headyversion

find the best versions of grateful dead songs

please login or register.

Carrion_Crow

Stealth Head

+49652


Submissions

16
China Cat Sunflower -> I Know You Rider
May 23, 1972
Strand Lyceum

A more rocking version than others from the time, and oddly overlooked. Jumps off Cat right away into the long transition. Energetic stuff here.
13
Black Throated Wind
May 23, 1972
Strand Lyceum

Is there a single one from '72 that doesn't end in triumph? This song just got better and better throughout Europe. Surprised this wasn't here yet.
11
Sugar Magnolia
May 13, 1972
Lille Fairgrounds

Perfect musical sunshine. This one even got my not-at-all-into-the-Dead wife to dance around like a trippin' hippy, so you know it's good.
15
Truckin'
May 13, 1972
Lille Fairgrounds

Unforgivable that you guys overlook Truckin'. There's a reason it's the one song non-heads know. This one is a forgotten colossus. Listen up.
8
Mister Charlie
May 13, 1972
Lille Fairgrounds

Distinctly slower, with a greasier funk vibe. Surprised it isn't here. Different from the others and lots of fun.

Comments

Drums
Dec. 31, 1978
Winterland Arena

Answer my own question: apparently Ken Kesey and others were sitting in, according to the good folks over at the archive. What a time they must of been having, eh?
Not Fade Away
Dec. 31, 1978
Winterland Arena

To grok this beautiful monster with its odd slow groove intro you've really got to hear it emerge from the ultra goo of the 19:00 Drums before it. This is massive stuff: the Dead had performed NFA over 200 times by this point; they could phone it in if they wanted to, but no: they find some obscure filament connecting it to a subtle hint of the groove deep in a free flowing Drums, and so what do they do? They play it differently, that's what they do, reconstituting it, shaping it into something new. Not Dark Star or Playin', but Not freaking-Fade Away, their clap-along love anthem to the fans. Bravo. John Cipollina and whoever was blowing blues harp give it a nice spin, too.
Samson and Delilah
Dec. 31, 1978
Winterland Arena

Kicks off the set like they mean business. Killer version.
High Time
June 9, 1976
Boston Music Hall

Glad you dig it Unstrucksound. Hating on Donna Jean isn't my bag and we give credit where credit is due.
Scarlet Begonias -> Fire On The Mountain
Dec. 31, 1978
Winterland Arena

Lost this cassette over 20 years ago and just hearing it again. It's even better than I remembered. A bit slower than others from the time? Maybe they were holding the tempo down a touch, knowing that they had all night to go and over three hours of solid to come. In any case the soloing is the stuff of pristine, lucid dreams and the energy is full of love.