“ With Live at the Cow Palace, Grateful Dead Productions’ newly-formed alliance with Rhino is off to an auspicious start. The three-CD New Year’s Eve 1976 is a stunning performance; its combination of improvisational restraint and sense of adventure embroiders a diverse selection of songs.

The Grateful Dead do take a couple of numbers to gain traction. Jerry Garcia graces Chuck Berry’s “Promised Land” with a couple of gaffes, while “Bertha” is the sound of the septet just beginning to flex its collective muscle. A clutch of structured tunes, including the graceful ballet “The Love Each Other” and a truly poignant “Looks Like Rain” (where vocalist Donna Godchaux keeps herself in check) allows the group to marshal its strength.

The Dead bring a potent force to bear through a forty-minute “Playing' in the Band.” The piece has at least three distinct themes interwoven throughout free playing, but it is nevertheless only the first peak of the evening in San Francisco. The sequence of material illustrates archivist David Lemieux's observations in the liner notes well: at the end of a year following vacation, the group sounds vibrant on tunes of recent vintage, such as “Scarlet Begonias,” and chestnuts to be like “Not Fade Away” remain fresh.

Tracklisting:

CD 1 (total time - 59:05):

01. Promised Land
02. Bertha
03. Mama Tried
04. They Love Each Other
05. Looks Like Rain
06. Deal
07. Playing In The Band

CD 2 (total time - 62:04):

01. Sugar Magnolia
02. Eyes Of The World
03. Wharf Rat
04. Good Lovin'
05. Samson & Delilah
06. Scarlet Begonias

CD 3 (total time - 69:11):

01. Around And Around
02. Help On The Way
03. Slipkknot!
04. Drums
05. Not Fade Away
06. Morning Dew
07. One More Saturday Night
08. Uncle John's Band
09. We Bid You Goodnight

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