Here’s an outline about what this category is all about…
I am a long term Naim lover and user and also a long term fan of The Grateful Dead. I listen to all kinds of music and have always had a deep relationship with the Dead’s music. I love reading the Forum, both the Hi-Fi Corner and the Music Room and recently searched to see if there are other Deadheads out there on this Forum. Since I haven’t found relevant threads I thought I would start one… What say you all? Any other Dead fans out there?
Count me in.
That boxset you mentioned in the 252 thread. Sounds like it could be great, but I’d never be able to smuggle that one in.
I’ll look for the other live box tho!
Glad to hear mikehughescq! Perhaps I can stimulate a bunch of Dead fan talk on this site and have even more reason to spend some time on this Naim Forum site… as if I need more of an excuse…
Want to share any of your connection/experience/passion for the Dead here?
Great steviebee, happy to have you. In a way, your partially shown “Aoxomoxoa” print hanging up behind your rack stimulated this conversation and thus this thread.
Yeah, I was tempted for the big box set just based on the reviews I saw of the sound quality. I already had all the albums in it (and had for many years) but to have all pristine copies of them now as my system has gotten better and better over the years was definitely tempting. The $450 price wasn’t but I was close. Ultimately I chose to buy other music instead.
The other live box set I mentioned (FW 1969) is available now for $99 on the dead.net site.
I like the Mofi Workingman’s, Beauty and Blues For Allah - lovely releases all.
For Aoxomoxoa, what d’you prefer - the original mix or revised? I like the original because What’s Become… is nicely weirder, but I’ll take Aox in any form!
It’d be nice too, to include Mickey Hart’s music outside of The Dead - Diga Rhythm Band springs to mind, for one.
One spin off I missed was Kingfish - never got round to fixing that.
I will be lurking quietly on this thread!
The largest chunks of my collection are GD and Richard Thompson, although I have been accused of listening to other music from time to time.
Could someone post details, please, of the ‘big box’ under discussion. I’ve had a quick look on amazon (US and UK), but can’t see what is being discussed.
I have a two big box anthology, bought some years back, but does this new set contain anything more?
(I had the good fortune to see them once, in all their pomp, at the small(er) Wembley concert complex, and still have the LP sized programme book for the show.)
Another Deadhead here - the clue is in the dancing bear avatar! Lucky enough to have seen them live 17 times, all in England. I made a trip to San Francisco in 1992 to see them on their home ground but Jerry was ill and the shows were cancelled.
It’s been over 50 years now…
I think there’s a few of us here given the occasional reference and like. I commented before on StevieB’s Aoxomoxoa poster as I have one that seems to be the same.
I have only seen the Dead in England - in 70, 72, 74, 81 and 95. I think that was 8 concerts and I see Pev999 went to 17 so you must have seen every performance - but did they come in a year I haven’t mentioned? I thought I saw them every occasion they played in the U.K.
I have both the 1969 vinyl box sets that have been referred to here and in the 252 thread and they are excellent, although they are a bit of an indulgence as I have the FW cd box set.
There was supposed to be a third FW vinyl set (1/3) released for Black Friday this month but my local record dealer told me it had been pulled - and on the Hoffman forum they say it has been pulled in the US as well.
BTW there has been a good thread on GD vinyl running on the Hoffman forum - but I’m not sure if it is still live.
Hi Clive, they came twice in 1981 and it was 1990 not 1995 but that’s all I know of. They were supposed to play a show at Wembley with Santana sometime in the 70s or 80s but it never happened (I think I still have a ticket somewhere).
1981 was a bumper year as on top of the 7 shows at the Rainbow theatre in April and October, Bobby and the Midnites played the Hammersmith Odeon and Robert Hunter spent a year in Somerset - saw him 3 times. Bob Weir and Ratdog also played some UK gigs in 2002 and 2003 and Live Dead 69 with Tom Constanten are playing Cardiff tonight! If you can appreciate a tribute band, in the UK the Cosmic Charlies are very good!
I must admit that there’s so much Dead on Quobuz that I rarely dust off my bootlegs these days!
Hey Now – I haven’t posted in a while but I still peruse the site from time to time. Although I mostly listen to Classical and Jazz these days, I still collect all the Dave’s Picks releases and other box sets when released.
I’m currently enjoying the big St. Louis ’71-’73 set (7 complete shows/20 discs) that’s still available from Dead.net.
I was lucky enough to catch 109 shows between ’84 and ’90. I went to a few shows after Brent passed away but lost interest.
Glad to see this thread posted on the Naim site!!!
Yes, as CliveB posted (and I thought I had posted this yesterday… lol) the “big box set” I was referring to was indeed the “Vinyl Me Please” set as posted above. You can see it by going to the VMP site. It is currently waitlisted. It went for $449 and it is remastering of 8 Grateful Dead albums, 4 studio releases and 4 live releases. From what I had heard on some vinyl YouTube channels I follow people were really happy with the sound quality. I hadn’t heard about issues with the pressing until CliveB’s post above.
Thanks for your memories - and for correcting my faulty date - I saw them twice on that 1990 run but missed the Halloween date (I was thinking it was the 30th anniversary but it must have been the 25th). I only saw them once in 1981 and I can’t remember any more whether it was in April or October - probably April and I was disappointed.
Yes, I saw Ratdog in both those years - once in London and once in Milton Keynes. They were very good I thought. And Milton Keynes was where I saw the Live Dead show with Constanten a few years ago.
I didn’t know about Hunter’ sojourn in Somerset - I get the impression he was a bit of an Anglophile.
It’s a shame that none of the other Dead spin off bands seem likely to come to the UK, but I will look out for the Cosmic Charlies - for some reason I thought they were a continental band.
Hey pev999, yes indeed the dancing bear avatar certainly does “give you away.” Wow, seeing the Dead 17 times, while living in England, that is quite the feat. I live in the US and spent many years seeing Dead shows… over 100 from 1977 - 1995, not to mention many other iterations of individual member’s bands plus a number of the “post-Jerry” iterations. I know it is ancient history now but that must have sucked going all the way to San Francisco to see them and then having the shows cancelled.
Ah yes, mikehughescq, that “Deadicated” album was great stuff. I believe it was one of the earlier compilation albums in that format, with a number of other musicians playing the songs of one band. And, no “expertise” needed… lol. Perhaps just some passion, some interest, and some willingness to be “transported” by the music… glad to have you here.
