Grateful Dead - The Golden Road (1965 - 1973)
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Free Music Notes for The Golden Road (1965 - 1973)
Free Music Review: Can it get any better? Yes Indeed!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
Being keeper of "The Vaults" must be one of the greatest and yet one of the most difficult jobs I can imagine. After the wealth of releases under "Dick's Picks" (#23 has just been released) you can't imagine that there could be anything good left. Surprise! Not only do the Warner Brothers albums sound incredible, but the additonal unreleased tracks that fill each disk are simply amazing.For example, listen to the clarity of That's It For The Other One on Anthem of the Sun. The LP sounded rather garbled and mushy, on this you can hear 12-string guitar that I had never heard before. The clap track on New Speedway Boogie. The crystalline harmonies on American Beauty and Workingman's Dead. Listen to the previosly unreleased two minutes added on to the beginning of Dark Star on Live/Dead. Beautiful interplay between Jerry, Bob and Phil.
Listening to all of the WB disks is like rediscovering the music all over again. Listen with headphones.
There are two disks of unreleased material (one live and one studio) of the Warlocks days. The studio material is interesting, but the live material is at times breathtaking, considering it was recorded in 1966.
Each gatefold CD has an essay by former associates of the Dead and by various journalists. A lot of insight into the recording process Bear and a detailed track listing with info. on dates, etc.
All in all this is an excellent package. One that I will treasure and pass down to my kids.
Free Music Review: Best box set I've seen
Hit: 5 Stars
Okay, if you are into the Dead, you know that the music on these CDs is up to par. Well, it's better than you thought. You will most likely hear things on the remastered studio tracks that you never heard off of CD or vinyl before. The bonus material is of equal quality with the previously released studio/live music. And it is both massive and broad. If you are not into the Dead, but you have even a slight interest, this is the thing to get.The presentation is where this box set excels. Each digipak has the original front and back album artwork (varying between 100% to 85% size so that it fits nicely). Eveything down to the Mouse Studios logo on American Beauty and Workingman's Dead is included. The liner notes are extensive and sometimes enlightening. But overall the set just has a nice, classy, almost literary look and feel to it.
As far as value, this is the nicest box set I have seen. A heavy dose of original art (including many concert poster images) and writing along with twelve 70+ minute, superbly remastered CDs priced at less than [$$$] each makes this a rare value in today's music merchandising. If you are a Deadhead this set is a must-have--even if you already own most of these albums. If you are thinking about buying a pre-1974 Grateful Dead CD, save some more money and get this instead. Its value stretches far beyond the price.
Free Music Review: WOW!!! Says An Old DEADHEAD
Hit: 5 Stars
Better late than never, Amazon's latest price was the clincher and happy I got the box.
Here in New York City you can purchase the single Cd's for under 7 dollars digipak and all,and being content with the original CD's that were approved by the Dead and the remastering by Joe Gastwirt, it was only a matter of time (years) in my case till I prepared myself for the wealth of bonus material enclosed in this testament to the Dead.
For starters this box is made for the fans in typical Rhino quality, the lavish booklet,indepth liner booklet on each CD(get DK's book on The Dead..The Illustrated Trip as an adjunct)outrageous bonus material encompassing about 1/2 of the music makes it all worthwhile and a precious souvenir and statement of enduring value capturing the band at their peak.
As to the sound, well, I never heard "Box Of Rain" sound better with such bass clarity,warmth and feel..As to the rest of the CD's one can see that the utmost care was taken in presenting the best mixes available.
Being fortunate to have seen the band at Englishtown NJ, The return of the Dead after their hiatus and independence from Warner Brothers on the Wake Of The Flood tours, and basically the staple band of us growing up in the 70's, I am now contemplating the 2nd box.
You won't be sorry on this one.
Free Music Review: What took them so long?
Hit: 5 Stars
I've waited for years for this box set. How many Dead fans all over the world wondered how "Live Dead" or "American Beauty" (just to mention two of them) would sound with the help of modern technology? We finally got it. And what a gift. I still think to this day that most remastered records are just a fake. I mean, they may do some adjustments to get the sound a little higher whithout realizing that "higher" doesn't necessarily mean "good sound quality". The first great remastering, in my opinion, happened with Bob Dylan's "Street Legal". Ok. You may say that it was remixed and remastered, but the result was astonishing by any standards. The same thing happenned with this box set. What a great sound. It gave Dead songs a new life. Of course the whole process works better on studio recordings for obvious reasons, but the live records are just as great. To listen to "Dark Star" from "Live Dead" is a whole new experience. I know some purists may not agree with remastering and sound improvement on old records that are already part of music history but when the job is well done, so what? Save money, sell your old records, do some extra jobs, but get it.Free Music Review: Essential, but expensive
Hit: 5 Stars
Regarding music, additional material and remastering I completely agree with those writing enthusiastically before me. Let me therefore only add a more mundane point of criticism: This box is fairly expensive and it is manufactured quite lousy ! If I consider the fact that the single CDs of this box (those generally available, i.e. with the exception of the first and Europe 72 2CDs) all sell substantially below $7 in Germany this leaves us with costs for the "normal" CDs of ca. $80. So remastering, additional material (which actually does not cost the record company anything) and packing leaves you with another ca. $50. For this surcharge I would have expected a box manufactured properly and not one that is falling apart immediately with a lot of the pins holding the CDs broken. But the important thing is the music of course, and that is great. And the other funny thing is that the die-hard Deadheads buy the box anyway ....