headyversion

find the best versions of grateful dead songs

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grendel

Books and Music

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Submissions

15
It Must Have Been The Roses
Oct. 29, 1977
Evans Field House, Northern Illinois University

Almost every song from this show could be nominated for a "best ever." This heartfelt "Roses" is no exception.
11
Aiko Aiko
Dec. 31, 1987
Oakland Coliseum Arena

With the Neville Bros. Jerry gets his Big Easy on.
17
Promised Land
May 25, 1977
The Mosque

Perfection to end the first set of one of the truly great shows ever. Keith, Bobby, Jerry--the whole crew is in the pocket and rocking it hard.
15
Promised Land
April 1, 1980
Capitol Theatre

Both the best and worst version ever. Why? April Fool's gag: Bobby - keys, Brent & Jerry -drums, Billy - bass - Mickey -guitar Phil-vocals
75
Big River
May 9, 1977
War Memorial

They just could do no wrong at this show, Hidden among all the other gems is this monster River. Big solo work by Jerry; nice fills by Keith.
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Comments

Greatest Story Ever Told
Sept. 28, 1972
Stanley Theatre

I posted at first that this is 2d only to 8/27 but while I still love that version, I am continually amazed by this one and actually think now that it's the greatest of all greatests. Just for the record ;-)
Candyman
Nov. 29, 1980
Alligator Alley Gym, University of Florida

Yep, this one's special. Garcia's vocals are spot-on, and as noted, there's some great guitar accenting after the "hand me my old guitar" line. My favorite is still 3-24-88 (and I urge one and all to check it out), but that's probably only getting the edge b/c I was there. This one's right up there with it. Great show overall and a sweet AUD as well.
Terrapin Station
Oct. 7, 1977
University of New Mexico

Whatever the reason, this one pays off just like the classic "Casey Jones" from 10-2-77 when we get the extended jam with some beautiful fills by Keith...same deal here, and b/c it's '77, instead of sounding like a mistake it sounds instead like the boys felt like taking the thing around the block a few extra times. (If I had to guess, I'd say Jer goes blank on the words.)
Terrapin Station
June 23, 1993
Deer Creek Music Center

If we were grading this solely on the post-lyrics jam it would earn my upvote, but taken as a whole, I just can't get past Jerry's incredibly weak vocals, lyrical miscues, and really sub-par reading of the song up until the big jam section (which, so I'm not accused of being too Scrooge-ish here) IS all it's cracked up to be...epic, intense and really superb stuff. I,d love to have just the jam section edited and standing on its own as a separate piece. It's that good. But Terrapin the song (in my view) has to be taken on its totality, and the first half of this just doesn't measure up.
Terrapin Station
April 19, 1982
Baltimore Civic Center

Don't let the Ravenspace overshadow this truly great Terrapin. There isn't much from this show they didn't hit out of the park.
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