Grateful Dead Dave's Pick's Volume 48 ......time to put a fork in this !


I am a collector of this band's material and have been since the 70's. Fast forward about 20 years and bought all of Dick's Picks volumes and really enjoyed them all. Rhino pushed out '' Road Trips '' series which was when the Grateful Dead had Rhino distribute their live shows which were made up of partial shows and were okay at beat. I have all of those as well. Then picked up all of the box sets and there are a lot of those and some were mixed and recorded by Dan Healy which all of them sound like they were recorded under water or by a 12 year old. A lot of them were terrible sounding and he should have been sent to Siberia.

Then David Lemiux picked up the series after Dick Latvala passed and has put out 48 volumes of complete shows and most of them aren't too bad if they were recorded by Kid Candelero or especially by Better Cantor Jackson ........you can tell her stuff right off the bat or even Owsley Bear's stuff.

But the last one and a bunch before volume 48 are just bad.....it seems like they may have got to the bottom of the barrel and are just pushing these put now. I did although reluctantly sign up for the 2024 subscription but just can't help but feel that the quality in sound or the show itself was just not in the same league as others when this journey for them began doing this.

The mid year big box sets have been pretty good for the most part and maybe they should concentrate on just doing those for now. Also, the Dead and Rhino could skip all of the elaborate and sometimes just silly art work on those box sets and bring the price down on them. Some of that stuff is just unnecessary. 

So would like to hear from other's on what their thoughts are on if the Grateful Dead Dave Pick's Series has run its course .......thanks and stay well.  

     

garebear

I was a collector of Dick's Picks, Road Trips and Dave's Picks. I lost enthusiasm for the same reasons the OP and StuartK stated.

I recently brought a boxful of CDs to a reseller, and he gave me full price on my DP, RT and DavP sets. Clearly, the GD live releases are still very popular, both as GD official releases, which sell-out, and the resale market, which sell for $$$.

Just wondering out loud when the GD archives will run out of shows?

…….hello stuartk , you can buy Dave’s Pick’s on their own and not in the subscription format. The good shows sell out quickly . 

I have surfed a bunch of Dick’s Picks but to my ear Go to Nassau (2002 release of May 15/16 1980 concert) is a cut above, sonically. 

Maybe this is why (via Wikipedia): "The shows were recorded for the King Biscuit Flower Hour and selections were originally broadcast on FM radio stations, on June 22, 1980. "

I have every one of the annual GD box sets, and they all sound great as far as I'm concerned. Not all the performances were great (the St Louis box set was kind of a waste as far as that's concerned),

But the sound quality has been fine, except for a few occasions where the problem was the PA in the venue, and they generally got these fixed after a few songs.

I also have all the Dicks Picks on CD, but none of the Dave's Picks - I can only go for so much.... but I've lately been buying the live vinyl LP boxes...