Scarlet Begonias -> Fire On The Mountain
May 4, 1977
The Palladium
Phil bass rips at beg. of "Scarlet." Bobby plays "China Cat" lick about 3 min in. Several well played choruses from Jerry. Three great drummers with Keith, who was assuredly awake this whole run. This "Scarlet" (pre-transition) likely ranks with Cornell; it probably comes down to a note-by-note of Jerry's solos for me. Worst case, it's still a totally killer version. Transition is considerably better than many of those following 05-08, IMO. Everything just works here. Jerry loses some steam guitar-wise towards the start of the first verse of "Fire," but his vocals have been consistently good this whole Palladium run. Nice peak in the first "Fire' solo. Convinced beyond reasonable doubt that lack of exposure is why this is so low, and why comparatively musically weaker versions from May are so much higher. Jerry flubs next verse, but unlike the godawful "Franklin's" from 05-09 (there, I said it), makes up for it with good guitar playing. Phil makes everyone gives just a bit extra on the potentially repetitious and tedious outro material, elevating even that a step above.