Grateful Dead

How can you call the boxed set "May 1977" and not include Cornell Barton Hall Mother's Day. What happend to the value proposition for the fans?

How can you call the boxed set "May 1977" and not include Cornell Barton Hall Mother's Day. What happend to the value proposition for the fans?

People will complain about anything. ANYthing. What a sense of entitlement. Anyone complaining about this box - or any other really - is just nuts. GD fans are the luckiest group of fans anywhere IMHO. And I don't know why so many people don't seem to understand: BARTON HALL (5/8) IS NOT IN THE VAULT!!! IT IS NOT THERE TO BE RELEASED!!! Just be happy.

yummy (a la Ace Ventura). claney, thanks for the stats. also, you made me laugh with your "May 5 - 9 aren't in the vault" rant.

you're gonna get some repetition with 6 consecutive shows. If they did totally different songs every night, I'm sure someone wouldn't have liked that. "I haven't heard BEW in years".

has me movin' around my classroom with a smile. Best. Band. Ever.

Oh, I think I might be the only one here to dislike this arrangement of Dancing in the Street but I just couldn't help bringing it up...Other than that, I think I'll love each and every song here :)

This box is worth it just for St Louis alone. Dancin' is incredible and the whole second set is off the charts. St Stephen > Iko > NFA > Sugar Mag > Sunshine Daydream and UJB encore is some of the best music from this tour including 5/8... I had an audience tape of this that I just wore out. Great to have this show emerge from the vault.

@Deadegad – The transaction is already showing up on my account, so it looks like you will be charged right away…it seems that in the past, you weren’t charged until it ships… @PatagonianFox- There are a lot of repeats, say compared to Spring of 90 (which I still think is one of the best releases that has ever been put out…ever) but think of how many repeats were in the Europe 72 box. Now, think about how many gems are in there and how many great jams are in there and…well, just enjoy, you know you love it already. @claney – thanks for the stats…However, Im not sure why you are sad that Me and My Uncle only shows up once out of the 5…it is the GD’s most played song and there are plenty of other versions out there. Speaking of which, I really like the one from DaP 6, Jerry is attacking the song right from the getgo. Also, what evgraham said. Without Bear starting all of this with his “sonic journals” we would not be blessed with such great music in amazing quality. They played a lot a great shows but DL is the one picking, be glad there are plenty to choose from. P.S. 5/8/77 is not in the vault (but for some reason, Dancing in the Streets from 5/8/77 is on the bonus tracks from Terrapin Station)

The money in your account will have a hold on it for 3-5 days. After that, it will be released and you'll be charged when it ships.

My information is that the tapes for DP 30 Academy of Music release are not in the vault. It was produced from a Rob Eaton remaster of the master reels. We have hope.P.S. Not to mention the reminder by mustin321 that a tune from 5/8/77 has been officially released. Check out the New Yorker article, that's my source.

Do we know who has the Barton Hall masters? Curious.

that's a good ?

Check em out in 2011 :) :) :) Right on! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Recording_Registry

I believe a dub was submitted in place of the MIA master, but not 100% on that. I suppose it would have had to have been.

Not sure who has the missing Betty reels, if they're all in one person's possession or not. Hopefully one day they're returned, for the love of the fans. It seems likely part of Cornell is in the Vault (maybe one of five reels?) and this is how the Dancin' was released. There are more than a few missing shows recorded by Betty. Red Rocks 78, Fall of 77. In the caveat emptor of Dick's Picks 34, it states one reel of 11/5/77 is missing, though this issue was worked around. The hope is the love of the fans wins out. Regardless, there's so much great music that is in the Vault, like this sweet May of 77 extravaganza. For those keeping track, here's five more huge wins for the home team.

Check this out from Dave via http://www.relix.com/features/2013/05/07/beyond-cornell-david-lemieux-o… Great interview.

The May Box and June Box and other Dicks picks have given us a ton of great stuff from 1977. http://www.relix.com/features/2013/05/07/beyond-cornell-david-lemieux-o… Who knows when we will see the rest. Should rhino just pay up to get the reels?

First of all, this box set should be great. In addition to 14 discs of great music and complete shows, this box is relatively affordable at $10 per disc. That's a big plus; the music is what it's all about--no need to up the price with additional trinkets or coffee table books.There's been a ton of posts here already asking for the Barton Hall show even though Dave has said it's not a candidate for release right now because they don't have the master. I just wanted to mention the Boston show on May 7, 1977. To me, it's right there with the 8th and 9th. If these shows are recovered and released someday I really, really hope it's all three released together. The Half Step from the 7th is terrific and the Wharf Rat is absolutely perfect, arguably the best version ever.

Just a request here, but is there some way Dead.net could give us a heads up about the timing of next year's box? Like many others who have posted here I've recently bought Summer concert tickets and will have a tough time getting $150 together right away. I figured this year's box would be released or announced around Jerry's birthday like last year and thought I had time to put a little money away.So next year, could Dead.net post some kind of pre-announcement a couple months in advance? Something like "box set announcement coming in May (or whenever). That would be helpful to a lot of us.

I'm going to try real hard, cash is tight, maybe I'll stop eating!

I am not a Donna hater by any means...I even miss her screams on PITB sometimes. She is really on during Wharf Rat and Mississippi Half-step from the listening party. The balance in the mix is absolutely perfect too. Can't wait for the rest!

Thanks for the Relix article 44moose. I read that the vault offered $100K for the reels, but the person wants $1MLN!!

Yes 44moose, thanks for the article! Interesting read!

I am just (very slightly) a little disappointed with this release; there have been so many 1977 sets put out over the past few years that I was hoping for something a little more off the beaten path. Perhaps a Fall Tour 1983 box, or a Summer Tour '79? How about spring or summer 1973? Oh well, I am still excited (can't go wrong with Spring '77). I have been on a major Brent bender for the past year, so getting back into the '77/Keith era will be fun. I absolutely love the gear the boys used during this '77 tour. Keith's Moog synthesizer adds such a cool groove to tunes like Estimated (see 5/11) and Lazy Lightnin'>Supplication. Jerry's new-found love for the Mutron III really shines through in his experimental playing (thwack-thwack-woooooooow). Bobby's rig is also supreme; his guitar tone never sounded better, with the exception of perhaps '72. The Cowboy Fancy Ibanez and Mesa Boogie amp just sound so punchy, clean, and unique. I love when he adds little percussive 'clicks' to his playing. All in all, this tour is when the Dead's sound really matured, and the band as a whole never functioned better as a unit. Timing, tempo, and coordination were incredibly precise—every note landed perfectly or had a purpose. Billy and Mickey play like they have been hypnotizing each other again. Phil was in the Phil Zone. Keith is at the top of his game. Even Donna brings me to tears with her backing vocals on songs like Comes a Time and Wharf Rat. Just great versions of all my Dead favorites. Can't wait till this arrives in the mail.

Looks like downloads will be $99.98 http://ultimateclassicrock.com/grateful-dead-may-1977-box-set/

Cant wait for May77 box to hit my speakers. On another note, I know nothing about where the master for Cornell 77 is, but if that cat wants a million, I say deadheads and the vault start a Go Fund Me project and raise it. They could easily set it up where you could get the release if you pledged a certain amount, and the vault could start the thing off by dropping in that 100k. I would imagine some wealthy heads and maybe even band members would push this thing up near a nice #. Peace

Last year the 5/8/77 show was selected for addition to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress. Shortly after this announcement, we interviewed Dead archivist David Lemeiux. In this portion of the conversation which has yet to appear online, Lemieux confirms that the band has never released 5/8/77 because a master copy does not exist in the Dead archives. He goes on discuss the matter while also affirming the vitality of the group’s May 1977 run as a whole. For more on archival Dead shows over the years, check out our recent relix 40 list. In terms of 5/8/77, do you know where the source tape resides? I do not know specifically but I have heard from many people that they know where it is and they know who has it and that’s fine. We’ve certainly made a note that we’d love to have it back as we would with any master Grateful Dead tape that we don’t have in the vault. But there’s really nothing we can do about it. We’re not going to pay for our own tape. That’s one thing I don’t think we’d ever do is to pay to buy them back and I don’t think they’ve been offered to the band in a long, long time. They know where we are, we’re easy to find and I think it has been made clear that we would love to have them back. Some people would just rather have the tapes in their closet than in the vault, but that’s fine. It is what it is. Again, there’s nothing we can do, we don’t lose sleep over it, but it is as it is. In terms of that collection of tapes, how many are there that the archive does not possess? It’s in the dozens, during the period from 1976-1978. I get a lot of emails from people suggesting shows for release and it kills me because I agree with what these people are suggesting, but we just don’t have the tapes. So for example, a lot of people will ask for the July 1978 Red Rocks shows [7/7 and 7/8] and I agree. I think there are great concerts, great sounding shows, we just don’t have them. We have the August 78 Red Rocks [8/30 and 8/31], but not the July shows. Other examples: April 6th through April 16th a ten day run of about 8 shows in April of 1978, a phenomenal run of shows and we don’t have any of them and they do exist. Those tapes are part of this batch that we’re talking about. Another example would be January of 1978, also we don’t have any of those. We don’t have Eugene. We get asked for the MacArthur Court show, January 22nd in 78 [from Eugene, OR], we don’t have that. We don’t have the Pacific Northwest Tour, the fall of 1977, which is a couple of shows in Portland and a couple of shows in Seattle, very good shows, we don’t have those. We don’t Binghamton November 6th of 1977, great show, phenomenal, again, another one of these shows that we get requested a lot and then of course, May 5th, 7th, 8th, and 9th of 1977, we don’t have. Great shows that obviously include the May 8th 77 Cornell show. June of 1976 is a terrific tour, we are missing most of it. We’ve got a couple of shows. We just released one from Boston on June 9th of 76, but the Beacon shows, the middle nights in Boston, the second and third shows, we don’t have any of that. There are gaps but you know, such is life. Luckily we do have a lot of stuff, plenty of stuff to work with and the hope is there that some day we will get them back, but if it doesn’t happen that’s okay too.

@44 Moose: Thanks for the link to the DL interview. I didn't realize that DL and crew apparently have some idea (indirectly) who has the reels "in their closet." Dave.... call Seal Team Six. @Wilfred: I admire your optimism! I agree, there is hope (in fact I firmly believe the early May reels will eventually find their way home - see my Seal Team Six idea above). I was really addressing the people who complain that Cornell isn't being released, as if Dave is just keeping it locked up out of some kind of spite. There was a comment from a guy under the Relix article, the guy says "I don't know why Dave says they don't have May 9 - that Betty Board has been around for years." Maybe I'm just getting crotchety, but dumbassery is wearing me down. @Mustin321: Thanks man, glad you like the stats. When I said I was sad that MAMU only appears once in this box set, I was being very, VERY sarcastic :-)

...not thrilling like Dave's Picks 6, but very nice. There will surely be some beautiful music on here, even if these shows don't represent what most people think of as the best of the tour, except maybe for the 17th. Anyway, if these really are going to be released as FLAC downloads, dead.net really ought to put that up for pre-order as well right now. There's no way the download price can reasonably be the same as the physical set but I suppose dead.net doesn't want to list that yet so as not to encourage people "just" to get the downloads. Regardless, please put up the downloads for pre-order. It's only fair. The reality is, I probably won't buy the physical set and may have lost interest by the time the downloads are available. If they come up soon, though, and for a sensible, I'll happily order. Ditto for Spring '90 actually, the blurb for which was carefully worded so (I assume) to allow for later downloads. I really want to buy this stuff but I'm gradually running out of space. I'm delighted that FLACs will be available. A really positive development. I think it would be fair if they're listed the same time as the physical set though!!! Please??

When they say the downloads will only be for the full set, I assume they mean the entire box set. Seems like a bummer really - it would be nice if each individual show were up for a separate download (I'm getting the box set anyway, but it's just the principle, heh). Am I reading that wrong?

I understand Dave not wanting to put up cash out of principal, BUT...............we (fans) would. I also believe Rhino should be ready as well. Its money. If money gets the vault completed for generations to come....I am personally on board. I dont quite frankly care if the holders of these grails are taking a ransom approach, I will negotiate. I have given years and tons of cash to this beautiful world, why would I stop now. Love to all. Bring our reels home boys.

If kickstarter can raise $3 million in a few days to fund a Veronica Mars movie, surely we can find enough deadheads to contribute a few bucks to raise $1 million to buy back the Cornell master.

I got 15% off on this order? Not trying to gloat, just pointing out the upgrade in customer service. My 15% off code dropped into my lap because my DaP 4 shipped a few days too late -- I didn't even know it was late until I got the email with the code. At the time I was both pleased and a little disappointed in my timing -- I'd just purchased the 2013 DaP subscription and would have loved to get the extra off. But I decided to save it for the next big release, and yeehah! It worked! No way that this would have happened during the E72 debacle. Good job, guys!

The download price is $99.98 for all 111 songs. This is the only way it is being offered.

If you pay for any tapes, any possible returns will stop. I sure there is enough in the vault to keep people happy. paying someone a lot of cash will set the bar too high for any possible returns as well as increase prices.

I say let the fundraising begin. Like I said on http://www.gofundme.com/ ............. you can set it up so contributors would get something in return if wanted, otherwise you can send anonymously. For instance, $50 gets you a download of files when reel is re-covered, $100 gets you cd pack...........and so on. I am not saying what I am proposing is they way it should be....... I am starting the conversation. My buddy recently died, and we used that site to raise money for his family, and it worked great. The Garcia movie was another example, I gave $50 bucks and when nothing panned out, my money was returned, no problems. Anyway, I started this conversation because I believe in negotiating with terrorists. Peace

That somehow wasn't intimately connected with the Dead? I think there must be a ton of strange stories out there. Very mundane ones too, like the storage locker bill that never got paid...

GIVE MONEY TO SOMEONE WHO NEEDS IT NOT RHINO THE GRATEFUL DEAD OR SOMEONE TRYING TO EXTORT MONEY

II imagine that they mean that each set will be one file(i.e. 1st set of 5/12/77 St. Paul will be one file). Therefore you can expect to download about 10 files. This is fine, unless you like to listen on an iPod or something. In my case, I bought the actual set, so I am looking forward to it.

I will do with my money what I want..........my family makes many charitable donations of time and money, SEVA being one of my favorites if you must know. I am not talking about a charitable donation my friend, I am talking about an investment in a love and passion of mine and many others, quit playing big brother with my suggestion, if you dont like it, make an anonymous donation somewhere and go on. I simply like the idea of bringing stuff to its rightful home, and sometimes people (right or wrong) want money for its return. Another off example would be the rules of basketball......a bunch of Kansas Jayhawk fans paid BIG money to house them in Lawrence, Kansas. I feel the reels belong in the vault, and I am ready to donate, if your not, fare thee well. Peace P.S. Remember your comment below as well bambini... "Not to nitpik I bought this in a second but I would rather have the five nights at the Palladium if they are available." Were you very happy and let down all at once???

Doctor Who fans have been trying to do this for years with missing episodes and the overall efforts haven't worked all that well for buying back missing episodes. Also, those tapes, when even stored properly, will show wear. If the master reels are stored in less than ideal conditions, it's possible that the masters will be worse than what currently circulates.

I think this is a great idea! What is to discuss? They get what they want and we get what we want.

I like the idea of money for tapes. Why is there a discussion? Do not call the cops, give the kidnappers their money and get the babies back! They get what they want, we get what we want and nobody gets hurt.

sorry, triple post

Just curious if anyone knows how these new releases are being mastered. Here is a blurb from Jeffrey Norman from the site regarding the remastering ofDP 3 and 4 for the limited vinyl releases "“I was excited to get the chance to remaster the early Dick’s Picks’ releases for vinyl…they were originally mastered for CD in 1995-96, and I was looking forward to hearing the 1/4″ source tapes once again, 17 years later. What I didn’t expect was the dramatic improvement the new mastering gives to these classic releases. The original CD resolution is 44.1KHz/16bit (as is any released CD), while the mastering I am now doing for the vinyl releases is 96KHz/24bit. I’m now using a state-of-the-art analogues to digital converter (Pacific Microsonics Model 2)….and I’ve probably gotten better at doing this over the years! I used the original CDs as a guide for the new mastering, but when listening to the CDs I feel like I’m listening in black and white, while the new mastering feels like I’m listening in color. It’s very exciting!" Sounds kind of limiting for the vinyl, which should be all analog. But it makes me think these will be offered in high resolution digital in the future, since the digital transfers are there and sound so much more "colorful" Any one have insight as to how the May 77 box is being mastered, and if it's the same methodology as for the DP vinyl remasters, why not offer up the higher res transfers for download? and why not 24/192?

No, man. Do NOT pay for those tapes. They are being held for ransom and we already have listenable copies. And it would be unconscionable to give money to someone hoarding that little slice of history. They suck. Give your money to a worthy cause, not an evil one.

Hi Taphedfrek - This guy matches the New Yorker's description of the Betty Board "owner:" http://petaluma.patch.com/articles/local-goat-rescue-has-big-dreams-for… Of course, his batch doesn't likely contain Cornell '77. Nevertheless, I suppose you could make a donation.

Thank you David and everyone involved, not to mention the band. Can't wait to get this one. Hope it arrives soon. Next up, or sometime soon, how about Fall of 73? I think there are a few shows that go under the radar from that period. Quite notable is San Diego, 11/14/73, just a few days before the great Pauly Pavilion release from 11/17/73. Love what you folks are doing. Thank you, Ken

I won't post my usual gripes about the cost (hooray!). I've been requesting for years that 5/12, a Great show, be released in its entirety. For years all we had was an AUD that required one to be in a generous mood to even consider it listenable. Then the Winterland '77 box gave us most of the second set. Thank you Rhino for finally giving us the whole show. As for the other shows, 5/17 has long been a favorite and 5/13 is at least very good. I graded 5/11 as below par, but another listen on an A+ recording will probably change my opinion. I don't have a grade for 5/15. Looking forward to this very much. Thanks again!