The last halfstep of '76. After Rio Grandeo everyone including the crowd gets into it. The source is a B+ AUD.

Topical

Timely

Different types of solos at each turn: straightaway, Listen-to-the-music-play, spacey, bluegrassy

This one is fiery, especially the solo, in the vein of 8/24/80, including a hint of a Delilah Jones growl.

As someone pointed out recently of the 1/11/79 JS (1st place), this one is its first cousin. If you like that one, give this a spin. People who don't like AUDs are going to hate 1/7 also, but one of the chief complaints about 1/11/79 is that the band misses the "Jack Straw from Wichita" line. They hit the line cleanly here, but Garcia's playing - while it is ferocious - is not quite as FEROCIOUS as 1/11 - and yet these two versions are certainly of the same sort. One could easily imagine that the idea to play the 2nd solo this way first occurred to him on 1/7 and then he produced a better, more actualized version on 1/11. And so, 1/7 shouldn't have 4 votes while 1/11 has 73.

Hold on to your hat during this transition - it is wild and it contains its own little peak, something that cannot be said of all transitions.

What am I missing here except for about 14 minutes of jamming that never happened? I can't vote for this having looked at the next 50 versions that don't have as many votes.

I don't understand the critique that the Scarlet is "standard." If one lumps the transition into the Scarlet, then, no, this is not "standard." There is a lot going on in the transition - which is a close relative to 4/24, with a long Donna section to start and then dreamy Jerry licks to begin his segment. This transition is better than 4/16 or the mescaline show. If one is to compare just the lyrics and the solo in Scarlet to others from the same year, then this one stacks up against any of the '78 greats - only those with botched lyrics or an awful solo would fail to meet this "standard" for which the bar is pretty low. The intro to the Fire is not particularly strong but the solos are strong at one time or another. Grendel and Klaus are right about the final chorus. The outro is pure '78: sloppy, but shredded.

This is the one I've been stuck on for a while. Bobby misses some lyrics early, so I suppose this one compares unfavorably in that respect with some of the studio sounding '77 versions. But Jerry is all over both halves this one - he only reluctantly lets Bob back in after his lazy lightin' solo and the supplication is fierce. A rougher aesthetic than most of the ones at the top of this list, but aggressive, competent playing from Garcia gives this one its own cachet.