Grateful Dead "Live Dead"..coming to Mofi?

Yeah, I really cannot understand the criticism regarding the bass, it sounds really nice on my system, although I understand that this can often be system dependent. But let me say it again, this album sounds excellent. The number of my LP is 000989 BTW.

For some reason, people here are sometimes hard to please when it has to do with mofi releases, unnecessarily so. Am I wrong?

 

Totally agree. These things you mention (10 disc set and original Aoxomoxoa on CD) are the most glaring "missing" pieces of my GD collection.

 

The negative reviews are not about the fidelity/sound, but the mix. Garcia is buried in the MoFi mix. To me, that is a fail. His driving leads throughout the song distinguished this version from most others from this era. To not have them prominent in the new vinyl is counter to what I would think most of us would have wanted. Yes, Lesh's bass is very nice in the mix but that is not the focus of this version.

While I love the Fillmore West box set, I don't like the "sound effect" that were added to the original recordings. All in all I prefer the original Live Dead mix over all the rest.

P.S. The MoFi Wake of the Flood is excellent. It is the best I have ever heard this album.

 

Welcome to the forum. You hit it on the head! It's not bad sounding, it's just not the original mix. How can mofi state that they used the original masters? Clearly not the case.

 

They could have used the original master tapes and remixed, as opposed to the original lp master mix tapes.

 

It's sounds like the true original lp/WB CD tapes have been replaced by Golden Road Box/Rhino CD era tapes, that are a VERY different remix. I was shocked the first time I listened to the Box/Rhino remix.

 

I'm sure they used the original multi-track tapes, if they were available, to create this mix. You probably wouldn't get sound this transparent from a copy of the multis.

Still, MOFI should have mentioned that this release was not the original mix. I was expecting it to be.

 

So is this new MFSL LP a completely new mix, different from the original and the Rhino 2001?


I just played the original mix of "Dark Star" for the first time since probably 2001 and I like it best, though I wouldn't want to be without the 2001 or the complete Fillmore West set. I got rid of the old Live Dead CD but I have a late 70s/early 80s vinyl pressing that sounds much better than I remembered.

 

The mix of "Dark Star" from Live/Dead on the Warner's vinyl has a mysterious sound to it...only way I can describe it. Very different than what Rhino did with the CD release (never heard their vinyl release of it). And the Fillmore West 1969 box (which I live) is very different experience altogether since it was using modern mixing and aesthetics to treat an entire run...perhaps the most "concert-like). I still have not heard the MFSL release, but what people are saying makes me want to pass on it.

 

If you believe most of the negative stuff you read here, you will pass on a lot of good stuff. I received "Live Dead" last night, just after dark, thanks to my Fed Ex guy!!! I played all four sides this morning, and really liked this MOFI issue. Some people complained about Phil's Bass being too upfront in the mix, well it's not high in the mix as far as I'm concerned, sounds great. I used to sit on the Phil side at Shoreline just to hear those bombs drop. This very well could be a different mix, I don't know. But, I do know that I like what I hear on this LP. For tapes that are over 40 years old, what do people expect.

 

I was also surprised at how good my late 70's LP pressing sounded. WB at that time was routinely doing a nice job on vinyl in my opinion.

 

This has nothing to do with the sound quality. Everyone has said it sounds excellent. This has to do with the mix which, I agree, is a personal thing. Many of us are disappointed in the mix because Garcia is buried in the background. The mix and fidelity are 2 very different things.

I will never return to this version of Dark Star.

 

How sure are we that this is a new mix? I am not trying to attack you or anything like that, I am just surprised that MOFI remixed the album without even mentioning it and especially when they explicitly state that they used the original master tape.

 

When MOFI licenses a title, do they have the right to remix it? I know they regularly remaster, but remix?

 

The MOFI vinyl release uses the Rhino cd mix. No doubt in my mind after a direct comparison.

 

So the MOFI is not a remix after all

 

If it's the same as the Rhino CD, it is a very different remix, but on one hand another good sounding Live/Dead is probably a good thing.

It will be a problem if the original mix is the one that you like best, and it's scary to think that the true original has now been replaced by a substitute.

 

The Rhino CD is a different mix than the WB original vinyl.

 

Ok so after all this discusion I ebayed an original W7 copy of this and now I have what I wanted. The album the way I remembered it to sound. Too bad mofi screwed this one up. What a wasted opportunity.


(By the way the W7 copy I bought was on super thin vinyl like those pressed by RCA. There is no priniting on the spine either which I think is unusual. I seem to remember that MOONDANCE was released by a record club with W7 labels. Can anyone comment on the scarcity of this album?)

 

No the insert was not there, nor were there the Warner Brothers inner sleeves. The white sleeves that came with it appear to be original. I am pretty sure it's a record club issue. Its like a dyna flex pressing. There is a machine stamped matrix, which I am not in front of right now. Does anyone have the matrix numbers from an early pressing?

 

Rca pressed record clubs will have machine stamping.
I have a WLP and it is hand etched, as are all WB pressings.
Take a look for the early UK on this one. It's amazing, gives my WLP a run for the $

 

I have a W7 WLP and a green W7, and both of those have printing on the spine with the title, artist and catalog number.

 

I am sure what I bought was an RCA record club issue. That being said, it sounds quite good.