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find the best versions of grateful dead songs

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grendel

Books and Music

+23524


Submissions

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!!
20
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!
8
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.
30
Little Red Rooster
Nov. 30, 1980
Fox Theatre

All about Brent.

Comments

Here Comes Sunshine
March 24, 1973
The Spectrum

^^^^Agreed. Tight, energetic and better sung than most.
Playin' In The Band
March 24, 1973
The Spectrum

Twirler's paradise. No dissonance or melt-down madness here, just corkscrew wah-wah Jerry jazz lines surrounded by really innovative Weir-led rhythm sections...a complete band mind-meld of swirling colors and ideas and a sweet re-entry to the reprise. Just outstanding and seriously under-rated on the Big Board. Hoping that will change with more ears on the new DaP.
St. Stephen
Oct. 29, 1977
Evans Field House, Northern Illinois University

^^^^I know! Still freaking out about it...an official release of my favorite all time show!
Cassidy
May 21, 1977
Lakeland Civic Center

The '77 versions are so consistent (in the best way) that they tend to blend together and get taken for granted, which is a shame, because versions like this one are like little diamond dew droplets among the rain forest of bigger suites. What's especially good about this version is the vocal fluidity and blending between Bob & Donna and a Garcia jam break before the return that is brief in comparison to the versions that would emerge in years to follow, but contains multitudes within its own time frame that make it every bit as vast, mysterious, and wondrous as its lengthier companions. Glad to finally bump this into double digits. Should be higher.
Playin' In The Band
Dec. 3, 1979
Uptown Theatre

oops. sorry for the dub post