Winterland June 1977: The Complete Recordings
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.
So why wait? Order your copy of the Box’n’Bonus today by clicking here. We know you’re gonna dig it! And rest assured, there’s plenty more where this came from: We know you love the box sets; well, we do, too!
—Blair Jackson
If the bonus disc is still included in orders at this late date? Having non-buyer's remorse...
Total cost to UK via UPS was £ 96.00 can be purchased from Spin for £112 so abit of a saving and lots of interesting comments on here!!
Think I would like some kind of a Pigpen release next.
Another vote for Europe 1972 full releases, as well as Pigpen!
Europe '72. I've said it before and I'll say it again - Amsterdam + Rotterdam - Holland '72 on 8 discs. Assuming they got the goods (both shows, complete) in the vault with sufficient quality. That said, there is a whole lot more fine Europe '72 stuff that has yet to see the light of day officially. A fair bit has already come out - but not recently. Also a Pigpen special on Road Trips.
I've listened to half the tunes so far; I'm up to the end of the first set of 6/8. (I've also listened to the bonus disc.) Great stuff, really solid playing (though there's one Sunrise, which always makes me think I've got the wrong music on). Highly recommended.
So what'll the next box be? I want to see a lot of Europe 72... Or a Pigpen special.
Here's a summary of the problems folks have posted with this box set:
Disc 2 Scarlet Begonias -- Jerry’s voice is lost in the mix from 1:06 to ~1:22, some crackling around 1:13.
Disc 3 Uncle John's Band -- skip @ 9:15
Disc 5 Bertha -- glitch around the 1 minute mark.
Disc 6 = Disc 1
There is a similar issue on the beginning of “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo” on the bonus disc – Jerry sounds like he is in a cave (heavy reverb) from 0:13 to 0.29, then his voice is brought up properly in the mix after that.
CAN WE GET LEMIEUX AND NORMAN TO RESPOND --- ARE THEY MASTER TAPE ISSUES?....UNFIXABLE WITH AUDIENCE PATCHES?....OR ARE THEY TRULY MASTERING PROBLEMS (THE 2 SKIPS/GLITCHES) THAT SHOULD BE FIXED AND RE-ISSUED
DOES RHINO HAVE THESE GUYS MUZZLED ???
Yea, I agree; bonus discs are an aberration. I noticed that the two latest releases don't have bonus discs, so maybe they're changing.
The outrageous selling practices on eBay is one of the reasons I wish that dead.net would consider modifying their cheap “bonus” disc marketing ploy and begin to shutdown the individuals who continue to buy up releases early, for the sole purpose of attempting to reap outrageous profits.
As I mentioned in a previous post, the Grateful Dead have a very dedicated fan base which translates into a solid consumer base for the products offered by the dead.net store.
The “bonus” disc should be a permanent part of each release. Initiate each release by offering a special price for a limited time, and then increase the price by $5 or so. I wouldn’t mind if the initial price was $19.95 and then went to $24.95 as long as I had the option to buy the “full” package. Not everyone can always afford to buy each release out of the gate, but many would love to have the option to buy the complete release when the timing is right.
I challenge the powers to be at dead.net to give my suggested strategy a try with one of the upcoming releases and see how it works out financially compared to your current strategy. I know that it would be a win for the Grateful Dead consumers, but my guess is it would also be a win-win situation for both dead.net, as well as the Grateful Dead consumers.
“May the four winds blow you safely home”
Val
... is a heck of a lot of money. It's pretty tempting no matter what.
But I agree that making a limited edition was just plain stupid. I really think they were afraid it wouldn't sell.
Locations
Okay, bonus disc or no, I just tried to order the box. Took all my info, and after the little spinning stealie it told me my order could not be completed. Twice. I know my Amex is good, I know I can order stuff cause I ordered the new RT/PJ a couple of weeks ago! I'm not even about to try customer service after the dreadful stories I've been reading here about the runarounds. So I guess I'll just keep my money after all?