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find the best versions of grateful dead songs

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Carrion_Crow

Stealth Head

+49742


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

Dark Star
July 26, 1972
Paramount Theater

Sublime intro jam, that goes into a Bird Song-like jam around minute 8 just before the first verse. The Phil and Billy-driven transition jam then sets up some modal jazz that prefigures their '74 sound. It's deep, long, and cruising like a ship out of orbit and gearing up to Warp 10. We then re-enter with some beautiful melodicism for a bit just before the madness kicks in with what sounds like Phil or Bobby strumming their axes with a cello bow (weird space bugs and giant vibrating jellyfish). This turns into a white-knuckler not for the feint of heart. Don't let the sweetness of the first sections fool you: This isn't entry-level Dead. Moderate your dose according to need/experience. :^)
St. Stephen
Sept. 19, 1970
Fillmore East

Perfect description by the sleuth here. And if there's any doubt, just listen to the waves of happiness sweeping over the audience as they transition to it from that eternal Dark Star right before. There's just no way this was going to ever turn out wrong. This is the kind of Stephen-love that got me on the bus as a baby head back in the day.
Black Throated Wind
July 26, 1972
Paramount Theater

Great version with a soaring climax, but here's a slight correction on the first comment: Bobby threatens to kill Bear, and then offers the contract to the roadies. If you know anything about the Dead's crew, this was a much more credible threat! :^)
Bird Song
July 25, 1972
Paramount Theater

Good comment Grendel. I think the June-July '72 shows are all underrated here. There isn't a clunker amongst them, and they show one of the bands great transitions between the workshopped excellence of Europe (22 shows in a month and a half....) and the freeflowing insanity of the Berkeley and Venata epics just around the corner. They just aren't as well known, but they're every bit as wonderful. Also, can any of us really imagine what they were going through watching Pigpen fade out in such pain? And yet there they were playing music like this almost every day. What a legacy.
Morning Dew
July 22, 1972
Paramount Northwest Theatre

Jerry just keeps finding one more gear to kick it into. "Shredding" doesn't even begin to describe it.