[penny3000]

I started listening to the dead about a year ago, and been listening religiously for about half a year now. One of the first songs I had heard that got me attracted toward the dead was when i had downloaded a version of Franklin's Tower; it was pure bliss and i knew i needed to listen to more dead to find more of that. I had always wondered what date/venue of the version of franklin's tower i had, cuz it was an incredibly good version, and franklin's tower is one of my favorite dead tunes.

I've listened to quite a few versions of franklin's tower, and other top versions id list are probably:
5/22/77 (dick's picks 3), and 5/9/77. But i had looked for some time on archive.org site to see if i could find the show that has the version that i had become accustomed to, but i was never able to find it. I even tried lookin up on google 'favorite franklins tower' threads and such to find the one i was lookin for, but never had luck; while at the same time comin across many other versions that were pretty solid, but never finding the one i was looking for. Well today is my lucky day. I was browsing arhcive.org and came across 10/20/78 (a show during a winterland arena run). Now perhaps I am slightly biased because this is the version of the song that i had first heard and listened to a million times before listening to others... but honestly, i believe that this really could be the best version of franklin's tower, at least in my opinion. The whole band is in great chemistry with each other, garcia and weir with tremendous interplay, and garcia's lead is ridiculously tight the entire time. I feel that at times, other versions tended to carry on a bit too much and were perhaps a bit redundant at times... but not this version. I'd expect that a lot of you are already familiar with 10/20/78, but hey give me a break, i'm still catchin up to ya'll. Anyway though, if you're not familiar with this show and you enjoy franklin's tower, i would definately recommend checking it out. I'm real glad to have come across this show and I'm excited to listen to the rest of the show; I haven't had a chance to listen to the rest of the show, but if its anywhere near as good as the franklin's then I'm in for a ride.
Does anyone else agree with me that this is a phenomenal franklin's tower??? Thoughts???

[caspersvapors]

i really dig the ones on Go to Nassau and One from the Vault, 5/1/81 also has a real nasty one

Ill check out that 78 one

[bodiddley]

Great American Music Hall-'75,Golden Gate Park S.F.-'75, 6-9-76, 4-23-77, 3-13-82.

"Go to Nassau" as mentioned above, and "Without a Net" version.

[tigerstrat]

First one that pops into mind is 4/12/83, or was it 4/26/83. Breakneck tempo, huge energy.

[bucketorain]

i like the Stranger > Franklins from Giants Statium in 1989..

[devil]

I like early 80's Franklins.

9/19/90 is a fun one also
11/5/79 19mins nice mellow jammin franklins

[Stagger Lee]

4/23/77, 5/9/78(aud), 11/9/79 are probably my 3 favorites.

[CountryMile Cadillac]

i like the Stranger > Franklins from Giants Statium in 1989..

Yea, that was fun when they were doing these early Franklins with Stranger. Another good one like this is in Hot Lanta 3-28-89 Franklins- Stranger. That show was a good one, ah the omni...fuckers tore it down (the dead did figuratively on many occasions, but some wrecking ball smashed it), so many places we use to see them are gone....

[st stephen]

i still love the franklins from one from the vault.

[bodiddley]

Yes, I mentioned that one.

[penny3000]

a few have mentioned the '75 performance that landed on to the commercial 'one from the vault' release. This is a pretty damn tight version with some nice playing and great sound, but i think its a little too short and doesn't quite extend to explore as far as later franklins would go.

I browsed through some recommended franklin's that have bobby throwin in some china cat sunflower riffs; thought that was pretty cool, it fit in very well, and damn do i love that riff.

Also, I'm not really much of a fan of 90's dead (in comparison to other eras), but i do have 'without a net' and must admit that the franklin's tower on it is actually pretty sweet. garcia's tone is great on it. great soloing with excellent sound quality is always bound to lead to good things.

thanks for all your responses, def. came across some quality franklins from ur recommendations. it really is ridiculous, the tremendous amount of music the dead have available for us to browse through. I certainly owe a big old 'THANK YOU' to archive.org

[krzykat]

+1 for 8-13-75! one of the best help> slip> franklins ever played

[weirimpressed]

+1 for me as well, Id take that over the later ones anyday

[GratefulPat]

sorry to kill the forum but i wanted to mention a standout tennessee jed in 10/20/78.. worth a listen, tons of energy