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    lilgoldie
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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.

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  • #391
    simonrob
    Joined:
    Box numbers - an alternative theory.
    As the sets roll off the line, someone stacks them on a pallet. He begins with #1 which he places in the first layer (naturally), at the back left-hand side. Eventually #15000 arrives and he stacks that on the top layer, front, right-hand side. The pallet is then sent to the Dead's corporate world headquarters where someone unloads them and packs them up ready for despatch. He starts with the top layer at the front (high numbers) and works his way down. According to this theory, the last person to successfully order a set will be the lucky recipient of set #1 - or more likely set #2 as someone pinched set #1 to use in the picture at the top of this very page. So now you know!
  • #392
    marye
    Joined:
    box numbers
    I inquired about this, and to make a long story short, by the time the box sets have made their way through the various points on the distribution chain, the numbers are well and truly shuffled, multiple times.
  • #393
    flaggdrama
    Joined:
    Box Set on the Doorstep!
    My set just arrived (11267/15000) and I am loading it into iTunes. The sound is impeccable! My question.......are the box numbers determined randomly or is there some rhyme or reason as to how the numbers are determined. The reason I ask is b/c I ordered on May 14th and there were well over 5000 left. Just curious why my box number doesn't reflect it. It's no big deal at all but I was just curious how the numbers are determined........thank you Dead.net and Rhino for an amazing release!
  • #394
    jameskelly
    Joined:
    Crowd Noise
    The set is excellent. Sound is superior. One small complaint. Why is the crowd noise so low? It almost sounds like they are playing in a studio. It's always nice to hear the reaction of the crowd after a song. Like I said, small complaint.
  • #395
    leedesj
    Joined:
    77
    box received on fri and 5 shows filled the weekend perfectly, i think the sound is incredible, i too noticed a little surprising (for a soundboard) ambient hall reverb sound on the vox during some short passages including the first song from the st paul show but all instruments are extremely well balanced as expected from a BB im not familiar with the extended dr beachwood comments that were apparently edited but i did miss some of the pre song noodling prior to both estimated and ship of fools that i am used to from the st louis show, im not complaing, 5/15/77 was a fairly early entry to my tape collection during a year i lived in st louis (83/84), its inclusion in the set was tipping point for this pre-hiatus fan to take this 77 plunge, and glad i did, even with the heavy repetition of a few tunes i found each show unique and fairly inspriational while the physical product was designed with a few impracticalities built in (size, tracklists buried etc)... i have to say it is a beautiful work of art and i'll figure out where/how to keep it, because of the fact that its appearance can change depending on which shows are visible through the window it reminds me a bit of led zep III and in the through the out door packages i was just surprised BJ's notes refered to bob's bertha china cat lick as somewhat subtle as if he wasn't sure everyone would agree it was there finally... the newspaper clippings and reviews were priceless, a wide range of views of the GD's quality were presented, not just extreme love or hate but lukewarm acceptance of their music was also expressed seemingly disproving jerry's licorice comment, even the one that pretty much tore them a new one begrudgingly admitted that there were some worthwhile moments
  • #396
    One Man
    Joined:
    Box or No Box?
    I was away for a week and was very happy to find this package at home yesterday. I haven't had the chance to delve into the music yet, but I have to say the packaging is top-notch. I can't think of a more beautiful box set. There are no repro memorabilia items, thankfully. I love the book -- sublime cosmic context by Steve Silberman really makes it classy. Of course, Blair Jackson adds his fine dissection of each show, and points the way to some highlights. Is the packaging worth the extra 40 bucks compared to the download? Probably not. Still, it is awfully nice, even if it won't fit on my CD shelf.
  • #397
    alexj
    Default Avatar
    Joined:
    5/13
    next time, please don't shorten the stage banter...i imagine it was a timing issue, but it was no fun to find the "doctor" roll call cut short...only complaint i can think of with the box set since the music is so damn great
  • #398
    alexj
    Default Avatar
    Joined:
    thanks...
    ...for the countless hours of listening bliss that lay before me.
  • #399
    augustwest
    Joined:
    Weir's Playing
    Weir was, and always has been, an underrated player. There are several possible explanations for that, but there it is. Someone here posted about the "China Cat tease" he plays during Bertha on 5/12. Blair, in his typically wonderful liner notes, makes the same observation and speculates it could be Bob longing for a return of China Cat to the fold, which is an odd thing for someone like Blair to say, given his knowledge of the music. That signature China Cat lick is something that Bob played on many tunes -- before, during and after 77 -- and always (as far as I am aware) during Jerry's solo. Bertha, GDTRFB, Fire and Franklin's are, if I had to guess, where he did it the most, but I don't think they are the only places.
  • #400
    rrussell8
    Joined:
    Just How Good?
    Further to the observation that Bobby was an underrated guitar player in this era, the late Robert Lansing played on some of the Heaven Help the Fool sessions, which featured several of the best LA session musicians of the time. One day I asked Lansing what he thought of Weir's guitar playing. His answer: "Best player in the room."
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Submitted by lilgoldie on
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Dead Store Products

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.

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Submitted by icenine2 on Wed, 01/31/2018 - 14:07

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When will this be available as downloads again? I own the high-res digital download of Get Shown the Light and it is spectacular.
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Submitted by Sawwwn on Thu, 07/12/2018 - 07:03

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Oh man! Still waiting for these (May 77 and July 78) to be available for download! Please open this up or at least stop listing them as available. Killing me.
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Submitted by Sawwwn on Thu, 07/12/2018 - 07:04

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Oh man! Still waiting for these (May 77 and July 78) to be available for download! Please open this up or at least stop listing them as available. Killing me.
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6 years 3 months

Submitted by DanielSpace on Mon, 08/13/2018 - 13:02

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I think a fundraiser for the tapes is the dumbest idea Ive ever heard.
product sku
081227965365