Live at the Cow Palace: New Years Eve 1976 [Digipak] (CD - 2007)

Audio Mixer: Jeffrey Norman.

Liner Note Author: David Lemieux.

Recording information: Cow Palace, Daly City, CA (12/31/1976).

All tracks have been digitally mastered using HDCD technology.

Photographers: Ed Perlstein; Steve Schneider.

Arrangers: Bob Weir; Grateful Dead.

The first release from the Grateful Dead's storied live vaults since Rhino Records acquired the rights to them, LIVE AT THE COW PALACE: NEW YEAR'S EVE 1976 chronicles one crazy long concert (with the Dead, is there any other kind?) that started early on December 31, 1976 and ended deep into the wee hours on January 1, 1977. The raucous atmosphere befits the proceedings, but also suggests that this show was a homecoming, as the band returned to its San Francisco for the occasion.

Long criticized by the lay audience for all their meandering tendencies, this set finds the Godchaux-era Dead emphasizing their song craft by plucking hummable gems from all across their catalog. The set quickly turns into a night of essentially greatest hits as an inspired band rolls through "Sugar Magnolia," "Uncle John's Band," "Playing in the Band," and "Scarlet Begonias," among others. It would not be a live keeper, however, without some lengthy excursions, and LIVE AT THE COW PALACE features two of the band's trademark epic medleys--one of which contains a stirring Donna Godchaux vocal that easily refutes the argument that she was the band's most unnecessary member. minimize