Grateful Dead May 1977 Box (Digital)

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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.

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May 7, 2013 - 7:43am

#871

grendel

Joined:
June 6, 2007

Too good to pass up

Yes, these shows have been "around" for a while now, but they are too good not to have in enhanced pristine sound quality & with informative essays to read about the shows (which I think is one of the very underrated things about official Dead releases like this. I love reading about what made a particular performance special, and many of these are just that.) If I really had my druthers I'd prefer a box set from the Fall tour of '77 (let's say 10/28 thru 11/4, just for fun), but I aint gonna quibble about these excellent May shows. In particular I'm really excited about 5/13 which contains one of the all-time greatest SCARLET>FIRES ever, and that's saying a lot. That whole show is very under-appreciated, and 5/17 is no slouch either (all-time JACKAROE and a beautiful TERRAPIN. But who am I kidding? When it comes to releases like this I'm like Zellwegger in "Jerry Maguire" ("You had me at 1977 ;-)
May 7, 2013 - 7:31am

#872

Underthevolcano

Joined:
February 6, 2008

may 77

still some goodies avail in May for future release-assuming they have tapes. The box looks good-prob. no extras like spring, "90 though lower price is good
May 7, 2013 - 7:19am

#873

drshakedown

Joined:
March 1, 2010

Listening Party

Oh my. That is ruthlessly good.
May 7, 2013 - 7:15am

#874

bambini

Joined:
January 3, 2011

may 77

Not to nitpik I bought this in a second but I would rather have the five nights at the Palladium if they are available.
May 7, 2013 - 7:01am

#875

claney

Joined:
July 20, 2007

Casual fans will buy this

Allman, I too prefer the more compact box sets, but I went ahead and ordered this anyway (I'm pretty sure it is DVD case height from the pic). I think this will sell out faster than some think, because the "audience" is bigger. It's got that nice promo in Rolling Stone with two really great samples - a lot of Rolling Stone readers who aren't Deadheads might snap this up because May '77 is known even to casual fans who own just a few Dead albums. Anyway, I decided I better not wait...
May 7, 2013 - 6:55am

#876

drshakedown

Joined:
March 1, 2010

Box Set

1977 Box Set + brand new Monitor Audio Silver Towers= thank you.
May 7, 2013 - 6:32am

#877

cub

Joined:
March 20, 2008

I'm Going GAH, GAH Over This / What a Steal !

What a treat, Christmas came early. Any Grateful Dead Head knows how special and unique certain years of the bands shows were.And 1977 is one of those tours that gets my antenna's attention. The best part is that I don't have to wait a year for it to get shipped. Just 4 short weeks. Well worth the total cost of $162 divided by 14 Betty Boards is $11 a HDCD. What a Steal. Cub sez: Do not delay,Tell your tour buddies today.
May 7, 2013 - 6:18am

#878

frunobulax

Joined:
June 13, 2007

Price

On another note. Anyone have any idea of what the price is likely to be on the FLAC version?If past is any precedent, GDM will charge the exact same price for the FLAC version. Sorry this should have posted under the comment of the person who asked about download price.
May 7, 2013 - 6:01am

#879

allman

Joined:
July 9, 2007

dimensions?

Could we get dimensions of this box? I like the size of the Winterand 73 and 77 boxes. This looks comparable to the Spring 1990 box is size. Small and compact works for me.Does anyone know if your CC is charged at purchase or when the box ships? It is usually when the box ships. This is a very sweet box set and offered early in the year. Makes me wonder if another box set will be offered later in the year. I was very surprised on a 77 release. I was thinking it would have been a 73 or 74 box. Many thanks for all the releases!
May 7, 2013 - 5:11am

#880

Syracuse78

Joined:
July 15, 2010

When they say "For a band

When they say "For a band resurrecting itself after a 20-month hiatus..." do they mean the 20 months prior to the shows they played for the last year? the hiatus was '75, not '76.... Given that the band only had one 20 month hiatus, I'm going to guess that they are referring to the one that started in November '74. I don't think they are trying to suggest that these are the first concerts played after the hiatus, but that they are in the ongoing process of "resurrecting" their live shows after the prolonged time off.

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.

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