Short but sweet

To see so many versions from the 80s and 90s ahead of this makes me a bit nauseous. This has always been my go-to version. I’ve yet to hear better. Another one that I 100% agree with Grendel on. Grendel (and everyone else here for that matter) - you should consider joining the Steve Hoffman Forum for “The Grateful Thread.” It’s been going on nonstop since 2014 and has some really good people there keeping the conversation going. There are some crazy Beatles threads and some audiophile nonsense threads on the SHF, but the Heads over there are good people. There’s also always separate threads going for the current release and the year’s Dave’s Picks. It’d be cool to hear from some of you over there where the conversation is a bit more linear. Here’s a link to The Grateful Thread if you care to see what it’s like: https://www.forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/the-grateful-thread.349350/page-3342

I hate to be this guy, but I can’t believe this is #2. Every version from May ‘77 should be ahead of this, especially 5/4, 5/11, 5/17 and 5/21 but even 5/5, 5/13 and 5/25. Jerry’s voice is kind of shot on this one, and I really don’t dig the upbeat tempo. It is refreshing to hear the Wolf on a Scarlet > Fire, but Keith’s electric piano has always rubbed me the wrong way. Scarlet kind of drags from about 6:00 to 9:00, but starts to pick up again around 10:00 or so. It then drops off again shortly before the transition, which is pretty lackluster to say the least and doesn’t start to pick up again until around 2:00 into Fire. Fire is very similar to Scarlet. There are some really great stretches, but then some stretches that kind of drag. All in all, this version has some incredible bursts of brilliant, creative energy (particularly from Jer), but doesn’t hold up all that well as a whole.

Thank you Quinn for helping this get some well-deserved attention! I’m glad to see it’s at least moved from my initial vote to 3 votes. Jerry’s licks during this short couple minute jam are some of the most gorgeous I’ve ever heard. I have high hopes that this will be released someday. At least for now we have a fantastic sounding Miller board.

The more I listen to the top 10 versions here the more I realize that, for me, this is the one. 11/21/73 is another one I absolutely love that I don’t think gets enough attention here.

I agree with cgarces. It’s a nice version, but I don’t understand how it’s #1 - and not only #1 but so far ahead of everything else. How 5/7/77 and 5/9/77 are so far behind this is very puzzling to me.