So, after years of listening to and seeing, most, if not all, of the post Jerry Garcia line-ups that included former band members, I came to the conclusion that the “Other Ones” from the 1998-2000 period might be my favorite. Ironically, they were the line-up I had paid little attention to until a few weeks ago, when I found the official “The Strange Remain” release at a local thrift. I had seen a few of their northeast appearances and certainly enjoyed them but had filed them in the back of my mind over the years while seeing so many other incarnations of Bobby, Phil, Mickey or Billy bands.
Listening to the official CD inspired me to watch/listen to some of the 1998/99 performances on YouTube and the Archive and I fell back in love with them. Phil and Bobby sounded great, the twin guitar attack of Kimock and Karan was awesome, Dave Ellis and Bruce Hornsby with such tasteful playing and Mickey and Molo holding down the drums/percussion all brought a perfect storm of Grateful Dead music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAzRUDCNTtA