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    Friend of The Devils: April 1978 (Dead.net Exclusive) [19 CD]

     

    WHAT'S INSIDE:
    Curtis Hixon Convention Hall, Tampa, FL 4/6/78
    Sportatorium, Pembroke Pines, FL 4/7/78
    Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Jacksonville, FL 4/8/78
    Fox Theatre, Atlanta, GA 4/10/78
    Fox Theatre, Atlanta, GA 4/11/78
    Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke University, Durham, NC 4/12/78
    Cassell Coliseum, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, VA 4/14/78
    Huntington Civic Center, Huntington, WV 4/16/78

    Recorded By Betty Cantor-Jackson
    Newly restored and speed-corrected audio by Plangent Processes
    Mastered by Jeffrey Norman
    Liners By Author Steve Silberman
    Artwork By Acclaimed Artist Matthew Brannon

    Limited To 10,000 Individually Numbered Copies
    Dead.net Exclusive

    It’s been said before but April ‘78 was an incredible month for the Dead. Like May ‘77, you could throw a dart and guarantee you hit a stellar show. - KyloRensPecs, r/gratefuldead, Reddit

    .... April/May '78 has a lot of the same qualities of Spring '77 but with some extra edge and a much bigger sound from the Rhythm Devils. A really special era that often gets neglected. - viewtiful_alan, r/gratefuldead, Reddit

    Sportatorium - April 7, 1989

    when drums started I thought, oh s*#!, i hate drum solos and Billy and Mickey stopped me in my tracks. Wow, these guys are really good. Little did I know the pervasive influence this phenomena would have on my life. - pearlybakerbest, Dead.net

    Huntington Civic Centre, West Virginia – 16 April 1978

    This is another must-hear concert by The Grateful Dead. The sound and mix are almost ‘absolutely perfect'... It’s difficult to pick out highlights because everything is played so well; the band are tight, Donna is great and the set list is strong. - Grateful Ted, gratefulted.co.uk

    We're hitting the bullseye with the eight previously unreleased stellar shows that make up FRIEND OF THE DEVILS: APRIL 1978. Filled to the brim with peak performances from the Grateful Dead's post-hiatus period, this collection captures the historic tour where "Drums" begat "Space," morphed into "Drums">"Space" and cemented the Rhythm Devils' second-set power move from the music business to the "transportation business."

    Spring 1978 finds the Dead consistently weaving spontaneous magic, showing signs of great promise and potential - from the no-nonsense rock'n'roll in Tampa, where scholars cite the first "Drumz" leading into "Space," to the lengthy communal get down in Pembroke Pines to Jacksonville where the twain emerge fully formed, offering the primordial opportunity for "soul retrieval." It's evident in the dynamic range delivered on back-to-back nights at the intimate Fox Theatre and through the laid-back unity of the band's performance in Durham at Duke, a comfort that carries over to Virginia and West Virginia where the playing is unbridled, bursting with momentum, threatening to carry itself away. And nowhere can you hear that more clearly than through Betty Cantor-Jackson's original recordings, reliably crisp, bright, and vivid.

    Individually numbered to 10,000 copies and exclusive to Dead.net, FRIEND OF THE DEVILS: APRIL 1978 has been mastered by Audio Engineer Jeffrey Norman using Plangent Processes tape restoration and speed correction. Steve Vance designed the collection’s custom box, which features a removable wave drum. (We invite you to unleash your inner Rhythm Devil.) Acclaimed artist Matthew Brannon created the set’s original artwork. The collection also includes a 48-page book with original liner notes by author Steve Silberman and photos by James Anderson, Bob Minkin, and more.

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  • Gary Farseer
    Joined:
    BTK

    from last week:

    Back in May Big Bob Gibson was inducted into to the BBQ hall of fame. Check out Jose at the end wow!

    The American Royal Barbecue Hall of Fame announced its 2024 Hall of Fame class and a Decatur man credited with shaping the landscape of barbecue in Alabama for nearly a century was among those honored.

    Bob Gibson made the list as a 2024 Legacy Inductee. Gibson first started Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q back in 1925 with the creation of his own pit barbecue technique. Gibson also developed Alabama White Sauce which is on restaurant menus and store shelves all over the world.

    Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q is in the Alabama BBQ Hall of Fame. His barbecue team received 18 world championships in various categories.

    Another 2024 Legacy Inductee was Matt Garner who opened Matt Garner's Bar-B-Q back in 1920. The drive-in barbecue combined Creole flavor influences from Garner's upbringing in Louisiana and techniques of the Southern U.S. brought to Houston by freed slaves. Garner is known for creating the combination of flavor known as East Texas-style barbecue.

    Jose "Joe" Romero was another 2024 Legacy Inductee. Romero began by cooking for family and social gatherings in the late 1880s. His so-called "Spanish barbecues" became huge in the region with the largest held in San Francisco which fed 38,000 people with 20,000 pounds of meat.

  • cloverman
    Default Avatar
    Joined:
    Noise Reduction

    There's two ways to hear the noise reduction if you're not aware right away - (1) do an A/B comparison to any of the master reel sources on archive (2) listen to the in-between track parts with headphones, very easy to tell

  • Vguy72
    Joined:
    The Duke vinyl is 180g....

    ....love.

  • JimInMD
    Joined:
    Hey Now'd!

    I know what you mean.. every time I try to launch my new crypto currency and advertise my new Crypto exchange here, I get Hey Now'd.

    It's so unfair.

    Box is in, haven't opened it yet but that's where I will be going in exactly.... now.

  • bluecrow
    Joined:
    #00141

    Magically showed up at the post office this am.

    Spinning Tampa 4/6 right now - In the timbers of Fennario . . .

  • FiveBranch
    Joined:
    No. Nineteen Hundred and Something

    The packaging fits into a standard book shelf. Standard slip cases for the discs. All of it well made and designed. That alone makes me glad I didn't go with the all digital.

    For the artwork, it now makes sense to me and it works. There's a backwoods swamp feel in the imagery that's appropriate for most of the shows being from the deep south during springtime. The devils remind me of what can be found in folk art from that region- just do a google image search 'Florida Georgia folk art devils'. All that Baptist influence on the subconscious, I guess. And then with the drum actually being a rain stick every time you move the box? That's when your imagination pulls all the pieces together to make it come alive! Pretty cool how that happens.

    For the music, I've only listened to the first Tampa show but I'm hearing what I heard when listening to some of the DaP releases from the tour after this release was announced. It's a GD where everyone is rhythmically in synch and magically knows how to follow where the beast wants to go. And primarily from having a centering weight through Phil, Mickey and Bill-- which then allows Keith, Jerry and Bob to easily find room to freely do their stuff. Donna too (who does sound great). Quite often I find grateful dead playing to be like a big drum circle and that's indeed the case what's found here.

    If all the shows hold to that style, for me personally, I'll place this at the same level as E '72, May '77 and Spring '90. I think the playing is that good and that unique to the GD vault. Case in point, after listening to one of those prior DaP releases this summer, I put in Veneta right afterward and my ears went, nope, better get back to April '78.

  • Vguy72
    Joined:
    Duke vinyl....

    ....out for delivery.

  • simonrob
    Joined:
    Hey now...

    It doesn't like the colon punctuation mark, that is two dots above each other, as is sometimes used between hours and minutes. I discovered that last week.

  • Sixtus_
    Joined:
    HEY NOW! (wtf)

    gettin hey now'd again...thought that had been disposed of.

    guess not.

    sucky

  • JoeyMC
    Joined:
    Noise reduction

    How do you know?

    Is this why the volume seems lower than other releases?

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3 years 6 months

Friend of The Devils: April 1978 (Dead.net Exclusive) [19 CD]

 

WHAT'S INSIDE:
Curtis Hixon Convention Hall, Tampa, FL 4/6/78
Sportatorium, Pembroke Pines, FL 4/7/78
Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Jacksonville, FL 4/8/78
Fox Theatre, Atlanta, GA 4/10/78
Fox Theatre, Atlanta, GA 4/11/78
Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke University, Durham, NC 4/12/78
Cassell Coliseum, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, VA 4/14/78
Huntington Civic Center, Huntington, WV 4/16/78

Recorded By Betty Cantor-Jackson
Newly restored and speed-corrected audio by Plangent Processes
Mastered by Jeffrey Norman
Liners By Author Steve Silberman
Artwork By Acclaimed Artist Matthew Brannon

Limited To 10,000 Individually Numbered Copies
Dead.net Exclusive

It’s been said before but April ‘78 was an incredible month for the Dead. Like May ‘77, you could throw a dart and guarantee you hit a stellar show. - KyloRensPecs, r/gratefuldead, Reddit

.... April/May '78 has a lot of the same qualities of Spring '77 but with some extra edge and a much bigger sound from the Rhythm Devils. A really special era that often gets neglected. - viewtiful_alan, r/gratefuldead, Reddit

Sportatorium - April 7, 1989

when drums started I thought, oh s*#!, i hate drum solos and Billy and Mickey stopped me in my tracks. Wow, these guys are really good. Little did I know the pervasive influence this phenomena would have on my life. - pearlybakerbest, Dead.net

Huntington Civic Centre, West Virginia – 16 April 1978

This is another must-hear concert by The Grateful Dead. The sound and mix are almost ‘absolutely perfect'... It’s difficult to pick out highlights because everything is played so well; the band are tight, Donna is great and the set list is strong. - Grateful Ted, gratefulted.co.uk

We're hitting the bullseye with the eight previously unreleased stellar shows that make up FRIEND OF THE DEVILS: APRIL 1978. Filled to the brim with peak performances from the Grateful Dead's post-hiatus period, this collection captures the historic tour where "Drums" begat "Space," morphed into "Drums">"Space" and cemented the Rhythm Devils' second-set power move from the music business to the "transportation business."

Spring 1978 finds the Dead consistently weaving spontaneous magic, showing signs of great promise and potential - from the no-nonsense rock'n'roll in Tampa, where scholars cite the first "Drumz" leading into "Space," to the lengthy communal get down in Pembroke Pines to Jacksonville where the twain emerge fully formed, offering the primordial opportunity for "soul retrieval." It's evident in the dynamic range delivered on back-to-back nights at the intimate Fox Theatre and through the laid-back unity of the band's performance in Durham at Duke, a comfort that carries over to Virginia and West Virginia where the playing is unbridled, bursting with momentum, threatening to carry itself away. And nowhere can you hear that more clearly than through Betty Cantor-Jackson's original recordings, reliably crisp, bright, and vivid.

Individually numbered to 10,000 copies and exclusive to Dead.net, FRIEND OF THE DEVILS: APRIL 1978 has been mastered by Audio Engineer Jeffrey Norman using Plangent Processes tape restoration and speed correction. Steve Vance designed the collection’s custom box, which features a removable wave drum. (We invite you to unleash your inner Rhythm Devil.) Acclaimed artist Matthew Brannon created the set’s original artwork. The collection also includes a 48-page book with original liner notes by author Steve Silberman and photos by James Anderson, Bob Minkin, and more.

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@CmdrDarklighter

The flac files for this box are corrupt. For whatever reason, they're still for sale. Some of us have tried slugging it out with support, the higher ups, and whatnot. Nothing has changed.
The flac files are still full of drop outs and digital stuttering. The alac files, I believe, are ok.

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9 years 5 months
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Just got done listening to the Box set in order, plus threw William and Mary in there to make it like I was on tour. I have to say that it was a very enjoyable experience. All the Box sets are excellent, but this one really brought a smile to my face. There's a looseness to the playing that makes it incredibly easy to enjoy - plus the sound is killer!! Going to need to relisten to July '78 now.

Now, let's scrape up anything listenable for that Fall 1970 Box set.

product sku
081227816759
Product Magento URL
https://store.dead.net/en/grateful-dead/special-collections/friend-of-the-devils/friend-of-the-devils-april-1978-dead.net-exclusive-%5B19-cd%5D/081227816759.html