[tigerstrat]

I think it is overrated(May-77), but great playing from the whole band, great interplay as strummer stated... however I would disagree about Brent being overpowering, yes later on Brent & Jerry would go off together, but really even thru 1982 I think Brent was pretty restrained, and Jerry's guitar was so in front thru 1981 love it!, Favorite year post is 1982

ditto, Brent made everything more subtle imho, at least compared to late 70's which too me is the "overpowering" sound, and nowhere near as tight to my ears/feet/ass.

[bodiddley]

I was reffering to Bob's guitar and space in the music available, not jerry.

[enardi]

always loved may of 77, but to be fair I always thought that to be fair that april, june, and november of 77 we equally appealing. April in particular doesnt get alot of hype becuase several of the shows don't exist in sbd recording, but I just bought the new release of 4/30/77 and its amazing, also 06/04/77 is a fuckin monster, and its a great aud. Dick is also right 02/26 and 02/27/77 are amazing again 02/27 is very underrated cuz its an aud.

[bodiddley]

Maybe we should all wear "Free the '77 Boards!" Tees and loiter outside the Vault? The Fall does have some really great stuff too. My only laments about '77; No Summer tour, No China'/Riders(except one), And...No Dark Stars!

[Grant]

i gotta say I'd take keith over brent any day - playing and tone

[tcsned]

i gotta say I'd take keith over brent any day - playing and tone

I dunno - different animals. Keith didn't play anything but piano even on a tune screaming for some B3. But Keith could kill the country tunes and the rag timey stuff. Brent's B3 playing really filled out the sound in a way that piano couldn't and had the edge in bluesy and gospel-ish stuff. Never got to see a Keith and Donna show as I was 12 when they left the band.

[bodiddley]

I think Brent smoked keith in almost every way.

[tcsned]

I think Brent smoked keith in almost every way.

I would tend to agree at least subjectively - I never saw a Keith show and all of the good shows I saw had Brent at the keys. Both of them had chops and both had issues that detracted from their ability to perform at their best. I liked the variety that Brent offered.

[wisedyes]

Hmmm, Brent vs. earlier years Keith would be a hard choice. But for me, Brent really started to become waaaaay too cheesy towards his last few years with the band - never liked any of his later tunes. The lullaby one just made me want to vomit every time I heard it - which became A LOT. Also, his B3 playing became very,very predictable. I really think that had he stayed around, he may have taken the band down roads I would not have followed. Just my opinion, of course.

[JonnyBoy]

Love May of 77, you can't dislike that stuff if you like the Dead. Barton Hall the Best? Its all in the eye of the beholder.

Comparing Brent and Keith is like Comparing old dead and new dead. It all has its time and place, its good points and bad. Brent added something the Dead was needing to evolve, to revitalize. So did Keith when he came on board. Keith made some awesome music, '75-'76 Crazy Fingers, the Cowboy tunes, Europe? C'mon! Just because Keith liked to play acoustic doesn't mean he wasn't a versatile player either... Sometimes I think Brent took his "Tones" too far, he could have used some more subtle approaches like keith, IMO. Sometimes keith would play the same "style" over and over, maybe it just seemed that way since it was always piano. One thing is for sure they were both painfully shy and died too young. I always thought it funny about brent, a total rough looking hippy wearing a Rolex bigger than his hand.