Grateful Dead - Dave's Picks Vol. 14: 1972-03-26 Academy of Music, New York, NY (2015)

The cold rain and snow have started to fade away and with it, we're dusting off a super hot one from a soaring seven nights at New York's old Academy of Music. On the brink of their revelatory Europe '72 tour, the Grateful Dead brought their sevenfold merriment to winter-worn Manhattan and boy, did they warm things up! Particularly on March 26 when the dual piano/Hammond combo of Godchaux and McKernan was in full effect and Alabama singer Donna Jean Godchaux began to find her vocal footing in the band's rich harmonies. Pigpen enthusiasts will surely rejoice when digging in to the early live versions of his originals - the limber “Chinatown Shuffle,” the bouncy “Mr. Charlie,” and the extremely tender “The Stranger (Two Souls in Communion),” not to mention a 21-minute classic cover of "Good Lovin'" deemed "the penultimate New York rave-up, a wild and perfect and funky showcase for a Lord Buckley-loving, Beat-reading member of the Grateful Dead, now and forever."