A tight, upbeat, thrilling version from the legendary March 1990 Knick run.

Concise performance with great Garcia solo

Pigpen leads the band on an acid-drenched, climactic R&B jam.

Mandolin and gospel harmonies help the crowd come down from a very lysergic show.

This China>Rider deserves wider recognition. The transitional jam was still being developed, but the sheer psychedelic energy on display here is unparalleled by any other version except 8/27/72. To understand why this is so hot, some setlist context is required. This isn't some first set warmup China>Rider; this is a second set closer, a barnburner segueing directly out of what is arguably the hottest Dark Star > St. Stephen combo ever. This is the Lovelight slot, the NFA>GDTRFB>NFA showstopper slot, where the band pulls out all the stops and sprints to the finish, and the band is ON FIRE. The instrumental interplay is telepathic, the vocal harmonies during Rider are American Beauty perfect (Phil's voice sounds great!), and Jerry's fingerpicking is lightning fast. Jerry sounds achingly youthful singing "I wish I was a headlight on a northbound train" and the band brings Rider to a roaring peak before ending the show. This is ethereal, supernatural music, and no other version can quite compare.

Harpur College 5/2/70 was the first Man's World I heard, and it remains the definitive version, but I've always been searching for another good one. Unfortunately, they just didn't play it often enough to realize its full potential. In its penultimate performance, however, the band discovers a portal to the same psychedelic R&B dimension they used to traverse via Smokestack Lightnin' (see, e.g., 3/3/68). They lock in around 8:00 and for the next minute and a half, Jerry just shreds it.

6/24/70 is a notoriously psychedelic show featuring incredibly high-energy jams and the kind of unexpected segues that occur when the band and audience become one pulsing consciousness. Some of these 1970 shows with the New Riders of the Purple Sage would last all night and blow a few minds, so the band often brought the audience gently back to earth with an acoustic number like We Bid You Goodnight, Cold Jordan, or Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. Ken Lee's audience tape captures the blissed-out exhaustion of the crowd which, like an overtired kid who refuses to go to bed, clamors for the Dead to play on. A young woman warbles along slightly off-key near the mikes, but it just adds to the down-home charm of this great song.

This is my all-time favorite China>Rider. It starts with a gentle, exploratory melody from Jerry, which is buttressed by Phil's peppy bass line. Billy drops in with a crisp beat, and Bobby just nails the distinctly lysergic repeating melody that really defines the China Cat sound. As with many great Dead performances, it really reaches the next level when Bobby feels his oats and steps up to jam with Jerry. He's way up in the mix on this gorgeous soundboard, and leads the jam out of China Cat with exceptional vigor and boldness. Keith chimes in with some nice piano work underneath Bobby, then they hand it off to Jerry and the fun really starts. Bobby doesn't back off right away, and his weird rhythm chords goad Jerry into some interesting spaces, but Phil, Keith, and Billy are on it and steer everyone towards the classic '73 China>Rider transitional jam. Jerry starts picking like crazy over Keith and Bobby's rich chord changes, and Phil is just carpet-bombing the soundscape. They ride the whitewater of this jam until the final crescendo empties like a waterfall into Rider. They barely come up for air before sweeping downriver. There's a huge cut on the SBD but it's very cleanly patched with a very nice AUD. This is an epic China>Rider from and epic show. Don't miss the Box of Rain (also my all-time favorite).

This Althea builds very slowly, reaches an absolutely breathtaking climax during the jam, then drops quietly back into the final verse like nothing ever happened. Back in high school, my friends and I spent hours driving around in my Chevy Caprice station wagon playing this song, rewinding the tape, and playing it again. My growing neurons mapped onto Jerry's solo and nothing's ever been the same.