Vinyl Me Please Anthology

The label logistic are not as bad as it may seem, Grateful Dead Productions and Rhino hold all of the rights now. Agree that 8-10 lps means that this is going to be a completely barebones set (For example, Europe '72 or Without A Net, which both need re-release badly, i.e. nowhere has a recent reissue in stock, are each 3 LPs)


In theory they could be putting this out on vinyl and it would be 4lps, they have only done half of it already:


That would be such a waste. It's not a bad compilation, but it was a hard pass for just about every Deadhead I know. I have the vinyl set (was a gift) and its fine. It's a good overview, but Deadheads are really anti-compilation and pressing 7500 of these would be another dud.
I’m just VERY curious, as I’m sure you all are, what will be in the box. As others have said, with how intense Deadheads can be, if VMP doesn’t get this right they will be crucified and stuck with 7000 copies of this. Even with the Blue Note box, there were tons of complaints because jazz listeners are fickle and VMP didn’t pay attention to a lot of details (I.e. one of the albums had a CD scanned cover with the wrong vinyl catalogue number on it). But with the BN box I thought the album choices were pretty great and not super obvious picks. Even with the other anthologies, for the most part, they didn’t do the “obvious” picks. I’m just hoping they announce the records instead of the “mysterious reveal” crap they have pulled in the past. With Zamrock at least they announced the albums when they went on sale.
 
I’m just VERY curious, as I’m sure you all are, what will be in the box. As others have said, with how intense Deadheads can be, if VMP doesn’t get this right they will be crucified and stuck with 7000 copies of this. Even with the Blue Note box, there were tons of complaints because jazz listeners are fickle and VMP didn’t pay attention to a lot of details (I.e. one of the albums had a CD scanned cover with the wrong vinyl catalogue number on it). But with the BN box I thought the album choices were pretty great and not super obvious picks. Even with the other anthologies, for the most part, they didn’t do the “obvious” picks. I’m just hoping they announce the records instead of the “mysterious reveal” crap they have pulled in the past. With Zamrock at least they announced the albums when they went on sale.

If they don’t announce what’s in it I’ll pass. If it’s just repressed of available live stuff I’ll pass. I’m honestly hoping one or both of these become true so I can stop thinking about it. 🤣
 
If they don’t announce what’s in it I’ll pass. If it’s just repressed of available live stuff I’ll pass. I’m honestly hoping one or both of these become true so I can stop thinking about it. 🤣
I’m not even a HUGE dead fan and I woke up in the middle of the night thinking I missed the announcement of it being on sale... I think I need to stop looking at records before I go to sleep haha.

As someone who likes the Dead (wouldn’t consider myself a huge fan though), this box is one of the more intriguing ones for me so far outside of Blue Note. I have a lot of their albums in high res digital but just not on wax. Depending on what’s in it and cost, I might be in. If it’s pricey and I don’t love the albums, I’ll just put the money toward other pressings of their albums and start there instead.
 
I’m just VERY curious, as I’m sure you all are, what will be in the box. As others have said, with how intense Deadheads can be, if VMP doesn’t get this right they will be crucified and stuck with 7000 copies of this. Even with the Blue Note box, there were tons of complaints because jazz listeners are fickle and VMP didn’t pay attention to a lot of details (I.e. one of the albums had a CD scanned cover with the wrong vinyl catalogue number on it). But with the BN box I thought the album choices were pretty great and not super obvious picks. Even with the other anthologies, for the most part, they didn’t do the “obvious” picks. I’m just hoping they announce the records instead of the “mysterious reveal” crap they have pulled in the past. With Zamrock at least they announced the albums when they went on sale.
That's what struck me about Blue Note fans, their attention to detail and knowledge was most similar to Deadheads. While GD box sets can sell out in hours, some can languish for years. Deadheads have discerning tastes and slapping a stealie on a large box containing otherwise available albums isn't going to move units to all but the uninitiated.

I seriously hope that Dave Lemieux was seriously involved with this, because if it is just Storf and the other VMP team, I don't trust them to do this right and this will be a serious waste of an opportunity. I don't say that as a criticism on their curation in general, but this is outside of their wheelhouse and if someone is picking who has not listened to tons and tons of shows, they won't know how to best curate this.
 
I’m not even a HUGE dead fan and I woke up in the middle of the night thinking I missed the announcement of it being on sale... I think I need to stop looking at records before I go to sleep haha.

As someone who likes the Dead (wouldn’t consider myself a huge fan though), this box is one of the more intriguing ones for me so far outside of Blue Note. I have a lot of their albums in high res digital but just not on wax. Depending on what’s in it and cost, I might be in. If it’s pricey and I don’t love the albums, I’ll just put the money toward other pressings of their albums and start there instead.


Plus full- show live stuff from the Dead has been problematic on vinyl. Re-ordered songs, LP's only having one song or like 12 min of music per side. 6xLPS of stuff, endless flipping and cleaning to get through a show. A reason Dave's Picks has been CD only
 
That's what struck me about Blue Note fans, their attention to detail and knowledge was most similar to Deadheads. While box sets can sell out in hours, some can languish for years. Deadheads have discerning tastes and slapping a stealie on a large box containing otherwise available albums isn't going to move units to all but the uninitiated.

I seriously hope that Dave Lemieux was seriously involved with this, because if it is just Storf and the other VMP team, I don't trust them to do this right and this will be a serious waste of an opportunity. I don't say that as a criticism on their curation in general, but this is outside of their wheelhouse and if someone is picking who has not listened to tons and tons of shows, they won't know how to best curate this.
Them pressing 7500 copies makes me think they didn’t just wing it and have a lot of input from Dave or some other “expert”. And I will say that them choosing some not so obvious choices in other box sets is promising to me for this. I thought them pressing Ambrose Akinmusire on vinyl for the first time in the BN box was incredibly awesome. And with 7500 copies I should hopefully have time to listen to everything if I’m not familiar.

5PM can’t come soon enough. I don’t think it will go on sale today though. Hoping they send discount codes to previous anthology buyers.
 
I may check this out. Jam bands have been one thing Ive never gotten into (mainly because I hate Phish and worked at FYE with alot of phish heads when I was younger) but Ive liked some of the Grateful Dead stuff Ive heard.
 
Them pressing 7500 copies makes me think they didn’t just wing it and have a lot of input from Dave or some other “expert”. And I will say that them choosing some not so obvious choices in other box sets is promising to me for this. I thought them pressing Ambrose Akinmusire on vinyl for the first time in the BN box was incredibly awesome. And with 7500 copies I should hopefully have time to listen to everything if I’m not familiar.

5PM can’t come soon enough. I don’t think it will go on sale today though. Hoping they send discount codes to previous anthology buyers.
It's my understanding that Blue Note essentially gave them 2 albums for each period to choose from, so BN did all of the heavy lifting on curation. I am hopeful that is the case here.
 
Them pressing 7500 copies makes me think they didn’t just wing it and have a lot of input from Dave or some other “expert”. And I will say that them choosing some not so obvious choices in other box sets is promising to me for this. I thought them pressing Ambrose Akinmusire on vinyl for the first time in the BN box was incredibly awesome. And with 7500 copies I should hopefully have time to listen to everything if I’m not familiar.

5PM can’t come soon enough. I don’t think it will go on sale today though. Hoping they send discount codes to previous anthology buyers.
Honestly, I just cannot imagine Dave or the Dead opening the vault to something juicy outside of a Dead.net release. With there being 4 studio and 4 live LPs, my guess is its some sort of assorted compilations. But I cannot see them doing a full show, which would be 5 LPs easily.

Smells like a box to get new listeners IMO, and VMP is probably a good place to start because there's a lot of FOMO and hype involved.
 
Plus full- show live stuff from the Dead has been problematic on vinyl. Re-ordered songs, LP's only having one song or like 12 min of music per side. 6xLPS of stuff, endless flipping and cleaning to get through a show. A reason Dave's Picks has been CD only
Yes. This is the definitely the case. As someone with a number of these, some have been done really well (Dick's Picks 8) and some not as much (Portland '74). In choosing to release vinyl shows, I wish a bit more attention was paid to flow of the lps instead of just performance.
 
Yes. This is the definitely the case. As someone with a number of these, some have been done really well (Dick's Picks 8) and some not as much (Portland '74). In choosing to release vinyl shows, I wish a bit more attention was paid to flow of the lps instead of just performance.
Agreed. I have a lot of Dead on vinyl, but aside from Europe '72, Live/Dead, and Reckoning, there's very little live stuff that I spin all the way through. I have Cornell '77, but I can't say I spin it in it's entirety a whole bunch. Anytime I want to listen to a full show, it's either a Dick's/Dave's Picks, from a CD boxset, or on Relisten. I cringed when I saw that the Help/Slip and Franklin's from the upcoming Buffalo '77 release were split between two sides. One of the smoothest transitions flawed by vinyl.

Vinyl and the Dead just don't really mix that well.
 
Yes. This is the definitely the case. As someone with a number of these, some have been done really well (Dick's Picks 8) and some not as much (Portland '74). In choosing to release vinyl shows, I wish a bit more attention was paid to flow of the lps instead of just performance.

That Portland show has a Top 5 all time box art, maybe my second favorite (Passaic '77 being the GOAT) , but MAN that show is just a train wreck on vinyl.
 
I may check this out. Jam bands have been one thing Ive never gotten into (mainly because I hate Phish and worked at FYE with alot of phish heads when I was younger) but Ive liked some of the Grateful Dead stuff Ive heard.
Are you the one that has purchased every anthology so far? If so, then I’d probably buy this one too just to keep it up haha.

Honestly, I just cannot imagine Dave or the Dead opening the vault to something juicy outside of a Dead.net release. With there being 4 studio and 4 live LPs, my guess is its some sort of assorted compilations. But I cannot see them doing a full show, which would be 5 LPs easily.

Smells like a box to get new listeners IMO, and VMP is probably a good place to start because there's a lot of FOMO and hype involved.

I agree, although still, 7500 copies is a TON especially for something that the built-in Dead fan base won’t want to buy. If it’s an intro box set they would lose out on so many buyers. I’m betting this release gets sent out by any Dead mailing lists just like how Blue Note did for the jazz box. They had to have seen how poorly the Woodstock box did and would be stupid to limit this to just an intro set.

I’m starting to think it might be one new live release in there along with some intro titles. They won’t want to alienate the Dead heads and also won’t want to make the releases so obscure that it won’t let people like myself, who are more casual listeners up until now, want to buy it.
 
Agreed. I have a lot of Dead on vinyl, but aside from Europe '72, Live/Dead, and Reckoning, there's very little live stuff that I spin all the way through. I have Cornell '77, but I can't say I spin it in it's entirety a whole bunch. Anytime I want to listen to a full show, it's either a Dick's/Dave's Picks, from a CD boxset, or on Relisten. I cringed when I saw that the Help/Slip and Franklin's from the upcoming Buffalo '77 release were split between two sides. One of the smoothest transitions flawed by vinyl.

Vinyl and the Dead just don't really mix that well.
Same. I’ve stopped ordering live shows on vinyl because I usually had a CD copy that I could spin without getting up—multi disk changers rule. I love the shows I do have, when I ordered to Portland show, I got it for 50 bucks off amazon EU and they sent two, so came up more than even, but I honestly don’t spin it enough to justify paying 100 for it
 
Same. I’ve stopped ordering live shows on vinyl because I usually had a CD copy that I could spin without getting up—multi disk changers rule. I love the shows I do have, when I ordered to Portland show, I got it for 50 bucks off amazon EU and they sent two, so came up more than even, but I honestly don’t spin it enough to justify paying 100 for it
I opted for that Pacific Northwest Boxset and I love it. Definitely spin the CDs more than I would've just the Portland show, and yeah having a multi disk changer is the best for that. Same goes for Phish; while I enjoy Phish studio vinyl and the quality of them, the live stuff is hard to listen to in full on vinyl. I'd rather just listen to LivePhish CD releases without having to turn it over and lose the transitions.

At the end of the day, live jamming is real tough to translate to vinyl.
 
haha I am. So now Im trying to figure out if this is an opportunity to get into a classic band I probably unfairly have written off over the years, or an opportunity to break the anthology completist thing I have going.
If you don’t really like them, then I’d say might not be worth it especially since the price tag might be big...but I have also somewhat unfairly written them off along with Phish and other jam bands but have been listening to way more classic rock and the like lately and have dug the studio albums I’ve been listening to a lot lately. Haven’t made the jump to live albums since I wouldn’t know where to begin...
 
If you don’t really like them, then I’d say might not be worth it especially since the price tag might be big...but I have also somewhat unfairly written them off along with Phish and other jam bands but have been listening to way more classic rock and the like lately and have dug the studio albums I’ve been listening to a lot lately. Haven’t made the jump to live albums since I wouldn’t know where to begin...
Give either Europe '72 or Cornell 5/8/77 a shot. Or both--they're two distinct eras and both easily available on regular streaming services.
 
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