Best Grateful Dead recording?

Another plug for "Dozin' at the Knick". It's also HDCD encoded.

I'd like to add
"Europe '72", "Wake of the Flood" and "From the Mars Hotel"

echoing everyone above, the dick's picks are almost uniformly great. without a net has it's moments - i especially like the looks like rain on that recording. the other ones album has great versions of sugaree and friend of the devil and is certainly worth checking out...however, if you want the best, look for a bootleg of the dead's cornell 1977 show - great songs, great playing...many decent recordigs of this show exist and you can sometimes find somebody to burn you a copy on a dead message board. you may also be able to find a copy at an independent cd/record store (these still exist, right?). i bought a cd copy of this show at an indie shop in nyc and while it was pricy ($50), it was well worth it...lots of great dead music out there...enjoy the journey

Just don't forget to look at the image of "Mars Hotel" in the mirror while held upside down.

Ericd74,
50 bucks for 5/8/77 on cd? Ouch! That's a very common and uniformly great sounding tape/cd, if my burner weren't currently on the fritz I'd burn the person who started this thread a copy right now. A note to all, there are two many ways to get bootlegs for free, don't pay for them without doing some searching. That being said I don't advocate burning any copyrighted recording, just boots.