Boxed and Ready to Go!
Sound the imperial trumpets! Bang the drum! Pop that champagne! Another Grateful Dead box set is comin’ your way! Yes, in the grand tradition of the beloved Fillmore West 1969 and Winterland 1973 boxes, comes Winterland June 1977: The Complete Recordings, a 9-CD box set that is sure to knock your tie-dyed socks off.
At this point, we probably don’t need to hype you on the glories of ’77 Dead. It was a magical time for the band, which was reinvigorated by a plethora of great new material—“Terrapin,” “Estimated Prophet,” “Passenger,” “Fire on the Mountain”—and really hitting its stride again following the October ’74 to June ’76 performing hiatus. The group spent much of the first three months of 1977 recording their Terrapin Station album with producer Keith Olsen, and Garcia also managed to find time to complete the much-anticipated Grateful Dead movie (which opened June 1, 1977). The third week of April, the band embarked on what most Dead Heads agree was one of the greatest tours ever: 26 concerts in the East and Midwest in a little over a month—an awesome stretch that produced so many great shows, a few of them already released in the Dick’s Picks series and subsequently (and more, no doubt, destined to come out down the road.)
So when the Dead returned to San Francisco’s Winterland for shows on June 7, 8, 9, they were pumped up and feeling good! They treated their hometown fans to three superb concerts that included excellent versions of much of their current repertoire, from the new combo of “Scarlet Begonias” > “Fire on the Mountain,” to a truly colossal, more than 30-minute “Help on the Way” > “Slipknot!” > “Franklin’s Tower,” “Saint Stephen,” “Terrapin,” “Good Lovin’,” “Not Fade Away,” “The Other One”… too many favorites to mention (you can see the complete song lists here). Winterland June 1977: The Complete Recordings contains every note recorded from the three shows, more than nine hours of prime Dead, all taken from the master analog tapes, restored using the Plangent Processes, and mastered in HDCD by that inimitable sonic tweakster, Jeffrey Norman.
The nine discs are packaged in a beautifully designed box that includes artwork by Emek (you loved his crazy Winterland ’73 phantasmagoria); a 28-page booklet featuring a wonderful and illuminating new essay by Rolling Stone senior music editor David Fricke (who dubs this a “box of paradise and circus… six complete sets of inspired risk and collective explosion”); lots of great Winterland action shots by noted GD shutterbugs Ed Perlstein and Bruce Polonsky; and a couple of little pieces of period memorabilia we won’t reveal here.
—Blair Jackson
dead comment
Got Mine Yesterday !!!
beautiful
listening
Doffer
June 1977
Bonus Disc
As for all the problems encountered....
I am happy to see that
HDCD
DVD-A
No Real Sonic problems (so far)
Don't knock (all) the downloads
vbr vs flac
more problems...
tubes vs trans
Winterland 1977 Box!
Another EXCELLENT release!
It's great
(not) just exactly perfect
Simon T, Underthevolcano, simonrob, Dead Ahead, et al...
Still waiting for the shiipping info ...
mac
re: equipment
Calling customer service
kirkmc number question
About my response above ...
Great set, poor business choice...
kirkmc
got the stuff....
Winterland 77
Another sad customer service story with maybe a happy ending
Ordered 9/14 with overnight delivery, got email confirmation of my order that day then...nothing.
After several email requests for status I received a reply that my order shipped 9/24 and got a UPS tracking number that showed only "billing info" received. More unanswered emails to customer service then finally yesterday called 201-751-6746 ( an unlisted number in Union City New Jersey by the way) and the heavily accented representative gave me several stories, the last being that UPS got the order and customer service had no idea what happened to it since but would "investigate" and respond to me by email in 1 to 2 days.
Meanwhile I contacted MaryE who got back to me quickly and ...shazzam! I got a telephone call at home last night from an angel by the name of Christine at Globalware Solutions in Calif. ( her message was in perfectly clear English ) advising that my order was apparently lost by UPS ( ok I'll buy that ) and a new order was being shipped for Monday, 10/14, delivery.
I was given a UPS number that actually shows the order shipped and in transit.!!
I offer this sad tale in the hope that any of this can assist those still waiting for their orders. (Phone number redacted. Sorry--ME) . I can't say this will help with refunds or getting a correct disc 6 or bonus disc. THANK YOU MARYE AND THANK YOU GLOBALWARE SOLUTIONS.