headyversion

find the best versions of grateful dead songs

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Submissions

1
Beat it on Down The Line
Sept. 3, 1972
Folsom Field, University of Colorado

Jerry’s solo is off the walls crazy. A train going top speed and I promise that train won’t slow down! Great energy here overall.
1
Cryptical Envelopment
Nov. 11, 1970
49th Street Rock Palace

As Jerry shouts, “You know he had to die.” BANG! A massive gunshot right on rhythm. Great reprise with great drum work from Billy and Mickey.
1
The Other One
Nov. 11, 1970
49th Street Rock Palace

Jerry takes off and soars. Gets really heavy, and out there FAST. Experimental passages and new themes explored. This is what the Dead do best.
1
Drums
Nov. 11, 1970
49th Street Rock Palace

Billy and Mickey flowing in and out of the main TOO rhythms. They’re both putting each other to the test as they really get deep in this one.
2
Uncle John's Band
July 11, 1970
Fillmore East

“At this risk of being repetitious we’re going to do another song in the key of G.”-Bob Weir. This version is quite sweet. Patchy audio, great version
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Comments

Big River
Aug. 13, 1975
Great American Music Hall

If I had a dollar for every time I played this song, I wouldn’t have a worry for the rest of my waking days. This to me is the definitive Big River, a version that melts you into a puddle while shooting you into oblivion. Jerry tears a new one into this with his clever and incredible playing. Roaring and soaring blues wailing, Jerry taught the weeping willow how to cry. Keith’s electric piano sound also goes really well with the acid cowboy exploration they got going on. Will always have a special place in my heart.
Johnny B. Goode
March 23, 1975
Kezar Stadium

Needs more votes, genuinely swinging and the purest Rock and Roll you can get around these parts.
Drums
March 23, 1975
Kezar Stadium

Nice to hear Billy and Mickey back on drums, on this one you can hear that they're not fighting each other at all. Billy throws in an idea, Mickey interprets it and responds back, classic primal drums from a later era show. Sick transition back into King Solomon's Marbles.
King Solomon's Marbles
March 23, 1975
Kezar Stadium

Holy shit. Carrion right again with the Miles influence on this one. This is one of the best jams they have ever put to tape. It's intense, full of life, a new species of animal could be born from this music it's that full of life. Total annihilation of the psyche that zaps you right in the brain and sends you down a whirlpool of magic through sound. Oh how I wish that The Dead continued to explore this side of their music. Drums/Space could be so limiting compared to the Avant Garde heights they reached in the 60s-75. I love 76 onwards but to me this is the Dead at their purest. Continuously inventive that transports you to different multiverses. This is it.
Blues For Allah
March 23, 1975
Kezar Stadium

A deep atonal space that showcases how far the band was able to take this kind of music. True students of freeform jazz in which those abilities are put on full display. Hints of Sun Ra, Lonnie Liston Smith, incredible combination of sound and imagination. Personal favorite version.
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