A cozy little delight - hand percussion, contemplation, great stereo drums, and some rip roaring riffage. Comes in under the radar, but worth a visit.

As much as I love May 77 Sugarees, Spring 76 is where it's at for me. Subtlety, separation, and Garcia's whispery, silver-dipped guitar breaks.

1978: Prime weather for Candyman. This performance, like many from then, highlights the bleak world of the narrator. Garcia's break: spidery.

Bubbly, bratty storyboard version. Character & twang for miles. I'd pay to see this band. Two for a tenner? Four please.

This is a very sweet Terrapin. Everyone's fired up to play it. All you need to do is watch the vid to see the pure joy this brings Garcia. Memorable.

Garcia's brash guitar break in Scarlet ups the ante and the ante stays up. A nice long, leisurely stretch-out of a transition is ultra-fine. It also sets the tone for a slow-burn Fire wherein JG teases with dispatches of soupy Mu-Tron III transmissions.

Happy to sound the alarm, DS67.

Garcia really tears into this TJ vocally. Really his singing throughout this show is extra good - spirited, warm, generous. And his guitar break isn't a scorcher, but nicely conversational. Bonus - Mydland's hyper-tinkling doesn't put me off the trail. Yes, the Seamons matrix serves this one up in deluxe fashion.

DS67 - that's the one I was swingin' on.

A sunny, spirited S>F with Garcia in lovely form, both guitar + vox. Sometimes I don't really want to hear Mydland this prominently in the mix, but he adds some real flavor/texture. Every member of the group is restrained and patient, but not without some great energy. Garcia begins setting themes in the transition fairly early - they're more like suggestions than statements. Interestingly, he takes them to the end theme for a little side trip in the Scarlet coda before steering the craft into Fire. This is one of the best '82 S>Fs I've heard - holds up really well next to any 1980s version. After to listening to soooo many great 1977 takes, it's nice to hear an early 80s exemplar. Matrix is sweet.