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find the best versions of grateful dead songs

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grendel

Books and Music

+24543


Submissions

7
Big River
April 19, 1978
Veterans Memorial Auditorium

Segues perfectly out of MAMU and rolls along beautifully til Jerry goes ballistic on the last solo. Must hear.
5
China Cat Sunflower
April 5, 1969
Avalon Ballroom

Nice early stand alone with a long intro. You can hear the transition from the old intro to the more familiar pickings of later versions.
5
Darkness Jam
Nov. 21, 1973
Denver Coliseum

Not really a darkness jam but more of a dark star jam than what it's listed as (PITB) leads into Wharf Rat & is beyond beautiful.
8
Wang Dang Doodle
Oct. 22, 1983
Carrier Dome, Syracuse U

The boys really "throw a mess" on this one, making the carrier dome sound like a down and dirty old time saloon. Slinky sick stuff
2
Row Jimmy
April 18, 1987
Irvine Meadows

Check out Jerry's "giddy-up" riffs in the final "Row" choruses!

Comments

Cassidy
June 9, 1977
Winterland Arena

One of the better ones in the days before they extended the jam sections. Can't really go wrong w/anything from the June Winterland run.
Bird Song
Sept. 10, 1972
Hollywood Palladium

This version was recently released as the final installment of "30 Days of Dead' on the official Dead web site, available for free download. Now that it's there, can we please all listen and show it the extra love it totally deserves? Two votes as of this posting is a travesty.
Terrapin Station
May 17, 1977
Memorial Coliseum

What deadprof said: Best of '77 for sure.
Brown Eyed Women
May 4, 1972
Olympia Theater

I usually only pay attention to 1977 or later versions as these early ones lack the longer awesome bridge jams by Jerry, but this one makes up for it by having such a gorgeous, flowing mellow groove and is actually sung by Jerry perhaps better than any version I've heard. This is a really surprising and excellent recommendation!
Bertha
Aug. 26, 1971
Gaelic Park

Nice hidden gem. Maybe under the radar for some SBD issues? I thought it was pretty good to my ears.