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
I was thinking about this thread on my drive home from work and wanted to add my top 5 (Dead and/or Jerry Band):

1. American Beauty - this was the first Dead I ever heard. I was listening to Box of Rain and thought to myself...now I get it! It's my sentimental #1 and it sounds insane!
2. Jerry Garcia Band - the 1990 shows. It's the ARISTA double CD in the grey trimmed case. This baby sounds rediculous!
3. Dick's Dick's Vol 24 Daly City - the wall of sound did not make for quality recordings (no bottom end in the voices ), but man this is a cool show.
5. The rest of Dick's Picks are all tied for #5. Once you fall in love with the music, the sound doesn't matter anymore! Remember when all we had were cassette tapes?

Maybe one day we'll get a Dick's Picks on DVD-A or SACD?
PS. I'm all over that Fillmore show Jond!
audio quality aside, dix pix vol 4, the valentine's day show in 70 at the fillmore east. has the greatest dark star ever, complete w/ the feeling groovy jam midstream on disc 1. ---i dare say that one song is the very best performance they ever had, and i have about 1000 dead cds (studio, comp, live, bootlegs).

the 77 shows from dix pix are quite good, as is the rosemary arista cd (live dead). studio: american beauty or workingman's is where to go.

rhyno
echoing everyone above, the dick's picks are almost uniformly great. without a net has it's moments - i especially like the looks like rain on that recording. the other ones album has great versions of sugaree and friend of the devil and is certainly worth checking out...however, if you want the best, look for a bootleg of the dead's cornell 1977 show - great songs, great playing...many decent recordigs of this show exist and you can sometimes find somebody to burn you a copy on a dead message board. you may also be able to find a copy at an independent cd/record store (these still exist, right?). i bought a cd copy of this show at an indie shop in nyc and while it was pricy ($50), it was well worth it...lots of great dead music out there...enjoy the journey