In All About Jazz, Doug Collette wrote, "By the time the New Riders appeared at the Academy of Music in November of 1972, commencing what would turn out to be a holiday tradition of sorts in the Big Apple, they had coalesced into a tightly-knit quintet... Two studio releases this same year, Gypsy Cowboy (Columbia, 1972) and Powerglide (Columbia, 1972) had helped crystallize a collective persona for the NRPS: slightly tongue-in-cheek and more than just a little psychedelic.... While this nearly two-hour recording isn't exactly overflowing with presence, the mix is nevertheless clear enough to reveal the potency of the musicians, individually and as a unit."[5]
In Elmore Magazine, Lou Montesano said, "The release of a two-disc recording of the New Riders of the Purple Sage’s 1972 Thanksgiving show at the New York Academy of Music is something to be thankful for. The New Riders, NRPS among their many hard-core fans, have their place in American music as the creators of a psychedelic country rock sound more aligned with the Grateful Dead's bluegrass roots than the high harmonies of the Byrds.... This recording represents the finest lineup of the band’s early years."[6]
Lost Live Dead wrote, "... the '72 band was road tested and battle hardened. They played a wide variety of originals and covers, rocking hard while the melodies soared. By then, Garcia's pedal steel chair had been taken by the great Buddy Cage, and Cage took Garcia's basic melodic template and exploded it into a remarkable kaleidoscope of sweet picking and sharp sustain."[7]
