Grateful Dead - The Warner Bros. Studio Albums Vinyl Box (Exclusive Edition)

I've paid up for every Road Trip and whatever else the GD machine has been turning out lately, including the big 10 disc boxes, but I guess I will give this one a miss. I can't get my head around the early albums, apart from Live/Dead, and the DVD-As of WMD and AB will do me fine.

 

I'm in.

 

The original mix of Aoxomoxoa can be found fairly easily. Its the first press with the dark green WB label. Any LP's released before '71 were of the original mix. It was never made available on cassette or CD however. I scored mine off of a well known auction site for a pittance. It was very cool to hear for the first time, especially being a rabid Head like myself.

Man, tough to justify dropping the dough on these when the originals are so readily available on LP. Usually I reserve the expensive record purchases for those hard to fine Jazz releases, but I'm going to cave.....and order the damn thing.....and be really really stoked about it when I hear Attics and the Dead are in my living room.

 

Just like the Fillmore box set. I think I might have to snag one of these.

 

This is for the rich .. I mean these albums can be found easily.. I just found the Aoxomoxoa original for 1$.. their first albumin stereo for $4....

I guess i'm just the type that prefers the originals....

 

Except that this is not a limited edition set. Unless I missed that somewhere.

 

In a practical sense it's a limited edition in that it's going to be expensive to produce and won't stay in print forever. But I'd compare it to the Hendrix Experience vinyl box which is still generally available, and in fact can be bought new today for about the same as what I paid for it five years or so ago when it came out.

 

Is the bonus 45 from dead.net limited?

 

Lucky guy.

 

i'm far from rich but i worked this into my music budget... the only things i've bought recently....

the warp box
pre-ordered the ninja tune box
and this one......

 

Maybe If you live in the states it's easy to find good copies for reasonable prices, elsewhere in the world it's a different story, a lot of people buying this box set and other of it's like are not from the USA, even in england finding records like these is not easy.

When i put something to sale on e bay most of the time (i would say 90%) the people who buy the records or cd's are not from the USA, the international demand for records is huge.

If these reissues are anything like the recent neil young reissues then i'll be more then happy to shell out because i think they sound better then the originals (the neil young i mean...)

 

It's been my experience here that when someone says something like, "It's only for the rich," it really means, "I want one, too."

 

well that ain't my case...i have all the LPs! Multiple copies.. why would I want to purchase a reissue box... in my experience boxes just sort of sit there anyways...

reissue, repackage etc..its the same songs

I think they're honestly just taking advantage of dead fans and collectors who need to have everything..

Like I said: there is no need to purchase this as the originals can be had inexpensively and sound great... I mean we've talked about how good the Warner green labels sound etc.

If they'd used the mono mix of the first album maybe I'd seen some reason to get it

anyways to each their own..enjoy it

 

Green-label, non-trashed Warners Dead LPs, and especially the rare Anthem and Aoxomoxoa mixes, generally aren't inexpensive at all when I see them around here (Chicago) - maybe in DC it's different.

 

Maybe I been lucky trolling the dollar bins which I'm really into...

If I didn't feel "ashamed" about it I'd only buy dollar records.. but I can't do it..

ANyways, if I was rich I'd buy the new Dead set for sure...Love the dead.

 

If they've finally located analogue masters (American or UK?, anything) of the original AoXoMoXoA that is good newz and perhaps there will be a long overdue cd version/set as well (for now, THAT is probably this vinyl set's trump card). When I first got the email I presumed they'd merely found the plates and were going to repress it. I'd still like to hear the full story.

As regards Anthem; the original purple was very bassy, then there was the white re-mix (which lacked much bass and echo, and remains unavailable), then there was the back-to-purple 'original' mix which was much clearer sounding than the original purple. I've had several people assure me that there was no remixing done for the back-to-purple 'original' mix, so I'd have to assume the back-to-purple was merely a much better vinyl mastering (and then on cd).

 

Works out at $27 an LP, which is about average!

JG

 

I bit the bullet. Like JG said, its $27 an album which isnt far off of what the new Neil albums go for, which are really incredible sounding. I live in NYC and theres no such thing as a bargain on records and everything in the $1 bins arent even worth using as frisbees. I have a couple copies of some of the albums in this set (usually due to my quest to find a cleaner copy) and most are in nice condition, but none are pristine. The vocal harmonies on AB and WD should really be a treat if the sound quality is anywhere near as good as they make it out to be. If I had a decent low-mid end stereo I probably wouldnt care, but my system exposes everything from the good to the bad.

 

This was my impression.

I'm curious, though: I've heard of other LP's that have otherwise unavailable mixes and I don't know too much about the mastering > vinyl process - is there no easy way to get the musical information from those presses into the digital domain? Is it the case that the musical information HAS to come from pressed vinyl grooves, and not directly from the "negative" copy found in those plates?

 

This is looking quite pretty - Chris Bellman at Grundman cut off the analogs

 

And a press release to boot...

THE DEAD ON WAX

Deluxe Box Set Features Five Warner Bros. Records Studio Albums
On 180-Gram Vinyl With Lacquers Cut From The Original Analog Masters

Pre-Order At Dead.net For Bonus 7” “Dark Star” Single And Replica Poster

Available September 21 From Grateful Dead/Rhino

LOS ANGELES – Between 1967 and 1970, the Grateful Dead recorded five studio albums for Warner Bros. Records that formed the psychedelic canon on which the band’s live legend was built. The albums spotlighted the early core lineup of Jerry Garcia, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, and Mickey Hart.

Grateful Dead and Rhino will celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty with THE WARNER BROS. STUDIO ALBUMS, a five-LP boxed set available on September 21. The collection contains Grateful Dead (1967), Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty (1970), plus the original mixes for Anthem of the Sun (1968) and Aoxomoxoa (1969), versions that have been out-of-print for nearly 40 years, until now.

Available for a list price of $134.98, the set offers detailed replicas of the original albums housed in a hard-shell case that protects and stores the music with the accompanying 12” x 12” book including unpublished photos and new liner notes by Blair Jackson. To ensure the highest degree of quality, the albums were pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI using lacquers cut from the original analog masters by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering.

Those who pre-order from Dead.net will receive an exclusive reproduction of a rare 1968 7” single (in a picture sleeve) that features the studio version of “Dark Star” (b/w “Born Cross-Eyed”) that clocks in at a concise 2:38. Dead.net pre-orders also receive a reproduction of a rare 1967 promotional poster for the first album from the Warner Bros. Records archive.

The original mixes for Anthem of the Sun and Aoxomoxoa – featured here for the first time since they were released – went out of circulation in 1972 and 1971 respectively. Garcia and Lesh revisited Aoxomoxoa two years after its release in an effort to cut through the dense mix, which was a result of the band extensive experimenting in the studio with one of the first 16-track recorders. The overhaul changed the album’s sound significantly, including the end of “Doin’ That Rag,” which originally closed with an a cappella vocal coda that was later removed.

For additional information regarding THE WARNER BROS. STUDIO ALBUMS, please contact Jason Elzy in Rhino Entertainment’s Media Relations Department at (818) 238-6220 or [email protected].

THE WARNER BROS. STUDIO ALBUMS
Track Listing

Grateful Dead
Side One
1. “The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)”
2. “Beat It on Down the Line”
3. “Good Morning Little School Girl”
4. “Cold Rain and Snow”
5. “Sitting on Top of the World”
6. “Cream Puff War”

Side Two
1. “(Walk Me Out in the) Morning Dew”
2. “New, New Minglewood Blues”
3. “Viola Lee Blues”

Anthem of the Sun
Side One
1. “That’s It for the Other One”
I. “Cryptical Envelopment”
II. “Quadlibet for Tenderfeet”
III. “The Faster We Go, The Rounder We Get”
IV. “We Leave the Castle”
2. “New Potato Caboose”
3. “Born Cross-Eyed”

Side Two
1. “Alligator”
2. “Caution (Do Not Stop on Tracks) ”

Aoxomoxoa
Side One
1. “St. Stephen”
2. “Dupree’s Diamond Blues”
3. “Rosemary”
4. “Doin’ That Rag”
5. “Mountains of the Moon”
6. “China Cat Sunflower”
7. “What’s Become of the Baby”
8. “Cosmic Charlie”

Workingman’s Dead
Side One
1. “Uncle John's Band”
2. “High Time”
3. “Dire Wolf”
4. “New Speedway Boogie”

Side Two
1. “Cumberland Blues”
2. “Black Peter”
3. “Easy Wind”
4. “Casey Jones”

American Beauty
Side One
1. “Box of Rain”
2. “Friend of the Devil”
3. “Sugar Magnolia”
4. “Operator”
5. “Candyman”
6. “Ripple”
7. “Brokedown Palace”
8. “Till the Morning Comes”
9. “Attics of My Life”
10. “Truckin’”

 

Any idea if dead.net charges your credit card when the order is placed, or do they wait until the item ships?

I'm trying to decide if the "exclusive" single is worth the extra expense - SoundStageDirect.com currently has this set priced at $121.49 with free shipping.

Pat

 

Wow-that's a really nice looking set.

 

Another wasted opportunity. This box should have included BOTH mono and stereo mixes of the debut LP, BOTH versions/mixes of Aoxomoxoa and Anthem Of The Sun, and, for discographical continuity, Live/Dead.

 

I'm going to keep my original order. Figure it's worth the extra $13 for the Dark Star single and poster. This part of the review from the Sound Stage Direct site sure does make the set sound nice!!!

"Always sticklers for sonic quality, these pressings match the band's exacting standards by presenting the Dead's unique miasma of rock, psychedelia, folk, country, jug-band, jazz, bluegrass, and blues music on a tremendous soundstage replete with previously unheard transparency, dynamics, warmth, balance, presence, and tonality. The amounts of newfound detail and information are positively mind-blowing (the stripped-back Workingman's Dead and American Beauty now radiate with acoustic woodiness, defined body, harmonic truth, and you-are-there realism), as are the full-scale restorations of Anthem of the Sun and Aoxomoxoa".