Jerry leans into it with a jaw-tighteningly crisp and high-voltage tone for a killer solo, though the group is a bit loose. Pigpen sounds amazing.

Absolute goodness. These shows are all so beautiful, the playing is all virtuoso, and the feeling is so positive. Brent here is especially perfect.

Perfect. Bobby's silky voice, Gerry's understated but perfect picking, and Brent's barrelhouse honkytonk all on proud display.

Poor sound quality midway through, but its the first '76 set since the hiatus that goes off-the-rails weird, evoking the Wall of Sound era. Hot stuff.

Bobby tears it up, not just vocally, but through brilliant guitar work

Hey Darkstar67: I totally dig what you're saying here, and agree that focusing in on Mr. K's work is always rewarding. It's one of the harder things to admit, though, that as much as I love Mickey, the one drummer period is musically more interesting to me. The synchronicity and telepathy of Billy and Mickey was undeniably powerful, but the ability for Billy to contribute as a full improvisational member of the collective was much greater as a solo drummer (in my opinion, but also, I think in his too). I'm not trying to dis Mickey or the great drums/space era, and hey, I got on the bus in the 80s, so with the exception of a pile of old Maxell 90s from earlier eras, the two drummer setup is the Dead I knew and followed until the archive was bestowed upon us. I just hear Billy's work from '72-74 and think, damn: Here's someone who plays the drums melodically, and can converse as a musical equal with Jerry and Phil (and Keith and Bobby), and you can stand his work up next to anything by the greatest drummers of our age: Tony Williams, Jack Dejohnette, Elvin Jones, or John Bonham, or Billy Cobham, or even, (gasp!) Keith Moon.

Robot Apocalypse thanks to Phil and Ned. Grinding sky saws and 6th-dimension alien machinewars probably ripped through more than one sensitive head and laid them out with one grindingly bad trip. Me: I love this stuff. Not cuz I'm a badass (I'm not) but because I'm a Freak who loves being blasted into a billion molecule-sized sound nuggets and reconstituted just a wee-bit furthur out. Warning: do not try to convince any newbies with this Godzilla Rampage.

Hot stuff as the band is still getting in gear and smoothing out some kinks in the Wall of Sound. Enjoy some of Ned's Martian zapgun weirdo effects during the break as they banter with the lucky lucky crowd.

This actually sounds to me more like a '74 jam than the psychedelic TOO monsters of '72. In either case, it's a beautiful long exploration, always dancing close to the madness and finally melting down in a few places. Special shout out for Keith, who sounds like he was playing with some new toys on this. Anyone know off hand what rig he was driving at these shows?

Vastly underrated. Maybe when heads think "September '72" they go straight to the Spectrum? If so, then you're missing out on a brilliant, sparkling, soaring Bird Song right here.