Grateful Dead: Barton Hall, Cornell U. 5/8/77 & "Get Shown The Light" box set*

Right on. That's exactly what I'm hoping to do, if I am successful in gathering all the shows. I'm working on it.

Toward that purpose, I would like to correspond with someone who has the unreleased shows.

 

I was charged in March

 

I have not listened to Cornell since tape days in the '90s. Then a neighbor was starting to show interest in the Dead so I downloaded what was labeled as a mix of Betty board and audience - actually well done. All about the Dew!

 

That's probably exactly what you should listen to. Going from 1986 to May 1977? May cause your head to explode.

 

Yep. My account was charged when I ordered.

 

the clinical terminology is GDOCD. It's even better when the dates line up with the current days on calendar

 

To expand on my own (quite possibly misguided) suggestion:

A basic version of this could be achieved by adding a Reissues section to the Dead.net store. Kind of like a Kickstarter campaign, with request/preorder pages for select releases that are out of print but weren't advertised as limited edition (e.g. Winterland '73 and '77 boxes, Road Trips, Dick's Picks, etc.). So imagine a page is created for Road Trips 3.3 or Dick's Picks 28. They pick a price and a minimum number of preorders required. If that many people preorder within a fixed time period (1-3 months?) they produce the run. If not it's canceled and all preorders are refunded.

The logistics of doing this for all eligible releases at the same time might be too complicated, but they could do it for a small selection each quarter and then rotate through the catalog continually over time.

 

I was a freshman at Duke in 1990.
You listed 4 of the best sounding tapes I picked up at the same time. For some reason, 8/27/72 didn't make it to me and I didn't hear that show until I got the Sunshine Daydream box last year.

 

I've now finished reading the Cornell book that's included in the box, and you are correct: The book doesn't really make an argument at all that this is the best Grateful Dead show of all time. And it certainly doesn't promote that idea (it's from an independent press as you said).

In fact, the book argues (as some have in this thread and I agree) that the show is far more important in Grateful Dead history because of the debates and arguments and platitudes and cultural contexts and legal matters (etc. you name it! etc) that have grown around the show--the questions the show raises as being far more emblematic of Dead culture--than whether or not it's the best show of all time (and again it's certainly not promoting that view). The book actually raises the argument against it being the greatest show quite frequently while still exploring it's undeniable significance to the Dead community and musical and sub-culture ideas in general. It tries to expose some of the myths about the show really. As many have said, it makes the case for it as a great recording of certainly a great night, but more so as it fits into the larger Dead story as one of its significant chapters. Now I haven't read the liner notes. Those might be different. I just have this book. But even Dave in his seaside chat isn't promoting Cornell as the best show of all time. He talks about how exciting the release is certainly because of all that surrounds this show, but also all the shows in the box with arguments for their own strengths.

In any case, as I said in a recent previous post, best show or not, the book and hooopla and pleasure of this month of shows--coupled with my not hearing these shows for a while and what they once meant to me( maybe New Haven most of all [again, I'm not saying it's the best of em])--sure has me really looking forward to this release!

 

Greatest show or not it's still one of the most mythic second sets ever and my favorite St Stephen of all time!

 

I'm heartened by that. I still think that the Dead organisation is piggy-backing on the mythology, even if it's more as you say ("Hey! We're releasing what lots of people think is the best show ever!") than I allege ("Hey! We're releasing the best show ever!")

It shouldn't matter anyway - I'm just glad it is getting an official release so it gets a better chance (as an official release, with HDCD mastering and liner notes) to fight it out with other shows on merit rather than simply be ushered to the front of the line (or close to the front of the line) in "best of" lists.

By the way, I'm being rather ungrateful to the show here - it was the either the first or second Dead show I ever heard (the other being 1 March '69) and it convinced me to persevere...

 

Just because it's hyped doesn't mean it's not warrented.

 

I'm just glad that now people will stop asking if/when Cornell will be released.

 

I may have missed it, but is there a definitive backstory on how the Grateful Dead obtained the tapes needed for this release? Dave Lemieux had previously said the Dead wouldn't pay for their own tapes (even though the person(s) who bought them at auction apparently legally owned them). Given the money the Dead knew they could make with this box, why wouldn't they pay for the tapes? And given the value of the tapes to the Dead, why wouldn't the owners hold out for a fair price? It just doesn't make sense to me that the owners of the tapes would suddenly decide to hand them over to the Dead without being compensated.

 

Reading between the lines of the recent Lemieux interview about the tapes and that New Yorker story a few years ago about the tapes, it seems likely that a "no money up front, portion of proceeds from the sales" deal was worked out.

 

I agree with @Phoenician about a licensing or sharing deal being the likely arrangement, but as far as I know there hasn’t been any solid evidence so far about any of it other than the existence of ABCD Enterprises LLC. Assuming that is the arrangement, if I was the owner of the tapes I would certainly want a set schedule, or at least a minimum number of releases per period of time, as presumably I am only getting paid if they are released; that could only benefit us if indeed the case.

 

So just to throw this out there...easy to look up...but hey, that's what community is for and what makes it so enjoyable...

What are they OFFICIAL releases of all the May shows?

There's this one.
The May 1977 Box
Which dicks picks, Dave picks, road trips, etc. do I need to put together to binge?

 

Start here: Grateful Dead Family Discography: Grateful Dead releases by recording year

 

Tompkins County Legislature Declares Cornell ’77 Anniversary As Grateful Dead Day

https://www.jambase.com/article/tom...ares-cornell-77-anniversary-grateful-dead-day

 

Might as well, might as well.

 

In general, I think that anything that the government collectively chooses to do is automatically wrong.
I can't argue with this one.

WHEREAS, it has been said many times by many people that, "there is nothing like a Grateful Dead Show"

 

Honestly, regardless of commercial or political motivation, that's just a small bit of AWESOME in a world of dark headlines. Gr8 post. As to the issue of "overhyped" and "overrated": I've occasionally felt this way with regard to conventional marquee shows - like Englishtown and Veneta (which doesn't mean I don't love them) - but never Cornell.

However, much like the '78 box, I look forward to seeing how folks light up with (re)discovery of 5/7&9 as competitively brilliant shows, like I did upon hearing 7/7/78 after living with the seemingly unassailable legend of 7/8. And Yale will be a complete wild card for me...

 

The New Haven show was at New Haven Coliseum, which is not part of Yale. I saw probably my first four or five concerts there -- it was a pretty sketchy walk from the train station to the Coliseum back in the 1980s when I was 15 or 16, but that was part of the adventure. Not quite the Ivy League atmosphere in the vicinity of the Coliseum.

Anyway, 5/5 isn't quite at the same level of the three shows that follow, but it's not that far off either, kind of the Cornell show's kid brother in my view. It might actually have the best Estimated in the box. My favorite of the four vacillates between Cornell and Buffalo, but usually lands on Buffalo. Boston is a real barn burner of a show and certainly a contender, too, and I know at least one person who would pick Boston as their favorite of the four.

[Edit: and I'm with you on 7/7/78 on being a great surprise. In fact, 7/8/78 might be my third favorite show in the July '78 box, despite it's fame and having not heard any of the others previously]

 

Would love that too. That show has my favourite "Morning Dew".

 

Found another source for the vinyl:

Grateful Dead: Cornell 5/8/77 Deluxe Edition on PledgeMusic

Scroll down towards the bottom left. It is a US based company that I have purchased from. I got the latest String Cheese Incident - Believe on vinyl from them when it was released.