headyversion

find the best versions of grateful dead songs

please login or register.

parrott56

millennial head

+4803


Submissions

7
Mama Tried
March 19, 1977
Winterland Arena

Deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as the other punchy, galloping ’77s.
1
Jack Straw
Sept. 9, 1974
Alexandra Palace

If you’re like me, you love the intensity of these ’74 Jack Straws. This one is not to be missed.
1
Bertha
Sept. 9, 1974
Alexandra Palace

Swinging funk akin to a ’73 TLEO. Different and sharply played.
6
Franklin's Tower
Aug. 19, 1980
Uptown Theatre

Jerry’s playing with amazing ease and fluidity. One shimmering melody after another.
5
Me and Bobby McGee
June 28, 1974
Boston Garden

Played fast, sounding almost triumphant. Very cleanly played with some attention-grabbing Jerry.

Comments

Spanish Jam
Sept. 13, 1983
Manor Downs

Delirious, just nuts. Mickey (I’d guess) is on castanets, Phil’s on a Seastones wavelength, Brent and Jerry and Bobby send this into deep space. Then the haunted house organ, Brent? This needs a shit-ton more votes. The Senn 441 Miller upload sounds alive and crystal clear.
Playin' In The Band
Aug. 4, 1979
Oakland Auditorium

Very odd and out there. Little of this sounds at all like PITB. There’s what sounds like a brief callback to Shakedown, then Jerry turns on the overdrive and solos quite freely. Only toward the end does it enter that electronic meltdown space familiar from other ’79 PITBs, and of course that’s well done here.
China Doll
July 15, 1984
Greek Theatre - University of California

A wonderfully twisted D>S collapsing into *this* China Doll is the sort of magic that keeps us coming back to grimy, improbably transcendent ’84. Don’t miss it.
Franklin's Tower
April 5, 1989
Crisler Arena

No sign of the early spring magic letting up here in Ann Arbor. A great example of how tight and confident the band sounded in early ’89.
Me and Bobby McGee
July 27, 1974
Civic Center

So many of the “short” songs seemingly reached their apotheosis in 1974, and this is a great example of that.