Best Grateful Dead recording?

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

Another plug for "Dozin' at the Knick". It's also HDCD encoded.

I'd like to add
"Europe '72", "Wake of the Flood" and "From the Mars Hotel"

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

Just don't forget to look at the image of "Mars Hotel" in the mirror while held upside down.