At :30 Pig switches from tambourine to organ and we're off! These early '71 performances showcase Kreutzmann reveling in sweet space. Driving.

A delicate, tight, searching super early version of a staple. Kruetzmann plays it light and springy and that 1971 Lesh caramel bass guitar!

If you know this smooth customer of a show, you know how drynamic [yes, I typed that] and user friendly this TJ is. An always welcome visitor.

Few things better than a June '76 Sugaree. Garcia with the first Travis Bean just sketches with the lightest, barest of precious metal filaments.

Summer '72 Jed: Sweet dynamics & precision engineering. Weir & Kreutzmann stir it up during Garcia's guitar break.

hvd says it: everything you want from a Big River. Confident and high octane. Obviously, Garcia just rips the Bakersfield Strat riffs & scales. Hard to find a less-than-steller Big River from 1972. But this show is so epic, it's worth singling out.

For me, the Spring of 77 is the peak of Estimateds. They were never as chill, precise, and gooey as they were at this time. The only complaint, I guess, is that no one Estimated from this time necessarily stands out from the others - but that's the price of consistency. They all feel to me like studies in refinement. Ultimately, what really separates May 77 Estimateds from later versions is Garcia's envelope filter work on the Travis Bean in the coda - it was never purer, stickier, or more intimate. What does dope sound like? THAT. My favorite is probably 5/19, but this one is thoroughly satisfying. I don't really understand the put-downs of May 77 - the group was in a unique place (likely due to the work they did in the studio w/Keith Olsen) and they just cohere beautifully. Subtle, dynamic, confident, and patient.

This one fascinates from the beginning - Garcia's sound is, at times, almost like Robert Fripp in the early section. And he careens from sound-to-sound, but it coheres b/c it almost sounds like someone w/ multiple personalities - fitting for this paranoid epic. Weir carries a lot of the water in the more out there spaces - some daringly discordant guitar playing. One thing I love about 1977-78 is that they weren't afraid to give Garcia a guitar soliloquy. Truly - that takes balls of steel in an auditorium. This one has a little Joe Pass to it. Really blazing version of The Other One from a great show. Nothing from May '77 should surprise me, but this one has several revelations - including, but not limited to, the re-entry into the final verse.

I've been buzzing on these 1976 Playin's recently b/c they're completely unique. Spare and muscular. This is also a time where the two drummers work nicely off each other - and I think the band is vibing off that in the exploratory section. Probably what spurred them on.

As usual, a kickin' E72 Mr. Charlie with Garcia's Strat leading the charge. Sumptuous.