For me, there has always been a give and take between digital Dead vs analogue Dead. The advantages of digital are too numerous to discuss however there is a contrast between cassette tapes from the shoe box and the digital remasters of the Dick’s Picks going forward. To my ears, the Europe 72 remasters are remarkable while the ‘Get Shown The Light’ CD’s were a little bit of a let down. So I’m not convinced that the seemingly obvious reasons for better recorded sound are factual. I do believe that newly recorded classical music keeps on improving with newer recording technologies but that’s a different animal. That being said, Bob Weir certainly knows what he’s doing so if a recording of his sounds a certain way, I would say it’s intentional or if it’s substandard, then he just didn’t care.
