The Grateful Dead are one of rocks seminal acts, but curiously better known for their long, mazy and intricate live performances than any work they did in the studio. Perhaps the definitive American band, their heyday was in the 1970’s when they performed some of the most intellectually challenging, yet melodic and even funky music thus recorded in the genre. They were at their very best during this concert, which has been cleaned up and released for the first time. The band never objected to their live performances being bootlegged, and many of them exist, but to have this, remastered and repackaged by a major studio just shows them at their most creative. My personal highlight: the 17 minute jam that is “Sugaree”, with Jerry Garcia’s excellent guitar playing prominent throughout.