headyversion

find the best versions of grateful dead songs

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dictsang

boxdapocalypse

+129


Submissions

1
Terrapin Station
June 28, 1995
The Palace

Not particularly heady, but a notably not-too-bad later version with nice Vince vox
1
Cassidy
Sept. 29, 1980
Warfield Theater

Perfect acoustic version
1
The Other One
March 18, 1994
Rosemont Horizon

Weird, jazzy 90s version. Remarkably good!
1
Mexicali Blues
June 16, 1974
Iowa State Fairgrounds

Often a throwaway, this super bouncy version from a top 10 show sparkles.

Comments

Help On The Way > Slipknot > Franklin's Tower
Oct. 8, 1989
Hampton Coliseum

That said, this is some of the cleanest playing from Garcia ever on this version, somewhat bizarrely. Even in its debut performance in the mid-1970s, he's hitting bum notes--this is a hard song to sing and play! The solos are usually great, but the verse playing is rarely this clean. Credit for that!
Standing On The Moon
July 7, 1989
JFK Stadium

Not a particularly genius version, but one of my favorite of their later songs, so it gets a vote. This is, as of now, my favorite post-coma show, I think.
Let It Grow
July 7, 1989
JFK Stadium

There are a lot of Dead songs that have "bad eras", but this one really didn't. It's kind of a perfect mix of a song that's dark and interesting tonally, with a few rhythmic nuances, but also uptempo and fairly straightforward. I personally love this song anyways, Bob's "style" at its apex. This is a particularly good version, but they seemed to have always nailed this (weirdly, "Cumberland Blues", of all songs, is the other one. You'd think it would be a much simpler problem, but the nadir of "Cumberland" is nowhere as low as that of "Eyes" or "Playin", bizarrely).
Aiko Aiko
July 7, 1989
JFK Stadium

At this point in their career, I actually think these party songs really came off better than some of the older material. It's hard to nail psych-fusion-bakersfield songs in a crowded stadium! By contrast, a rockin' cover of a calypso tune like this clearly is just making the crowd go bananas, and they are audibly having a ton of fun even without video. I haven't heard tons of versions of this, but this gets an upvote just because it rocks.
Loser
July 7, 1989
JFK Stadium

I often find the '89/'90 era overrated; Jerry's lead playing is hot, but he's very sloppy in many places on all but the solo, and the drummers are often not locked in. This is a really welcome exception. In general, I think the "party shows" from the era, like this one--where they didn't play more than one of the big jam vehicles and stuck to newer material--work a lot better. In particular, this "Loser" shreds, with some of Garcia's most aggressive work in an era that can sound, to these ears, a bit noodly and plinky. Very moving, directed soloing.
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