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find the best versions of grateful dead songs

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Carrion_Crow

Stealth Head

+49737


Submissions

2
Looks Like Rain
Sept. 23, 1976
Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke U

No doubt with a better source this would be high up on the list. Listen to Jerry's supersonic flyby as Bobby and Donna caress the out chorus.
2
Lazy Lightnin' -> Supplication
Sept. 23, 1976
Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke U

Help us Charlie Miller, you're our only hope! Seriously though, this is a blisteringly hot version. Don't miss it.
1
Dancin' in the Streets
Aug. 26, 1976
Club Front Studio

Very cool studio rehearsals with new grooves and wildly flanged sound. Fall '76 versions are some of the best, and here they are still in the egg.
7
The Music Never Stopped
Aug. 4, 1976
Roosevelt Stadium

Jerry tears this one apart with a shredding solo. The link here is bass-heavy SBD with some decay, but just brilliant playing by all.
3
Goin' Down The Road Feelin' Bad
Aug. 2, 1976
Colt Park

Notable for a 6-min opening jam that comes out of Wharf Rat, very cool, mislabeled "Drums". The GDTRFB smokes too.

Comments

Truckin'
Aug. 22, 1972
Berkeley Community Theatre

I always say, if you want to know how well the boys were feeling it on any given night, listen to the Truckin'. Is it phoned in? It will show up. Is it a super-charged and diesel fueled cozmik 18-wheeler? It'll let you know. This one, safe to say is in the super-charged category, and needs more love here.
Playin' In The Band
Aug. 22, 1972
Berkeley Community Theatre

Oh hell yessssssssss. This one has the beautiful 'hot mellow' sound that really comes into play later on, around spring-summer '73. It's somehow lightning quick, wild, and reckless, but still constantly in the pocket, laid back just behind the beat. I think it's driven by a Phil/Billy unity with washes of sound from Keith allowing our guitar boys to dig in deep. Beautiful Miller mix helps hear everyone perfectly. Perfect ensemble jamming here.
Bird Song
Aug. 22, 1972
Berkeley Community Theatre

CuddlyBear: Damn close, if not the best week ever. There are a couple of weeks like this that I can think of: Late Feb. '73, last week Nov - first Dec. '73 again, first week of Dec. '71, May '70 (ooooh mercy), June '74 and of course we can all argue about certain parts of '77. I'm not so up on my 80s Dead, but I bet somebody can point out these wonderous peaks of perfection. I won't try to rank them, but every once in a while they just nailed everything perfectly song after song, show after show. This Birdsong here is why I listen to the Dead, over and over and over again.
Greatest Story Ever Told
Aug. 22, 1972
Berkeley Community Theatre

As powerful and driven as any. This one cooks.
Weather Report Suite
May 19, 1974
Portland Memorial Coliseum

The keyboard work is sublime, Bob's vox is in perfect form (even if he flubs a verse, but so what), and Donna Jean was having her arguably best show of '74 if not the whole WoS era. Also, the pace is mellower which allows for fully realized musical ideas in a brilliant excursus through LIG's transitive orbit through the seasons' change, and there's even a moment's Slipknot tease at 10:34. There you have it: Peak Dead.