headyversion

find the best versions of grateful dead songs

please login or register.

Carrion_Crow

Stealth Head

+48130


Submissions

5
Mama Tried
July 17, 1976
Orpheum Theatre

It's got everything nice about the '76 sound: Crisp and clean while laid back. Perfect execution.
4
Cassidy
July 16, 1976
Orpheum Theatre

Bobby's warmup after a CRS opener helps kick off one of the best 1st sets of 1976. Part of the brief era when they mic'd and mixed Donna beautifully
4
The Wheel
July 14, 1976
Orpheum Theatre

Gets right weird as part of a deep PITB sammy. How many first set spacemelts are there in '76? Something in the water for this hometown show???
3
Looks Like Rain
July 14, 1976
Orpheum Theatre

How these guys (and gal) could turn such a cheese-ball song into massive lift-off spaceship jam event horizon is a modern miracle of music.
2
The Wheel
July 12, 1976
Orpheum Theater

Smooth running, out of a very cool, thematically coherent Drums. Beautiful harmonies. Every Wheel is an elegant treat from '76, and this is a beaut.

Comments

Cryptical Envelopment
Jan. 24, 1969
Avalon Ballroom

Intro is weirdly truncated, but the outro is a musical explosion that just blazes hot and burns down before disintegrating into a hot New Potato.
The Other One
Jan. 24, 1969
Avalon Ballroom

For the era I wouldn't say this TOO is that short. Haven't checked alternate sources, but the C. Miller on the archive has what sounds like tape damage or even a cut Cryptical intro before 8 minutes or so of blazing hot scary-ride TOO that actually goes into further thematic jamming than others of the era before re-entering the atmosphere for a ballistic Cryptical reprise that just melts rock it's so hot.
Turn On Your Love Light
Jan. 17, 1969
Civic Auditorium

This version starts rough but you can hear them searching for the pocket and coming together. By the end its a stomping colossus. I think this is the show where they struggled with the venue and were unhappy enough to consider giving money back to the audience. I can't hear that here, but it might be part of the city's bad reputation with Heads. When I was touring it hadn't hosted a show in forever, and was a still somewhat hostile to hippies and bikers and all kinds of freaks. I imagine back in '69 it was a pretty square town.
The Eleven
Jan. 17, 1969
Civic Auditorium

This is a hot version, no doubt, but everything about this era runs hot. The electric high-tension and crackling energy is something like no other era. Leave it to the gear-heads to explain why, but I think this was just at the end of the first era - before he went to jail - with Bear and his audio effect on the sound was palpable. Musically this has a few rough spots of everyone playing on top of each other, like just before transitioning into the first solo, but they always come back in and overall it's a rollicking good time more than a blow-your-face off steal, IMHO.
Eyes Of The World
Feb. 22, 1973
Assembly Hall, University of Illinois

Jerry's first two solos are radio-play perfect, and the ensemble singing on each chorus is a joyous yowp for life. To my ears it drifts out of sync a bit in the outro, but the transition to China Doll is just sublime.