Best Grateful Dead recording?


I have been into the Dead for a little while now, but all I have are some "best of" comps, some cd-r's, etc. I would love a few top-5's (or whatever) of your favorite dead recordings, live or studio. Thanks, Jb3
jb3
"Nightfall of Diamonds" is a great commercial live recording. It is taken from the March 1990 run at the Meadowlands and released on Arista. Any of the "Dicks Picks" series from GDP/GDM (Grateful Dead productions/Grateful Dead Merchandising) http://www.dead.net are good too. For studio work, I would look at "Blues For Allah" and "Terrapin Station", and of course original or new releases of "American Beauty" and "Workingman's Dead". Their best work is not available anywhere except from tapers and live tape traders. If you can hook up with someone with an extensive collection, almost all of the May 1977 shows are great, as is the entire year of 1990 shows.
I concur with the recommendations made previously. In addition, you might want to get a copy of The Other Ones - "The Strange Remain". This was most of the Dead personnel (minus Jerry, RIP) along with Bruce Hornsby on keyboards and vocals and with Steve Kimock filling in the Jerry parts on guitar, captured during the Furthur Festival a few years back. *Very* well recorded live 2 HDCD set, the opening of St. Stephen/The Eleven is awesome...

If you like this kind of music, you simply *must* check out db.etree.org - hundreds of live shows recorded by amateur "tapers", the quality I have seen so far is quite impressive, better than most studio efforts. Check out the Steve Kimock Band, especially the Chester's Place shows...

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Ladies & Gentlemen, the Grateful Dead.....4 cd's live, HDCD & great sound quality.