Jack Straw
Dec. 29, 1977
Winterland Arena
Good version, but not a fave. Definitely not better than Cornell, which is smooth as silk. Here, the drums get clumsy and sneakery in ways they just didn't a few months earlier. And Garcia's work on the Bean puts this to shame - much cleaner, more imaginative to my ears. Lots of flubs on this one by everyone - not a be-all-end-all thing, but there's a sloppiness here that isn't present in May of the same year. So, I can listen to the two and think differently. And it really isn't even close. Again - to my ears.
