Surprised to see this one not on the list. Just smokes from start to end ... killer tempo, Weir and Garcia on fire, and BRENT. Check out his solo.

Rock & roll, baby. Phil kicks this one in the nuts.

yeah, I know its heretical, but the 70s stuff doesn't get me there there way these 80s versions do (this and Augusta.) Sure overall they're not as tight and Jerry's voice aged 3 decades, but .... so much soul, so much tone in the guitar, so much power in Brent's keys... the playing is more evolved, more chromatics, less pentatonics from Jerry.. less noodling, less Donna, more hard-edged rock & roll ... i guess you're biased to the era you attended, but 80s is it for me. Lots of trilling in the Barton peak, but that's about it. I mean listen to this stuff. Where have all the people gone today?

yeah this is top 3 for me. love the way the solo starts slow and works up to a boil .. bigtime chills when Jerry comes in with the "and dug for him a shallow grave" line ...

this one is amazing, deserves more love. double phil-intro, frenzied energy throughout, and a really unique post 2nd-verse jam that comes out of nowhere and gets pushed up higher and higher by different players at different points... check it out

a young man mourn indeed. this is the bomb.

My POV, from a discussion w my bro -- i think the bulk of dead purists are the older cats who have an (acknowledged or not) disdain for the Touch of Grey / celeb-era Dead of the 80s. Also, many decry Jerry's vocal losses in the heroin influenced early 80s, but to me thats when things get really interesting ... jams go crazy places with dark hard edged rock and roll... Bob screaming his butt off in Estimateds, Jerry too as in Augusta Dew and that Ventura 84 Loser, as examples.. Brent adds a huge dimension as well -- with Jerry and Phil he is in the top 3 of pure musical talent in the history of the band. '83-85 and '89-90 are my fav eras. 86-88 is good, but generally under-jammed. For me the 70s sound thin and noodly and Donna is more of a turnoff than Vince in the 90s. More technically, i think Jerry was a more evolved player in the 80s -- much more chromatics and less pentatonics, when he bent a string he meant it ..in the 70 he was bending shit all over the place and it frankly sounds lame to me. EDIT -- at risk of sounding too harsh, i know there's a lot of great stuff in the 70s, particularly the first 3 years (listening to Boston '73 PITB now, wow..) Anyway, to each his own.