Grateful Dead Dave's Picks 2020 Subscriptions

Well, after receiving 3o volumes through the mail no problem,I finally got one where about three inches of the top right corner is severely creased and the plastic tray inside is cracked. Hello, customer service.

 

I don't mind a disc with a mark on it that plays and rips fine, but a cracked case I cannot abide. Complaint and pic sent to customer service . . .

 

Still no movement...UPS label created on 7/31. UPS says they have not received it. Sigh.

 

Mine spent seven days at the post office before it was delivered, which was not normal in the "before" world.

And now, time to complain. Granted, they are shipping these in thick cardboard mailers, and I assume most are receiving their copies w/o issue, but man, spring for a judicious bubble layer inside, already. And these things are numbered, man, numbered. Maybe it's only a number, and I know they usually have extra copies with no number, but pack it like the "limited, numbered" edition it is. Show the cardboard and plastic, respect, Rhino. Not to mention me, the customer. Slightly and even severely damaging CDs and box sets (pic above to me is severe damage) in shipping seems to par for the course for Rhino/GDP as I've watched these threads over the years. Anecdotal evidence, I admit.

 

Topping the charts 4/20/84. Makes DaP 35 look pretty tasty eh?


1. Phil Collins - Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)
2. Kenny Loggins - "Footloose"
3. Lionel Richie - "Hello"
4. Thompson Twins - "Hold Me Now"
5. Culture Club - "Miss Me Blind"
6. Pointer Sisters - "Automatic"
7. Rockwell - "Somebody's Watching Me"
8. Rick Springfield - "Love Somebody"
9. Eurythmics - "Here Comes The Rain Again"
10. Tracey Ullman - "They Don't Know"

 

Ouch! Good luck on thsi man. Your experience is the opposite of mine; I've had most eerything thus far show up damaged to some degree until the last two picks when they went to the cardboard mailers instead of the flimsy bubble envelopes. Plus, I've had several boxed sets damaged, including most recently my June 1976 which was destroyed. And my DaP 32 just showed a few weeks back. I have 4 pages of notes dealing with "Customer Service" on these issues and it's an absurd amount of time-suck and unneeded stress.

Roughly 50% of my Amazon music orders show up damaged whereas 0% of my music orders from Acoustic Sounds, Elusive Disc and Music Matters show up damaged.

 

A lot of the better albums came out later in the year, but R.E.M./ Reckoning and Meat Puppets II were brand-new that month, as well as Bill Evans/ The Paris Concert: Edition Two. The Smiths' debut was released in February, and The Cars/ Heartbeat City had come out in March. Echo & The Bunnymen/ Ocean Rain was released May 4. I don't suppose that many Deadheads were really into any of that at the time, though. Maybe some were excited when Stevie Ray Vaughan dropped Couldn't Stand the Weather in May, while rocking out to Van Halen/ 1984 all year. IDK.

 

Is the packaging for 35 a boomerang as mine has left an LA airport twice in the past 3 days?

 

Apologies if these have been mentioned, but also released in 1984:

The Replacements - Let it Be
Prince - Purple Rain
Husker Du - Zen Arcade
Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime
Los Lobos - How Will the Wolf Survive
Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense
Pretenders - Learning to Crawl
King Crimson - Three of a Perfect Pair
XTC - The Big Express
Laurie Anderson - Mister Heartbreak
Joe Jackson - Body & Soul
Violent Femmes - Hallowed Ground
The Special A.K.A. - "Free Nelson Mandela"

That looks like a pretty good year to me.

 

I love most of that stuff. A wonderful era for pop music. Have you listened to top 40 radio lately? I’ll take 1984 pop radio, thank you very much.

 

And don't forget (or maybe you'd like to forget), Boorrrrn in the YOU-ESS-AYY! (June). U2/ The Unforgettable Fire also came out in October.

 

A very good year for music!

 

Finally, #12150 arrives. Just starting, enjoying the Feels Like A Stranger opener, nice version.

This may be nitpicky, but my enjoyment of 80's Dead shows are usually related to how well the drums are mixed, because IMO there are some dogs in the archives from that period...too much thud and overall flatness for my ears. That said, and I have no idea if Norman had anything to do with it or not, but I enjoy the drum mix on this one.

 

If we're talking 1984, let's not forget The Boys of Summer, which is semi-relevant to this thread, or, more obscurely, 5 Minutes by Bonzo Goes to Washington.

In other news, I've listened to the Dave's 35 bonus material from 4/19 and the first set from 4/20. As others have pointed out, Jerry's and Bobby's voices don't sound great, but as far as I can tell, it's mostly manifesting as a lack of power (not as much oomph from Bobby as I typically prefer on, say, Let It Grow). As far as phrasing and mostly following the melody are concerned, Jerry's singing well. Very few flubbed lyrics, either. And for those who don't care about the singing, the music's great, too! So far I'm really enjoying this pick.

 

Samesies.

 

That’s a bummer and I agree, the new cardboard mailer is an improvement but a bit more protection would be good. If they are going to create artificial scarcity to sustain their business model it would be good of them to maximize the likelihood that these limited edition items arrive in mint condition. I’ve had several arrive a bit dented/dinged up and one with a cracked jewel case (when they were using thin padded envelopes). My last three box sets also had some damage to the box itself although only the last one was from shipping. I’ve also received quite a few scratched and scuffed discs over the years but that’s another matter.

I will say that Dr. Rhino/customer service has always come through (even if it understandably takes longer nowadays) so I give them lots of credit for that. But it’d be nice if they could avoid more of the manufacturing and shipping issues to begin with.

 

For some unknown reason, one of my Dick's Pick's 28 (2/26-28/73) discs would never rip (a Salt Palace one). Luckily this dates back to a time when my Tascam CDR700 was still
of this earth.
Also came in handy with that scary Air Talkie Walkie disc (don't put it in your computer).
Sony BMG copy protection rootkit scandal - Wikipedia

 

And CD Japan does a near perfect job shipping, also. One of the "book bumpers" in my '77 box was too creased for comfort.

 

I have that CD, I think. I don’t typically play CDs in the computer or even rip them to be honest, but still...

 

UPS delivered my two DP 35 to USPS, but the USPS is slow to deliver due to no employees at work - out from COVID-13. So, my Dave's Picks may be 10 minutes away but days from delivery.

 

Of course, many great albums from that era, but I had to pick data for the most impact and contrast Actually, I was big into the Meat Puppets, the SST catalog and most everything you mentioned at the time, along with the Dead. I was actually at this Philly run. At the time I was also (had been) heavy into Prog and Metal so I was also listening to:
Celtic Frost, Anthrax, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, The Cult, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Queensryche, Saint Vitus > Minutemen, Black Flag, Husker Du....and the GoGD.

And at the time my college roommate was a guitar major (I was still a music major) so we were diving deep into Pat Metheny, Stanley Jordan, Al DiMeola.....in addition to all the "Classic Rock" that was a staple of those times.

 

Listened to this over the weekend. Might pull out some Firehose later

 

Me too! I've been digging "pop" since I first heard George Jetson playing drums on "Eep Opp Ork Ah Ah" and saw the Banana Splits as a wee lad. May be the impetus for me picking up the drums. I was heavily engaged in the pop music at this time because I was playing in several cover bands, at least one of which was doing all these tunes in order to keep people dancing and buying drinks. Plus, since I had a decent stereo w/turntable and dubbing cassette deck (natch) I was tasked to make mixtapes for the fraternity house parties, which had to please everyone, and keep the ladies moving So yeah, totally into the era and the craft of the song as I still had designs of becoming a studio musician at the time. (Remember those?)

 

My DaP 34's (two subs) came in those individual cardboard mailers that were then placed into another cardboard box, so they were in great nick and I was excited to see the change. This time my 35's came in the individual cardboard mailers but were placed into one of those plastic envelopes. So they must have realized that they spent too much money on proper shipping the last time.

What irks me is how much they charge for ala carte shipping, at both Dead.net and the Garcia site. And I think I paid almost $7 for a Miami t-shirt shipping