It took me about 3 years to get them all, but I just purchased the last two Europe 72 shows. That was the Grateful Dead at their finest hour. 1977 was also another notable year as I think Keith Godchaux added a nice soft touch on the piano and kept the music simple and true to the roots.......I have all of the Dicks Picks and some are better than others and No#25 stands out for me.......so far I have all of Dave's Pick's and actually waiting for No#17 to be delivered today. I have not found them as good as the shows picked for Dicks Picks....in my opinion,
The Dead also had some highlights in the eighties with Bret Mydland who was very good ......but they seemed to have moved away from the country / blue roots that I personally enjoyed. The band got even moved heavily involved with different drugs of choice from cocaine to heroin which unfortunately made Jerry just an average guitar player.......he got sloppy and lazy at live shows which I was there for a bunch and can attest to.
There are a couple of box sets for the 90-91 tour and one is sold out and they are good at best. You can totally dismiss the Vince Welnick era of Dead. That was a very dad time and was the ultimately the end of that band.
