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July 1978: The Complete Recordings
What's Inside:
• Five Complete Shows on 12 discs
• 7/1/78 Arrowhead Stadium: Kansas City, MO
• 7/3/78 St. Paul Civic Center Arena: St. Paul, MN
• 7/5/78 Omaha Civic Auditorium: Omaha, NE
• 7/7/78 Red Rocks Amphitheatre: Morrison, CO
• 7/8/78 Red Rocks Amphitheatre: Morrison, CO
Mastered in HDCD by Jeffrey Norman
Artwork by esteemed cartoonist Paul Pope
Intro and show-by-show liner notes by Nicholas Meriwether
Producer's Note by David Lemieux
Individually Numbered, Limited Edition of 15,000
Release Date: May 13, 2016
Announcing July 1978: The Complete Recordings
We’re pleased to announce JULY 1978: THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS, five incredible unreleased shows and the first official release from the long-lost tapes, recently returned to the Grateful Dead’s vault. Follow the Dead on a sonic journey through a superb selection of settings, an often epic adventure that finds them winning over Willie and Waylon fans in Kansas City, conjuring charisma in Omaha, and elevating the Red Rocks beyond their already spiritual planes. With five distinct performances painting the masterpiece of 1978, Betty Cantor-Jackson's always-pristine soundboard recordings, and the "hall-of-fame pedigree" of the Dead's first-ever shows at the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre, this is one release that far exceeds excellence in music, sound quality, and rarity.
Limited to 15,000 individually numbered copies, JULY 1978: THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS includes Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, MO (7/1/78), St. Paul Civic Center, St. Paul, MN (7/3/78), Omaha Civic Auditorium, Omaha, NE (7/5/78), and Red Rocks Amphitheater, Morrison CO (7/7/78 and 7/8/78) - all of the performances in this collection are drawn from the band’s master soundboard recordings, each newly mastered by Jeffrey Norman. The set also features original artwork by esteemed cartoonist Paul Pope (D.C. and Marvel comics) and in-depth liner notes written by Nick Meriwether (Grateful Dead Archives at the University of California, Santa Cruz), as well as a producer’s note from producer David Lemieux.
Due May 13th, we anticipate that this extraordinary box will 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.
Looking for something a little more byte-sized? The collection will also be available for HD digital download in FLAC and ALAC, exclusively at dead.net, on release day.
Speaking of Parliament/Funkadelic...
If anybody isn't up on it, Maggot Brain is about as great a guitar solo as there is.Supposedly Clinton told Eddie Hazel to imagine his mother had just died, and to play that. The whole song is basically a solo with real minimal framework around it. Great one.
And their live show is still great, saw them in Seattle recently, don't miss it if you get the chance.
nice work, gentlemen
Since this is a GD site, these are veeeeerrrrryy special post-it notes. wink wink, nudge nudge. Here you are.
glad so many of you know the source. I heard the album for the first time only within the past month. The opening track is sooooo trippy.
I had no groove (buh buh, buh buh, _buh_)
Still need to listen to the new 7/7 and 7/8. waiting for things to be just exactly perfect.
Red Rocks
I'm also holding off on the two Red Rocks shows, waiting for the right time/setting/headspace.My buddy started playing 7/8 at work yesterday and I turned it off, need to listen to the high end recording the right way first.
I loved KC, liked Omaha a lot, St Paul didn't do it for me. The high energy(powder) shows aren't my usual favorites, but can be plain old fun
I'm surprised people aren't keen on St Paul
I dig it; dancin and stella are sweet.
otoh, they did Big River in KC, not StP. shoulda done BR in StP, folks.
"Well I met her accidently in St Paul Minnesota"
ALSO, reading the booklet the other day...they got rained out in Wisconsin. I did not know that. Since I was living in WI at the time, I would have gone to that show (but they weren't on my radar at that time...between 8th and 9th grade), and of course that would have been my show, rained out. I would have been BUMMED.
Thanks Bach
I can honestly say the same to you.
Most of us are woven from the same cloth, cause no damage (except perhaps to ourselves) and have a little fun when we can.
@Angry Jack Straw
You wrote: How the hell did you come up with that connection on DaP1 to Star Wars? Well done. Who cares if you are right. Just awesome. It used to be my least favorite cover of all the releases. After that analogy, it is now my second to last favorite.
That bit about it going from least to second from last made me chuckle a sincere LOL - thanks for that.
5/5/77
I just caught the second set from 5/5/77 on SiriusXM. Can someone remind me why this show has not been released yet? I need to hear that Scarlet again - Phil's bass was making my head spin.
Happy Memorial Day Weekend. Ribs - check. Beer - check. Copious amounts of Dead - check. Let the good times roll!!
Thank you Keith
As you are clearly one of the most worthy contributors on this site, I am glad I was able to do a little something to brighten your day. Happy that you picked up on it. I guess the "pieces of flair" reference went unnoticed or it just wasn't that funny. Most likely the latter.
My, aren't we all feeling benevolent today with kind words. As such, I'll also tip my bonnet to Jim in MD. One of the cooler dudes out there.
Enjoy the long weekend with your new music all.
stoltzfus and St Paul, me likey
To your wondering, I favor 7/3 (St. Paul) over 7/5 (Omaha). I believe I read (Compendium?) that the 7/5 was consistently good, but I found it uneven and the energy on 7/3 more consistent. These shows are such a mix of factors -- setlist, set and setting for listening, etc -- that apples to apples comparisons are difficult.
I thought the first set, 7/3, built more momentum with Cassidy, Deal>Music Never Stops than on 7/5 and that good ole' Bobby's slide was less obtrusive on 7/3. But I'd be hard pressed to choose one second set over the other. 7/3 perhaps more cohesive, 7/5 perhaps more complex and off the rails?
Also saving 7/7 and 7/8 for a communal listening party, crazy-making celebration. Hell, it's been nearly 40 yrs since the Purple Dragon hit town. I can wait another 2-3 weeks for the flashbacks...
Arrowhead Stadium
A fine performance indeed.
I forgot my name during that epic Estimated, and almost pissed myself.
Must be that damn plate in my head...
With Pigpen, less is more..
I have been surprised to see a couple of requests for more shows featuring Pigpen on this site recently. Well, the time he was with them was brilliant-but that was surely despite his presence rather than because of it. The rot was evident on the first album, with the abominable Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, a deeply offensive song, that in Pigpens hands celebrates male adult harassment of schoolgirls. As they detoured into more psychedelic territory, his role diminished. The success of Lovelight depended on the bands bob and weave-not Pigpens sexist rants. Unfortunately, by 1971, the psychedelic era was over, and Pig resumed a higher level of control. Parts of Spring 1971 are great, as the band played with stealth and economy and finally did justice both to the songs on Workingmans Dead and American Beauty and to their country heritage. Even the shorter Pigpen songs are good-specifically hard To Handle. But the Pig raps, particularly on Good Lovin' and Lovelight defy belief. Unbelievably, Nick Meriwether, surely one of the most thoughtful and insightful chroniclers of the bands history, plays homage to the rap on the 17/4/71 in The Deadheads Taping Compendium volume 1. He even going so far as to quote the offensive content of the song-Good Lovin'. Its a good piece of writing, and I am sure the band played admirably-but contents of that rap are an insult.Never one to underplay his hand, in the same book, John Dwork incredibly writes out the entire monologue featured in the middle of the Caution-Good lovin'jam from 14/4/72.
Maybe you had to have been there. Unless you were a female of course. It has often been said that Deadheads believed that it was okay to enjoy yourself, so long as you didn't hurt anyone else. This was obviously beyond Pigpen, and that he was allowed to get away with it is one of the few real blips in taste in the bands career. It seriously harms the credibility of both the band and The Deadheads that these raps haven't been denounced for what they are before now.
The new 1978 box is brilliant, by the way!
Pigpen did talk about his libido a lot
sexist raps were his stock and trade. That said, Cautions are always welcome, as well as Hard to Handles.
Pigpen is part of the band's lore. Doesn't mean I have to like his stuff every time. I have never been a big fan of Lovelight.
The Dave's Picks 12/20/69 has him saying something like "(engage in intercourse) until her legs turn red". Bruh.
Come on folks
First Donna's shrieks. Then Bob's slide guitar. Now Pig's lyrics. Not to mention Brent's toy piano.
Let's not forget that every member contributed In a way that they felt moved the music forward. Yeah it didn't always work, but at least commend them for the effort. Otherwise the band would have become monotonous.
Besides, have you ever listened to the rap bullshit that is produced today? Way worse that anything Pig uttered.
Lighten up and go get your coals started. Then go watch Christmas Vacation with Bach until the grill is ready.
Daverock - Pigpen
That's a slightly revisionist rant; context was very different 50 years ago. I take it you don't listen to a lot of old Blues.
Pigpen's rants...
They should not be judged by the moralistic and politically correct norms of the 21st century. The pig was just great, a top class showman in his time, which was around 50 years ago. If everything in history was judged by today's conservative standards nobody would have any idea what earlier times were really like.
And bring on more Pigpen releases!
Decide for yourself
if the song is "a deeply offensive song, that in Pigpens hands celebrates male adult harassment of schoolgirls", or is it a declaration of unrequited love by one schoolboy to another schoolgirl:
Good morning little schoolgirl
Can I come home with you?
Tell your mama and your papa
I'm a little schoolboy too.
Come on now pretty baby
I just can't help myself
You're so young and pretty
I don't need nobody else
Good morning little schoolgirl
Can I come home with you?
Don't you hear me crying?
Oww hey ooee
I'm gonna leave you baby
About the break of day
On account of the way you treat me
I got to stay away
Come on now pretty baby
Darling come on home
You know I love you baby
I got to get you all alone
Good morning little schoolgirl
Can I come home with you?
Can't you hear me crying?
Oww hey ooee
I'm gonna buy me an airplane
Fly all over your town
Tell everybody baby
Lord, know you're fine
Come on now pretty baby
Now, I just can't help myself
You're so… Full lyrics on Google Play
Exactly
The Louvre is full of completely nude sculptures of both men and women, hundreds of years old. Try to explain to your eight year old daughter why that is art. It also has the Mona Lisa. Guess what. When you purchase a ticket, you get to see both and can decide for yourself what you like.
If you don't like it. Don't listen.
Pig had his and Jer did as well
Jerry liked to sing Ramble On Rose so, you know......
Forgot about Loose Lucy; there you have it.
I find it ironic that viagra uses the "Little School Girl" riff
First time I heard it I was like "Wow, Little School Girl". Wonder how many picked up on that...
Pigpen
It was a different time back then and he was singing old blues songs.Was his singing back then any worse than anything Jim Morrison was saying/doing?
Pigpen was more of a Hell's Angel than a hippie.
Watched 6-21-71 at the Funky Chateau last night. That was interesting, wish the whole show was available.
Good Morning Little Schoolgirl circa 1937 by Sonnyboy Williamson
(gotta love the internet)
An old blues tune covered by many many artists over the years, including Muddy Waters, Junior Wells, the Yardbirds, Eric Clapton, Ten Years After, Grateful Dead, Rod Stewart, Taj Mahal, Allman Bros (including at their final show), and more recently by Johnny Lang, Derek Trucks, Gov't Mule, Widespread Panic, etc. But I can see the objection with the reference, similar in some ways to Chuck Berry's 1958 "Sweet Little Sixteen". Both are tunes from eras where boundaries are being pushed with references to sex, drugs, etc.
Not one of my favorite covers by the Dead, but from that Pigpen era and it reflected one of the many old blues tunes the Dead covered and that Pig used to push that sexual edge and his 'rap'. Pigpen is an original and was deeply influenced by the blues.
Don't like it, skip it. There is much to like (and dislike, as has been described) with the different eras with the boys.
"The truth is realized in an instant, the act is practiced step by step."
Oroboros:
Of all the "Good Morning Little School Girl"s you list, my favorite would have to be the "Ten Years After" version, from that truly stellar album: "Ssssh." My memories of that album are most fond, from the authentically spaced-out cover art to ALL the songs...it was, for me, the first album I ever heard in which amazing guitar work really knocked me out; it was, as well, the very first album I listened to wherein a certain herb was involved. AH, youthful memories.
Ten Years After
Saw them a few times at various UK festivals in the early '70s. Their version of "Good morning little schoolgirl" was probably the first version I heard, live at least. Alvin Lee, whilst not given much acclaim as a guitar great at the time, was certainly renowned as the fastest guitarist on the planet (or at least the British part of the planet). My brother had their albums up to 1971's "A space in time". "Ssssh" was probably their best recorded effort. "I'm going home" was their live tour-de-force and was an impressive showcase for Alvin's lightning fast playing. A rather forgotten classic British band of that era.
What about Bob?
Who didn't cover, but composed Mexicali Blues with Barlow in 1972.
"So instead I grabbed a bottle and a girl who's just fourteen."
Should he go too?
Pigpens rants
Thanks for all the responses. I have loads of thoughts on reading them-but a few of them are-Its not conservative or politically correct to be anti sexist. Its conservative to stick too the values of the past, even when they are evidently redundant.
I have heard loads of original blues songs. I couldn't believe how powerful they were after having heard the copies by white bands first. I don't like a lot of what I hear in blues songs, but its the real thing. When you listen to someone like Robert Johnson, its hard to imagine the world he came from, and the culture he was singing from within. Light years away from the privileged world of white Californian rock musicians.
And the power of those originals compared to the copies. The first time I heard Smokestack Lightning was on the live Dead album from the Fillmore East 1970. I just thought it was a weak song. In the mid 1980s I heard the original recording by Howlin' Wolf. Wow...so THATS what the blues is all about!- I thought. Not Pigpen or whoever-Jim Morrison was as bad when he did them. You cant fake the real thing. They were all barking up the wrong tree even trying.
Having said all that-Death Don't Have No Mercy as played the Dead is truly spine tingling. So different from the original. Sung by Jerry, too. Ironically, as he rarely sang blues with The Dead, he was easily the best at it.
Pig n DaveRock
I don't need or want Pig or anything else sanitized for my protection. And if you're offended by it, go listen to something else. Seems like now days folks runnin' 'round just looking for something to get offended by. Go seal yourself off in a plastic bubble and let the rest of us wallow in the grease in peace!
Can't Fool Me, Daverock
You're really Tipper Gore aren't you?
Thought so.
protection
Unless you are a schoolgirl, I wasn't actually concerned about your protection. If you are a man...whoah!
Tipper Gore?
Who's that? We don't all live in America, you know!
The age old question...
Can blue men sing the whites?
Or are they hypocrites?
Schoolgirl
Pigpen ends with the phrase"I don't care if you're only 17 years of age".
17 is the age of legal consent, and the song was written when people got married at 15.
daverock Tipper Gore tried to limit free speech in the 90's by controlling what musicians could say on their albums.
If it wasn't for her protecting my ears and Nancy Reagan telling me to just say no, who knows where I would be today.......
Pigpen is a creepy misogynist!
And FINALLY being appreciated for what he did best!
Let's have nothing but Pigpen releases from today until the Earth plunges into the Sun!!
I'm gonna wind up your transmission
Until your motor don't run no mo'!
Everybody Wants Some
I'm gonna guess that people have been singing about getting laid since people have been singing.
Was feeling bored to death here this afternoon, but some of the comments you guys have posted are cracking me up. Nice to see a lack of personal insults in the back and forth.
Yet, more outrage
Jackaroe: a transvestite! Which restroom did he use on that ship, by the way???Jack Straw: "we can share the women..." nice!
Good Lovin'
12/10/71 You'll find out ... NEXT time. With a little extra grease on the next. We need a grease release!
Not Fade Away
I'm going to tell you how it's going to beYou're gonna give your love to me
My love is bigger than a Cadillac
I try to show you but you drive me back
Good thing the Dead never covered the Stones Stray Cat Blues. Or is it? Perfect vehicle for Pig's spontaneous poetry.
Stupid Line?
So if it wasn't a stupid line, in your opinion, THEN it would be offensive? Not sure about you, but in some circles, people actually frown upon under age drinking and fornification. Someday maybe, our lawmakers will have to courage to enact legislation that dissuades that type of behavior. Whether or not you think it is stupid.
Time for somebody to find a new band.
Stray Cat Stones
I can see that you're just 15 years old.No I don't want your I.D.
...It's no capital crime...
blues
Just got the Deal book, 1 from the vault and The Strange Remain (Kimock is insane, hope to see one of his upcoming stops) so I have some listening material for sunday. On the topic of offensive GD, I think Pigpen's just being raunchy, as part of the whoa factor, with some hilarious results at times. He also grew up listening to the blues since practically birth, so it wasn't like he went on stage and and was playing "blues guy" for a couple tunes. Funny it was mentioned that after listening to the originals, all else sounded fake. I had a similar experience after listening to Capt Beefheart hahaha, made me feel like everyone else wasn't trying for little while haha. As for GMLSGirl, it's a song I almost always skip.
Good Lovin's another story haha "All night long, all night long"
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