Overlooked Songs

Volume 4 (Bonus Tracks)

Because there are so many live performances available for purchase or free download (or via the US mail, as is the case with tape trading sites) I felt that a bonus post was necessary. So, here are some of the songs that I wrestled with including on this list (in no particular order): “St. Stephen [...]

Volume 4, Track 14

“Stella Blue” by The Grateful Dead (4/30/1977) From Download Series, Vol. 1, recorded at Palladium, New York, NY Disc three of Download Series, Vol. 1 begins with a medley of “St. Stephen –> Not Fade Away –> Stella Blue –> St. Stephen –> One More Saturday Night” and, because it has to blend in to [...]

Volume 4, Track 13

“Althea” by The Grateful Dead (8/7/1982) From Dick’s Picks, Vol. 32, recorded at Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, WI One of my favorite live songs of all-time is “Some Kinda Love” from the Peel Slowly And See Velvet Underground box set (it is also available on the Loaded reissue from a few years back [...]

Volume 4, Track 12

“Chinatown Shuffle” by The Grateful Dead (4/24/1972) From Rockin’ The Rhein With The Grateful Dead, recorded at Rheinhalle, Düsseldorf, Germany I would be remiss if I did not include a Pigpen song on this list and “Chinatown Shuffle” is one his best songs this side of “Turn On Your Lovelight” and “Good Lovin’.” Pigpen songs [...]

Volume 4, Tracks 10 & 11

For the first and, most likely the last time, I am going to combine two tracks into one post. This exception is due primarily to the fact that both of these songs are so high on my list of all-time favorite live songs that to separate them into two posts seemed somehow unfair. They will [...]

Volume 4, Track 9

“Looks Like Rain” by The Grateful Dead (4/8/1972) From Europe ’72, recorded at Wembley Empire Pool, London, England Though not included in its original triple vinyl incarnation or on the first CD reissue (it was included on the second CD reissue in 2003), “Looks Like Rain” is one of the best songs from an album [...]

Volume 4, Track 8

“Jack Straw” by The Grateful Dead (11/5/1977) From Dick’s Picks, Vol. 34, recorded at Community War Memorial, Rochester, NY I have wracked my brain off and on for about a week trying to come up with best review for this song. So, I will make this really short: this version of “Jack Straw” starts off [...]

Volume 4, Track 7

“U.S. Blues” by The Grateful Dead (10/9/1976) From Dick’s Picks, Vol. 33, recorded at Oakland Coliseum Stadium, Oakland, CA If you live in or near any U.S. metropolitan area you most likely have a specialty liquor store, be it of the one-off, locally-owned or chain variety (for Chicagoland, the major chain is Binny’s), that constantly [...]

Volume 4, Track 6

“Greatest Story Ever Told” by The Grateful Dead (5/7/1972) From Steppin’ Out With The Grateful Dead: England ’72, recorded at Bickershaw Festival, Wigan, England Between the title of the song and the opening lyrics—”Moses came riding up on a quasar/His spurs were a-jingling, the door was ajar”—it would be easy to think that crass irony [...]

Volume 4, Track 5

“They Love Each Other” by The Grateful Dead (10/19/1973) From Dick’s Picks, Vol. 19, recorded at Oklahoma City Fairgrounds Arena, Oklahoma City, OK Dick’s Picks, Vol. 19 is what I affectionately refer to as the “hi-hat show” as it seems drummer Mickey Hart was especially fond of that particular cymbal that night. Because of the [...]

Volume 4, Track 4

“Playing In The Band” by The Grateful Dead (4/6/1971) From The Grateful Dead (Skull & Roses), recorded at Manhattan Center, New York, NY It seems that almost every version of “Playing In The Band” that features Donna Jean Godchaux deteriorates into a dreary, coked-out jam that features, to me, Donna Jean’s uninvited orgasmic moaning. Thankfully, [...]

Volume 4, Track 3

“Me & My Uncle” by The Grateful Dead (4/26/1972) From Hundred Year Hall, recorded at Jahrhunderthalle, Frankfurt, Germany The lyrics of “Me & My Uncle” reek of mountain and Western folk but done so in a fashion of how people who did not participate in the Western expansion think the West was like. As a [...]

Volume 4, Track 2

“Iko Iko” by The Grateful Dead (3/27/1988) From Download Series, Vol. 5, recorded at Hampton Colisseum, Hampton, VA As I stated in the introduction, I am a Dead newbie and, therefore, I have not really moved beyond 1977 in terms of Dead live performances. Of the thirty four live performances I have, twenty five of [...]

Volume 4, Track 1

“Samson and Delilah” by The Grateful Dead (12/31/1978) From The Closing Of Winterland, recorded at Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA When I first thought of doing a live Dead-only list I could not think of a better song to start it out than with this version of “Samson and Delilah,” the track that starts the [...]

Volume 4 Introduction

The Grateful Dead may be one of the most polarizing bands in rock history. To say that you like the Dead implies, to some, that you are a drug user; that a liberal worldview is implicit; that you only like jam bands; that you begin and end thoughts with “man”; that you could not possibly [...]