I don’t really start my Dark Star run until Feb 3 1968 Crystal Ballroom outside of the Nov 11 1967 studio version.
Not sure it's definitive, but Setlist Program lists only 231. The SetList Program - Grateful Dead Setlists, Listener Experiences, and Statistics
Not definitive as it starts with an entry of an alleged performance 3 months before the song was written.
Feb 3 1968 Crystal Ballroom This is the first (live) DS I have in my collection. 5:23, at a brisk, toe tappin pace. A lot of Mikey with a shaker sounding percussion keeping the tempo up. Short Garcia solo between the verses. No jam after the second verse they just let it kinda trail off then after a beat pick up into China Cat. Pretty timid overall. The energy jumps significantly once they move into China Cat and The Eleven. Overall cool 1 hour set worth checking out as a whole. d1t01 - That's It For The Other One -> d1t02 - New Potato Caboose d1t03 - It Hurts Me Too d1t04 - Born Cross-Eyed d1t05 - Good Morning Little Schoolgirl d1t06 - Dark Star -> d1t07 - China Cat Sunflower -> d1t08 - The Eleven
It would be fun along the way to dissect / discuss the sections of the song and overall interpretations of what is going on. I'll never forget my friend Bob mentioning that the version on Live Dead has a "cosmic apology". I do have Greyfolded and can appreciate the Plunderphonics. But I tend to focus on the version from Live Dead as definitive.
No offence but that '76 show posted earlier reminded me why I get off the bus circa 1973 for the most part (there's a few exceptions) - total snoozeville, guess the Persian was pretty good... Always had a real soft spot for the studio Dark Star, has a real OG mix of Aoxomoxoa vibe going on, nitrous in full effect
The first I have is 20th January from the Quick And The Dead tour, sadly cut at the 3:08 mark, whereas the first complete I have is from the 22nd January, still pretty brief at 5:40 Not sure if these are the first in circulation tho...
Today we will look at the studio outtake and then probably the 1-17-68 version, since these are so short. Studio outtake: www://archive.org/details/gd1967-11-14.116173.sbd.motb-0174.flac16 "It drags like that!"
So I just listened to the studio Dark Star for the first time. You couldn't predict where it was eventually going to go from the original. I was surprised that the outro was part of the original composition. I always assumed it was the intro to St. Stephen.
I strongly approve of this thread! I was planning on listening to the entire 1969 ark run this weekend from start to finish so that’s three dark stars right there.
We should also do the official studio track. I like that the boys are already exploring a mixture of instruments and textures the studio version. Trying to make it sound "psychedelic," which is different than being psychedelic and just playing it live.
I really like the gentle vibe of this run through, but man this version has some heavy NR by the sound of it, the version I have on the old Unsurpassed boot sounds much better (if a little hissy)
OK, let's try to get to the first live version (available) today. 1968-01-17 4:49 This is the first live version it is possible to hear, but there are probably one or two versions in late 1967 (although certainly not in June). There seems to be a small cut at the beginning. Not much jamming yet, or even much soloing...
Starting at 2:46 and running to 3:05 of the 1968-01-17 Dark Star is what will become a familiar theme. This is what Light Into Ashes calls the "Falling Star" theme. Even though they may seem a bit silly, we'll use such names where they exist, as they will provide us with certain touchpoints and moments of familiarity. Right away we can see that there will be modular themes that move from version to version. Another one that will be familiar to many of you is what LIA calls the "Bright Star" theme, so I'll identify that here too. This can be heard at 20:15 in the following video of the Live Dead Dark Star: Note that it goes into the "Falling Star" theme. Then there is the "Sputnik," which wasn't named by LIA but I'm not sure what its origin is. Listen to the Live Dead video above at 11:40 for the Sputnik. In the course of this, we may identify other modular moments that have not been named, and we may feel it helpful to give them names. For my taste the less clever the better, but it doesn't really matter, it's all just an aid to help us analyze the music. You may wish to bookmark this post if you wish to have a reference for these modular licks. For convenience, here is LIA's essay again: Grateful Dead Guide: Dark Star 1968
Naming the themes that will come in and out of these is going to be a great help/resource. We need to create a language to describe music in words, otherwise this thread will become "that was cool at 4:26" and "check out what they played here".
OK. Listened to 1/17/68. Still very early, basically a runthrough of the studio version. It is notable for the "falling star" lick which we will be hearing more of. I now officially stand corrected about the outro. It had always struck me as a modulation to get from the key of Dark Star into the key for St. Stephen. I guess it can be used to bridge to other tunes as well (China Cat in this case).
