Walmart / movie Mars Grateful Dead France 72 vinyl box $113

I pulled the plug at $113. But given that the set is "limited" to 10,000 copies I could see it going lower.
Again, between the number of multi-lp boxes that have been released in the past 5 years and the trend toward pressing more copies of each, I think the market is becoming saturated.
I can say for sure that I'm getting pickier and passing on most of them.

 

All my mail deliveries got pushed to today so mine sits on my porch until I get home from work at 9. Will report back soon.

 

Mine arrived today well-packed and without any damage!

 

Yes mine was packed very well. Complete with RSD sticker.
So far flawless (haven't played the second half yet).
What a great show. I'm glad I got it.

 

This is still available for order at Walmart, price boomed up to $115 though. So glad I ordered at $113.

It does seem like whoever distributes these items has learned to promote FOMO by letting stock trickle out at 1st, then releasing more in the months after RSD. Makes sense from a seller perspective to try to have it both ways- stoke and maintain the initial frenzy as long as possible, but then ensure that supply eventually meets and even exceeds demand.

So, more complex for bottom feeders like me determined to pay the absolute cheapest price by "timing the market". Another 1st world problem..

 

I think you're attributing too much conscious intent to a chaotic system.

 

Not necessarily. It does seem to be the trend.
But on the other hand this music is priceless so...

 

Thanks to whoever posted the alert for this set, just got my copy today and was packed very well. In fact, most if not all of what I have gotten from Movie Mars has been packed well and dispatched punctually, so some of the above comments puzzle me. I have been buying from him/her/it for a couple years now and everything has been alright.

I am just bloody amazed at what some of these Grateful Dead RSD releases are going for in the secondary market. I hope somehow MM gets some others because that Family Dog one and the Rarities two LP set are on my short list but I cannot bring myself to spring for $50 a disk.

jb

 

Just ordered- still available. Thanks, folks!

 

Received mine today. It was packed well, but the box had seam split style damage from all the LPs banging around inside. Oh well.

 

Same here.
In recent months, I've had mostly good luck with relatively prompt shipping and then receiving lps that I don't need to return, e.g. many orders from uDiscover and Target.

Not this time! MovieMars apparently shipped my order, then it sat at the receiving center in NC for 10 days before moving on. Took 3 weeks from time of order til I received it.

As FWatty and others have noted, it was packaged pretty well and the packaging did not appear to be damaged. But the box has a 4" split on both the cover and inside box.

Not only that, but several of the lps have pressing flaws- non-fill, scratches, loud pops. I'm generally not too picky about minor imperfections, but these are not acceptable.

Trying to decide whether to order a 2nd set then compile a complete one out of the best copies of each disc, or just send this entire set back and request a replacement..

How are the lps in everyone else's sets?

 

Mine was flawless. Sorry to hear you had issues

 

Haven't had a chance to open mine, but I will tonight. I can live with the splits in the box, but it's going back if the discs are defective. There was a time when I was more forgiving, but at these prices and this far into the the process that growing pains should be in the past, I'm growing tired of seam splits and sloppy packaging.

 

That's where I come down as well.

I grew up with vinyl, and understand it's an imperfect physical medium. I can deal with minor visual imperfections, lps not being quite perfectly flat, a tic here or there. These went way beyond that. At least 3 sides had tracking issues right at the outer perimeter, one had noticeable scratches there. One other disc had something weird going on that made the stylus jiggle although it was able to track without skipping. Another lp had a quite lould pop for about 4 revolutions. Was odd because I couldn't see anything amiss on those.

Anyway, its on the way back.

 

>the lps have pressing flaws- non-fill,

I have never heard that term: "non-fill". What does that mean exactly? You do not mean like pits in the playing surface do you? Stuff that would make the record totally non-playable?

I am just curious what it means because my set certainly plays well on all disks.

jb

 

Here's some info: Blue Note "Classic Vinyl Reissue Series" - 2020 and beyond...

 

Thank you for the link but I am still somewhat confused on "non-fill" and how one can tell if it has happened on any particular disk. Seems to me it says if one is victim of "non-fill" all disks from that stamper will be similarly affected, and that seems to not be the case for this GD release.

jb

 

It's not always the case.

 

Non-fill, in my understanding, manifests as visible small pits in the vinyl when viewed under bright light. Lps are made from plastic (vinyl) which is heated then pressed by metal stampers with the grooves in them. So, there is potential for variation and flaws in each individual record pressed. No two records are exactly the same, even two made consecutively from the same stamper. Some pressing plants seem to be more prone to such flaws than others but they can occur at even the most highly regarded ones.

I don't feel I am as picky as some people. I have records that have visible non-fill but seem to play just fine with no sonic issues. This may be because my ears aren't great, and/or my system is fairly mid-fi compared to some. I often keep records with minor flaws, as I just accept they are inherent to this medium.

In this case, my GD set went back to Music Mars due to a combination of the seam splits on the outer box, loud pops in a couple spots and obvious groove damage at the outer perimeter of at least two of the lps that affected tracking and sonics. As stated above, I could live with the seam splits and even a spot or two of non-fill. But there were enough flaws, most importantly to how the records played that I chose to send this one back. I do understand that most people did not have such issues. But I did. It's a statistical thing - certain percentage of any batch of records are going to have flaws - and I guess my number came up..

 

I’ve never listened to the Grateful Dead much, having dismissed them in my youth when I was knee deep in the 1980s NJ hardcore scene.

But I’ve been getting into Phish over the last 10 years, so this 51 year old vinyl enthusiast figured this was a good place to start.

My set arrived yesterday, looking beautiful. Listened to the first LP this morning and sounds great! Looking forward to settling in with the rest of the set.

Thanks to the OP for the heads up.

 

RIP your wallet.

 

You picked a pretty good one to start with.
Lots of variety in the setlist. Enjoy!!

 

what I have noticed upon ripping this set to mp3 is that the highs seem to roll off at about 10k with nary a peep above 12k and not all that much even at 10k. And its not my cartridge or setup because for instance I put on the 12" single of the Beat Twist and Crawl and what do you know...response up to and beyond 20k showing on my meters (Soundforge). But I suppose that's par for the course when dealing with decades old field recordings, even though they were apparently captured on 7 1/2 ips reel to reel tape.

jb

 

Jeffrey Norman does such a killer job on all things Dead. What we get has to be the best possible thing they can deliver, sonic-wise. The majority of my listening is vinyl but the Dead’s official digital output has been stellar back to most of the hdcd releases.

 

One thing I noticed on mine, all the records were relatively flat (not warped I mean) with very little surface noise, but the last disk, the one with the etched second side, was cut way off center. The grooves were centered so the tone arm didn't wobble back and forth, but the edge wobbled like mad as the platter revolves. No real bad effects, just looks wrong. And I fail to see the utility of the etched side, its not like I am going to display it or something. Maybe they could have spread the songs out more and used the last side for some listening material, instead of cramming 20+ minutes on some sides. But it would be difficult to split the songs then I guess so probably not an option.

Overall, very happy with the set and glad to get it at a relative bargain price.

I wonder if they are going to release all the Euro 72 shows on individual vinyl sets. I think they did do so on CD already, in one of those massive mega count CD sets that go for a home mortgage price these days.

jb