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.
"Old hippies never die
They just move to Eugene"
I heard that along the way somewhere
Cds
Don't know how they decay, but I know Dead.net will not be replacing any defective CDs from 8-10 years ago. They just don't keep that many extras around due to the limited edition.
Cds are digital. The digital music is encoded to the CD. Standard CDs are all 16 bit. The Dead releases since 2000 something are 20 bit HDCD.
SACD and DVD audio are 24 Bit multi Channel and both are great to listen to on the right equipment.
Disc rot
Early discs were cut rather than molded after a while some would start to delaminate allowing in air contaminating or oxidizing the aluminum. I have only experienced a couple out of the 9000+ discs I own and those were from the very early 1985/6 period. My Clapton box from 86? Is still outstanding. Just listened last week. Of course improper storage exposure to heat and possibly humidity probably has negative impact
Warning: 12 year-old sense of humor ahead
Disc rot beats dics rot every time
CDs
Yeah I mean it's not a storage issue or a consumer-error issue ... something's wrong (something's not quite right) with the way the discs were made ... and of course they don't have replacements 10-years later, but it takes years for the issue to manifest itself, I'm just describing an unfortunate reality ... Kinda like the Summer 73 box set was unfortunate due to the glue all over the discs, requiring an intensive rescue effort, and requiring alternative storage ... I mean, of course not every single customer has experienced these issues ... but many have, again that 46-page Hoffman forum is essential reading for this topic, zeroing in on early Dave's discs ... Hopefully the April 78 box will not come in too-tight oversized cases with glue on the discs ... the CDs should last a lifetime. It's all good tho, just get those early Dave's discs remanufactured and distributed to customers in one-to-one swaps for the defective discs, and I'll be sound as a pound, baby.
Cds lasting a lifetime
With, hopefully, about 15 years left on this planet, that's not asking for too much !
Disc rot
Correction,
My Song Remains The Same Soundtrack audio Blu-ray did not suffer disc rot.
With a magnifying glass I could see cracks spreading out from the center hole and into the data.
Possibly small cracks that got bigger as the disc spun.
Edit:
Also possible that I caused the cracks trying to get the disc out of the holder.
Disc rot
I checked out the discussion at Hoffman Forums.
A few people report defective DaP’s 1-4, and other releases from GD as well as other bands.
Nobody really reports how they stored the CD’s or how much use/abuse each CD got.
Some mention playing in the car CD player.
A lot of the CD’s in question came from the plant that marks the CD’s as 2Uxx, with xx = various letters and numbers.
2U is plant:
2U - Specialty Records Corporation / WEA Mfg. / Cinram Manufacturing, Olyphant, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
(that’s from a Pink Floyd fan site)
Current owner is Cinram.
Google ‘CD SID mould code’ for more info.
CD's
I'm 55, still buy cd's. Like having a physical copy as a backup. Always burn into iTunes immediately, and then archive on the music shelves. Man, the shelves are getting fucking full...
I have gone back to some of the first cd's I ever got, in the later 1980's, like "Eagles Greatest Hits," and believe it or not they still play. As the greedheads have found ways to make everything smaller, and thinner, and shittier, from socks to garbage bags to - you name it - they found ways to save a few pennies on cd manufacturing as well.
These are first world problems. I have a desktop tower with two hard drives that mirror each other courtesy some software my computer guy installed, so if one crashes the other still has everything, and then there's a full cloud backup.
Feats don't fail me now. Fuck Dump.
Last five:
The Rolling Stones: Tattoo You (expanded and remastered)
Thin Lizzy: Dedication
Aerosmtih: Done With Mirrors
ZZ Top: Deguello
The The: Mind Bomb
\m/
Keith & Donna
First off belatedly,.. Happy Birthday Donna!
Secondly, why haven't we seen a re~release of the Keith & Donna solo album? I'm pretty certain of it's release on Grateful Dead's Round Records, 1975? I am not sure the status of their post Dead album, 1979~'80? They were called the "Heart of Gold Band" at that time.
Anthony Burgess: Planned Obsolescence
Anthony Burgess wrote that back in 1971 in an essay titled is America Falling Apart? "They" want you to spend, spend, spend. . .. Like a drug dealer on a street corner. My HP printer ink cartridges are truly Highway Robbery! If you buy "non-genuine" replacement cartridges, the printer seems to self sabotage itself and self destructs. The "work-arounds" do not always work either. Ugh!
Oktoberfest? Love it. Fond memories of Heidelberg Germany, Heidelberg Herbst, etc.. Fun Fact: In Heidelberg in the Odenwald opposite der Altstadt, an outdoor stadium was built for Adolf, yup, that guy, but he never actually spoke there. The Good Ole' GD wanted to play there but the Burgermeister denied them the permits. It is called the Thingstaette and can be seen on Google earth.
Happy Birthday to Donna!
8 shows in this Box
Looking forward to giving them a listen.
Will have to try to get the first trip through the Box completed before I get busy watching hockey.
Yeah, I mentioned hockey. New season is on the horizon.
Let’s go Red Wings. Hoping that Yzerman can put together something good this season.
Hockey??....
....excuse me. Getting geared up for some Miami Dolphin action.
I'm feeling pretty good about this season.
SQUISH THE FISH!!!
….sorry, we’re in fan training camp ; )
Think the Bumbling Bills are gonna crash this year, but maybe the Sabres will be good?…and the Leafs…sigh….
disc rot
I had read about the disc rot and so far have avoided that disaster. I wonder how people are storing them and if it is a contributing factor to the issue? I have Dave's 3-8 and all have been play tested within the past couple of months. Still play fine, but I'm wondering if I will be a victim of the rot at some point. I have them all stored in their original cases in a resealable 2 mil archival sleeves--hoping to protect the cardboard case, but wonder if it could cause issues by having them "sealed?" Anyone have an opinion on that, or know from experience whether it's a good idea for long term storage? I know what my solution should be--rip them all to an external drive and back it up. But haven't done that yet.
CD rot....
....so, I busted out my Sgt Peppers CD which I bought in 1987. Still plays.
Is it disc rot?
I was listening to my Road Trips copy disc one of September 90 MSG in the car the other day and during Playin' jam it just full-on stops.
Then I started Playin' again and it worked.
Then later on in the disc on another track it stopped again.
wha'appen?
Rot or not, that boiled my snot
Wrecking your CD’s
1) play in a car CD player.
2) store them in your hot car.
Rhino wrecking your CD’s
1) poorly designed paperboard holders
2) filling the poorly designed paperboard holders with excess glue.
Making multiple backups on HD’s is a good plan.
2 cents worth...
...disc rot, or whatever it may be
one disc (graphics side) from 2011 Road Trips began to delaminate,
small thread of coating on edge, pulled it off along entire edge of disc, NFG,
no more playback
mo' on disc rot
I play my CDs in the car daily; it's going to happen no matter what. Best sound system I have, and I can turn it up as loud as I want. No kvetching from Mrs. Grumpkins.
That said, I don't store CDs in the car. I have a lil' carrier I carry back and forth.
As the Pranksters would say, "Nothing lasts".
The Road Trips incident was the first of its kind.
Goin mobile
Beep beep yeah!
When I still drove often, I’d sometimes make a CD road copy, often trimming the fat so to speak (Drums, Me & my uncle etc lol). Now, new discs go directly to ripping, then onto the shelf for backup, in chronological order.
disc rot (con't)
Well I just need to jump on the rip and store bandwagon. I don't play them in my car because I know I wouldn't handle them as well (it's tough to put CDs back in a trifold case while trying to shift gears). So all my Dave's stay in the house. I did notice Dave's 4 have some of that peeling on the edge, leaving little plastic peels in the case. So my days of playback on that one may be numbered...
I'm wondering if/when Dave's will be available on streaming like Dick's, Road Trips, Downloads, and most other major releases. Seems like the 25,000 limit is too much, takes them forever to sell out. How about remove the numbers, press 15,000 initially with the option to produce more if those sell quickly and make them available for streaming? I, like some here I'm assuming, would still buy the CD to have the hard copy version. I will never not buy hard copies, CD and vinyl both. This streaming option would make my disc rot problem more palatable knowing I can still listen even if my disc fails me.
Always made a copy after losing my Hundred Years Hall
Had a bunch of CDs finding new homes without my consent, but when it happened to my Hundred Year Hall cd and it was OOP before E72 Box, I made a vow to always make a copy - so have two 500 cd binders full of Road copies that had the TDK printable CDRs with cool fractal artwork of releases and copies from the archive when you could download shows. I'd just grab a few and put them in a small travel case and if I'd want to turn someone onto a show, had no problem parting with them...
BCT 8/24/72
This day in GD History played first set from BCT 8/24/72 two days ago. Very moving to me to hear it, this was the show that I got on the bus, flying high as a kite during Dark Star>Morning Dew. Ah memories!
RIP Steve Silberman
Just heard he passed as I was about to play the FOTD deadcast. Bummer...
Steve Silberman
RIP Steve, a true intelligent voice in the deadhead community. I interviewed him once for a video project, he was very generous with his time.
Steve Silberman
Oh no, what sad news. I was listening to him on the Deadcast just today. I bought a copy of Skeleton Key directly from him and he wrote a lovely note inside. Such a shame he’s gone.
RIP Steve
RIP Steve.
They just posted some new pictures for this box. Looks sweet. Can't wait.
And speaking of boxes, I have been listening to 10/17/72 from the LTTR Box today. Really dig this show and love this box. I think the three 72 shows might be the cream of the crop of the box shows. And I love the variety you get with the 71 shows and the two 73 shows. Great stuff. Can't believe this box that was released in 2021 is still for sale.
RIP Steve
Wish I had ordered Skeleton from him. Hope the knee continues to get better, Frank.
From last week, Congrats Doc on your anniversary.
Has PT popped up anywhere? Much more to post, but short term memory faltering. Like 10 second Bob.
I am a Shakedown freak, so more more more.
Like an occasional Stout. Favorite beer still Newcastle. Dont drink as much, always loved it after an afternoon of sweaty yard work. Can really taste the chocolate. Only get 4 or 5 six packs a year of the top beers. Usually high end goes to steak dinners (with high end beer).
Hockey, sorta, NFL sorta, College Football - hell yeah. Got a big pot of jalapenos, Hatch Chilis, roosted Vidalia Onions, local tomatoes and garlic cooking away. After they finish, will make individual servicings with a soft melted cheese. Probably end of the line for this type of indulgence. Will I watch some NFL and NHL absolutely.
Has been a mild summer down south, but we are cooking now...
Edit: forgot tomatillos...
Edit2: Everything but tomatoes and garlic were roasted first. D'oheee
RIP Steve
I just heard the news and knew he either wrote or helped write the liner notes for the new box.
So sad. I will remember this box both for the music and for it's liner notes and the man who wrote them.
My ritual with any new GD release is first rip to file as 95% of my listening comes from file anymore. While I am ripping I always read the liner notes and any news reference, etc. It's been that way since day 1 (or did some of the first Dicks Picks come without liner notes, I cannot recall). Anyway, the liner notes get filed in my grey matter at about the same time as my first Full-Normal listen, so these things in addition to maybe the artwork, get filed together in the chaotic collection of matter that is my mind and that's the way I remember the releases.
It's too bad Steve did not live to see this box set get released.
In thinking this over, I hope/assume he remembered to hit send and get all this to Lemieux. I am guessing all that had to be passed on to the manufacturer long ago.. this could be one of the last things he worked on. I guess that makes this box a little extra special.
Very Nice
Nightcat!
BCT, never been there, but love the action inside. Cant remember maybe 1984 or so they perform two songs before drums and the songs were very extended jams. Guess I need to look in dbase again.
As I love studying the gathering of the crowd, I spent a lot of time researching BCT. Awesome venue, unfortunately that research (side show entertainment) was almost 20 years ago.
A raise of the glass to Steve Silberman
Glad i kept my copy (with a note from SS) of skeleton key
Anniversary show 8/29/87 Electric on the Eel
37 years ago ago I was up in the Redwoods on the Eel River to see Jerry Garcia put on a knockout out of a show, one set acoustic, two sets electric. What a blast! What a swinging party. Hands down the coolest place I've ever seen music played. Fun times.
Steve S is family....
....and a huge loss.
The new box could be bittersweet to some. To others, the new box is a celebration of a life.
So let's crank that shit for Steve when we get them.
Sold!
The other week I was listening to a Beacon show from the June 76 box and made me think that this release will be similar. Not a lot of variation but solid playing front to back. And a style of playing that’s my choice preference with GD. So I guess I’ll continue with further oversaturating the abundance of goodies that’s making up my collection.
Regarding the artwork, reminds me of the MSG box. Initially I was less than thrilled but once I saw how it all worked together, very fun! July 78 still remains on top, though.
And my quick take on disc rot: air and air alone will erode the surface but I think it’s more of a 50 to 100+ year timeframe (unless there were imperfections with the manufacturing, which sounds like what occurred with the first Dave’s releases). If you want a permanent medium, go vinyl.
Did somebody say
1976?!?!
Love that box top to bottom, as described.
One of the best.
I'm equally thrilled for this '78,
Its gonna be like rocket fuel on roller skates.
Also, wanted to add my sincere heart-reach for Mr. Silberman.
He was a presence who left a palatable wake in our time and beyond.
Music heals through the moments.
Be Well People.
Seventy-Sixtus
This Old Building: the Closing of Winterland
The 2nd printing of this book never happened; if anyone has a copy they would like to sell, send me a private message - thank you
Steve Silberman interview for LST
Dead.net has a great post of the full LST interview with Steve at
features long-strange-trip-out-takes-interview-steve-silberman
Dennis, bust our your wife’s CC again
CSNY 9-20-69 pre-order at Rhino.
RIP Steve
Really sad to read this here yesterday.
He's been popping up on The Good Ol' Grateful Deadcast and his discussions are always full of sight.
Dave's seaside chat for the box mentions Steve writing liner notes. We're lucky to get him one-last-fresh-time while we listen to the music. In the latest podcast he talks about how much the drums/space sequence meant to him. I'll be listening and harkening then.
Enjoy the ride Steve, we'll miss you here.
Listening to my unofficial copy of 4 14 78
Tasty stuff
Just a little bit longer until release day
:)))))))