The Viola Lee part has a little of both China Cat and Dark Star in there. I don't think it deserves discussion as Dark Star, where the Dancin' part does.
I can see this thread in four years.... Bzfgt: Hey guys, it's time for 6/8/92! Hoffman Forum: I wonder if it would help participation if the Dark Stars were selected in random order? Even at one a week or at whatever pace, not everyone might want to listen to a hundred '68-69 Dark Stars in a row. (Or, coming at the end, a couple dozen half-assed '90s versions in a row.) But it depends.....maybe contributors will be more enthusiastic about the chronological approach!
The Dancin' part is most closely aligned with the vocal melody, for the most part. What's happening in VLB is the genesis of the written instrumental riff that Jerry does just before the vocals come in (see, for example, 10:35 of the 4/8/72 DS). What threw me on first listen was the rapid tempo.
Could anyone other than Dick Latvala sit through all the known Dark Stars and be able to describe all of the nuances of all the different versions?
And since this is all so brief, I'll throw out the studio version now to get our consideration of Dark Star proper going: This is way cooler than I'd remembered, I like the vocals.
Released April 1968. To reiterate @bzfgt's OP post, this mega-overview should be everybody's homework for the first semester of this thread: Grateful Dead Guide: Dark Star 1968
I've been listening to 8/6/74 start to finish for the past 5 days, but will now retire to my front porch to check this out. Thanks!
Great to see this thread take flight. If my current mode bears out, I’ll soon be hopelessly behind (like the Wilco thread, I’m like 65 pages behind... woof!). But this will be a good way to listen to some deeper corners of the Archive that I don’t typically dig into. So I’m looking forward to that! This is about my take, on both the Dancin and the VLB. I can see the family resemblance, sorta maybe. And it’s cool to hear the band collectively, and certainly Garcia’s already-pretty-exceptional playing. But if I wasn’t straining to hear Dark Star riffs, I wouldn’t say this show illustrates the earliest known tape birthing that magnificent tune.
At the end of the studio version just before the banjo you can hear someone speaking the rest of the lyrics they never sang live.
Dick was once quoted as saying no human can listen to all the Grateful Dead out there or something like that. He wasnt referring to Dark Star only but all gd material. I tend to agree. I think if one started as a teenager or early 20: could be possbile. I’ve listened to everything that circulates or officially released through June 73 including NRPS and Jerry solo and it seems like a nearly impossible task to continue going chronologically and finish all. This concerted effort has taken place over the last 6 years. So in effect I am barely moving faster than the years of shows themselves. AkA I have completed listening to 7 and 1/2 years of shows over a period of 6 years. Of course I still skip around a little and listen to a lot of other stuff besides GD/Jerry. Every time I think Im going to stop the chronological listening I feel I will miss something of the progression and keep going. I may stop though soon and catch up on the official releases I have bought post 73 over the last 6 years and for the most part havent listened to. Prior to the last 6 years I skipped all over the place (like most normal beads I think) My point is good luck on listening to all Dark Stars you may get bored with it. But if thats your thing go for it I guess.
It's Hunter When I get home I was going to post the lyrics, 'spinning a set the Stars through which the tattered Tales of axis roll' is all I can recite by heart at the moment.
spinning a set the stars through which the tattered tales of axis roll about the waxen wind of never set to motion in the unbecoming round about the reason hardly matters nor the wise through which the stars were set in spin PS- Got your back @ianuaditis
I will have my final rankings for y’all sometime around February of 2025. then we move into “Eyes of the World”...
Neither "extract" we've been flagging is harmonically anything like Dark Star. Just two fragments of melody in their infancy; one that got adapted further for the vocal line and the other for Jerry's instrumental Dark Star "theme."
Yeah, there are bits and pieces in various Viola Lee Blueses that have a family resemblance to part of Dark Star. The riff before the verse is hinted, also there's another riff which I can't sing through the internet and which I don't think has been given a name that shows up.
