I finished the Pollan book just this morning. An interesting read immediately following Heads. I don't have anything brilliant to say about it, but it made me very interested in something I'd not previously been very interested in. A funny observation is that the Grateful Dead got a single parenthetical mention in a footnote in the Pollan book. That's okay though. I'm starting the new Selvin book tonight. The library finally came through.
Not sure if you're aware or not, but the 4/26/71 Sugar Magnolia was officially released a few years ago on the excellent Duane Allman box set, Skydog. He is easy to hear in the mix there.
The Deadessays site doesn't discuss the post-hiatus years much, but here is an article about it worth reading: Grateful Dead Guide: The Other One 1976-1979
Had a day off from work today which also meant I had the house to myself. Cleaned out the speakers with 10/19/73, Dick's 19. Set two. It hit the spot. Dark Star>Mlb Jam>Morning Dew. Wonderful stuff.
Interesting read, thank you. You might find the book Zig, Zag, Zen an interesting journey. It explores the relationship of psychedelics to Buddhist practice, and the general popularization of Buddhism in the US in the wake of the first psychedelic revolution.
I agree, the 5/4 Dark Star is one of my least favorite from the E72 tour. There's too much noodling in the middle. The show itself has some good stuff, but the big psychedelic jam is not one of them. Still, I doubt that the Parisians in attendance went home anything less than completely satisfied.
Just listening to this set tonite. Not only one of the best DPs but one of the best releases of theirs available. As my brother in law once said: the Led Zeppelin of Dead shows
Revisited Dark Star from 4/14/72 Tivoli for my evening walk...I thought I was getting a little burnt out on Dark Star, but no! the 5/4 version just really probably is a little bit below the mark I'm looking for them to hit, because this version is still, yet, and will be, fantastic! A rollicking Dark Star it is, it gets satisfyingly weird in the last few minutes, to the extent where if Weir had hung back a few more minutes with "Sugar Magnolia," I'd not have complained. One reason this Dark Star is so great--around 13 minutes in, Garcia begins playing the verse theme, and Weir and Lesh are having none of it, so there are a further three minutes of tense negotiations before we get back to the theme. You'd think the Dead would have said to themselves at some point: "We're trying to be this high-powered improv unit, so no matter how far out we are, when you hear a fella assert the theme, zop! right on it!" But what they did say is so much cooler: "If someone tries to pull something off, we'll go along if we feel like it..." It leads to a higher level of risk, but likewise some really cool things happening. I'd put this just a hair behind 4/8 and 4/24, making April 1972 without a doubt the best month for Dark Star ever... I'm not even high right now, and my enthusiasm could hardly be more piqued. Now listening to the Other One>Truckin' from 1978-01-06, as was made to sound so enticing from the LIA article pbuzby linked to...Other One was hot, Truckin' just started...
I listened to Other One from that tonight, what with all the talk of post-hiatus TOOs, and also the 10/21 version, as those are favorites, and then a few more mentioned by LIA I didn't really know...I don't really remember what now aside from the one I mention in the post above (1/06).
Yeah, I was reading some convo on the IA about E72 trying to find out what people think of the relative merits of the Dark Stars, and this was cited as one of the best, and as a particularly "jazzy" version. I'm not really sure what's so "jazzy" about it, either...now that you've reinforced my opinion I #^@! hate this Dark Star! Well, not really, but I'm less likely to listen to it 7 times next week searching for the jazzy brilliance I was missing.....some of it is very good, mind you. That's my same problem with Rotterdam--some of it is very good, but some of it isn't. Although, I don't expect a chorus of assent on that one...
It's hard to argue against that although I'd say that September 1972 gives it a run for its money: 9/10 9/16 9/21 9/24 9/27
That would be the other month I'd think of first too, but I am not familiar with 9/10 and 9/16 which I should rectify....
Also March '73 looks like a good month for Dark Star: 3/16 3/21 3/24 3/28 Plus, as I've stated before, I have a thing for 1969 Dark Stars, which they played at almost every gig.
IMO, Rotterdam's Dark Star (5/11/72) is just as brilliant as any other from the tour in its pre-drums segment. However, it doesn't quite justify its near 45-minute length as they sort of run out of ideas in the final 10 or 15 minutes.
OK, but aside from September 1972, March 1973, and 1969, April 1972 is definitely the best... I don't know those March 1973 ones at all, I don't think, except 3/24 (which is arguably shortish, depending on where you chop it) and something about 3/28 nags me and tells me I've heard it...
Rotterdam still is in the running for my top five shows of E72. The Dark Star may not be a top five version (from the tour), but I love the setlist/flow of the show. I mean, they open with Playing in the Band - how cool is that?! They open the second set with Morning Dew - even cooler. The post-Dark Star segment is phenomenal: Dark Star>Sugar Magnolia>Caution>Truckin', Uncle John's Band E: One More Saturday Night What more could you ask for??!!
I love the Rotterdam show. It was the one I bought as a standalone along with the E72 Vol 1+2 before I realized that this was not sufficient.
