headyversion

find the best versions of grateful dead songs

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grendel

Books and Music

+24528


Submissions

48
Jack Straw
Oct. 29, 1977
Evans Field House, Northern Illinois University

There are longer versions, but none has a better bridge jam than this one. My favorite version ever--must listen!
88
China Cat Sunflower -> I Know You Rider
Feb. 24, 1974
Winterland Arena

Hard-charging drumming from Billy leads the way. Best MLB jam in this pairing I've ever heard. Hard to believe it wasn't listed yet.
37
Cassidy
Oct. 12, 1983
Madison Square Garden

Intense build-up jam, perfect touch-down. Weir absolutely nails it. My favorite version all-time
21
Shakedown Street
Jan. 10, 1979
Nassau Coliseum

Laser-focused, perfect rendition, start to finish. Super-funky with awesome Jerry fuzz-guitar, rock-blues jamming post-vocals
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

Comments

I Know You Rider
May 1, 1970
Alfred College

"I'd rather drink muddy water...sleep in a hollow log..." Jerry just crushes this version vocally. So nice to have a slower, acoustic, true blue blues version to dip into. This is my fave, even a notch better than Harpur.
Scarlet Begonias -> Fire On The Mountain
Dec. 3, 1979
Uptown Theatre

Garcia gets the "scarlet begonias tucked into her shoes" in this one, but it sounds perfectly natural. Really nice, relaxed cadence to this one--not too fast & not too slow--to steal a different line to make a point. The transition is patient, not especially earth shattering, but the Fire gets aggressive in a number of spots. It's also interesting as one of the earlier Brent versions & I upvoted partly for that reason. Wouldn't mind seeing it get into double digits, but wouldn't complain too loudly if it stayed a sleeper pick, either.
It Must Have Been The Roses
May 17, 1974
P.N.E. Coliseum

Agree on both counts ^^^^
Estimated Prophet
March 30, 1980
Capitol Theatre

Better recording of this one would have it near the top. Insane ripping middle jam as Jerry was prone to this year, this song. 1980 Estimateds are overlooked and this one especially.
Dark Star
June 24, 1973
Memorial Coliseum

I used some music editing software to remove the last ten minutes of crap and now this version is perfect. +1 with an admittedly big asterisk.