An explosive reading of the tune. Maybe Billy had an inkling beforehand and just wanted to be sure ya'll knew it was still a cowboy number.

A very nice 'lush' version nominated in the ongoing attempt to evaluate all of Dick's picks.

Gotten good mileage outta this one the last few months.

Proud and upstanding part of a great sequence. Phil is at the top of his game in one of his greatest of bass-playing years.

This is most notable, I'd say, for the absolutely nuclear bomb that Phil drops during the 'Space' portion. Play it loud on a big rig!

Excellent. Jerry takes a nice, long and inspired lead that despite going many places never strays from the heart of the tune. Nice pick.

A Playin'>Comes a Time>Playin' sandwich. The jam starts a little pensive, like a door being opened onto a vast empty space, but nice things soon begin to happen. Indeed, there a couple of passages in this one that are just downright excellent.

I was inspired to revisit this version after reading about it on the archive recently and was hoping to read some comments about it here, only to find that it hadn't yet been listed. I had always remembered that the transition back into Playin' was very dramatic, like getting hit by a wave that you never saw coming. I was impressed by Jerry's singing. It seems as though he focuses on it to the point of excluding any flourishes or accents with his guitar, save for the solos of course. But that's okay, as the accompaniment is very tight: you could listen exclusively to any member on this performance and be well-rewarded. I'll only mention Keith by asking, Did he ever sound more like Bill Evans than here, with that crystalline-like sustain and airiness?

I agree, Grendel. Every vintage of the band had its own unique suite of peak-potentials, and this version definitely captures the magic that this vintage could create.

Very, very fine stuff.