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find the best versions of grateful dead songs

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Ernie5

No cholesterol.

+3568


Submissions

4
Tennessee Jed
Nov. 23, 1973
County Coliseum

If possible, a very contemplative TJ. Everyone's in apex '73 form, esp. Godchaux who's mixed fairly high to good effect.
2
St. Stephen
Nov. 5, 1970
Capitol Theater

Of the heavenly 1970 Capitol Theater St. Stephens. Just a beautiful union between audience and group. Killer Stephen! CRUNCH!
4
Here Comes Sunshine
Sept. 26, 1973
War Memorial

Show opener - the perseverence is what really sells me on this one. A struggle, but a worthy one b/c the spoils are lush. Sneaky great.
9
China Cat Sunflower -> I Know You Rider
May 18, 1972
Kongressaal, Deutsches Museum

Crazy overlooked: A noble, splendiferous C>R in full Europe 72-ness. Patient, exploratory, charming. Driving a distance? Pack this.
12
Bird Song
Feb. 21, 1971
Capitol Theater

An intimate very early Bird Song - Quartet-styled, which serves this song really well. Also: you can hear the thinking, especially between guitars.

Comments

The Music Never Stopped
April 30, 1977
The Palladium

Whooooosh! So many gems in this show, how did I overlook the opener? And what an opener! Lesh plays a large role - big choco-bass! Strings are a big plus! And Garcia's Garcia - constructing the long outro speech.
China Cat Sunflower -> I Know You Rider
Feb. 14, 1970
Fillmore East

A loverly re-visit.
Bird Song
June 22, 1973
Pacific Coliseum

About as good as Bird Songs get! Kudos to Godchaux are well earned - he does as much to create the gliding-on-astral-plane mood as anyone. That's saying something: everyone is in top form.
Mission in the Rain
June 29, 1976
Auditorium Theatre

A beautiful version. Always preferred the GD versions to JGB (although I like those too) - mostly b/c Lesh is a much more interesting bass player than Kahn (to my ears).
Estimated Prophet
May 9, 1977
War Memorial

A rare song that peaked at it's introduction - which isn't even to disparage later versions. These are just perfect in their dynamics and their edge work. No surprise then that on one of their crowning nights, this should smash. Garcia's narcotic outro oozes through the War Memorial, natch.