Bob's lyric phrasing on this version is unique. He sings it in a way so different than any I've heard before & it's inventive & super-fun. Must hear!

Best of the 80's or 90's, hands down. Picture perfect rendition: Vocals, jam fills, & finish.

Short but raging. Look beyond the length & enjoy for the fire within. Jerry attacks this from the get-go & it's awesome.

Anybody else hear a very distinctive riff of Steely Dan's "Black Friday" in the intro?

Just listen & you will believe. End jam before SSDD is a tidal wave of sound & power & beauty. A true must hear.

Best version post-callback, hands down, and really, perhaps the best ever. It's close to impossible to find another version in which Garcia doesn't mess up at least one lyric (no missteps here), and this versions just hits every note, rocks hard, has great back-up vox, and a middle jam that Jerry tears into and winds up just exactly perfect into the final two verses. Drop the mic stuff here.

Wish more folks would give this a listen and bump it WAY higher. As isles said this is an excellent sandwich version (the transition into Samson is sublime & I don't know how many times they even did this combo but I doubt there's a better one out there) but the Playin' itself--on both ends--is just spectacular: At times quiet, contemplative, at others jazzy and winding and never without focus. Keith in particular comes thru beautifully on this version and the lengthy reprise takes a sweet journey in and out of the main theme before coming back fully in a great conclusion. I believe '77 was the last truly great year for this song before it (mostly) became a lazy sort of vehicle to get into space or start a 2nd set with just a hint of exploration before heading perfunctorily into another tune, and frankly not all the versions in '77 gave it quite this level of respect and execution. Give this whole suite another try if you haven't in a while and see if you don't come away with renewed appreciation.

No longer. Too good a version to be kept under double digits, though there are better ones this same month (5/18 and 5/22, but that's a pretty high bar.)

WHAT is this doing so far down the list??? This version groooooves its way to a spectacular Jerry solo end flourish. Superior rendition deserving of far higher ranking.

Just one of the greatest free form jams the Dead have ever done, It's nearly 18 minutes long, after a brilliant He's Gone>Truckin', and traverses many universes before the SJ theme emerges. When it does, it's a flowing, confident version, but really, this jam is more an amalgam of great improv work by the whole band with a Spanish Jam being the only identifiable "separate" instrumental in the mix. Oh, and it spills into a Dark Star reprise. In all, one of the great extended stretches of musical magic the band ever performed.