The Grateful Dead – Dick’s Picks Vol.1 & Vol.2 now available on vinyl

Hey Guys,

I would like your opinion on something. COLORED VINYL. We are starting to set up the releases of the Dick's Picks Vol 3 - 7. I am debating doing the first 750 units on colored vinyl and the rest on black. All would be 180 gram. Do you think colored vinyl makes for a cool choice? I would love some feedback.
Karl
Brookvale Records
President

 

Karl,

First, thanks for taking on the endeavor.

Personally, the colored vinyl is not of interest for me. Black is fine.

Can you tell us if DPs 3-7 will be sourced from analog masters as opposed to the CDs being used for 1 and 2?

 

Karl. I think you should do standard weight black vinyl to keep the costs down and pass them on to the consumer. Do them at an affordable price point and I will buy them.

 

Not sure you will find much love for colored vinyl here. General consensus is that it tends not to sound as good as black.

A nice novelty and collectible but usually not of much interest to the more audiophile crowd.

It is also harder to see scratches on colored vinyl which also makes it a bit of a pain when buying used.

 

I'm happy with black vinyl, myself.

 

Karl,
Thanks for taking on this project and being very upfront with the source info. I can't wait to get my copies!

As others have said - black vinyl is the way to go.

 

Also standard weight vinyl tends to be less noisy than 180 g, not always the case I know, but its a safer bet.

 

That hasn't been my experience at all. Just about every record is dead quiet after being wet cleaned and vacuumed.

 

Well duh! Every one wet cleans and vacs their records.

Sorry couldn't help myself. And I actually do wet clean and vac. But it's probably not the most common of practices.

 

Good advice here guys. OK Vol 3-7 we are waiting on hearing back from The Dead on sources. They are in the process of searching for us as we speak and should hear back within the next 2 weeks on that.

I agree with Black VS Color. I think color is cool on some things, but as far as Dead is concerned I am leaning all black. Some retail accounts have been asking for color, so I will see.

I am surprised about the regular vs 180g comment.

Would you rather see these releases on regular weight? Yes they will be cheaper but not by much.

Thoughts?

 

Karl, I would prefer 180gm weight. I don't find them noisier and the 180 gm records stay flatter.

 

Glad to hear you'll be doing black vinyl Karl.

I too am surprised by the first few comments regarding weight.
To me 180 gram has been the way to go for audiophile releases - never had many problems (certainly that can be attributed to the weight) - and they play and stay flatter.
I hope that's the way you'll go.

Thanks for inviting everyone into the 'loop' on these releases. Can't wait.

j.

 

I agree. That is my experience as well.

 

Hi Karl,

I'm so glad you're able to chime in on this forum.

I've been living in CA for the last 25 years, but I grew up in West Babylon and have fond memories of spending a lot of time in your shop through the 70's and 80's (I spent a lot of time in Record World in TSS, too.). Chalk it up to a mis-spent youth, but I still have a lot of the LPs I bought from you way back when. Whenever I'm back on the Island visiting, I always make time to stop in and shop at Looney Tunes.

I'm glad, too, that you've recovered from the devastating fire from a few years back. It's not often you hear of a brick 'n' mortar record store being re-built in this day and age after burning to the ground. More power to you...

With regards to the DP releases, I've got some great sounding colored vinyl LPs (The 80's German White Album on white vinyl springs to mind). It's not the color of the vinyl that's important, it's the mastering that the vinyl contains that counts.

If the cost difference is neg, go with the 180 gram.

Later, Chris

 

Agreed on 180g. The standard for ressings intended for the audiophile crowd. And they feel more satisfying in the hand...

 

Thank you Christopher for the kind words.
I will keep everyone in the loop with the next releases.
I could sure use some help spreading the word about vol 1 and 2.

If these to not sell out there will not be any more releases.'

If everyone could spread this link around I sure would appreciate it.

http://brookvalerecords.com/the-grateful-dead-dicks-picks-vol-1-vol-2-now-available-on-vinyl/

I think we will stay with 180 gram from sure. Color and reg weight may be an option but there will always be a 180g version. At least that is the plan for now.
Karl

 

I am posting that URL on my Facebook page...

Later, Chris

 

Awesome! thanks chris!

 

I thought I would chime in as a casual Dead Head and record collector. I bought Volume One in its initial offering on CD, then subsequently bought 8 or 9 other volumes from the years that interest me, late 60's early 70's, then I stopped considering the deluge of all the other Dead thats come out..

..I anticipate buying a few Dicks Picks on vinyl but likely would not replace my CD versions as over the years I've found I just like the jams, the Stars ect.... Filmore 2/18/70, yeah ok that one or Harpur for the second set, but the 80's and 90's as 3-4 lp sets no way.
My biggest complaint THE COVERS! The initial tape box was cool but after that....!! OYE! They just get worse and worse and now they are getting bigger and bigger!....what about a single nice band shot for the gate folds? and the colored vinyl..Yes!

So How soon do we get Kings Beach?

Cheers!

 

LOL
You bring up a very interesting point. With my vinyl releases, which have been a lot of re-issues of an existing albums and putting out on vinyl for the first time, I feel its important for me to be very careful.

It is my responsibility to present the album in a manner that is intact to the artists original vision.

For example with the Dicks Picks we all know those first covers are plain and some of the later covers are a bit crazy.

Not my first picks for art I have to say.

BUT - that is not my call. I think I need to really stay away from reinterpreting the artists vision. I want to make the SOUND as good as possible but with ART we usually are going to stay true to all original art.

With DP 1 we used some classic Steal Your Face and Bertha logos for LP sleeves. I want to stay traditional and let the music stand for itself.

I may not like the art I have to work with. But who the hell am I to question The Dead.

I hope that makes sense.

karl

 

Which brings me to something I've thought of Karl - what are your plans for 'bonus' tracks that are scattered about on some of these releases?

For example: the hidden Scar/Fire on DP 13.
Or the bonus non-show songs on DP 10.

Great stuff to be sure - but including them would also add to cost on our end, and I presume cost/work on yours.

Any thoughts?

Thanks again -
j.

 

I have only a few shows from '83, but I have 2 versions (sbd and matrix) of that evening at Lake Placid. What a difference 3 days made, from that DP6 at Hartford.

Good luck to Brookvale records on their noble Dick's Picks vinyl venture.
According to my iTunes playlist folder, there's a mere 5.3 days of music in the 36 DP releases to get through. That's what I call an ambitious undertaking.
However, I do recommend skipping DP6

 

Karl,
Thanks for coming by to post. I'm a former Long Islander - St. James to be exact. Very excited about about your project and can't wait to hear where the next batch will be sourced from.

My vote goes to black vinyl. Never understood the appeal for colored vinyl and I have also heard reports that color doesn't sound as good as black but who knows if that's true

Eagerly waiting to hear DP8 set II electric in MONO!

Best,
Frank

 

Hello J.

I just do not know yet. But ill let everyone know when we make our plans. Right now we are deep in our pre order for VOl1 and VOL2. And trying to find source tapes for 3-7. Thats what we are doing right now.

Karl

 

Karl,

I am indifferent to vinyl color, more interested in the audio quality. 180g is always better. Hopefully, the Dead can get you the analog sources (or at least high res digital) for most of the releases. I currently own only a handful of the Dick Pick series because I mainly buy vinyl, so it's great news to me that this is happening.

It's very cool that someone is taking on this task, which I imagine to be pretty massive.