headyversion

find the best versions of grateful dead songs

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Ernie5

No cholesterol.

+3668


Submissions

10
Jack Straw
June 10, 1973
RFK Stadium

Relaxed and joyous space-age electric guitar semi-ballad.
9
Bertha
Feb. 21, 1971
Capitol Theater

Warp speed, precise, slightly unhinged, and driving into the greenish-blue evening.
1
Jack Straw
Oct. 30, 1971
Taft Auditorium

Godchaux leads a version that seethes with the excitement of a new song.
3
Brown Eyed Women
May 20, 1973
U.C.

A giggly, slangy Garcia masterpiece (in sweet show sauce). Goes down EZ.
8
Mexicali Blues
Feb. 28, 1973
Salt Palace

So good you can practically see the border town.
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Comments

Candyman
Aug. 2, 1976
Colt Park

True enough - and good call. An underrated show b/c there’s no board, but chock full o’ personality, this one. ‘76 Candymans (Candymen?) are extra groovy.
Ramble On Rose
May 7, 1972
Bickershaw Festival

Garcia’s ecstatic vocal carries the day here. Really, pretty damn near perfect version. I dare you not to sing along in the chorus!
Ramble On Rose
July 22, 1972
Paramount Northwest Theatre

Picture perfect Ramble On Rose. I've never had any clue what this song is about, but it's possibly the closest the group ever came to a musical theater number. And its gift is that someone could listen to it for a lifetime and just hear a subversive, cool rock song. It's a song with a double life. And Weir's guitar is just the perfect frame. He rises to the occasion. What occasion? I think 7/22 is my sister-in-law's birfday. I wasn't there.
Caution
Feb. 7, 1969
Stanley Theater

Mind-numbing stuff at times. Lesh is out of his mind pretty much throughout. And then the wheels fall off in a really great way (because they don't fall all the way off).
The Eleven
Oct. 25, 1969
Winterland Arena

Hurtling at top speed and yet fully in control. The magic of top sleeve '69 Dead. Lesh and Garcia are Judah Ben Hur and Messala. Except they're working together. And they're friends. And no one gets trampled by a pack of horses. That I'm aware.
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