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find the best versions of grateful dead songs

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Carrion_Crow

Stealth Head

+49672


Submissions

2
Big Railroad Blues
Aug. 15, 1971
Berkeley Community Theater

Kicks off an excellent show with intense and driving energy. The quintet is super-charged and bursting with energy. One of the best versions I know.
2
Playin' In The Band
Aug. 14, 1971
Berkeley Community Theater

Packs a lot into its 4.5 short minutes. Great bass-heavy SBD gives you a Phil masterclass. Love the short ones, love the long ones....
4
Casey Jones
Aug. 5, 1971
Hollywood Palladium

Just kickin', this one. The whole show is dynamite.
2
El Paso
Aug. 4, 1971
Terminal Island Correctional Facility

One of the slower waltz versions, with lovely vocals from Cowboy Bob, who gives us a nice country warble. Sweet backup harmony and Jer being Jer.
6
China Cat Sunflower -> I Know You Rider
Aug. 4, 1971
Terminal Island Correctional Facility

Philzone masterclass. Hot and tight jam, the Rider three-part harmonies sound like some of the acoustic versions from the previous year.

Comments

Franklin's Tower
June 7, 1975
Bob Weir's Studio

I mean track 3 on the Archive. I haven't gotten to the two or three other versions on this date. What a treasure.
Crazy Fingers
June 22, 1976
Tower Theatre

Some of the clearest ensemble playing on this notoriously difficult song. The form, chord changes, meter, and pacing (slower tempos, but still shredding) make this a beast to perform tightly, but they nail it here. Perhaps my favorite GD lyrics of all times, depending on my mood.
Crazy Fingers
June 14, 1976
Beacon Theatre

Mysterious, other-worldly, contemplative, and beautiful. What a treat.
Lazy Lightnin' -> Supplication
Oct. 9, 1976
Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Stadium

The Lightnin' kicks of with a growl. Bobby's really biting down hard on it, but it's short and they almost immediately bring it way down, almost to a whisper, then proceed to build it back up again until it's just a raging party. No one but the boys could jam in this meter and make it so fun, so damned jagged yet smooth at the same time, turning corners so quickly. The musicians out there know just how tough these two songs are to get into flow.
Scarlet Begonias
Oct. 9, 1976
Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Stadium

Expansive jam, it stretches out and goes and goes and goes. It brings me back to all those great Scarlet's back in the day.... I close my eyes and there I am, so many years back, dancing with 10,000 of my closest friends. Scarlet was always welcome.