headyversion

find the best versions of grateful dead songs

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grendel

Books and Music

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Submissions

4
Estimated Prophet
Aug. 31, 1985
Manor Downs

Hot as the night in Texas on which it was played.
11
One More Saturday Night
Oct. 29, 1977
Evans Field House, Northern Illinois University

Like every other song from this, my favorite all-time show, it's a best-of candidate. Just rocks hard.
2
Alabama Getaway
Dec. 5, 1979
Uptown Theater

Come for the 'Bama but stay for the rest of the show. This rocker 'Bama is Jerry and Brent at their very best. This entire show, tho', is a monster.
13
Stagger Lee
June 27, 1985
SPAC

Right after Phil tells a guy to get off the blacony cuz 50,000 people are waiting for him to, and Bob does the dog nose joke, Jer rips into a fine SL!
8
China Cat Sunflower -> I Know You Rider
Oct. 18, 1989
The Spectrum

Pretty good China followed by the best 80's OR 90's RIDER I've ever heard. Check Jer's run going into "sun gonna shine" verse. 5 stars fo RIDER alone.
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Comments

Eyes Of The World
May 17, 1974
P.N.E. Coliseum

What is this doing in the single digits of vote counting? Look, I get that 1974 is filled with oodles of awesome EYES. I get it. But even by '74 standards this one deserves to be up there with the best of them, at the very least in terms of flow and glide and ease of the jamming. Just listen to the intro alone on this one. It's a stream on consciousness river of ideas, but smooth like silk all at once. The whole version just glides along on wings and when it shifts to the outro material it's laser sharp on all the turns, stops and starts. They played 2 pretty amazing shows at this venue--this one and 6/22/73. This EYES is one of the highlights of the former.
Eyes Of The World
Oct. 19, 1974
Winterland Arena

Upvoted for all the reasons listed already but also for the superior vocals. Everyone's in tune, and it's sung with gusto by Jerry. Crystal clear, and of course the jamming is spectacular.
Box of Rain
Nov. 19, 1972
Hofheinz Pavilion

One of the better live versions done. Phil doesn't try to over-sing and neither does Donna. They nail all the verses and it's a tight little ditty that still retains the loveliness of the tune.
Spanish Jam
Aug. 28, 1981
Long Beach Arena

Gritty dig-deep fuzz-guitar Garcia magic.
Bertha
May 3, 1977
The Palladium

Underrated for sure. There's a Glassberg MOTB recording on the archive that's pretty great for an AUD and there's no reason for a May '77 Bertha to be as overlooked as this one has. Mellow but with flowing Jerry-led jams. Excellent version.
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