headyversion

find the best versions of grateful dead songs

please login or register.

grendel

Books and Music

+24538


Submissions

10
Black Peter
Sept. 25, 1981
Stabler Arena

After 10/29/77 this should be your go-to BP. Emotion oozes and Jer shreds the outro.
11
Beat it on Down The Line
March 22, 1990
Copps Coliseum

A breezy bouncin' bubbly Bobby Beat it...best of the 90's.
8
El Paso
March 27, 1972
Academy of Music

Jerry in serious bluegrass mode. Most country-westernized version ever. At the end Phil sez "Thanks, Texans" even tho' they're in NYC. Awesome version
23
Let It Grow
Sept. 19, 1990
Madison Square Garden

Hornsby gets on board in a big way & Jerry jazzes up the jam sections. Weir slashes away & sings w/passion. Strong candidate for Best of the 90's.
4
Desolation Row
April 17, 1987
Irvine Meadows

This song was only as good as Bobby was committed to it, and on this night he was 100% in Dylan-idoling mode. Gorgeous rendeition, lovingly sung.

Comments

Row Jimmy
Jan. 1, 1965
Rich Stadium

I'm also concerned about this site inevitably listing every version of every song as potentially "heady." I'm not blaming any one poster for that but can we not all agree that once every version or nearly every version of a tune is nominated the whole point of this site--featuring only the BEST versions--of a particular tune, becomes meaningless? The idea is to (i believe) be as objectively critical as you can when nominating a version--explain WHY it's especially good--so that the rest of us don't feel like we're wasting our time giving it a listen. And if you're putting up a version of "Scarlet" where Jerry forgets half the lyrics and mumbles thru the rest and his voice sounds like sandpaper cut up in a blender then you should at least have the decency to point that out in your review (yes even w/the 150 ch. limit.) I get how passionate we all are about this band, but they played over 2,000 concerts and hundreds of versions of many songs. Lots were heady and, guess what--many many many were not.
Crazy Fingers
June 9, 1991
Buckeye Lake Music Center

Freedom...based on your rec gave it a try and was pleasently surprised...'91 is about as far as I'll go these days (w/some cgarces recs for a very few '94 tunes sometimes making it to upvote territory) but Jer's voice actually holds up here and there's a nice flow to this one...it won't rival any of the stellar '76 versions but is better than many cringe worthy 80s versions and is on par w/some of the nice early spring '90 versions, which I was convinced til now was the cut off. Thanks for pointing this out.
Scarlet Begonias -> Fire On The Mountain
April 13, 1983
Patrick Gymnasium, U of Vermont

The Hunter-Seamons Matrix of this is a revelation...best source i've heard yet and vaults this version way higher as a result. This is a spectacular reading of both tunes with an unbelievable transition. lots of Fire teases before launching into the tune, and a scorched earth riptide of a fire thereafter. 5 votes? Ridiculous.
Wharf Rat
April 22, 1978
Nashville Municipal Auditorium

Like it, don't love it. I think I was expecting something more given all the hype surrounding the pre-release of DaP 15...it's undeniably good but when I compare the main Jerry jam sections in this one with 10/7/77 I'm underwhelmed. Perhaps an unfair comparison but this one doesn't hit those heights or dig as emotionally deep.
Estimated Prophet
April 22, 1978
Nashville Municipal Auditorium

A tune that did get better in subsequent versions post-'77 (altho' there are some great ones in '77--see 10/29), peaking IMHO, in 1982. This one's worthy of upvote for that longer jam section and a wild flurry a la Jerry.