headyversion

find the best versions of grateful dead songs

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grendel

Books and Music

+24637


Submissions

1
Aiko Aiko
Feb. 23, 1993
Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

Hey Now! Played on Mardi Gras day with 10 minute drum percussion lead-in to start the 2nd set! You'll like what the Big Chief say.
3
Space
March 16, 1990
Capital Centre

Not Space, but since there's no category for "jam" this beautiful calypso improv out of WomenRsmarter will have to do (also has an "Eyes" tease)
2
Greatest Story Ever Told
Oct. 9, 1982
Frost Amphitheatre

From the show always overshadowed by the next night, which is a shame. Fantastic Jerry/Brent conversation mid-jam. Give a listen!
11
Let It Grow
June 10, 1976
Boston Music Hall

Liquid
5
Althea
July 1, 1980
San Diego Sports Arena

3 versions on archive. Grab the SBD seeded by Brian Cole. Listen to the insane end jam. Listen to the whole thing. This is an A+++ version!

Comments

Scarlet Begonias -> Fire On The Mountain
Oct. 16, 1977
Louisiana State U

^^^^Excellent! I look forward to hearing your recommendations, especially for those lower ranked but worthy of upvote and for some that may not have come up yet.
Scarlet Begonias -> Fire On The Mountain
Oct. 16, 1977
Louisiana State U

Had an epiphany re-listening to this one, and while there are more glorious '77 versions than you can wave a flag at, this one deserves to be among the highest ranked, and so gets a long overdue upvote here. The Scarlet is letter perfect with a fantastic bridge jam, the bridge to Fire starts mellow and smooth with just the right amount of scat from Donna--nothng overwhelming, quite pretty--and then the Fire really sets itself apart from most of its '77 brethren. IF one had to find fault with this tune in this year it would be with a certain amount of repetitiveness in the jamming between verses (and frankly, the same could be said for later versions as well), but this one never loses focus and actually wanders into territory most others don't. There's a lot of interesting variation in tone and notes that Garcia brings forth and as others have mentioned in the comments the closing jam is likely to blow the doors off the barn. It feel like every version of Scarlet>Fire ever performed has already been listed here and I get how so many truly worthy versions can get lost in the weeds but I'm making it a personal mission to push this one at the very least into the 20's in terms of votes. Give a listen to this again if you haven't recently and if you agree, offer a boost, will ya?
Brokedown Palace
May 18, 1977
Fox Theatre

I can't find a better version than this one. Nowhere else do the vocals sound so sweet and complimentary of each other, and even Donna haters will have to admit she is spectacular here. And it's May '77 so the playing itself is virtually spotless. The "Eyes" from this show is also grossly underrated on the ladder.
Eyes Of The World
Oct. 29, 1977
Evans Field House, Northern Illinois University

^^^^ Really glad you're digging this version. It's my all-time far and away favorite so I can't point you to another that quite rises to that level but if you are looking for other great versions I am partial to '77 and would highly recommend 5/18/77 as perhaps runner up to this. 5/15/77 is also a winner and then there's the 2/3/78 version from DP 18 that's pretty jaw-dropping. Other great '77's to check out would be 11/4/77 and 11/5/77 (both DPs, one Dave, one Dick) and give Egypt '78 some attention...very underrated version there.
Spanish Jam
July 19, 1974
Selland Arena

It's a good one, very deep and dark and driving, and absolutely melts into a pretty terrific Eyes.