This is from B.C. Indigenous artist designed upcoming Grateful Dead boxed set Vickers says he’s been working on the art for the boxed set and associated products for almost two years. He points to the cover of the vinyl Portland Memorial Coliseum six-LP set, which will be released at the same time as the 19-disc set. The face in the sky represents one of the ancestors and he submitted a quote to accompany the design: “When you’re standing in the strength, truth and the beauty of who you are our ancestors are on the other side whispering to each other excitedly — ‘maybe this one will be the one to bring forth the strength and the truth and the beauty in our lineage’ — and they are the grateful dead because we are living the life we’re supposed to live,” he says. The more he learned about his Tsimshian, Haida and Heiltsuk ancestry in his youth, the more he wanted to become an artist to teach others “because discrimination is ignorance. The only way we solve ignorance is to teach each others.” “In this one year, at the age of 72, I have connected myself to a group of people who will do more to teach the world about the Pacific Northwest than in all of my 44 years as an artist. It’s pretty exciting,” he says.
Yeah, it will not be sturdy. This is a Rhino CD boxset, not a real bentwood box. Still, I love the looks of it. Just be careful when handling it like you do with all of the other GD boxes.
Yea, i dig that it ain’t gonna be a real bentwood box - i’m just hoping it will be designed in a smart way and not totally fragile. (I still need to finish glueing down some of the strips on the 30 Trips box.)
I think it's just a reality that these boxes look cool, but when it comes down to it are still CD boxsets made to be...well... CD boxsets. It's not surprising about the glue coming off thing. My Sunshine Daydream deluxe watercolor children's book thing started warping/bending after a couple of years. Oh well.
I need to justify not buying this (on top of not being able to afford it anyway) but I really think they are jumping the shark with the packaging of these things. I know others love it but if this weren’t a gigantic wooden (or whatever it is) box that weighed a tonne, shipping costs would be lower and the whole thing could probably be priced lower. I’d have ordered it immediately. As it is, paying more just for shipping this than I do for nearly every other individual music purchase I make seems like madness. I’m sure it will be very nice though. I also think the Pacific Northwest premise is a bit weak. Just do a ‘73 box and a ‘74 box later. Each would have the bait of a top shelf show. Lower costs. Blah blah. As I said, I need to justify not buying this. Forgive me.
Thanks for admitting that you're being negative to justify your decision not to but it. Though you might be experiencing a bit of cognitive dissonance if you decide to buy it anyway.
I've got plenty of room in my Man Cave and already have a spot for it. It will def spark conversation/curiosity.
I'm sorry the shipping costs have prevented you from buying this box of music that you want. Is there a way to get around it?
Well, as a sufferer of high shipping prices due to location, long, long waits (and occasional no-shows) and frequent damage to products, my complaints are not in a vacuum. ...and no, I shan’t be buying the box. Hi-res later in the year perhaps. Just be a big boy and not worry about it! Or have someone in the USA buy it for me and send it over by some more manageable means and lower price. Better yet someone could buy it for me and just keep the box and send me the contents!
Fair enough, and yes, the non-USA shipping cost is atrocious. However, the reality is that over 90% of their fanbase is in North America. It is what it is. As flimsy as the packaging tends to be, I still enjoy the "art" of odd/unique boxset packaging. Rhino has been specializing in this since well before they started releasing the GD stuff. One of my favorites is the Beg, Scream and Shout: Big Ol' Box of '60s Soul box from 1997. It's designed to be a 45/singles case and each CD is housed in a faux 45rpm/7" single and sleeve. Also, the individual track liner notes are on trading cards (like baseball cards). FUN.
.What I was going to say is you longtime familiar Dead fans have you heard this stuff before and how signifigant is this box being officially from the archive overall to you all? Regardless I`m stoked to play these shows!
The follow-up box (which I don't own) was designed to look like an 8-track case/shelf. Awesome. Another that I own that has great, fun packaging is the girl groups box, One Kiss Can Lead to Another:
If you want to explore the idea of buying the box and having it shipped to me at my USA address (albeit Polynesia) I would be willing to ship the contents to you at cost. You could then sell the box without the discs and I could ship that out at cost and you could recover some of your money. If you want to explore it further, send me a PM. No reason you should be shut out of this if we can prevent it.
IMO, if one doesn't enjoy the physical aspect of collecting music (packaging, liner notes, artwork, the physical act of putting a disc in a player or spinning a record) then they should simply go the hard drives/downloads route. If the issue is not enough space then the solution is easy: get a bigger house or apartment!!
Personally, I wish they would offer a minimal just-the-music box (with packaging like the Winterland boxes) as well as the collectorama artsy packaging. My wife, tolerant as she is, is going to want to know how expensive this thing was when it lands in the rec room. She’d never guess how much I spent on the Fillmore ‘69 box since it looks so unassuming. ($500, for the record.)
Just tell her it was $91.50. I agree though. It would be nice to have both options. With Get Shown the Light, we got that (except for the fact that the streamlined version was the same price).
I still have no idea where to put the 30 Trips box, or the Pink Floyd box, or the Neil Young Archives. I need an oversized box set bunker.
I love the physicality of a big, well-designed box set (and the 30 Trips box in particular is a material projection of the value of the CDs it contains) but I do think that they've had their heads turned by the Grammy nominations. Still, at heart this bent box is just a box, so when we see it in the flesh it might be a lot smaller than feared.
30T Box is something i should have bought. I bought the 1966-85 CD sets a la carte. I mean it's money well spent but......Stupid.Stupid.Stupid.
There are some great moments in the ‘86-‘95 picks....but yeah, your a la carte selections are sound. I’m extremely excited for this release, as ‘73 and ‘74 are my favorites after ‘68 and ‘69.
I'm gonna need to buy a bigger house just to be able to properly set up and listen to these Dunlavy SC-VI speakers I bought several years ago (perhaps I'll inaugurate them with a "wall of sound" show, which would seem appropriate, when that time comes.)
