headyversion

find the best versions of grateful dead songs

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grendel

Books and Music

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Submissions

52
Dark Star
Dec. 31, 1978
Winterland Arena

Farewell to Winterland; Not 40 mins. long ; no break down into feedback nonsense. Just sweet jazzy jamming; Just exactly perfect send off.
10
Scarlet Begonias -> Fire On The Mountain
Sept. 25, 1981
Stabler Arena

Transition jam weaves into spaces most fail to go; touch-down into Fire is GOLD. Jerry flubs first line in Fire-after that: 1 of the BEST ever!
19
He's Gone
Sept. 26, 1972
Stanley Theatre

Perfect, self-contained, blues-infused, stellar vocals, 14+ minutes of bliss. Extra fun: Check out the "Birdsong" riff about 10 secs. into the intro
36
Dark Star
Sept. 16, 1972
Boston Music Hall

Amazed this isn't here yet Gorgeous, melodic, jazz-infused, mellow, trippy, spacey into hard ripping Jerry riffs; melts into Brokedown Palace. Sublime
48
Cold Rain and Snow
Oct. 12, 1984
Augusta Civic Center

Kicks off with authority a 2d set every DeadHead needs to hear. Perfect bookend to Jerry's scorching Dew. They say it was cold&rainy that nite in ME.
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Comments

Eyes Of The World
Oct. 16, 1974
Winterland Arena

Been re-listening to this stellar version, forever in the shadows to the better known movie version 3 nights later but this one is worthy on its own of a much higher ranking. Garcia has that liquid guitar thing going in between verses and the spillover into unexpected space territory sets it apart from almost any other ‘74. What a run this was.
Cassidy
Jan. 15, 1979
Springfield Civic Center

Crazy hot end jam spilling out into the coda sans final lyric as in some versions from ‘78...beautifully played throughout...might be higher ranked if a better source existed. Shame this only had one vote when I got here...this is a gem hiding in plain sight.
Cold Rain and Snow
Dec. 17, 1970
The Matrix

Kudos to everyone who recommended this version. As noted, Jerry's vocals are damn near perfect and I love the "grunge" sound of the instrumental break sections, brief as they are given the year, but so densely packed with purpose. I never take much notice of this song pre-1972 (the first year I assumed it really gelled as a tune) & I still like the later versions for the stretched-out jamming and added power the tune could deliver (see 10-12-83 as my all time favorite) but this awesome entry has easily made my personal top 5. Fantastic stuff here.
Scarlet Begonias -> Fire On The Mountain
Sept. 4, 1991
Richfield Coliseum

A little more MIDI in the transition jam than I normally care for, but it's mitigated by some inspired playing by Bruce. Also, while most of the comments have singled out the "fire", I think the "Scarlet" is pretty darn good, too. It's fast but super tight and the aforementioned transition jam just mind-meld-melts its way from Scarlet into Fire, and yeah, the Fire that ensues is marked by some real gritty Jerry guitar, non-MIDI style, and so this one got my upvote.
Promised Land
Dec. 26, 1979
Oakland Auditorium

^^^^Agreed. All the ones that aren’t throwaways, like this one, should be upvoted to help them stand out. (Also if you like this check out 9/18/90 which is beyond the best they ever did.)
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