Grateful Dead: Dick's Picks 26

Recorded but a few months after the shows that formed Live Dead, and featuring a spellbinding version of the 'Dark Star'/'St. Stephen'/'The Eleven' medley that was that album's centerpiece, this Dick's Picks stands as a worthy counterpoint to what is one of the greatest live albums in rock 'n' roll history. Add in the fact it also captures the band working on material for the forthcoming album Aoxomoxoa'including an incredible version of Mountains of the Moon'and serves up a real live Dead rarity with Pigpen's rendition of Jimmy Reed's 'I Know It's a Sin,' and it's little wonder that this volume is almost universally regarded as a prime Pick. Disc one presents excerpts from the Chicago show, leading off with four straight songs from Aoxomoxoa before diving deep into an epic 'Cryptical Envelopment'/'The Other One' and concluding with the first three songs from the Minneapolis show, which appears here in its entirety. Disc two features the aforementioned 'Dark Star'/'St. Stephen'/'The Eleven' medley and winds up with the always stirring 'Morning Dew.' Disc One 1. Dupree’s Diamond Blues 2. Mountains of the Moon 3. China Cat Sunflower 4. Doin’ That Rag 5. Cryptical Envelopment 6. The Other One 7. The Eleven 8. The Other One 9. I Know It’s a Sin 10. Turn on Your Lovelight 11. Me and My Uncle 12. Sitting on Top of the World Disc Two 1. Dark Star 2. St. Stephen 3. The Eleven 4. Turn on Your Lovelight 5. Morning Dew