headyversion

find the best versions of grateful dead songs

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grendel

Books and Music

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Submissions

12
Candyman
March 24, 1988
Omni Coliseum

Lucky enough to be at this show. Candyman blew everyone away--best song played that night. Awesome trippy guitar jam &Jer belts out vocals
42
Ramble On Rose
May 19, 1977
Fox Theatre

Gorgeous, incredible, up and down, carnival-like bridge jam by Jerry. Picture perfect version--no flaws
43
Scarlet Begonias -> Fire On The Mountain
April 8, 1978
Veterans Memorial Coliseum

April '78 S>F's often mentioned are 4/16 and 4/24 (rightly so) but this one is every bit as good. Superior transition jam--, beautiful, & powerful
94
Eyes Of The World
Oct. 29, 1977
Evans Field House, Northern Illinois University

Starts out Jazzy, explorative, takes its time, 3 minute intro, then blasts off into the stratosphere with intense Garcia-led jamming

Comments

Tennessee Jed
July 7, 1978
Red Rocks Amphitheatre

Oh, does this one need more listens! So may great Jeds, but the special ones usually feature Jerry belting out the vocals and this Dawg delivers. Check out his "law come to get ya if you don't walk RIGHT!" line, and the rest is pretty hot too.
Friend of the Devil
Sept. 18, 1974
Parc des Expositions

From my favorite show of 1974. Everything shines in this one & this FOTD is one of the littler lovely gems.
Jack Straw
Nov. 6, 1979
The Spectrum

Here to bump this one for its uniqueness. Most Straws of upvote headiness are given such status for the lead-in to "Jack Straw from Wichita" and this one delivers, but it's what happens in the rest of the tune that really sets this one apart. There's a lot more musical innovation occurring in the sections between the climactic verse that make this a really outstanding version. Vocals are top notch, too. Very sweet rendition that deserves a climb on the ladder.
Scarlet Begonias -> Fire On The Mountain
Jan. 8, 1979
Madison Square Garden

Gets my vote for greatest ever Donna transition section. Some will feel this immediately disqualifies it as a heady version, but I implore you to see beyond your Donna bias and realize what she's doing in this particular version: to scat and vamp and experiment with her voice without going overboard into the screech-filled warblings of early 70s PITB and GSET territory. Instead, Donna gets into the groove of the transition and really rides some instrumental-like vocal waves and it adds a whole new element and flavor to the song that most previous versions lack. So I'm upvoting this primarily b/c of Donna, but also it should be said that if a great SBD copy of this show existed, the rest of the band would deserve an A+ too! The AUD's not bad (CM after all), but the version's good enough that it aches for a clean SBD.
Franklin's Tower
Oct. 27, 1979
Cape Cod Coliseum

No one's gonna like this post but after repeated listening and really trying to like this version (and the one from the other Cape Cod show), I gotta say--this is crazily overrated and really, just kind of flat out boring. The best thing about it is the transition from Dancin', which is what I suspect has it so highly ranked, but the performance of the song itself is just meandering with no real peaks and very little in the way of excitement. It also suffers from Brent's penchant for Fisher Price key sounds and just really kinda sits there doing nothing except going on for a long while. Compare to any of the best versions from '76-'77 (and even some '77 versions, it must be said, go on a little longer than they should), but there are even versions of the late 90's that blow this one out of the water (See 10/1/94) for focus, jamming, and tightness. There's some good stuff going on in both CC shows but the "Two Towers" aint it.