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What's Inside:
• Five Complete Shows
• 5/11/77 St. Paul Civic Center Arena, St. Paul, MN
• 5/12/77 Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL
• 5/13/77 Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL
• 5/15/77 St. Louis Arena, St. Louis MO
• 5/17/77 University Of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL
•14 Discs, 111 tracks
•Mastered in HDCD by Jeffrey Norman, Plangent Processes playback system for maximum sonic accuracy
•Artwork by Grammy Award-winning graphic artist Masaki Koike
•Period Photos by James R Anderson
•Historical Essay by Steve Silberman
•Individual show liner notes
MAGICAL, MYTHICAL MAY 1977!
If you're a Dead Head, chances are you've spent many an hour expounding upon the distinction of May 8, 1977, Cornell University, Barton Hall. Well, at the risk of preaching to the choir, we'd like to reintroduce you to a series of shows that matches said greatness from that same gloriously fertile season. While Barton Hall is well known, the astounding tour that surrounded it has occasionally flown under the radar due to the uneven quality of tapes in circulation. May 1977 is set to change all of that with a boxed set that zeroes in on this high-water mark in the Grateful Dead's long strange trip.
For a band resurrecting itself after a 20-month hiatus, there was a great frenzy of expectancy that surrounded the Spring of 1977. We anticipate a grand reoccurrence of this fervor with the release of May 1977, a 14-disc boxed set featuring five complete shows from consecutive stops on that magical tour. Mastered in HDCD by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering, the "psychoacoustic phenomena" as Jerry once put it, of St. Paul Civic Center Arena, St. Paul, MN (5/11) Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL (5/12, 5/13), St. Louis Arena, St. Louis MO (5/15) and Coliseum at the University Of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL (5/17) can now finally be appreciated. Each of these shows finds the Dead delivering punchier, more focused sets, tightening up the framework; each night turning out first-ever renditions ("Passenger,""Iko Iko,""Jack-A-Roe"), unloading potent new pairings ("Scarlet Begonias">"Fire On The Mountain", "Estimated Prophet">"Eyes Of The World"), classic covers ("Dancing In The Street") and soon-to-be staples ("Estimated Prophet," "Samson and Delilah"), and ultimately rising up to paradise.
And now for the nitty-gritty...
Due June 11, May 1977 is limited to 15,000 individually numbered copies. Presented in a psychedelic box that boasts an intricate die-cut design created by Grammy®-winning graphic artist Masaki Koike, the set also includes a book filled with stories about each show, as well as an in-depth essay by Dead historian Steve Silberman, who delves deep into the history behind the tour and the band’s return from its extended hiatus.
Once these 15,000 boxes are gone, May 1977 and its shows will never be available again on CD. However, the 111 tracks will be made available on release date as FLAC and Apple lossless full-set-only downloads for $99.98.
Like its predecessors Europe '72: The Complete Recordings and Spring 1990, we expect May 1977 to sell out. Your best bet is to pre-order it now, then sit back, relax, and enjoy all the exclusive content we'll be rolling out over the next few weeks right here and on Facebook.com/GratefulDead and Youtube.com/gratefuldead.
Just wanted to say ...
...that I really enjoy David's videos. I like the spontaneity and the fact that he doesn't have to read from notes or sound like a marketing salesman. This is a man who loves his job and wants to share that sense of wonder he gets when he finds those nuggets to release to the world. The baseball cap? Why would anyone care? I wear clothes I like and after 59 years on this earth have gone past the point of taking any notice of the style police. Wear what you want.
Dave's enthusiasm
is infectious. He brings a lot of inside info to the process and usually has some take on the release that is connected to the evolution of the music or the band, etc. I think he is doing a great job-baseball cap and all. BTW, who wouldn't be distracted by that coastline?
Baseball caps
I don't have a problem with people wearing baseball caps - unless they wear them backwards, which Dave doesn't.
That seems like a weird comment
What does how someone wears their hat have anything to do with this box set? And why would you bother having a problem with how people wear a hat?
Speaking of Dave's video introductions...
At first I didn't like them, he seemed way too distracted for my tastes, and for many other people, too. They were very informative but distracting. I would guess there was enough feedback for Dave to improve himself, and he does with every video. He always seems GENUINELY SINCERELY ENTHUSIASTIC and that is part of the sales pitch, in my opinion. That is part of his style and that is fine by me. Dave is a good egg. The videos are always entertaining and I look forward to seeing the one(s) for Dave's Picks 7 in July. I just wonder if there is another box set or a special release in the works for later this year.
DaveL
Yeah I totally agree Dave Lemieux has been doing a good job. His videos and occasional on-line chats are part of the fun of having a subscription. Each new release is now like a seasonal ritual: the "teasing" of upcoming releases, Dave's videos and chats, reading the message boards as people start to receive their packages, etc Feels like being part of an active Deadhead community again.
long live DL
I dont know whats not to like about his seaside chats. They are usually very informative and he speaks objectively about the music a lot of the time. If you dont like them then dont watch. Go back to watching the Jersey Shore or whatever entertains you...
Agreed
I look forward to Dave's chats. They get me primed for each release. He is very knowledgable and enthusiastic. You can easily tell that he really, really, really likes licorice! He also strikes me as the kind of guy you can go on tour with.... won't drink your last beer, or bogart the doob.
Call me old-fashioned but I think the only time anyone should wear a baseball cap backwards is if they have a catcher's mask on.
borncrosseyed56, I also suspect there might be another box release coming in the fall... something to put under the Xmas tree perhaps...?
Really? !
"I have a dream that one day our children will be judged by the content of their character and not what they choose to put on their head". So many of these comments are speculation and stupid grumbling that i feel like im sitting in on my grandma's sewing circle. Get a life people and enjoy the music.
"The only time i dont like someone is when i use preformed opinions about someones character based on their outward appearance and clothing choices." Man some of you guys must have some boring friends and familys, the only online community ive noticed that deadheads have retained since 1995 is the community based on judgmental and unfounded assumptions of other people they will probably never meet. Way to grow up and learn from your experiences, sometimes it seems like all those great shows and acid were wasted on generations of confused children.
Dave's Seaside Chats & Upcoming Releases.
Well, i certainly love the informative and personal experience comments that Dave offers in his conversations. The guy is obviously well into the music as the enthusiasm is well conveyed through the videos....keep 'em coming Dave !.
On the subject of forthcoming releases, i'd love to see the following;
Box Sets;
Berkeley Community Theater (October/November 1984)
Radio City Music Hall (1980)
10/17/72 > 11/26/72 (Complete....yeah, i know this is one major long shot, but Christ, that'd be out of this world !)
Individual ShowS;
07/18/72
09/23/72
08/01/73
10/21/73
05/21/74
That'll keep me going for a month or two...get to it Dave !.
Bacon vs. baseball hats?
I too wear a base ball hat. Sometimes I wear it backwards. Wait, wait, wait. I have very curly/wavy hair and the hat-backwards tames it after washing. So I don't mind Dave wearing a baseball hat. How could I? Yet I do wonder if Dave likes bacon? I saw a great t-shirt which had three strips of sizzling bacon drawn on it and it said: You either like bacon or your wrong!
So I hope Dave likes bacon, or did, at some point in his life. I'll bet Jerry liked bacon,LOL, and god bless'em.
Dear Dave the only thing that could make Dave's picks better would be if they came wrapped in bacon! Seriously, man, think about it. If the last 5,000 May 77 sales are slowing then throw in a pound of bacon with every order and watch May 77 fly out everywhere!
If I can find a baseball hat with bacon on it would you wear it?
Great job, Dave!
I wish the rest of the bands I like could offer so much previous information, comments and videos the way the Dead does it. A box-set plus four archival releases per year (most of them in very good to pristine sound). What else can you ask for? Of course we could ask for more, but we could also have so much LESS! Dave's doing a great job here trying to keep every Dead fan satisfied.
Caps
I never knew there was a backlash against baseball caps. Even though I have crossed 40, I sometimes leave the house with one on (usually with a NY Rangers or St. Louis Blues logo). I have never thought about it fashion wise, just want to keep my scraggly longish hair in place when I have not yet showered or have a case of bedhead. By THE WAy I believe the videos are from lovely Vancouver Island not California. So we probably have a French Canadian baseball hat wearing guy selling us GD music from some island outside of our country. I could not care if DL was from Mars, he seems way sincere to me & is definitely doing a terrific job!!!
Caps
I never knew there was a backlash against baseball caps. Even though I have crossed 40, I sometimes leave the house with one on (usually with a NY Rangers or St. Louis Blues logo). I have never thought about it fashion wise, just want to keep my scraggly longish hair in place when I have not yet showered or have a case of bedhead. By THE WAy I believe the videos are from lovely Vancouver Island not California. So we probably have a French Canadian baseball hat wearing guy selling us GD music from some island outside of our country. I could not care if DL was from Mars, he seems way sincere to me & is definitely doing a terrific job!!!
my bad
I'm sorry if I offended anyone with my anti-baseball cap remarks. Just becoming a grouchy old guy, I guess. I remember some great George Carlin rants against people wearing baseball caps and cowboy hats. Maybe that's where it came from. Also, against men wearing earrings ("guys, the earring thing?- it's over! We used to wear them to piss off the squares- now the squares are wearing them!")
All is forgiven. . ..
Hey PalmerEldrich . . .. No worries about the baseball hat thing. . .. We all get cranky. . .. But, just one thing, do you like Bacon? It's important.
bacon?
thanks deadeged, sure I like bacon- the real kind not that vegan crap, right? but hey man, I never paid much attention to the backward cap thing until my father asked me about it one day. The whole business really seemed to piss him off (seriously). SInce then its always confused me too (maybe that's the whole point). At least you seem to have a real excuse: taming unruly hair. That's at least plausible :/
Caps and bacon
I haven't eaten meat since 1978 and thought I was doing the right thing! I also have been known to wear a GD baseball cap. It seems that my grandfather was right when he fortold that I would go very wrong. From now on it's an unadorned head, and bacon 3x a day. Thanks for setting me on the right path. If I haven't read this thread, who knows where I might have ended up (smile)!
Cap or not, Dave please them coming.
Peace
dark sunglasses/cap(?)
Anyone else notice DL is starting to dress more and more like the unabomber? I wonder if he's been reading these message boards and doesn't want to be recognized by some of us in public? Hehe! Shouldn't this dang box be shipping soon?
Just for you Deadegad...
Hey Deadegad, check this out. This guy is a GENIUS. Jerry would have eaten the Hell out of these, and so will I when I fire up my Weber.
Bacon-Burger Dawgs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdOjov8Yyn0
hey bacon lovers
listen to Live Dead's St. Stephen...somewhere in there is someone saying "bacon, I smell bacon". I think it's after "one man gathers..."
anyway, bacon = yummy.
Music Talk & Bacon Burger Dawgs!
Awesome clip on Bacon Burger Dawgs which I hope to see in the ShakeDown Street lot someday. We can talk about music, May 77 specifically, and bacon at the same time. They are compatible. I'll have to listen to St. Stephen again and see if I can get a bacon reference.
Dave as the Unabomber? OMG!!
I'm Goin' Ham
I love that Bambini wanted to talk about the music and everyone went for bacon instead. But where does this leave our Jewish and Muslim friends?
Musilm & Jewish friends?
Turkey Bacon. Whole Foods has a beef bacon which is the best pork-bcon substitute I ever tasted.
Hey Dave please send us some Bacon with May 77. Please.
cured meat
bambini is right of course, we should be talking about the May 77 box and its music. but after 70+ posts maybe the discussion has run out of steam. We've discussed the artwork, the show selections, the inevitable "era" controversy. What's left? at least until the box starts being received. Ergo, posts about hatwear fashion and cured meat.
Grateful Dead
Oh, well, looking forward to this box; overwhelming though it shall be.Listening to Dick's Picks 8, after and during a few deep breaths...
Wow
Endless options after this...
So many amazing shows/so many amazing years.
Shall I dare to play other than The Dead?
It could be good to listen to...
But I haven't given Dave's Picks 6 too much time...
Oh, wait Harpur College is still Groovin'
Sit and listen.
The thin sound of Spring 1990
Is it just me, or does the sound quality of The Warlocks box blow away the sound of Spring 1990? I listened to 3/30/90 and then popped in 10/9/89, and it's really no comparison. The moral of the story- If shows are recorded on multi-track, please seize this opportunity. Here's to the May '77 Box sounding amazing!
Re: The thin sound of Spring 1990
I don't think anyone would disagree about the merits of multi-track recording. With regard to Fall '89: cool "breakouts," but sloppy playing compared to Summer '89 and Spring '90. (I suppose that assessment puts me in the minority, but the Warlocks shows were - to my ears - a bit disappointing versus gigs from the other two periods.)
Warlocks vs Spring 90
I think the Warlocks recording has a bit more presence in the sound but I too was always a bit disappointed with the performance. I think Spring 90 is better & Nightfall of Diamonds from Oct 89 also. The drums sound on Warlocks & Spring 90 is a bit too boomy for my tastes. Nightfall drums sounds crispier to me.
Warlocks vs Spring 1990
One thing that is most definitely a certainty: Betty Boards always and I mean always sound so sweet.
BCJ
Betty certainly had the magic touch - in part b/c her mixes were - as I understand it - "off board" and thus much more malleable than the typical SB recording. Owsley's belt buckles and steaks put both his mixes and aggressively egotistical personality to shame - but I digress.
If we could only know how a "Betty Board" of 1989-90 would have sounded... :o)
sound quality
I like the Spring 90 sound better than the Warlocks box which I find rough and boomy to my ears. Of course, all this is highly subjective and probably system dependent. I'll keep both of them and happy to do so.
Spring 1990 and the Warlocks Box...
...both sound great on my home system, my computer, my iPod and my car stereo.
As of yet, I still haven't ordered the May '77 box. I really want to, but for the last several weeks and through at least the next couple of weeks am financially strapped. I've hit a point of being between jobs and actually hope to keep my home. Bummer. :(
Sounds of the Vault
Spring of '90 sounds great- Every release sounds amazing to me. Such a huge improvement from the sound quality I grew up with. Lucky time to be a fan, that's for sure. Hope things pick up quick for you Spacebro
Spacebro, here's hoping you get a gig TODAY and keep your house.
Save your $$$ for the house payment. There is plenty of GD around to listen to.
Sound Quality (Again)
I find the Warlocks box almost unlistenable because of edgy, digital harshness, among other things. The Spring '90 box is much warmer, but suffers from on-the-fly mixing decisions and therefore unbalanced instrument levels at times. The last release that sounded professionally mixed was (gasp) the Fillmore 1969 box. That one has some ill-matched patches, but that's better than missing parts of the shows. I do like the Betty Boards in general because she obviously paid a lot of attention to making a nice reference tape, even though they were not designed for release. I dare say we will never see another professionally-mixed release from multi-track. The budget has been drastically slashed (hear the Europe box for example) and I think that is a travesty. By cutting corners now, the multi-track archives will never be professionally mixed in our lifetime because profit rules the day and no one cares that the audio quality is getting short-changed when it could in many cases be much, much better. I'm glad I'm not Jeff Norman. That would be painful.
Eight Days till Shipping
I too want ALL THE WARLOCKS 1989 Shows released as a box, please. I have "American Beauty and Workingman's Dead" dolbyD DVD Audio and so far nothing touches those mixes.
But of course those were mixed by band members too.
I gladly went furthur and purchased my 77 box over tickets.
Funny thing about sound...
How everyone hears different things. Spring of 90 is the first release (with maybe some 80's releases) where I wasn't thrilled with the sound quality. It still sounds great, it's just bass shy. Check out the bottom end of the Warlocks Box- that is very absent from most of Spring of 90. They're both great recordings, just very different flavors, at least to me. Maybe I'm in the minority, but most of Europe 72 sounds fantastic to me. Is it perfect- of course not, they're not modern professional recordings. Winterland 73 and 77- the sound is about just exactly perfect for me. Maybe it's my memory of hissy distorted cassettes, but I'm consistently thrilled with the sound quality year after year.
Winterland 73 & 77. . ..
I am not sure about Warlocks vs. Sprig 90 but I concur that Winterland 73 & 77 sound great to me. The Closing of Winterland release sounds equally great.
What do you guys think of the 180 gram Dicks Pick's releases? I have heard these 'albums' being 'in living color' sound-wise as opposed to to 'black and white' cd Dick's.
Just wondering if when I have the money for a turntable and albums,, etc.. Is it worth the investment? Is the sound that good?
Vinyl
I am willing to bet the Dick's Picks vinyl sounds much better than the CDs, just like Jeff Norman says. It's hard to imagine the superiority of vinyl until you listen to the same recording back to back on both formats. Even mp3s sound okay until you compare them to a lossless format -- then you realize what you are missing.
Zuckfun, that is a good point about the upgrade from hissy cassette bootlegs. I had about a hundred of them back in the day, and now my memory of them is dim. I also spent a lot of time zeroing in on good audio from other sources, and that is where I am coming from these days. I'm an amateur recording engineer, so I know specifically how some of these releases could be better. But as you said, everyone hears something a little different. Besides the original albums (which all sound great to me each in their own way), my favorites are the Fillmore 1969 box, the movie soundtrack, and the Closing of Winterland -- all multi-track recordings professionally mixed by Jeff Norman before he was required by Rhino to cut corners.
Spring 1990
This wasn't my favourite release - and in fact I thought Spring 1993 ran it close for the being the last great run - but I did love the sound. I was playing a couple of the shows just this weekend and I thought it sounded deep, rich and very clear, especially the drums.
Europe '72 sounds good...doesn't it?
I've seen lots of comments in various places about the Europe '72 box sounding bad but very few examples. What I've heard of it sounds pretty good. I actually don't think the recordings are that fantastic - some are better than others. What are some examples of the rough/bad mixing though?
E72
Little Ben, the best example of the E72 box audio issues is on the 4/24/72 show. The "old" mix released on Rockin' the Rhein sounds rich and warm, with little distortion. The version of this show released with the box set uses a new mix for the first two discs, and they sound grossly distorted to me, as if a bad analog-to-digital transfer was made. They also suffer from lack of attention to details like instrument levels, reverb, compression, etc. Now listen to the second two discs from the newer (box set) version. Those two (for some reason -- I guess to save time) are the nice "old" mix. It's like night and day to me.
This problem starts at the first show and continues up to the Paris shows, where apparently some improvement was made in the new A-D conversion (or other change of procedure). The sound improves noticeably for the rest of the shows, but still suffers from "rush mixing" where the levels are apparently adjusted on the fly and details are ignored. It ends up sounding like a live-to-2-track mix, which is a travesty considering the multi-tracks will now never be heard in their full glory.
e72 sound, daps 6 and all the rest since norman took the job
I think I was the first one to say that e72 sounded like crap, the first 3 shows are almost unlistenable, I thought it was the disc, so asked for replacements, got them a year later and they sound the same, thin, shallow and crappy. The mix does get better down the road in the tour, but not much, then, we come to Dave's picks 6, what's up with the pitch? why so shallow, no depth, can't hear certain players during the tunes, sometimes they come up, sometimes they disappear, what the hell is going on? I haven't heard warlocks or sping 90 but if these others that I have mentioned are any indication of the mixing, then they proubly sound thin and shitty too. Dare I say it, who is this Jeff Norman guy? where did he come from? Hired by Rhino or the dead? I mean they remixed the e72 box in 3 months, right then I knew that it was a rush job, you know, we all love this music and this band, yet we get rushed mixes, bad pitch and just crappy sounding cd's, maybe that's why they are cheaper than say the rolling stones box set or any other box set, they are rushed, with no soul. I have said it from the getgo, Rhino is a ripoff, all they care about is the money.
Mr Norman, how about doing a mix right for once, tell the powers that be that you won't do it if it ain't right.
I agree with one man, Rockin the rhein is a way superior mix than the rushed mix by norman. I sold my e72 box due to this fact, I want the real deal, not this plastic crap that norman puts out. Most of my old tapes sound better than these releases.
As far as vinyl, I heard they cut these dick's picks vinyl from the cd, so how could it sound any better? The source is fucked up, so even putting it on vinyl can't make it sound any better, if they wanted to do it right, a total remix from the master tapes would have been in order, not a copy from the cd, I love vinyl and most of my listening pleasure is found in vinyl recordings, but I ain't gonna pay a hundred bucks for a copy of the cd on vinyl. As far as Mr Norman's comments, he works for rhino so he will say anything to sell a product, even if it ain't all it's cracked up to be. The business of selling the dead's vault is just that, a business, let the buyer beware.
Boxes
I can't tell if the E72 box mix was rushed or not. It is true -because Jeffrey Norman said it on an interview featured on this site- that his usual way of working had to be accelerated in order to meet the deadline. Anyway, I think he made a great job. Could have he done it better if given more time? We'll never know, but we have to take into account the limitations of the tapes themselves too. The 1969 Fillmore West box sounds great, but I sense more space between instruments on E72, and, in addition, you can listen to each hall (or field, it depends), which is really nice. I think, though, that the E72 box could have been done better, with more memorabilia, more technical details about the mixing process, etc etc. But it is an OUTSTANDING set anyway. It's really unfair to attack Norman in the way some people are doing it here. "Crappy sounding CDs"? C'mon, give me a break!Winterland 1973 features some of the nicest, warmest and highly-enjoyable 2-track recordings you will ever hear, period.
Winterland 1977 is made of Betty recordings, ergo, it sounds wonderful.
I can't say anything about the Warlocks or Spring '90, I'm not interested in that era. However, I bought "So Glad You Made It", and I remember not feeling very enthusiastic about the mix.
product sku
081227965365