energy level up another couple of notches, as the band reintroduced such loved classics as "Help on the Way" > "Slipknot!," "Attics of My Life," "Death Don't Have No Mercy" and "Dark Star."

    And when the band hit the road in mid-March 1990, they had a bunch of other cool tunes to lay on their unsuspecting crowds, including the return of "Loose Lucy" (last played in 1974; it's not on this box), Brent's "Easy to Love You" (missing since 1980), a rollicking cover of the Rolling Stones' "The Last Time," The Band's "The Weight" (with all four singers taking a verse each) and a lyrically retooled "Black-Throated Wind" (absent since 1974), which elicited huge cheers every time it was played.

    Over these six shows, most of the cornerstones of the Dead's repertoire from the era appear-splendid versions of "Scarlet Begonias" > "Fire on the Mountain," "China Cat Sunflower" > "I Know You Rider," "Playing in the Band," "Uncle John's Band," "Eyes of the World," "Estimated Prophet," "Truckin'," "Sugar Magnolia," "The Other One," "Terrapin," "Stella Blue," "Feel Like a Stranger," "Bird Song," "Let It Grow," "China Doll," "Box of Rain," "Morning Dew"; you name it. From the fall '89 breakouts come "Help-Slip-Frank," "Attics of My Life" and "Death Don't Have No Mercy." Among the still newish tunes are "Picasso Moon," "Blow Away," "Foolish Heart," "Just a Little Light," "Victim or the Crime," "Standing on the Moon," "We Can Run" and a couple that would get their final plays from the Grateful Dead on this tour-"Built to Last" and "Believe It or Not." There are stirring renditions of "Dear Mr. Fantasy" and "Black Muddy River," rockin' takes on "Gimme Some Lovin'" and "Iko Iko" and the only version of the full "Hey Jude" the band attempted in the modern era. And the "Rhythm Devils" and "Space" jams at the heart of each second set are as noisy-beautiful-scary-funny-intense-mysterious-wild as you'd expect/hope for.

    Of course, we understand that some of you may have other favorite shows from this tour you wish were included on this box. Really, you can't go wrong with any of them. But at 18 discs, this is still the second largest Grateful Dead box (after Europe '72: The Complete Recordings) that's been released, and the non-inclusion of any other shows from the tour definitely does not preclude their future release! But this seemed like a more manageable way to go, while still giving a sense of the tour's amazing depth and breadth.

    Besides the discs themselves, Grateful Dead: Spring 1990 has much to offer, including: a gorgeous 60-page hardcover book containing copious color photos by Jim Anderson and Michael Laurentus, unique artwork by Brooklyn-based fine artist Wes Lang, fascinating business letters and communications related to the tour, a detailed historical essay by Dennis McNally, a Producer's Note by David Lemieux and individual show descriptions by Blair Jackson; a reproduction of the Dead's 1990 tour program (printed and sold later in '90, for the fall and Europe '90 tours); tickets and backstage passes of all six shows; a band publicity photo from 1990 by Ken Friedman; Dennis McNally's tour laminate; and reproductions of the colored 8x10 sheets GDTS sent out with hotel, food and other information for each city on the tour.

    With recordings made by longtime Grateful Dead recordist and producer John Cutler, mastered by Jeffrey Norman in HDCD, you just know it's gonna sound great-and it does!

    So, that's the skinny this time 'round. This box is limited to just 9,000 numbered copies - please note, this is the only time these shows will ever be officially available on CD. There will not be an All Music Edition and single shows will not be available physically. Due to ship out August 31st, we anticipate that this extraordinary set will sell-out, so order your copy today!

    If you're looking for more of a bite-sized taste of the '90s, Spring 1990: So Glad You Made It, a 2-CD set featuring a handful of favorites, will be in stores on September 18th.

    -Blair Jackson

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  • Zuckfun
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    Words from the Vault
    The following is an excerpt from an interview with David Lemieux: So Nightfall of Diamonds was recorded on multi-track. Is that because they were recording shows for what would become Without a Net? Absolutely. That’s what happened with that one. Certain times and tours and runs of shows were recorded multi-track with the intention of producing an album from them, and fortunately in the case of Without a Net, the Dead happened to be playing really well those three tours. So we’ve got multi-tracks for Without a Net, Downhill From Here, Dozin’ at the Knick, Terrapin Limited, and Nightfall of Diamonds. So that pattern is pretty much what we’re still following, and that goes for a few reasons. One, we don’t have very much multi-track, and what we do have is worth mixing to make proper albums out of, and at the same time, it takes so long to mix a multi-track down to two-track it wouldn’t really be feasible. A two-track release generally takes about four weeks to do and a multi-track takes about eight weeks. Read more: Interview from the Vault - A Conversation with David Lemieux (Part Three) http://www.musicbox-online.com/dl-vault3.html#ixzz22aEUGRMq
  • Zuckfun
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    Sonic Paradise
    To the best of my knowledge, the Spring of 1990, along with the latter half of 1989, was recorded on multi-track tapes. This is a new mix, with every effort to make it sound as great as possible. Listening to The Warlocks Box, the sonic glory of multi-track material reveals itself like a flash of audio lightning.
  • simonrob
    Joined:
    Multi-tracks ?
    I have not researched this exhaustively, but as far as I can make out of what has beeh officially released from this period, only "The Warlocks" box was definitely taken from 24 tr. tapes. All other official releases from this period were taken from 2 tr. tapes or the source is indeterminate. Were the 24 tr. tapes recorded by Arista for "Without a net" and remain the property of Arista and the vault only has the 2 tr. tapes? I have no idea. If these recordings were taken from the 24 tr. tapes, I would expect that to be mentioned in the marketing blurb to talk-up this release. As there is no specific mention of which set of tapes was used, I would guess that the 2 tr. tapes were used. I hope clarification is forthcoming and that it turns out that the 24 tr. tapes were available and were used here. However, I expect that the sound quality on this release will be just fine otherwise they would not be releasing such a lavish production.
  • One Man
    Joined:
    2-Track Source
    "Recorded and mixed live by John Cutler" means live-to-2-track to me, which means the multi-track tapes are gathering dust in the vault. There is some chance these mixes will sound relatively okay, but there is no way they could compare to a careful mix from multi-track, because Cutler had his hands full during the shows and this 2-track tape was an afterthought. It's probably just the house mix. I just hate that the better audio source was ignored. Production cost would have been higher, but isn't it more important that the best sound arrives at the listeners' ears?
  • highthyme
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    I'm sure nobody is getting rich here, but
    9000 sets at $200 each is not $180,000. It's $1.8 million. Meanwhile, I too would like to know if these are indeed mastered from the 24-track tapes, or if they're taken from Cutler's 2-tracks as Terrapin Limited was in order to avoid conflict with Arista's release of Althea on Without A Net.
  • SPACEBROTHER
    Joined:
    2 disc track sources...
    They played LTGTR twice on that tour, 3/16 and 3/24. To try and narrow down where the songs are from... LTGTR - either 3/16 or 3/24 Stranger - most likely 3/22 but could be 4/2 West LA - 3/22 Easy To Love You - lely 3/22 BIODTL - 3/22 Loser - 3/24 All Over Now - 3/19 or 3/30 Jack-a-Roe - 3/19 Last Time - 3/16 or 3/22 or 4/2 Bird Song - 3/16 Blow Away - most likely 3/16 as the other version from 3/26 is already on Dozin' At The Knick Samson and Delilah - 3/22 Scarlet>Estimated - 3/16 Playin>Eyes - 3/19 Gimme Some Lovin' - 3/26 Dew - 3/26 NFA - 3/30 Attics - 3/30 The more I think about this release, the more I feel that this is by far the best release they have put together yet. I love the E72 box, but these will be in my listening rotation far more. My little Spring '90 story... A friend of mine and I sent out for mail order tickets for Knickerbocker and tried to order by phone but got shut out. Our determinatiuon not-with-standing to see the Dead on this tour because Spring '89 was such a blast, we decided to order tickets over the phone for the Omni when they went on sale. We scored decent Brent/Jerry stage right side seats for the first two nights and behind the stage for the last night. The last Dead show I attended before this run was at Alpine Valley 7/18 (yup, the unfortunately as-of-yet unreleased show screened at movie theatre, which I missed :( ... ), and it was the last time I attended a show where onsight overnight camping and vending still ran rampant. Upon arrival for the first show, we parked in a ramp across the street from the CNN center and home of the Omni. Our first observation was that there was very little vending or obvious camping, which was sort of an expected shock. The shock I didn't expect was hearing about what transpired for the past few day at Nassau. At that point I figured there would be no real suprises, but it was April Fools. Who knows? As things would be, the first night was a great solid show all around. Everything played exceptionally well and the band was fully warmed up. By the second night of the run, which is the one included in this set, we happened to have the great fortune of not only finding out that a freightyard lot behind the CNN Center was opened for Deadheads to camp and vend, despite the rules posted by the band, but by chance, we had even better fortune! Before the show, we pretty much hung out in the makeshift freightyard fteak village were parked near some folks who were taping shows from the tour and rocking recordings from the first night. By this point, I had been going to Grateful Dead concerts for several years already but really only had a vague knowledge of tape trading. As it turned out, after an awesome second show, we headed back to the lot to enjoy the afterglow and chill for a bit before heading to the hotel. Shortly after we arrived back to the car, and having pulled out a couple of lawn chairs and a beverage or three, a brother who appeared to be a little distressed from his out of body experience caught our attention. He decided to approach us as we hung out and told us he had lost track of where his buddies were and asked if he couild hang out with us in case they turned up. We of course said "sure" and he proceeded to tell us that he and his traveling companions were taping the whole tour.By chance, we just so happened to have a stand alone cassette deck with us that he could burn copies to from his rig, and offered him to stay with us, burn tapes from the tour and just drool at the mini goldmine this guy was lugging around with him.We were able to make copies of everything except Nassau and Hartford, including the first and second nights at the Omni. The next day and the third show, we went to the same lot and the taper we met immediately hooked up with his buddies. He was grateful for the place to stay and we were blessed with pristine 1st gen recordings of almost the entire tour. We exchanged contact info with the taper guy from Pennsylvania and he sent us the rest of the tour promptly. This was the first time in my life I had ever recieved a tape of a concert I had attended right after a show, and it was the whole Spring '90 tour! Of course, this experience created a monster. About two or three weeks later, we had invested in the first of many portable recorders and proceeded to push the bounderies of who, what and where we recorded live concerts. What a learning experience THAT whole process was... Of course, there were many other great memories I have from that '90 Omni adventure. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to see the Grateful Dead on what I consider to be one of the top two or three tours they ever played. I happen to like apples and oranges. Ultimately, good karma reaps great rewards, and that was our turn to pay it forward and vice/versa. Only at a Grateful Dead concert...
  • Little Ben Clock
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    Dates for tracks on 2-disc version?
    Is there any information on the dates for the tracks in the 2-disc version? So far I've gathered it must be as below but I can't find a LTGTR> Stranger anywhere in the fun. Perhaps there will be some very creative edits on the segues. Anyway, if someone can point out where all these tracks come from, I'd be much obliged. For what it's worth, I'm not interested enough in this era to go for the boxset (and it will be the first Dead release I haven't gone for in years, regardless of the era) so I appreciate that the 2-disc set is going to be available. Let The Good Times Roll> [??] Feel Like A Stranger [??] West L.A. Fadeaway [??] Easy To Love You [??] Beat It On Down The Line [??] Loser [24th] It’s All Over Now> [??] Jack-A-Roe [??] The Last Time [??] Bird Song [??] Blow Away [??] --- Samson And Delilah [??] Scarlet Begonias> [16th] Estimated Prophet> [16th] Playing In The Band> [19th] Eyes Of The World [19th] Gimme Some Lovin’> [26th] Morning Dew [26th] Not Fade Away [??] Attics Of My Life [??]
  • fluffanutter
    Joined:
    Not just Wes, LedMan
    No, many people are getting paid for their work. Here is a short list: John Cutler; David Lemieux; Blair Jackson; Wes Lang; Jeffrey Norman. Then there is all the production costs of the box, jewel trays, doo-dads, and the discs themselves (Lets hope they went first-class on the actual discs this time). All of that has to be taken out of only $180,000. Then there is the attendant vendor for special customer service. So, no, nobody is getting rich. I imagine the royalties going to band members is quite small. They truly are putting the music out there for the fans and that is admirable. Deadheads just love to complain about everything. It is the one thing you can be sure about when there is a new release. I wouldn't have it any other way. What gets me though is the people who hate the complainers. Imagine two heads on one body -- a complainer and a complimenter, always fighting with each other! LMAO!
  • fourwindsblow
    Joined:
    Are these from the multi-track recordings?
    "Recorded and Mixed Live by John Cutler" Which is why they sound so good.
  • snafu
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    Joined:
    Bummer
    When everything else looks so good why did they have to use jewell cases. Will they replace the scratched discs that will be so prevelent. Oh well they'll just have to learn from their mistakes.
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jq171(document).ready(function (jq171) { jq171("h2.product_title").each(function(){ var title = jq171(this); var new_title = title.text().replace(' - SOLD OUT', ''); title.text(new_title); }); var covertArtDownloadMarkup = 'Looking for the digital cover art? You can download it here.'; setTimeout(function() { jq171('#digital_cart').append(covertArtDownloadMarkup); }, 500); });

What's Inside:
• 60 page hardcover Smyth-Sewn book featuring essays by Dennis McNally, David Lemieux, and Blair Jackson and photos by Jim Anderson & Mike Laurentis
• 25th Anniversary Tour Program
• Official Band Letters
• 6 Ticket Stubs
• 6 Cloth Sticker Backstage Passes
• 1 Tour Laminate
• Official 1990 Band publicity shot
• 6 complete shows on 18 discs
      • 3/16/90 Capital Center, Landover, MD
      • 3/19/90 Civic Center, Hartford, CT
      • 3/22/90 Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, ON, Canada
      • 3/26/90 Knickerbocker Arena, Albany, NY
      • 3/30/90 Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY
      • 4/2/90 The Omni, Atlanta, GA

Box Dimensions: 12-1/8" x 3-1/8" x 12-1/8"
Recorded and Mixed Live by John Cutler
Mastered by Jeffrey Norman in HDCD
Original art by Wes Lang
Individually Numbered, Limited Edition of 9,000

Introducing The Next Box: Spring 1990!

And now for something a little different. This year's box set - Grateful Dead: Spring 1990 - offers six complete shows from the epic spring '90 tour, one concert from each city the band played, personally selected by Dead vaultmeister and archival release producer David Lemieux. The sizzling six are: 3/16/90 Capital Centre (Landover , MD), 3/19/90 Hartford Civic Center, 3/22/90 Copps Coliseum (Hamilton, Ontario), 3/26/90 Knickerbocker Arena (Albany, NY), 3/30/90 Nassau Coliseum (Uniondale, NY) and 4/2/90 The Omni (Atlanta, GA).

In his "Producer's Note" in the beautiful book that is part of the box, Lemieux, who attended the first 10 shows on the tour, states, "To my ears this was the last tour that was consistently great, where every show is excellent, not a dud in the bunch." And Grateful Dead historian Dennis McNally's comprehensive and informative insider's essay in the box is titled "The Last Great Dead Tour." These guys know what they're talking about.

Basically, the band had been on an upward trajectory since Garcia's return to the road in the spring of '87, following his near-death the previous summer. Of course, 1987 was a trip in itself, what with the unexpected mega-success of In the Dark and their first hit single, "Touch of Grey." But the momentum just kept building with each subsequent tour, as Garcia got back up to full speed (and then some!) and the group as a whole was as unified as they had ever been since Brent joined the band in the spring of '79. New original tunes were popping up and the old favorites were imbued with a freshness and spirit that was so uplifting and inspiring. The band was having fun again, and it was downright infectious.

The group's fall 1989 shows-as documented two years ago on the Formerly the Warlocks box (two shows from Hampton, VA, 10/8-9/89) and on the 2001 release Nightfall of Diamonds (a single night in NJ, 10/16/89)- kicked the energy level up another couple of notches, as the band reintroduced such loved classics as "Help on the Way" > "Slipknot!," "Attics of My Life," "Death Don't Have No Mercy" and "Dark Star."

And when the band hit the road in mid-March 1990, they had a bunch of other cool tunes to lay on their unsuspecting crowds, including the return of "Loose Lucy" (last played in 1974; it's not on this box), Brent's "Easy to Love You" (missing since 1980), a rollicking cover of the Rolling Stones' "The Last Time," The Band's "The Weight" (with all four singers taking a verse each) and a lyrically retooled "Black-Throated Wind" (absent since 1974), which elicited huge cheers every time it was played.

Over these six shows, most of the cornerstones of the Dead's repertoire from the era appear-splendid versions of "Scarlet Begonias" > "Fire on the Mountain," "China Cat Sunflower" > "I Know You Rider," "Playing in the Band," "Uncle John's Band," "Eyes of the World," "Estimated Prophet," "Truckin'," "Sugar Magnolia," "The Other One," "Terrapin," "Stella Blue," "Feel Like a Stranger," "Bird Song," "Let It Grow," "China Doll," "Box of Rain," "Morning Dew"; you name it. From the fall '89 breakouts come "Help-Slip-Frank," "Attics of My Life" and "Death Don't Have No Mercy." Among the still newish tunes are "Picasso Moon," "Blow Away," "Foolish Heart," "Just a Little Light," "Victim or the Crime," "Standing on the Moon," "We Can Run" and a couple that would get their final plays from the Grateful Dead on this tour-"Built to Last" and "Believe It or Not." There are stirring renditions of "Dear Mr. Fantasy" and "Black Muddy River," rockin' takes on "Gimme Some Lovin'" and "Iko Iko" and the only version of the full "Hey Jude" the band attempted in the modern era. And the "Rhythm Devils" and "Space" jams at the heart of each second set are as noisy-beautiful-scary-funny-intense-mysterious-wild as you'd expect/hope for.

Of course, we understand that some of you may have other favorite shows from this tour you wish were included on this box. Really, you can't go wrong with any of them. But at 18 discs, this is still the second largest Grateful Dead box (after Europe '72: The Complete Recordings) that's been released, and the non-inclusion of any other shows from the tour definitely does not preclude their future release! But this seemed like a more manageable way to go, while still giving a sense of the tour's amazing depth and breadth.

Besides the discs themselves, Grateful Dead: Spring 1990 has much to offer, including: a gorgeous 60-page hardcover book containing copious color photos by Jim Anderson and Michael Laurentus, unique artwork by Brooklyn-based fine artist Wes Lang, fascinating business letters and communications related to the tour, a detailed historical essay by Dennis McNally, a Producer's Note by David Lemieux and individual show descriptions by Blair Jackson; a reproduction of the Dead's 1990 tour program (printed and sold later in '90, for the fall and Europe '90 tours); tickets and backstage passes of all six shows; a band publicity photo from 1990 by Ken Friedman; Dennis McNally's tour laminate; and reproductions of the colored 8x10 sheets GDTS sent out with hotel, food and other information for each city on the tour.

With recordings made by longtime Grateful Dead recordist and producer John Cutler, mastered by Jeffrey Norman in HDCD, you just know it's gonna sound great-and it does!

So, that's the skinny this time 'round. This box is limited to just 9,000 numbered copies - please note, this is the only time these shows will ever be officially available on CD. There will not be an All Music Edition and single shows will not be available physically. Due to ship out August 31st, we anticipate that this extraordinary set will sell-out, so order your copy today!

If you're looking for more of a bite-sized taste of the '90s, Spring 1990: So Glad You Made It, a 2-CD set featuring a handful of favorites, will be in stores on September 18th.

-Blair Jackson

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As far as I am aware, the "Dave's Picks Volume 3" fiasco is down to the old fulfillment company whereas the "Spring '90" fiasco is definitely down to the new, improved fulfillment company. For your peace of mind, it would also seem to be the case that all future fiascos will be down to the new, improved fulfillment company.
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The fact that 9000 suckers (myself included) sprung for this set probably won't influence Rhino to tone down the packaging or goodies or price. Next year's set will cost as much, if not more, and will contain more useless nostalgic garbage. Just wait. Granted, the books are nice, but I'm sick of reading stuff from Blair, McNally and Lemieux. We all already know in advance what these three have to say concerning the band because they keep rehashing it in various forms with every release. Why not let some new voices offer up their opinion or experiences?
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It's disappointing to see so many agitated Heads out there. I too have received faulty merchandise over the years (specifically Wall of Sound Road Trips), I just chalked it up to my CD player, but now I know that inferior products are being produced from time to time. I am kinda glad that I passed on this set, even though I love love love late era Dead. I am going to purchase the 2-disc set when it's available. I miss the good old days when the boys were handling everything in house, and Dick's Picks bumper music was on the other end of the phone if you were put on hold. When you did speak with a customer service rep, you could tell it was a NoCal resident who was fairly well versed in the products available. I had a shipping snafu with a Europe 72 disc, and the people on the other end were very rude to me. I just passed it off as another stressed out rep. I also miss the days when you could get a 6-disc Dick's Picks,mastered by Jeffrey Norman, with nearly 2 complete shows (minus a Sunrise hear and there) and pay 25.00. The prices are getting more and more expensive, yet I continue to be delighted by the music contained in the releases. I passed on Winterland 77, Europe Mega Box and now this set. I never have viewed any of these sets as collector's items, becuase I never intend to sell any of them. I did pony up for the Warlocks set, and it continues to delight me, but they used the 24-track mixes for that one. Finally, Rhino, continue to work on providing the best product at the lowest cost. I don't think a lot of us care about the "bells and whistles", as they eventually end up being "left on shelves collecting dust, not knowing what they mean". All we care about is the music! Now, how about making all previous releases available (including Fillmore West; I need my Cautions) in high quality downloads at a low cost. VOTE FOR GARY JOHNSON in 2012! Oh, and I can't wait for 30 Days of Dead in November!!! Looking forward to the nuggets that are going to be unleashed on us! Thanks for your generosity on that end!!!!
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12 years 2 months
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@Steve - I reminded the "supervisor" that the website said it would be back in stock in October. She said that as of today, that information is no longer accurate and will be changed on the website. Like I said below. When I spoke with them yesterday, they expected new inventory in early October, today they were told not to expect more inventory. Not to beat a dead horse, but there are some serious problems with their fulfillment. The customer service, while polite, is helpless. I too miss the GDM days when all the work was done in NorCal. It's not the Grateful Dead anymore, it's an outsourced corporation. Chalk this up as another outsourcing success story..
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Dear Tree, We have shipped your replacement disc 2 of 3/22/90 from the Spring 1990 box set. You should receive it soon. Thank you for your patience. Sincerely, Dr. Rhino & Dead.net Customer Service Dr.Rhino@rhino.com Received today - greatly appreciated
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15 years 11 months
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With my new iPhone arriving on Friday I finally got around to loading the discs on my iMac. I hadn't even taken the discs out of the sleeves. When I received the box several weeks ago I just looked the items inside the box. Everything was going well until I got to Knickerbocker Arena. I inserted the disc into my iMac and it just kept starting and stopping. I thought that my CD drive had gone bad. After ejecting the disc I reinserted and tried again.Same problem. I ejected the disc and looked at the back. What do I see, a 2 inch crack. First time I ever had a defective disc since I have been buying CD's. I called Dead customer service at about 12:50am and they said they would send out a replacement in a couple of days. I just started to read these message posts. I had no idea so many people had the same problem. Considering this is such a small amount of sets, only 9000 this is horrible quality control. Really no excuse for this. I don't know what happened in the pressing and manufacturing process. The discs are way too hard to remove from packs. They should use a spring loaded release. Hopefully I will receive my replacement soon. CD's are dinosaurs. They won't even exist a few years from now. It will be all digital downloads. You will still be able to get the box with goodies in it but no music inside.
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14 years 9 months
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Does anybody know what is going on? This is the gist of an e mail I have just sent to another head - my friend RiggsJR.Thanks for indulging me. John, I'm guessing you will have seen the latest posts on Dead.net, i.e. it appears someone has been told their order has been cancelled & they will be getting a refund (believe it when I see it - the refund that is). I don't know where I stand - is mine on the way? how long do I wait before I contact C. Card co to complain? I would also be interested how many more heads are in this situation which amounts to limbo as far as I can see. Somebody in authority desperately needs to come clean and talk to us!! That should not be too much to ask and is no reflection on Marye who does a fantastic job on our behalf. As much as I want this set (and the ones that come after it), there is a limit to my patience, and as we have both agreed, one can only listen to so much Dead. I still have Dick's Picks & Download Series that I have never listened to. Fingers crossed that we get some good news for a change - and soon. regards Dave
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13 years 10 months
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First of all thanks to dogfood1 for clarifying the situation - although things seem to change here from day to day. I always presumed that they were holding back a number of boxes to deal with non-delivery problems with the surplus stock being sold off in mid-October. Now they are saying they are not getting anymore - why? If they are short of the 9000 then where is the missing stock - on its way to ebay? The only good news to be picked up from all this is that quite a few people are still waiting for their box to arrive (especially in the UK it seems) so there is still a good chance that some if not all will turn up at some point - or maybe not. As regards refunds, if they say they will do it then give it a week before checking with your credit card company. It is in dead.net/rhino's interest to do this asap as getting the credit card company (and therefore the company which supplies credit card services to the retailer) to take action will result in a freezing of income to the retailer and a pile of investigation emails which would need to be acted on to get the money back before it is automatically refunded to the customer. These companies don't like doing this as it costs them time and money - dealing with a lot of these will trigger a concern on there part as to whether the retailer is fit and able to trade. If the retailer has taken every action reasonable - checking on order, supplying replacement or prompt refund - then things are OK but given the problems we have had here with S90 and DP3 (a whole wad of which were actually recovered from the old despatchers and sent out 5 weeks later then stated) then this could be a problem. An official comment from someone would be useful.
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14 years 10 months
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For people inside the US of A, the time to start contacting your credit card company is now. You're being much too generous with your time, patience and your money. I ordered my S90 set 4 weeks ago and have had it in my possession for 3 weeks; therefore, there are no mysterious circumstances which are holding up your purchase. You're just being screwed. It's also time to report the company to the Better Business Bureau. Also, post your negative experiences over at ripoffreport.com, complaintsboard.com, sitejabber.com, bizclaims.com, resellerratings.com. Warn people on Facebook and Twitter. We live in the flat-earth age of the internet and socal media where no faulty business practice can or should be allowed to go scot-free.
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12 years 2 months
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@Steve - that's probably the most baffling part of this whole exercise. What product planner doesn't add 10% for refunds, exchanges, lost in the mail, damaged product, etc... There must have been SIGNIFICANT problems with this box set (read: 3rd world manufacturing) that have made it impossible to replace for the time being. My suspicion is that they had a double whammy of shipping problems (did it ever ship?) along with Quality problems noted below, along with not enough overstock to cause a perfect storm of product scarcity.** When I buy something from someone on the internet, the lack of a tracking number is the first red flag that something may be awry. A second tracking number that also doesn't work usually confirms my suspicion that I'm being ripped off. Dead.net now fits into that category. I just want my refund now. My customer service rep, who unfortunately is not Dr. Rhino, appears to be off on Fridays. I'll give them until Monday for the refund before I again punish myself by calling them on the phone. **What's sad is that we've left the world of happy hippie GD Mercantile, we've left the tapers behind, Dick's dead, we're not trading tapes in the lot, and we're being forced to deal with crap like "Global Fulfillment" and "Quality Problems" - I remember when quality problems meant I got a 3rd gen tape and not a 2nd.....sad.
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15 years 9 months
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"I have so rarely had things I ordered lost in the mail, I have a conspiracy theory that they never sent the product in the first place. Anyone else want to jump on my conspiracy bandwagon? No tracking? No immediate replacement?" I don't think it's much of a "conspiracy" actually because it's completely reasonable and probably true. They are making excuses. On top of screwing up SO BAD, they are lying. All they really had to do is tell the truth and apologize and we would all be fine and patient. So the screw ups was the least of it that bothered me. The LACK of quickly correcting it, explaining it, and apologizing for it was the part that pissed me off.
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15 years 9 months
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"My question concerns the new fulfillment company. Is the new company causing all these problems or is it the old one?" Exactly. That's what I want to know but you are not going to find out. They either won't answer that question or they will lie if it's the new company causing the problems. I can't imagine ordering again. I have a TON of Dead and there is lots on the Internet to be had.
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15 years 9 months
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Correct. It's a greed factory now. Which also answers the question about what some call a poor mix. They don't have the care that the Dead had about that. Jerry is turning in his grave.
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17 years 6 months
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The old one was GlobalWare solutions. They were supposed to be handling DaP3 and also presided over the E72 'fulfilment'. Rhino's newly appointed fulfilment company is (I am informed) called Delivery Agent: www.deliveryagent.com I do not know who is handling Spring 90
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12 years 3 months
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I was lucky enough to order one of these box sets. And in spending more than $200, I was shipped this box set which, I am told by others, clearly indicated what it is on the exterior of the packaging. Now, regardless of tracking number, the fulfillment company did not ship it with a delivery signature required, so UPS (allegedly) delivers my package when no one is home, and, they say, left it on the doorstep. If that is true, then throughout these past two weeks I've been waiting for my box set to arrive, it has been in the hands of another party entirely. Customer service tells me to "contact the USPS for more information regarding the delivery. If you need any further assistance, please let us know." Considering I told customer service in my email that UPS (not USPS) states they already delivered it, I find their incompetence to be compounded by lack of attention to the complaint. To sum up: I spent $200 so Dead.net could send a neighbor or passerby a weighty, glorious collection of the Grateful Dead. I suppose eventually I may be grateful that I could gift someone such a prize, but right now, I far more upset that Dead.net stole my money right outta my hand.
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17 years 6 months
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My "Spring '90" arrived yesterday in the Netherlands. As I wasn't at home (I have to work to afford such things as this box) I had to collect it today from the local supermarket that doubles as a post office. I haven't had a chance to check the contents yet. Delivery took 20 working days (4 weeks) instead of the 8-12 working days stated in a mail I received. At least it has arrived - and I didn't have to pay any import duty or sales tax.
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12 years 6 months
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12 years 5 months
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I ordered when they released 500 or so more sets. Funny how they sent me a UPS tracking # which repeatedly would not work. Turns out they shipped via US Postal Service. One thing I did notice with this new order is that New Yorkers must now pay tax, uggghhh! Box cost me $231, what was I thinking? Difficult to justify spending that much money on 6 shows that can be streamed for free. I received # 8275 in the cool shipping box. The book, stubs, passes, and other extras are nice. Every disc looks to be correct. Only played through the Copps show. Sounds fairly decent but not as good as Without a Net. The tinkly, cheesy keyboards are a bit grating. I went to shows from 1985-1994 but have now been spoiled by all the 68-77 releases. For 80's I am beginning to think that 1982 is a better period instrumentation "soundwise". The Spectrum Road Trips & the Dick's Picks 32 are great performances with Jerry in good voice & guitar tone, also Brent's keys are complimentary & do not stand out as much. For what it's worth I rather pay a lot less & have something in the size of the Winterland box sets. Those fit way better on the shelf & the artwork is awesome. I also much prefer the Road Trip series packaging to the Dave's or Dick's picks. Complain all you want, but a little squeeze of the cardboard & the discs come out scratch free. The Road Trips artwork is apropriate, trippy, GD cool, etc. They line up nicely on the shelf & the thick matted cardboard does not allow finger print/smudges. Definitely a lot more handsome & sturdy than the freakishly larger Dave's Picks. Keep the releases coming, but please have some mercy on future pricing!
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15 years 2 months
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They were the same price as this set, not less! "For what it's worth I rather pay a lot less & have something in the size of the Winterland box sets." So, you didn't pay less for those Winterland sets. You paid the same -- and got less. Less stuff, anyway. I agree though I like those sets better, musically -- I will return to them more often. But they definitely weren't cheaper.
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12 years 5 months
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I know that 3 Winterland shows equals $100 & that the 2 Winterland sets equal $200 for 6 shows. I never said Winterland was cheaper, you misunderstood. I said "I rather pay less AND have something smaller". Not pay less FOR something smaller like Winterland. I prefer smaller like in the Winterland, So Many Roads or Beatles Mono Box set size. I think all the big packaging is wasteful & cluttersome. Frankly in New York City there is not enough room in the average apartment to house all of my Grateful Dead collectible habit.
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17 years 6 months
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Hello, I received the box "Spring 1990" quickly enough. I think it is a beautiful object. Unfortunately, the shipping costs are higher for overseas (I live in France). And I found a great pity not to have a tracking number. I'm French, sorry for my English.
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17 years 6 months
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I'm from the UK, and I'm still waiting for Spring '90 (how many times have I said that !) ...... anyhow, in my latest call to Dead.net Customer Service I was told I have to leave it 3 weeks, and that I've not actually been waiting 4 weeks, but just 2 and a half ('Well, you got the shipping notice on the 23rd August, which meant that it would have shipped a few days after that, but that was a weekend, so it wouldn't have gone until Sept. 3rd or 4th, and of course you can't count weekends, so basically it's only 2 and a half weeks, so give it until the 25th Sept. and then call back, and we'll look into it') ...... If, and when it does eventually arrive, it will then be a lottery whether I pay an extra $50 for Customs and Clearance costs (some over here have not paid anything, while some are asked to pay the duties).
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12 years 4 months
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Outpost, I'm in the same position. Still no sign of the product arriving in the North-East of England; supposed to have shipped 23 August, wrong tracking number, no way of tracing order etc, which , considering the mailing fee is incredible (contrast UK purchases from Amazon.com, both in terms of cost and speed of shipping).Having read the posts on here I've held off contacting Cusomer Services, since I'd prefer to minimise the period of teeth gnashing and foaming at the mouth that it will undoubtedly produce. Having said that, I've just received an e-mail from "Store Support" asking if I'm enjoying the Spring 90 Box and whether I'm satisfied with the service provided. I'll reply when I've calmed down. On import duty and import VAT, it's a matter of luck; I've been caught for items costing as little as £20, yet managed to avoid charges on £100 orders.
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17 years 6 months
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Hi, hopefully it will get here one day ..... on a positive note, my Dave's Picks arrived this morning.I know what you're saying about the Import duties, but I'm just ranting !! I would hold off contacting Customer Services until you feel you are in a position to, or want to, get a refund, because they are absolutely no help whatsoever. They have no idea where our packages are, and are just hoping that they eventually turn up. I will give it probably a couple more weeks, then demand a refund, and see if Spin still have some. I will definitely be rethinking how I purchase Dead product in the future .... will probably go for the subscriptions, but take a different approach to any bigger releases. Tony
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16 years 7 months
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New Brighton (U.K.) still awaits the Spring '90 box set....e-mailed Dr Rhino 2 days ago.....no response as yet.....the money for the product was taken from my account weeks ago, but rather worryingly, I never received a shipping notice or any correspondence since ordering.....stuff any thoughts of a refund.....I stumped up the cash in good faith when the release announcement came out and the least I want is what I committed to as I have done for EVERY GD release from day 1. Dave's Picks Volume 3 arrived a couple of days ago so all is well there thankfully. Here's hoping, Ian.
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13 years 10 months
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Mine has arrived at Birmingham Royal Mail and will be delivered the next day when I pay the customs charges so I expect some of the delay has been because of customs. For the rest of you I would hold off contacting customer services for at least another week and wait and see if it shows up.
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17 years 6 months
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I'm in the same position as you .... I have every release they've put out, along with the Download series etc., and so the last thing i want is a refund, but if they can't offer a replacement, then i'll have to try to obtain it elsewhere. What I would REALLY like is a statement from those running the show, explaining what has happened, what they are doing about it, and how they intend dealing with shipping in the future, to avoid a repeat of this shambles.
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13 years 10 months
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I also got a letter from parcel force on Sat morning telling me about the customs charges -I elected to shoot down to the local depot and pay and collect the same day. No real clues as to why it took so long to get thru the system other than the indicationt that a lot of different agencies seem to have been involved. Dates are not visible on any of the German labels but Parcelforce seem to have been handling it since at least the 14th. The good news is that there seems to be an element of monitoring in the process so that both Deutches Post and Parcelforce had barcodes on their labels and Parcelforce required a signature that was recorded into the system. My guess is that a) the parcels were des patched from source over a long period of time that had nothing to do with the date of the despatch note (see posting further down) and b) the delivery time is very much dependent on the speed that the various post agencies act and the customs factor. I suspect most will now turn up but there are lessons to be learned from this when sending out orders of this size and quantity.
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13 years 10 months
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Wow. You PREFERRED the Road Trips packaging?! Gee, if I was luck enough to get the disc out properly it would usually already be scratched or dusty. I immediately placed them in separate jewel cases and a couple times actually got sent replacement discs for the condition they arrived in.I was so relieved the Dave's series has jewel CD holder templates. And the Dick's Picks is perfecto. We're all unique I guess.
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17 years 6 months
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Yeah, it's surprising that people actually preferred the slotted RT packets (like me for example). I liked the size, color scheme, paper and (for the most part) artwork of Road Trips. The DaP are too large and the white color scheme on the spine is unimaginative. The card stock is no good either (even with the improvement it's too flimsy) I agree with you on the disc scratching issue though. I have transferred my whole collection to a large case I can carry around.
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12 years 3 months
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Hoorray, both Items arrived a few days ago here in germany, the seem to have been held back by customs, but no real clue to that, no explanation for the long delivery time...Anyway, they arrived at last and I think Spring 90 is a very nice box (mine having the number 5084, by the way). The only issue is to listen to all the music now, still torturing my better half with Europe 72...
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12 years 3 months
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Hoorray, both Items arrived a few days ago here in germany, the seem to have been held back by customs, but no real clue to that, no explanation for the long delivery time...Anyway, they arrived at last and I think Spring 90 is a very nice box (mine having the number 5084, by the way). The only issue is to listen to all the music now, still torturing my better half with Europe 72...
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12 years 3 months
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Does anyone know where these things were shipped from? Along with my other conspiracy theories, I have a hunch these were drop-shipped from a factory in China or similar. This may explain why the quality oversight doesn't exist. The execs in the US got a sample that looked good, so they said "Ship it!" without considering if unit 100 or 1000 was as high of quality as the sample they saw. Now they are frantically trying to undo whatever manufacturing arrangement they had, resulting in the box set being permanently out of stock.
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12 years 3 months
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Did anyone ever figure out or receive info about the new Jerry release being security locked so you can't transfer the songs to iTunes? Would be a bummer if that is the case. Thanks for any help!
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12 years 3 months
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Mine came from Shepherdsville, KY - arrived about a week after ordering.
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15 years 2 months
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The new Jerry release will be a CD set like any other -- you'll be able to do everything you can do with any other CD. What can you think of? Making a judgement, based on either A) your own experience, or B) what gets posted on this board, about "quality oversight" is ridiculous. Even though I got a bad disc (which was relatively promptly replaced) I don't draw any broad conclusion from that. I have many, many thousands of CDs -- and I have seen every imaginable error in my non-GD products: no disc at all inside the shrink wrap, 3-disc set with a disc duplicated and a misc missing, disc cracked, disc unplayable although apparently pristine, two! discs in a one-CD product, etc. Things happen. People complain. When you produce and ship 160,000 discs there will be some problems -- and people will piss and moan -- But I'll bet good money that most folks by far had no quality issues whatsoever with this set. Even though somebody probably got 3 copies of the same show's replica backstage pass and somebody probably got a book with a partially untrimmed page in it. And so there will be another limited set, and it will sell out too. Can hardly wait. Hoping DP4 is from '67 or '68!
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17 years 6 months
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My replacement disc arrived this morning in France.took only one week to fly from Rhino to home.Well done Dr Rhino.
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12 years 3 months
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@RROT - yes people piss and moan, and yes there are errors in large scale distribution projects. What aggravates the situation is the general cluelessness of the dead.net customer service. Dead.net relies on the tried and true model of Customer Service outsourcing. The highest level of customer service person is still 1000 miles and 10 pay grades away from anyone with real decision making power at Rhino, and probably works for another company altogether. That leaves no accountability by the "decision makers" for things like: problems with vendors, processes, or customer service. It's a perfect situation for Rhino, and one that comes up incredibly short for a customer, like many of us here, who has problems with their order. If dead.net had Amazon or Zappos levels of customer service, you would be reading a fraction of the complaints. This is less about manufacturing error and more about customer service. Just a few of the problems that we've seen: No (or unusable) tracking numbers Indeterminate delivery times Damaged product with indeterminate replacement time Total cancellation of orders without notice Sketchy refund processes This is deeper than general pissing and moaning, especially when you consider that we all dropped $200+ for this package of plastic and paper.
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17 years 6 months
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Steve and Organgrinder - sorry you had to pay customs charges. I caught the Royal Mail delivery van just as as I was leaving for work. The driver saw my stunned face when I realised there wasn't a charge. He reckons it was because no-one had marked the value anywhere on the box. Hope you enjoy the music though!
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14 years 1 month
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Sitting on the couch with my wife, instead of watching TV we've been absorbing this set. It is really cool to read the nicely done white book, the ultimate liner notes. I understand about the shipping issues and the bad disks, but bitching about the sound quality? I played Without a Net and then the box set, they sound very similar. I can hear Jerry well. Would anyone care to discuss the music, or just bitch like a bunch of grumpy old men? My favs here are Nassau, Knickerb, and Omni in that order. The Beleive it or Not on Copps is awsome, had me on archive looking for other versions. Somehow I missed that song through the years. Fav pic? The one of Brent at the end of the black(?) book with his fist in the air. The box is well done, fits perfectly beside my LP's, love that it actualy has plastic CD trays not idiotic cardboard sleeves. As far as nitpicking, no one forced you to buy it, thay gave audio samples, and it sounds quality wise better than many of my SBD disks from the '70s or the '80s and '90s. Thanks GD!
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16 years 10 months
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I was just getting ready to post about the music when I saw the last post. So far I really like Copps, Hartford and Nausau. That Nausau is REALLY AMAZING. I didn't get into Knick except for Morning Dew and Loser and the bonus material is top notch. Most of sound quality is good or better except a few songs are overly boomy-like the Victim or Crime at Knick. I am happy to have this release.
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15 years 9 months
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Yea, I actually got it!Whew, do they need to fire the new fulfillment company or what? Biggest mess I've ever seen. Not just the mess that happened, but the totally clueless and unhelpful customer service. But I'm happy I finally got my disk.
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17 years 6 months
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The First night (of the Box Set) is cool the Let the Good Times Roll really does, and listen to that opening on Queen Jane, yeah, that's what we're talkin' 'bout. And the Blow Away, just does, too. On the next disc the Scarlet opener rips as does the Estimated, Ship of Fools?, nicely done but kind of a show stopper, then the Women are Smarter jams along well enough, but the ending is abrupt and then the Jam is just a redo of the ending with Brent goin' bananas on the keys, The Drums and Space are truly the stars of this box. Each nights Duets are extended and engaging, the Other oNe is just filler after the fireworks But the Stella Blue is magnificent !!!, One of the highlights of the night. then the Sugar Magnolia rocks but never really attains the heights it is capable of producing. The Last Time is always great. Jagger and Richards first tune, what a team., Like to see some cross pollination with Furthur and The Stones on the up comin' world tour. But then the Next Night has it's moments too, the Bucket is just kickin' around and The Bertha moves but only so, the We Can Run is sweet with the hamony backup vocals but the kicker on the first disc is the It's All Over Now, with Brent channeling bluesy organ and scat-ing to set the beat, Brent really was takin' it up a notch or eight on these last tours. Well Thats all I've listen to so far so back later after more fun. When in Doubt. Twirl ! @
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16 years 4 months
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S90 has arrived in the south of the Netherlands. No number yet, as I have to pick it up at the post office (and pay another $40, unfortunately).
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17 years 6 months
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Roland, good to hear that your copy has also arrived. I am surprised to hear that you have to pay invoerrecht/BTW. I also had to pick my copy up from the post office and all I had to give them was my autograph. I guess I got lucky this time and you didn't but I don't pretend to know why it worked out this way.
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