Grateful Dead Best version EVER?

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So, what are your all-time greats?

I have to say that my

I have to say that my personal favorite Uncle John's Band was also my first, 5/21/82. To this day I sing Jerry's opening solo to myself. It's a really lovely version.

I'll have to look that one

I'll have to look that one up! Being that UJB is a personal favorite song of mine........

"The Wheel" from The Gorge,

"The Wheel" from The Gorge, 7/3/04 - never heard a version as good as that one

Best ever Iko is 3-18-95

Best ever Iko is 3-18-95 philly spectrum. The best ever So Many Roads is 7-9-95. If anyone can steer me in a different direction please do so, as I am alwys looking. TomBanjo

here are my

little red rooster- 11/11/85 built to last-10/16/89 i need a miracle-12/31/78 cold rain and snow-7/4/89 row jimmy-7/4/89

Just off the top of my head this week...

Stella 6-15-76Playin 6-22-76,2-26-77,11-18-72 Other One 2-28-73 Eyes 8-6-74 Dancin 10-20-78

Dark Star 8th April 72

The Dark Star jam on Steppin' Out is pretty good I am biased as i was there The one Dark Star i wish i had seen live is 26th October 89 in Miami this is a MONSTER Bob W Spanish Jam

UJB +

Disc two of Dicks Picks 16 Bob W Spanish Jam

An under rated song from a great show is the Sugar Magnolia from 7/13/84. That was a real Bobby show and his guitar work on the Sugar Magnolia and his use of the whammy bar is outstanding. Other fav's are: Bertha from 8/05/71 Hollywood Palladium when somebody knocks the mike out, so the intro is like 3-4 minutes long. Also from next day 8/06/71 comes my favorite St. Stephen so slow and under control, but totally powerful. Great version...and the show closing Lovelight.

Dark Star

5-11-72 just shreds

cream puff war -

cream puff war - 3/18/67brokedown - 12/7/71 comes a time - 12/4/71 looks like rain - 7/16/72 bird song - 8/27/72 china>rider - 9/9/72 they love each other - 12/6/73 eyes of the world - 6/20/74 dire wolf - 9/10/74 help>slip>franklins - 6/14/76 stella blue - 7/18/76 morning dew - 4/27/77 _______________ insert obligatory signature here

best ever

Most songs changed so much from when they were written over the years that it's hard to come up with a Best Ever. One performance of a particular song, however, is so head and shoulders above any other version as to obviously deserve this distinction: the Greatest Story Ever Told from the Venetta Oregon show, 8-27-72. Can anybody think of a GSET that even comes close? Neither can I.

Fire rap

Had a live 80's tape of Robert Hunter rapping Fire. I don't think it was Mickey...hmmmm. Can anyone put a finger on where I might find this tune again?

A few of my favs

Well, for me the ultimate Dark Star is 11/11/73. The DEA should really look into scheduling this version of DS:)The Music Never Stopped from 5/9/77 is funky fun. I love this version! Bird Song from 12/31/90 with Branford is sublime. So Many Roads 7/9/95 never ceases to choke me up. Jerry's take on Positively 4th Street from the Garcia Plays Dylan album is brilliant. Jerry re-imagines one of the great put down songs as a heartfelt lament for lost love and friendship. Where Dylan was angry and mocking, Jerry is sad, wistful, and introspective. This take on the Dylan classic blew me away. Yo Soy Boricua!

Hate to jump on bandwagons but........

China>Rider: 5/26/73, even though it's cut.Dark Star: 2/13/70 Help>Slip>Frank: 5/9/77 Bird Song: 8/27/72 Viola 5/2/70 I would love to see running votes of favorite song versions from members as well as favorite shows of each year.

the last china doll -

the last china doll - 10/11/94. (maybe just because i was there on the floor, 'bout ten rows back).

greensboro, NC 3-31-91

the wheel > round N round > Jonny B good with hornsby in the hot seat i can still see bruce tearing it up as he stands up and kicks his seat from beneath him.... rockin times

Best Touch of Grey

Ever hear the 3/27/87 Touch? I was at the show in Hartford. For whatever reason the band and crowd really clicked on that one. I was on the floor about 10 rows back and the roar was magnificent.

UJB

If you get a chance check out the 12/26/79 UJB. The solo is amongs of the most emotive playing I've heard from Jerry. Ooops, this was meant in reply to the first post on UJB. I thought it would just go to that person.

Best ever/personal favs

Jack Straw -- 01/11/79Scarlet>Fire - 05/17/77 The Eleven - 03/01/69 Wheel - 03/29/90 China>Rider - 11/14/73 BTW - 11/14/73 Casey Jones - 05/13/72 Mr. Charlie - 05/03/72 1/2 Step - 11/06/77 H>S>F - 02/26/77 Touch - 11/10/85 Just to name a few.

Uncle John's Band

best ever for me was the 2nd set opener at Roosevelt on 8/06/74 included on the recent Dicks Picks.

Just my .02

Other One - MSG '79 Soooo much energy ! (At least on my Tape) Mission In the Rain - Boston Music Hall 75? Encore : Satisfaction / Brokedown Palace (My FIRST show and in TAPERS SECTION) MSG 3/10/81 Also Shakedown 1982 Philly Spectrum is a favorit of mine...

favs

China Rider 9-11-731/2 Step 9-11-73 Saturday Night Dead Movie Bird Song 8-27-72, Reckoning Dark Star 12-31-78, DP 2, 11-11-73 Eyes Dead Movie Music Never Stopped DP 18 Peggy-O 12-27-77 Row Jimmy 5-8-77 Comes A Time DP 29 They Love Each Other DP 18 Truckin' 11-06-77 Brokedown Palace Dead Set Black Peter 4-14-78, 9-21-72

Go listen to

The Wheel from The Fox in Atlanta. 11-30-80 Can't be topped. You must listen to the space into it. Dougles

Here is 2 quick ones.....

Dark Star-12-6-73Easy Wind-12-31-70 Dead to the Core www.myspace.com/bongwizard

Many and Often

There are so manyand they change so often I am always finding a version of "x" song I love more than another. And there is the "live vs version" However Shakedown - 3.30.87 Ripple - 9.3.88 come immedately to mind. Rats, gotta get back to the mine............ Cheers! JG “The Omnipotent Grateful Dead!” - unknown

Favorite Blow Away (2

Favorite Blow Away (2 actually): Riverfront Coliseum 4/89 - dude got caught up in the moment during the Brent rap and got on stage, had to be escorted off. 10/26/89 - right after Estimated and right before Dark Star, weird placement and an over the top versionFavorite Estimated (2 again): the aforementioned 10/26/89 - some spacey jamming before they open set 2 with it. 9/2/80 - a spiraling solo from Jer that I wish would never end. Favorite Bertha: 12/31/87 - the band comes out firing, great solo "Got a few wrinkles but that's OK, hang out in the breeze and they'll blow away"

not sure it's technically the best version ever...

but Brent singing "I Will Take You Home" to his little girl at the Shoreline Father's Day show was a moment I don't think anybody there is likely to forget. Dang, I miss Brent too.

All Time Favorites

For starters: Lazy Lightnin'>Supplication 5/15/80 (Go To Nassau) - amazing!!! Playing In the Band 10/19/73 (DP19) - Drops into deep space so quickly - no filler- perfect. It Must have Been the Roses - 4/24/78 (Tapers Section) - great pick Dave Loser - 3/24/90 (Tapers Section) - I was lucky enough to be there.

re that Brent moment

Great minds must be thinking alike, because this just got posted to the Archives: http://www.dead.net/archives/1990/photos/brent-his-daughter-jessica-sho…

Dark Star. Go directly to

Dark Star. Go directly to 2-28-69.

All Time Dark Stars

Heres my short list:2/27/69 Fillmore West The definitive version 4/8/72 Wembly Empire Pool Amazing!! 8/27/72 Veneta Or. Scary & sublime 9/19/70 Fillmore East Best "Feelin' Groovy" Jam 11/8/70 Capitol Theatre Port Chester NY Into Main Ten>Dancin' The Deads finest hour 9/24/72 Goes into some sort of demented hoe-down & China/Rider 2/13/70 Fillmore East Another definitive version 11/11/73 Winterland Long, strange & definatley a trip 12/6/73 Cleveland Convention Center In tune with the cosmos

Hard to Handle...DP 35 + 12

DP 35, disc 1 Hard to Handle cooks...Phil throws down some amazing lines behind PigPen (and a smokin' Cumberland follows)... and check out Medley on DP 12 as Frank Zappa said, Trust me, you'll love it...

alligator

08-23-68 shrine auditoriumwhen you have a 30 mile drive into houston on 45 south going 70-80mph...this is the song! it is so blistering it's not even funny! it's amazing to hear this band synch up like they've been playing this same version for years. truely one of my favs of dead music! when it's just jerry and the drummers playing always floors me. true musical communication! i remember finding this on a bootleg cd that consisted of cuts off gans' dead hour in the '90's. i think it was called "the jerry garcia memorial". take care!

China Rider

9-20-90 It's the reason I am on this site now.

Half Step

9/3/77 For years this song never made much of an impression on me. Until this version opened me up to it. Also NFA from this show is definitely #1

I have to concur with the

I have to concur with the previous post. The NFA from Englishtown is definitely the best all time version! Also the Estimated->Eyes has to be among the best ever pairing of the two. Espesially the Eyes! "The bottle was dusty but the liquor was clean."

best versions

eyes of the world 6-17-91,blow away 3-25-90

x

cosmic charlie 5-2-70

best versions

Hard to Handle - tie: 4/28/71 and 4/29/71Eyes of the World - 10/19/74 I Know You Rider - 5/2/70 Bertha - 3/21/94 Good Lovin' - 4/17/71 The Weight - 3/28/90 Sugaree - 5/22/77 (many from that year are a close second) I tried to think of a best version of Dark Star, but it is such a complex and crazy tune that I think it deserves its own seperate thread... Rick Do or do not; there is no try.

I spent about 4 days

I spent about 4 days searching through my old tapes, casettes and reel to reels, searching for some Looks like Rain I had seen way back when... the one that seemed to last forever... finally, right before the old board got cut off, I found the one... or was it just ab\nother really grate version? we may never know. all things seemed to go on forever that night. 10/17/84 another reason to bring the old board's content back, hint hint... I had to look through all my tapes AGAIN because I spaced on the one I found a couple of weeks ago... ( -; peace. "The highway is for gamblers, you'd better use your sense. Take what you have gathered from coincidence"

I might catch some flac for this one...

Most cats I talk to prefer later versions, but this is an all-time great in my opinion... Wharf Rat-Stanley Theatre on 1972-09-28 Dead to the Core www.myspace.com/bongwizard

Space Invaders

Dark Star Hill Auditorium on 1971-12-15 GO LISTEN!!!! Aliens abound in this one...Super intense....... Dead to the Core www.myspace.com/bongwizard

Play 'em Slow

I love that DS, GrayFolded - especially with the Deal chaser - KILLER!!! "From day to day, just lettin' it ride, You get so far away from how it feels inside, You can't let go, 'cause you're afraid to fall, But the day may come when you can't feel at all."

Sugaree - Lake Placid 10-17-83

Would have to say that the Lake Placid sugaree in '83 is the all-time greatest version of this song.

Sugaree

I seem to recall that Sugaree - I think 10/17/83 was one of the first tapes I ever got. Sort of a tinny audience tape, like many were in those days.12/28/79 is a great Sugaree, as are several of the loooong versions from 1977. Also there's a show Hornsby did in maybe 96 or 97 in which Weir showed up for Sugaree. That's a good one. Later in the show Phil came out too. "Got a few wrinkles but that's OK, hang out in the breeze and they'll blow away"

Morning Dew

From the recently released Cow Palace NYE 1976--I've had that tape since '77--still holds up after every listen

This is fun!

Looks Like Rain - 4-2-90Eyes of the World - 10-1-77 Lovelight - 3-29-90 Iko Iko - 2-29-90 Morning Dew - 5-8-77 Jack Straw - 12-29-77 Beautiful Jam 2-18-71 (between Wharf Rat and 2nd part of Dark Star) ok apparently I like 90 and 77 a lot...

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October 13, 2013 - 12:58pm

#51

tennmatt

Joined:
October 13, 2013

standing on the moon

would love to know or be turned of to some of the best standing on the moon ?
September 28, 2013 - 2:11pm

#52

TN John

Joined:
July 29, 2013

Amen

Great version!
September 28, 2013 - 12:53pm

#53

Birdsong52

Joined:
September 28, 2013

Found this version of

Found this version of Birdsong over at Sex Drugs and Rock n Roll, a pretty groovy online-zine based on the principles we all grew up on!
August 20, 2013 - 5:12pm

#54

Gr8fulTed

Joined:
July 9, 2007

Vidbusters China Cat

Well Carl, I'm stumped. I've checked a bunch of China's and I'm sure it must be from the spring of 1972(Europe)or possibly 9-17-72. In addition, I do not have 11/14/71 nor 7/21-22/72, so check them if you have the Roadtrip downloads. Close contestants include San Antonio 11/26/72 and Long Beach 12/15/72. Due to the poor quality of your mp3 link from vidbusters it's tough to really pin it down. I do know that Keith Godchaux is on a Steinway grand piano, not an electric piano or organ, so I searched forward from September '71. It's possible the song could be from 1973, but I'd stay in 1972. I found several great versions: 10/24/71 Detroit, 12/15/71 Ann Arbor, 12/31/71 San Francisco, 8/21/72 Berkeley, 8/27/72 Veneta, 9/3/72 Boulder, 9/9/72 Hollywood, 10/18/72 St Louis, 10/26/72 Cinci, and Wichita 11/17/72. The Europe '72 version is wonderful: Paris > 5/3/72My personal favorites come in 1973 and 1974, when the "Feeling Groovy" jam appears within the transitional jam between China and Rider. Check out the Sunshine Daydream 8/27/72 video performance on YouTube: Sunburn city!!
August 17, 2013 - 6:32am

#55

Anna rRxia

Joined:
December 25, 2009

Carl, Your China Cat

Is going through an MP3. Could this make up some of the differences between the DP4 and musical variation you say is there? I don't think this is from Europe 72, having listened to all of them.
August 16, 2013 - 10:21pm

#56

franklintower88

Joined:
December 20, 2011

best china cat?

I think the best china cat was 6/16/74, assuming that rider is included
July 26, 2013 - 6:23pm

#57

carlhungeez

Joined:
July 26, 2013

China cat Sunflower

I have a version of the China Cat Sunflower song I feel is THE DEFINITIVE live version. Please have a listen -- I have attached the link stream below from my private collection. Here's the catch: I dont know from what live performance it is from, and Ive been looking for over 7 years. People say its from Dicks Picks #4, yet others say it's from Europe '72. I own both of those versions (which are spectacular), and although close, this still bares musical differences. If anyone can help me identify the show this is played from, I would be forever grateful. Thank you so much and enjoy the song. http://www.vidbusters.com/~gator/Chinacatsunflower.mp3 4:43 is liquid cosmic magic. . .and then it cuts out soon after into the dark and lord only knows what beautiful melodies lay beyond it. . . -Carl
July 17, 2012 - 3:53am

#58

MattyE

Joined:
June 29, 2012

does 8-27-72 have the most "best versions"?

I think so
March 28, 2012 - 11:22am

#59

littlesmoke

Joined:
November 20, 2009

bird song '73

ok, i heard this Bird Song on sirius. I beleive it said April 19, '73, but i could have read it wrong. Bobby plays this line with just two alternating notes - its so simple, yet so beautiful. Dead at its best, imho. Can anyone tell me where this song is from?
March 22, 2012 - 6:30am

#60

wilfredtjones

Joined:
June 4, 2007

9-2-80 China>Rider revisited

Upon scrutiny, it actually sounds like Mr. Bob didn't come in where he was supposed to (that's where Brent's keys come in). I think what may have screwed him up a little is that they didn't all sing together as normal on the first verse. Jerry helps out after the Brent 'break' (where Bob was supposed to come in), and then proceeds immediately after with the correct lyric after helping Bob with his line. Either way, this version scorches! Just sweet. I just love the guitar filigrees Jerry adds which make this version truly unique.