Customer Reviews

Winterland June 1977: The Complete Recordings (9 CD Boxed Set)

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Rhino have really outdone themselves in every way possible on this one.

The first thing you notice is the elaborate artwork of the package, which was painstakingly and beautifully done by neo 60s rock poster artist Emek. Each of the 3 CD packages that contains each of the three shows folds out, and when put together, form a new picture.

But the packaging is just the beginning of these great shows. The sound quality is literally mind blowingly unbelievable. Each show was carefully remastered by longtime sound engnineer Jeffrey Norman, who has worked on a long list of previous Grateful Dead recordings.

Over the years, I've amassed somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 or so official live Dead releases, and can confidently say that nothing even comes close to the sound here. I will just stop writing about it now, because words can't describe the clarity and definition.

If you're reading this, you probably already know that 1977 is widely considered among the Dead's strongest. Assuming that to be true, then these 3 shows are the cream of the crop.

So sit back, get yourself properly regulated ahead of time, insert the disc, and you might just feel like you've been teleported three decades back to the legendary Winterland.

1977 is one of my favorite years for the Dead, and with the recent purchase of "Winterland June 1977: The Complete Recordings" I asked myself, what of the '77 commercial material is best in terms of sound quality? I already know which shows I enjoy based on performance, setlist and energy, but I really wanted to know which shows have the best sound and balance (instruments and vocals).

The only way I could trick myself into not being biased is make up some mixed CDs of random songs in shuffled order from all the shows, then listen to them independently and give each song its own rating. This is of course subjective as any other review you're going to find, and since my focus was primarily sound quality it is directly related to the quality of my home stereo (which is pretty decent). Just to keep things fair I also threw in one of my favorite bootlegs and an import CD.

Below you will find the results of my little test, ranked from best sound quality (#1) to worst (#15):

01) 06/08/77 - "Winterland June 1977: The Complete Recordings": Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA
02) 06/07/77 - "Winterland June 1977: The Complete Recordings": Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA
03) 05/12/77 - "Winterland June 1977: Bonus Cuts": Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL
04) 06/09/77 - "Winterland June 1977: The Complete Recordings": Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA
05) 04/30/77 - "Grateful Dead Download Series, Vol. 1": Palladium, New York City, NY
06) 11/05/77 - Dick's Picks, Vol. 34: Community War Memorial, Rochester, NY
07) 05/22/77 - Dick's Picks, Vol. 3: Sportatorium, Pembroke Pines, FL
08) 05/28/77 - "To Terrapin: Hartford '77": Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, CT
09) 05/07/77 - SBD Bootleg: Boston Garden, Boston, MA
10) 05/19/77 - Dick's Picks, Vol. 29: Fox Theatre, Atlanta, GA
11) 10/29/77 - "Play Dead" Import CD: Evans Field House, DeKalb, IL
12) 05/21/77 - Dick's Picks, Vol. 29: Lakeland Civic Center Arena, Lakeland, FL
13) 10/11-16/77 - Road Trips Vol. 1 No. 2: Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana
14) 09/03/77 - Dick's Picks, Vol. 15: Raceway Park, Englishtown, NJ
15) 12/29/77 - Dick's Picks, Vol. 10: Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA

Note: Several of the items listed here are only available on dead.net or iTunes.

1977 proved to be a watershed year for the Grateful Dead. They began the year writing and recording Terrapin Station, finishing up work on the Grateful Dead Movie and then started one of their strongest Spring tours ever (including bringing back some songs not heard since their "retirement" in '74). The band started off June by playing a fantastic show on the 4th at The Forum in Inglewood before heading back up north to the Bay Area to play a three night stand at Winterland Arena in San Francisco.

Tuesday, June 7th

This show gets off the a rocking start with a grooving Bertha. Jack Straw is a strong version which hadn't been heard in these parts in nearly three years. Tennessee Jed moves along at a nice clip and works it way into a frenzy by it's end. Looks Like Rain and Peggy-O are also well done but each is played very sweetly. We then get to go "out west" for El Paso and Friend Of The Devil. The first set ends with a blazing The Music Never Stopped with Jerry tearing up the ending.

The second set starts with a screaming Scarlet->Fire->Good Lovin'. Next up is a stunning version of Candyman followed by a pause before the jam. The jam of Estimated Prophet-> He's Gone-> Drums-> Samson And Delilah-> Terrapin Station-> Morning Dew-> Around And Around is downright amazing. The band quickly pulls it back together for a sweet Uncle John's Band and ending the night with a hot U.S. Blues.

Wednesday, June 8th

Not to be outdone by the previous show, the band comes out firing on cylinders with a hot New Minglewood Blues only to follow it with a kicking Sugaree. Mexicali Blues is very nice and Row Jimmy is well played and you can hear the drummers "rowing" in this version. I like Sunrise and this is a nice version. Brown-Eyed Women and It's All Over Now rock hard while it's nice to hear Jack-A-Roe in it's folk arrangement. Lazy Lightnin'->Supplication end the first set.

Bertha->Good Lovin' starts the second set in fine fashion with a strong Ramble On Rose following next. The Estimated->Eyes pairing stands out even in an era filled with them. The set ending The Other One->Wharf Rat->Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad->Johnny B. Goode is SOOOO powerful. I can't but wonder if the band noticed that the last five songs had also all appeared on Skull & Roses. Probably not. The encore is the first Bay Area Brokedown Palace since '74.

Thursday June 9th

The third and final show of the run finds the band opening with the only Mississippi Half-Step of the run and it is a stunner. The following Jack Straw is very strong is is followed by a couple of songs that had yet to be played during this run so far, a nice They Love Each Other and a hot Cassidy. Sunrise, Deal and Looks Like Rain are all very well done while Loser and The Music Never Stopped blow out the first set big time.

The second set starts with a strong Samson And Delilah followed by Bob trying to get people to wish the drummers a Happy Birthday and they wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. Uh...yeah...okay. The Help On The Way->Slipknot!->Franklin's Tower is MASSIVE!!! One of the best out there. The Estimated Prophet->Saint Stephen->Not Fade Away->Drums->Saint Stephen->Terrapin Station->Sugar Magnolia is just a fantastic piece of music. The encores of U.S. Blues and One More Saturday Night are just as good as the rest of this brilliant show.

Not long after this run of shows, Mickey Hart would be involved in a car accident in which he damaged some ribs and so some shows were cancelled with the band not returning until 9-3-77 at the Raceway Park show in Englishtown, NJ (Saturday) which has been released as Dick's Picks 15.

Between archive.org and commercial releases I've got more coverage of Spring '77 than any other concentrated window in the band's history. Every Head has his favorite era/run/show/track, but the seemingly universal support for this period is testament to the Dead's corresponding artistic crescendo AND the June Winterland trifecta is the season's capstone. It's a must have for each and every reason detailed by the other reviewers, as well as a few personal suprises you have yet to discover! 3 quick standouts for me: (1)the brilliant and definitive TMNS on 6/7 - Jerry begins a dazzling stretch around 3:45 and then simply goes astral at 5:45 - rivals that mind melt from Deal on 5/8/77, (2) the luminous performances of Passenger and Sunrise (superb Donna Jean!) on 6/8, and (3) the superlative play during the closing sequence on the final night (you couldn't script this!) comprising EP>St.S1>NFA>Drums>St.S2>Terrapin>SugarMag. This one's a collection cornerstone. Love and Peace, my friends.

Incidentally, check out that performance of Deal from Barton Hall (it's legal and free) at archive.org

My Older Brother had been following the DEAD for about 5 years and took me to see my first show in 1977, Englishtown. I remember because it was a graduation present he gave me... I was hooked on the crowd, the culture, and the music from that day. I still am... So, this collection purchase began as a must have because of the memories, but remains the front of all my dead tunes. for me personally, it ranks up there with Europe'72 for excellent Jams! My Brother is gone but I can still see him in my mind, he's punched out a new frontier along with Gerry, Keith, and Pig Pen, and they are all still jamming...

It's all Good Ed. Thanks for introducing me to another way of life and love...

These shows played the month I graduated high school so they were a must buy for me. What a long strange trip it'ds been!

Perfect in condition, as described brand new and sealed, package in very good condition, I can only recommend, deliverd in time. So I am very satisfied.