I'm the guy who reads that last acronym as "Stronger Than Dirt or Michael Tilson Thomas" every damn time.
I feel like I have to disagree with that characterization. 73/74 are not the most improv heavy in my opinion. To start with, just look at the timings of the songs - even the big jam songs are not as long as in many other years, although I do concede that the 46 minute PITB is impressive and does stand out lengthwise. There are many jams (run-on medleys) and individual songs in 72 that are much longer than most of what was played in 73/74. Even the shorter songs are more varied and in many cases longer in other years. Although I really like a lot of the stuff that was played in 73 and 74, I think it was actually sort of the beginning of the end, where they took the beginnings of the repetitiveness of first set songlists from 71 and 72 and codified them as well as abridging much of the second set jamming, all of which later ossified into really set and predictable setlists and jams in the late 70s and onward. For me, the real nosedive in interest was 76, with a slight improvement in 77 despite the turgid pace of most of the playing that year, and scattered moments of brilliance in later years among oceans of versions of the same songs that I generally can't tell one from another. Having said all of that, I'll probably buy the box set.
Why are you so hung up on cancelling your order? Just cancel it and order from Amazon UK. No way that LP set will sell out before release. I bet they'll even have several left over long after release date.
But I wasn’t available then!! Winterland 77 is one of the 2 very expensive out of print boxes (the other is the Filmore West 69 Box) that I’d pay a decent amount of $$$ for but not what they are available for.
Yeah, back when I was either still in school and/or broke and looking for work. They must've overproduced the 1973 Winterland box, because copies of that were sitting on store shelves for years. I actually got my used copy for < $100. The '77 on the other hand - there's no way I'm paying > $300 for that (or whatever the hell it goes for now). Edit: Discogs has 1 for sale for $725.00 How fun.
Why do you think it locks in the exchange rate? Order the AMZUK and then place another dead.net order for the complete box. THEN cancel your original order.
Thanks for posting that. I was wondering why no taper was listed on the announcement page where Dave has his video and whatnot the other day.
Just got my shipping notice for the T-Shirt! For the next 2 months I'll be a walking advertisement for this release. EDIT: Wait...does this mean I'm paying to advertise it for them?
There are a lot of variables here (which I've tried to highlight), and it would probably take an actual data analyst to figure out how much of this is true, and to what extent, but my gut disagrees with you. Mostly I think it comes down to a feeling that there were more potential launching pads for improvisation in '73/'74 than in '72, but like I said, that could just be a feeling. Length of jam and quality of jam are key distinctions, and while one can pretty easily measure the first, the second is entirely a matter of opinion. (I generally agree with your characterization of the immediate post-hiatus years.) But ultimately, I'm glad I don't live in a world where I have to "pick two" of '72, '73, and '74. I love them all, and I am quite excited for this box.