Terrapin Station
May 17, 1977
Memorial Coliseum
It's hard for me to make a clear distinction between all the Terrapins played during the period. It's an epic composition, full of wonder, movements and moods. But it's a restricting composition, disallowing much room room for improvisation or jamming - the very thing that keeps most of us heads yearning for more. This version is indeed great, yet I listen to 5/19, 9/3, 11/2 and 1/22/78 because they are among my most favorite shows. Listening to all these versions back to back -- along with 5/17 -- I realize that 5/17 is every bit as good, if not better. But the margin of "better" is minuscule at best. What I struggle to grasp, however, is why the version played on 2/26 has more than double the votes than the version holding the current #2 slot. One would think that something miraculous happened during the version played on 2/26.