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find the best versions of grateful dead songs

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grendel

Books and Music

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Submissions

2
Brown Eyed Women
Aug. 4, 1982
Kiel Auditorium

Fast-picking goodness. Jerry's bridge solo is long and lightning quick and awesome. 1 point off for lyric flub on re-entry, but the rest is gold.
43
Scarlet Begonias -> Fire On The Mountain
April 30, 1977
The Palladium

Sick of saying "How can X not be here" yet but C'mon! Get the digital DL series and start bumpin this up! Smooth Scarlet, killer Fire jams. Early gem!
15
Terrapin Station
Nov. 28, 1980
Lakeland Civic Center

From a year not particularly known for great Terrapin, this one proves the exception to the rule. Tight, inventive, soulful.
6
Monkey and the Engineer
Feb. 4, 1970
Family Dog at the Great Highway

Bob sez: "we're gonna play one of your favorites and we certainly hope it's one of ours" b4 this sweet electric version!
19
Sugar Magnolia
Oct. 7, 1977
University of New Mexico

As insanely good as the Wharf Rat that precedes it. How good? Almost matches 10/29/77 in intensity. Final jam section b4 SSDD will boggle your senses!

Comments

Brown Eyed Women
Sept. 26, 1981
Buffalo Auditorium

I voted/commented on this ages ago but only recently went back to it. If you love this song do yourself a favor and spin this version now. Bridge jam is truly one of the best ever. Whole thing is great. Find the Miller sbd version and enjoy.
Eyes Of The World
Jan. 30, 1978
Uptown Theater

Every once in a while I check out a show/version way down the list that looks like a year I generally like a lot and a month that indicates it should be a pretty good show. But then I look and see that the version I'm clicking on has just a handful of votes. Sometimes even just one or two. So it must not be worth the time to hear, yeah? Well, this EYES Of THE WORLD, jam packed full of leftover sweetness from the remnants of '77, is the epitome of a sensational rendition no one is apparently paying any attention to. Do yourself a favor and give a listen. If nothing else, you'll hear a pretty sweet triplet as it segues into Stella>Franklin's.
Truckin'
June 20, 1974
The Omni

For my money this is the best version they ever laid down. The vocals are passionate and the jam post lyrics is a clinic for hard rocking blues a la Garcia and then they hit the wind-up jam hard and nail that, too. For that combination of 1972-style blues jamming plus the killer wind-up jammthis version never ceases to amaze. Then, of course, you get an equally good Eyes>Slipknot prototype jam. What a sequence from an outstanding show.
Scarlet Begonias -> Fire On The Mountain
Dec. 27, 1977
Winterland Arena

Upping this for the rocked out jamming, especially in Scarlet. I suspect it's not higher because it's one of the shorter of the paired combos but, honestly, sometimes that's better. The transition into Fire here is super mellow after the hard jamming of Scarlet but it works. Fire is not an all-timer but it aint bad either. This whole show is the most underrated of the Winterland run to end the year. This version deserves at least double digits on the board.
Scarlet Begonias -> Fire On The Mountain
Nov. 30, 1979
Stanley Theater

^^^^Yes! Was just listening to 1/31/78 the other day and noticed that really odd placement of the early verse after the jam, then followed immediately by "Wind in the Willows" lyric. Odd, yes, but it somehow works in that very underrated version.