Favorite era for the Dead ?

[glocke]

Curious as to what era of the GD others on here consider their favorite.  I saw all of my shows in the 80s, but anymore I rarely listen to anything but the 70's. I will listen to some early 80s stuff once in awhile, but very rarely.  Anything past 1988 or so I don't listen to at all..
 
Not that I consider the later stuff bad, its just that for me I prefer the sounds of the instruments in the 70s better, and of course I like the improvising during that time better.
 
Reason I am asking is that I am friends many dead fans who hardly listen to anything from the 70s, and jam with a couple groups of deadhead musicians who really only play the 80s versions of the songs...

[sparechaynge]

I find the 80's obsession some folks have interesting too. Some of the later stuff is good, and I will listen to 89-90 occasionally, but it's not a go-to period for me.
 
90% of what I listen to is 65-74, and I generally lean toward the earlier part of that range, particularly '68. The other 10% is mostly Furthur etc., with some late period Dead just for completeness sake.
 
Perhaps, along this same line of questioning, can someone explain why such a fuss is made over 1984 shows?

[hammer]

The only thing I've found superior in the 80's shows is the sound quality (and most of this is only with respect to audience taping versus the direct sound board stuff). My personal preferences range from about 70-74.

[pace]

I'm having a blast lately on YouTube seeing videos of some choice late 80s early 90s tapes that I used to have in my collection..... My visual image that i had vs the actual environment really throws me for a loop...
 
That said, my favorite era is still spring-winter of '73. I also had a fun time listening to all the college shows from spring '77 on archives.org a year or so ago.... There's so much out there to sift thru, and ever since the Rhino deal went down, it's been really hard for me to dust off good recordings of some of my favorites~ especially the 80-82 stuff...

[David Houck]

Obviously, one of the things that makes the 80's shows what they are is Brent Mydland.  He's fun to watch on videos, and his B-3 work adds a lot.  Both his playing and his vocals are an important part of the 80's Dead.
 
Of course with the 70's, you can say similar things about Keith Godchaux.  His playing was a big part of the 70's Dead.

[cozmik_cowboy]

I don't find myself listening to much '65-'67, and nothing after July '90 (Vince was a great player, but he just didn't work in the Dead, IMO).  Other than that, it's all good (well, all eras are good; you may find an off night here & there).  
 As to '84, I seem to remember (I think) that Alpine Valley was pretty darn smokin' that year.  
And Uptown Theater Decemember '79 was fun.
And July '90 at the World Music Theater - Brent's next-to-last show - was amazing.  
And Alpine '82 (John Cippolina & Zakir Hussein sitting in).
And lately I've given several listens to Filmore East Feb '70 (with the legendary Garcia/Kreutzmann/Lesh/McKernan/Green/Kerwin/Lee/Trucks/Allman/Allman/Oakley jams) - and will be doing so again very soon, I assure you!
And everything I've heard from the '72 European tour cooks.
But I really did love Brent. After the '90 World show, the friend I went with & I spent the next 2 days talking about how much he added to the band.  His death was real kick in the gut.
 
 
Peter

[dadabass2001]

For me, the prime period was from 67-78, although I also enjoy the Brent period as well.
Mike

[David Houck]

Doing some follow up reading inspired by this thread, I learned that Godchaux only wrote one tune for the Dead; but what a great tune.  Let Me Sing Your Blues Away from Wake of the Flood; the chord progression is very nice with lots of surprising turns, and the band's studio recording of it is great.  But the cover by Jazz Is Dead shows off just how interesting the chord progression is.  Both versions make for some fine listening.  And I imagine that it would be a blast to play.

[moonliner]

I started seeing the Dead in 1979 (on my birthday, July 1st) and saw shows up until the end. I have extremely fond memories of every show I saw, but I'd have to say my favorite era would be the single drummer era. For me, the band was at the height of it's powers during that time and the music was nimble and energetic.

[lbpesq]

I love the stuff with Pigpen.  He added a pure blues dimension to the band that they never again achieved after his passing.  The early 70's, when I started regularly attending shows, is also one of my favorite eras.  And they seemed especially pumped after they returned from Egypt in '78.  Unlike many purists, I also loved a lot of the 80's stuff - I believe Phil referred to this era as the turn-on-a-dime Grateful Dead in his book.  From the late/mid eighties on (after Touch of Grey was a hit), the scene became somewhat of a downer for me as it became more and more crowded, they played bigger and bigger venues, and the crowd more and more became people who just wanted to get f#&ked up and party and didn't really appreciate the band.  It also appeared to me that the band themselves were feeling this way and not enjoying it as much as in the past.  
 
And on the subject of chord progressions, I love Brown-Eyed Women.  One of the most enjoyable tunes I've convinced my non-Dead band to play.
 
Bill, tgo

[jalevinemd]

I picked up a copy of Rolling Stone's Grateful Dead Special Edition before hopping a plane back to Chicago. It's interesting that Bob Weir is quoted as saying...  
 
For me, the shows we did in the late Eighties were our peak, our best era. We were real tight. We could hear and feel each other thinking, and we could feel each other, intuit each other's moves readily. Our vocal blend was at its peak too...  
 
I found that statement strange in that it's the opposite of everything I've ever heard to be true.

[cozmik_cowboy]

Phil's turn on a dime Dead was the second era of the original quintet1 (starting Feb '71); the addition of Keith in Oct. '71 made them the turbo-charged turn-on-a-dime Dead.2
 
1Phil  Lesh, Searching For The Sound: My Life With The Grateful Dead (New York: Little Brown & Co., 2005), 194.
 
2ibid., 200
 
Peter

[lbpesq]

I sit corrected.

[sonicus]

In the beginning from The Warlocks through  the Pigpen era through 1978 is my favorite and most easily assimilated as a Bassist and as a listener .  I  also enjoy the rest all the way to the remaining incarnation as well but those earlier years when Pigpen was here with us in this dimension had the here and now  visceral quality and combustible energy that touches my soul.

[sparechaynge]

Well put, Wolf.