headyversion

find the best versions of grateful dead songs

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grendel

Books and Music

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Submissions

24
Franklin's Tower
May 1, 1981
Hampton Coliseum

One of the best played versions from one of the best played shows in the Brent era---ever.
16
Shakedown Street
March 24, 1981
Rainbow Theater

15+ minutes of funk w/extended overlapping vocal rounds of "just gotta poke around", etc. before jam Brent adds cool "fuzzy" SFX
1
Big Railroad Blues
Oct. 30, 1971
Taft Auditorium

Check out Keith on this one! He's never been so up front before & right outta the gate!!
21
Cream Puff War
July 3, 1966
Fillmore Auditorium

Peppy early version w/Jer belting out lyrics & Pig doin' some nice work on organ. No archive copy exists; got this off 30 Days of Dead-worth the DL!
9
Passenger
May 7, 1979
Allan Kirby Field House

Super-charged EARLY Brent version rips and tears and shreds. Final jam before the coda is the best they ever did in this tune. Goes to 11.
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Comments

The Other One
Feb. 22, 1969
Dream Bowl

New convert here. Jerry's playing is a fluid river of ideas, some roaring, others just rolling gently along. Superior version.
Dancin' in the Streets
April 15, 1970
Winterland Arena

I'll never love the way the Dead did this tune in any era, but this one is SO much better and listenable than anything they did in 1977, '79, or later...the jam section is really interesting & gets my upvote.
Comes A Time
June 24, 1985
River Bend Music Center

I was prepared to be underwhelmed by this version as I think much of '85 is marred by Jerry's horrid vocals and a choppy feel to the playing overall but this really surprised and kinda blew me away. Jerry really sings it beautifully and strongly and sustains many notes with his voice in just the right spots. His solo is gorgeous too....not to the level of 5-9-77 but impressive nonetheless and the whole version is worth upvotes...this should be higher on the list.
St. Stephen
Oct. 11, 1983
Madison Square Garden

How I was lucky enough to be at this show as well as the Box of Rain bust out in '86 I'll never know. And it's hard to say which crowd reaction was more bezonkers...maybe Hampton by a nose but it hardly matters. Both versions are similar in that objectively speaking they are flawed, a little rough around the edges due to being played first time in many years and maybe from the adrenaline of the crowd freaking the band out a bit but both versions are also made special by that crowd burst of pure energy and ecstacy.
Franklin's Tower
Sept. 28, 1975
Lindley Meadows, Golden Gate Park

I feel like this entire show is overrated, from the very shaky Help>Slipknot to the botched Truckin' and this extremely tentative Franklin's. Obviously they didn't have much to choose from in 1975 for the 30 Trips release but this show still gets way more accolades than it deserves, and can't hold a candle to One From the Vault from 8/13/75.
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