If you're a died-in-the-tie-dye fan, you've probably already heard a tape of this show and will be pleased to know that here it sounds amazing; the entire three hour performance is included, mixed and mastered off of original 16-track live master recordings. If you're not already a Deadhead, Live at the Cow Palace: New Years Eve 1976 is an excellent encapsulation of mid '70s Dead. Recorded in-between 1975's invigorating Blues for Allah and 1977's dreadfully myopic Terrapin Station, it's eminently preferable to the live album Steal Yr Face, and goes a long way towards showing that the critically-maligned Godchaux era had a lot going for it. A few of the songs lumber a bit, but there's a real funkiness and versatility to this segment of the band's career that they never really had at any other time. Several stages of the band's career converge, such that the elastically funky version of the late '70s Dead, the almost jazz-fusion Dead of the early '70s, and the soft cowboy folk sound of 1970 of are all here. It's lovely. --Mike McGonigal