Overlooked Songs

Volume 26, Track 13

“Turn On Your Love Light/Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad/One More Saturday Night” by The Grateful Dead (1995) [Notes... Total track length = 31:29, "Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad" starts at 19:14, "One More Saturday Night" starts at 26:46] Hundred Year Hall was the first live album released after Jerry Garcia’s death and it [...]

Volume 26, Track 2

“St. Stephen/The Eleven/Turn On Your Love Light” by The Grateful Dead (1969) [Notes... Total track length = 30:55, "The Eleven" starts at 6:33, "Turn On Your Love Light" starts at 15:51] The Grateful Dead had two live versions of “St. Stephen” that they would perform: one version was simply a live version of the song [...]

Volume 21, Track 7

“Sugaree” by The Grateful Dead (1977) The awesomeness of a live performance of “Sugaree” is directly proportional to how great Jerry Garcia’s guitar solos are that particular night. Call it the Law of Live Sugaree, if you will. As its core, this song is a nice lazy-ish tune that moves at a deliberate pace; a [...]

Volume 21, Track 6

“Terrapin Station” by The Grateful Dead (1977) One of the things that always makes me laugh is when people say they “like all kinds of music.” To be sure, I realize that it’s easier to use this default answer than to say something ultra-specific when asked what kind of music you like.[1] But whenever I [...]

Volume 21, Track 5

“Deal” by The Grateful Dead (1977) “Deal” is one of the many songs that the Dead performed exclusively live, never bothering to record it for a studio album. Alongside “Jack Straw” and “Me and My Uncle,” “Deal” is one of the most consistently great live songs they performed (especially throughout the ’70′s). It’s a perfect [...]

Volume 21, Track 4

“The Music Never Stopped” by The Grateful Dead (1977) On April 30, 1977 The Grateful Dead were performing the second night of a five night run at the Palladium in New York City. “The Music Never Stopped” was the opening song on that night. To the listener who is not a Dead fan, this song [...]

Volume 7, Track 6

“Morning Dew” by The Grateful Dead (1967) The Grateful Dead’s eponymous debut album, if you were to hear it now, would most likely sound very dated. It is very indicative, musically, of the 1966-67 San Francisco sound; so much so that it almost seems to have been stored in the same vacuum that Surrealistic Pillow [...]

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 [...]

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