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Carrion_Crow

Stealth Head

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Submissions

14
Mister Charlie
Aug. 7, 1971
Golden Hall

Jerry leans into it with a jaw-tighteningly crisp and high-voltage tone for a killer solo, though the group is a bit loose. Pigpen sounds amazing.
6
Rosalie McFall
Sept. 26, 1980
Warfield Theater

Absolute goodness. These shows are all so beautiful, the playing is all virtuoso, and the feeling is so positive. Brent here is especially perfect.
2
Dark Hollow
Sept. 26, 1980
Warfield Theater

Perfect. Bobby's silky voice, Gerry's understated but perfect picking, and Brent's barrelhouse honkytonk all on proud display.
1
The Other One
Sept. 23, 1976
Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke U

Poor sound quality midway through, but its the first '76 set since the hiatus that goes off-the-rails weird, evoking the Wall of Sound era. Hot stuff.
2
Samson and Delilah
Sept. 23, 1976
Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke U

Bobby tears it up, not just vocally, but through brilliant guitar work

Comments

The Other One
March 20, 1977
Winterland Arena

This one has a great arc to it. They cruise at warp6 for 10 hot minutes before leaving the jaw-grinding peak for a blissful spaceout. It's gripping as they find their way into Stella. Shout out to Keith, who just as they're coming into that peaceful interlude hits on a 4 over 12 vamp that I hadn't heard before, adding to the beauty.
St. Stephen
March 20, 1977
Winterland Arena

The outro jam is pretty special, warts and all. I love the few post-hiatus versions that have a clear "bell" jam before the last shout. Here it starts around 7:50 with repeating bass notes that sound like booming church bells, just like the lyrics tell us.
Promised Land
March 20, 1977
Winterland Arena

Jerry is just ripping it up here, as he is throughout the show.
Samson and Delilah
March 20, 1977
Winterland Arena

Shuffles along a bit loose until Jerry takes his solo after the second chorus that just rips the sky apart with his buzz saw. On the C. Miller edition you can hear some of Bobby's cool counterpoint spurring Jerry on that's missing too often from other versions.
Scarlet Begonias
March 20, 1977
Winterland Arena

That ending scrambled some brains, my god. That said, I can't be the only one who thinks that for all if its glory, Scarlet/Fire gave up the awesome lead-up to Scarlet's punctuated ending (here beginning around minute 11:00) that couldn't be regained when it always morphed into FoTM. But can we also have a moment for that rising intensity Jerry-driven insanity starting with the solo after "let her pass by"? Keith's kool kooky Kraftwerky keyboards also give this a nice Mars-era throwback sound (like the Phil and Ned stuff) during the slow sizzle period before that oooooh god-yes ending.