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find the best versions of grateful dead songs

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Carrion_Crow

Stealth Head

+49667


Submissions

2
Big Railroad Blues
Aug. 15, 1971
Berkeley Community Theater

Kicks off an excellent show with intense and driving energy. The quintet is super-charged and bursting with energy. One of the best versions I know.
2
Playin' In The Band
Aug. 14, 1971
Berkeley Community Theater

Packs a lot into its 4.5 short minutes. Great bass-heavy SBD gives you a Phil masterclass. Love the short ones, love the long ones....
4
Casey Jones
Aug. 5, 1971
Hollywood Palladium

Just kickin', this one. The whole show is dynamite.
2
El Paso
Aug. 4, 1971
Terminal Island Correctional Facility

One of the slower waltz versions, with lovely vocals from Cowboy Bob, who gives us a nice country warble. Sweet backup harmony and Jer being Jer.
6
China Cat Sunflower -> I Know You Rider
Aug. 4, 1971
Terminal Island Correctional Facility

Philzone masterclass. Hot and tight jam, the Rider three-part harmonies sound like some of the acoustic versions from the previous year.

Comments

Wharf Rat
June 17, 1976
Capitol Theater

The transition from LIG is just brilliant. Jerry won't let go and kicks into it like nobody's business. What follows is Grateful Dead magic. This whole show is an under-the-radar masterpiece.
Let It Grow
June 17, 1976
Capitol Theater

Fast and furious. Cut loose from the full suite, these Summer '76ers are greased lightning. Cool to hear it here as part of an expansive (but not interstellar) 2nd set full of great jams and tight arrangements. The transition into Wharf Rat is a thing of beautiful mystery, with Jerry hanging on to the jam well into the first minute of WR.
Samson and Delilah
June 17, 1976
Capitol Theater

Too easily overlooked as a Bobby toss-away in the later years, this song has deep gospel pedigree. These early ones come blazing out like you best-be-goin'-to-church. This is a terribly underrated verison, killing it with the muscle and strut of the man in the song.
Dancin' in the Streets
June 17, 1976
Capitol Theater

Endless energy! That's how. Endless creative and extra-sensory perceptive musical high-level energy. They're operating here across the electro-magnetic spectrum, drawing current from some cosmonautic source I've only glimpsed whispers of, seen in flashbang seconds of color, or whatnot. That's how, brother Glyn, that's how. But plus, if you want a cool study of how they picked up a thread and moved with it, compare this Dancin' with the ones later in the year (Sept.-Oct.) for a great taste of rapid-action evolution. Here they're still working out the form, hinting and ducking and weaving around the electric slide section. It's cool to hear them thinking in realtime.
Scarlet Begonias
June 17, 1976
Capitol Theater

Oh baby, that's a nice Scarlett, full of sweetness and light, lovely lady sounds whispered gently from within the backlighting, plus a dreamy creamy bubble-up-to-the-surface jam that just caresses. The Scarlett-without-FTM may be an acquired taste for some, but give this one a listen, let it take you awayyyyyyyy.