Dead. Where Is Thy Sting?

@johnto 

I love ’72 Dead!  If I could only listen to the Dead from one year in their entire career, I’d choose ’72. Yes, I’d miss the material from Wake of the Flood, Mars Hotel and Blues for Allah but for me, there’s something especially appealing about their playing in ’72. I think it was Weir’s peak as a superb rhythm guitar player. The new tunes were still fresh and Garcia was still varying his soloing approach to suit the style of each tune. And I love the SOUND of the band in ’72. The grand piano. Weir’s bell like ES345 and Garcia’s Strat. I’m not a fan of Donna’s out of tune singing but I can easily overlook it.

@larsman 

I'm sure you prefer entire shows but how do you think Ladies and Gentlemen stacks up against Skull and Roses?

I agree with what you say about WR into GDTRFB but I also think the versions of Bertha and Big Railroad Blues are pretty darned good, too. 

@stuartk - my favorite years for them would have to be '77-'78. And to tell you the truth, I don't think I've ever heard 'Ladies and Gentlemen' or most of the other official live stuff except for Dicks Picks and all of the annual packages...

My favorite of those packages is '30 Trips Around the Sun', which has one show from every year from 1965 (Pig's and Jerry's voices sounded very different at the beginning before they found their own style, and you can hear 'em do 'Cosmic Cowboy' and other songs never to be heard again!) to 1995, and the shows they picked were real 'on' nights, one and all... 

Of all the post-Jerry Grateful Dead bands, the one I like the most is Dark Star Orchestra; they are incredible and at this point they've played WAAAAY more shows than the boys ever did. Phil said that GD music was its own genre; I agree and to me, DSO is the most traditional GD sound, including the vocals; their Lisa is a stunning singer; so much more powerful (and in tune) than Donna ever was. 

It was IMO all downhill after they moved to solid state n ditched the 4 x MC240’powered PA….. just kidding…

low tide could also explain the show variability…. My sample not sufficient to draw a causation conclusion…

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@larsman 

 I’m aware of "30 Trips" but have never heard it. I’ll have to check if its on Spotify.

Ditto DSO. All I know is that they replicate entire shows. 

I saw the Dead in ’77 and ’78, both times at UCSB. That was a long time ago but I recall preferring the ’77 show even through sound in the gym was not great.