Grateful Dead May 1977 Box (Digital)

Post reply Log in to post comments

May 6, 2013 - 10:22am

955 replies

lilgoldie

Joined:
April 3, 2009

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.

Comments

sort by

Recent

Recent Oldest A to Z Z to A

Reset

August 3, 2013 - 8:59am

#111

giantnerd

Joined:
June 24, 2007

Betty boards

Betty Cantor wrote a letter to Rolling Stone magazine correcting them in the issue with Bruce Springsteen on the cover. In effect she says "I never sold any reels to anyone, and also no one ever paid for the re-release of the recordings I made." This was in regards to the may '77 article David Fricke had written where he says she sold off 5/8/77.
August 2, 2013 - 9:27am

#112

The Nightfishing

Joined:
June 25, 2008

The Fence

If you're still on it, you'd best get off before it's too late. Even with Veneta on deck, these shows are not to be missed.
August 1, 2013 - 8:02pm

#113

mrmike5

Joined:
May 4, 2012

I listened to 05/15-05/17 all day today...

great stuff, the lead into Fire from Scarlet on 0517 is masterful. I listened to Barton Hall too (what the hell, it's Jerry's birthday...) and the copy I have wasn't quite as happening, the details of the mutron disappeared or weren't there, maybe Jerry was playing around with it and refined his technique by the 17th? I dunno but the transition there blew me away and I hit it a couple of times, really brilliant stuff. It probably helped that it was sunny and warm out and all that but it's a great recording.
July 31, 2013 - 4:21am

#114

Underthevolcano

Joined:
February 6, 2008

Ditto

This, to me, is a must have release. Even better than the last 77 box release IMHO. I am working through my third listen to all of the shows and I can't find disappointment in any of them. This is a "Desert Island" box set. Hell, put it in space for those theoretical aliens to parse-a glimpse of human accomplishment next to the Mozart, Beethoven and Stravinsky( and Mile Davis). I'm glad I got my copy before it is too late.
July 31, 2013 - 3:01am

#115

One Man

Joined:
May 17, 2011

What He Said

Yeah, this box just keeps on giving. Each show contains magic, often in unexpected places. Some versions of songs that normally coast by are intense (Brown-Eyed Women, Ramble on Rose, Minglewood Blues, Ship of Fools) and others have an unexpected edge (Eyes of the World, Estimated Prophet, even Dancing in the Street). I love every show in this box. I don't think there's a weak one in the bunch. And although I disagree with pretty much everything Ace says, I'm glad others see it differently and find their own ways of appreciating it. Amazing. I'd ditch every other 1977 release before you could pry this one out of my hands.
July 31, 2013 - 2:40am

#116

rusty string

Joined:
February 13, 2013

dancin'

Sometimes I know (better: feel) that I'll love a certain part of a show before having ever heard it. This time it was the "Mississippi - Dancing" bit of May 12. To combine two "dance songs" of such different styles somehow grabbed me. IMHO, these 25 minutes are pure fun. There's so much to discover in "May '77". Isn't Jerry's solo at the end of "Stella Blue" pure magic? It can't get much better than this...
July 30, 2013 - 1:52pm

#117

chuckj

Joined:
November 1, 2010

Lovin' the '77!

Thanks DL2 for all of the effort you and your buds put in on these projects. Much appreciated!
July 29, 2013 - 11:30pm

#118

ericscho

Joined:
May 7, 2013

Finally

Customer service came through and decided to send me a new copy. Very happy about that, hope this one actually arrives ;).
July 29, 2013 - 12:51am

#119

ericscho

Joined:
May 7, 2013

Still nothing

Preordered the box and was very much looking forward to it, but now almost 2 months later, still nothing. Why sent a $140,- package with no tracking info ? Customer service seems clueless and just says please wait for delivery for another 2 weeks .... At this point I just want my money back.
July 28, 2013 - 8:07am

#120

mrmike5

Joined:
May 4, 2012

Picking favorites?

I'm going through these today to figure out which discs to toss into the 6 disc changer in my car for a while, finally a bit burnt on DaP5&6 that have been out there for a bit. So far it seems likely that 15 & 17 are going to be the winners, I like the Dancing-> Estimated- Eyes string and also St. Stephen-> Iko-> NFA is pretty sharp to my tastes. And 051577 disc one's country jams also seem pretty tight for the most part. 051777 is an easy pick, for many of the same reasons, cool country warmups and groovy jamming. After listening to them, I can sympathize a bit w/ the folks who are not as into these because they're not maybe as "raucous" (sorry, I'm not gonna scroll back for quotes...) but they're still a beautifully packaged, great sounding set to my ears that I'm very pleased to have picked up.

John Perry Barlow

John Perry Barlow

Forums

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.

081227965365