Every Dark Star (Grateful Dead)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by bzfgt, Aug 4, 2020.

  1. bzfgt

    bzfgt The Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler Thread Starter

    I couldn't agree more, this is at least my favorite since 2-27, so for me one of the top two so far (I think, I may be forgetting something else I liked as much). Like I said, I'm no good at predicting others' reactions....I thought you'd be unimpressed with the "reverse peak" toward the end, although that probably loomed larger in my mind than it should have since it is so shockingly different. And, I kind of felt like there is no way this was as good as I thought it was, I was so enthralled it was excessive...as I said, I spent 4 hours with this thing.
     
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  2. bzfgt

    bzfgt The Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler Thread Starter

    I was listening to Spanish Jam from this show tonight while reading the great new LIA piece on it (Grateful Dead Guide: The Spanish Jam ) and this Dark Star came on...wow

    www://archive.org/details/gd1968-01-20.sbd.miller.97340.sbeok.flac16
     
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  3. JSegel

    JSegel Forum Resident

    Location:
    Stockholm, Sweden
    4/27/69 Minneapolis: 25:46 - Dick's Picks 26

    Lots of nasal tone, a mellow jam, ROR and all, going off the rails a bit, TC doubles up on his notes and settles to a chord. JG still with the nasal tone. Full on hand percussion accompaniment, but Phil is being mellow and chordal, then he starts a descent within the line, he’s heading off somewhere. Everybody is heading somewhere. It’s like a multi-armed anemone of melodies. Settles down again at 2:45 or so, but JG has a lot more to say, he’s trying some new bends and riffs, TC providing a bed. A thematic-*ish statement, but tonight nothing is going to be exact, everything is a representation of those old tried-and-true themes and riffs! More exploring than ever. This is incredible. Developing the sound in a more band-like together way now after spending some time each exploring on their own, they are going in and out of being individuals in the sound mass and being a single unit.

    At 5 minutes we enter new territory as people go on their own developments, Phil still trying his descending line, Jerry on his riffy bends. But we hit and island at 6:30, Phil has some chords to play, atemporally, he even plays around with the intro chords.

    Sounds like Bill is is in there on sidestick on the drum set, but it takes a bit to convince everybody that we’re gonna play the theme. Let’s do it! But we’re gonna make it weird. Is it gonna go to the verse? Not just yet. We need another building up jam. The weedeloes upwards while TC goes downward…

    9 minutes before the verse. Funny Cali accent from Mr G on the first line, then the second line with feeling! Search light crashing? What?

    Intro to the transitive nightfall as usual, but it’s like waves instead of bells coming in. Waves of cymbals, feedback, organ swells, all overlapping! Wow.

    Bob has some great statements building under this area before JG steps in with the strong bright tone playing “lead guitar” like he’s got a lot to cover this evening. And he does. He gets caught in a few eddies in the current, alongside Phil, drums kicking out the jams. They start a multi-headed hydra jam with Dark Star intentions, all parts moving forward, up one side of the wave and then back down the back of it. TC switches tones for some more high end, hand percussion wailing on everything he’s got.

    Everybody hitting on a swinging rhythm that JG is deftly stating Dark Star hints, but Phil keeps going modally sideways with his descending riffs and then weird arpeggios. Some spacey exploration, everybody going their own way. Wide sweeps on sputnik, you can really hear TC on this recording and he’s going for it, super wide swept arpeggios, no exact rhythm for this Sputnik, people seem to be in their own worlds orbiting each other. But Phil wants to state his descending riff in a choppy rhythm, JG tries to sync with the guiro. It’s settling into it’s own new rhythmic statements, but then holding onto tremolos as it quiets down.

    Wait what happened at 18m? A tape flip on my version, I missed a few seconds here. -->into lead guitar that settles into a riff type bit, new low string stuff. Some throwing the riff around, JG doing a building statement getting higher each time, then with little pull offs at the top making a new melodic statement. This quiets into a soft thematic area, with a bed from TC, PL and BW drop out and leave JG to say some things in that rolled off tone. TC eventually stops “playing around” and gets on some chords, while JG makes some solo statements and noodles around playing with a brighter tone. When Phil comes in he’s on a half-step riff of some sort, an interesting new “progression” that TC joins in on (around 22”) this is going to build into a new way of stating the theme, coming in at 23”. Then we’re back for Verse 2. Nice vocals, very matter of fact from Jerry after the very “feeling” verse 1. No warbling on his held notes, just strong vocal statement.

    Lots of vocal filigree on the madrigal outro, the counterpoints perfectly stated going out into St Stephen, with bell tree and other weird percussion.

    Fantastic version, two nights in one, making up for the lack of Dark Star in Chicago! New areas explored, new riffs and styles. New forms of the band playing as a unit, both as a multi-armed being and as several simultaneous individual lines. Really great version.
     
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  4. pbuzby

    pbuzby Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, US
    I think the Archive version has a cut around that point with somewhere around 20-30 seconds missing compared to the DP. Not sure why.
     
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  5. adamos

    adamos Forum Resident

    Location:
    Southeastern PA
    #61 1969-04-27 (using DiP 26 via the YT video that Mr. Rain posted). Plenty of TC and guiro/maracas at the outset. Phil is nicely present too. Jerry’s tone has a bit of bite but his playing is gentle and beautiful; it’s really captivating. He snarls at 1:48 and the intensity and fuzz picks up but there’s still a dreamy vibe. Man he sounds really good. They work into the main theme then around 4:00 there’s a nice repetitive thing that launches them into a Bright Star-esque peak. Around 5:00 they ease off but keep the flow going; by 5:25 they’re into a lower groove, nice accents from TC and Bobby, things start to build again, gong washes, Phil and Bob come forward more. Then at 6:42 Jerry starts this sharp but beautiful line, Phil is weaving underneath it, they’re all swelling up around it, just wonderful. By 7:28 or so the wave has crested and they pivot back to the main theme and head towards the first verse. Best opening segment yet?

    After the verse things start to swell again, strong gong washes, Bob’s playing nice rhythm while Jerry does something a bit weirder that builds into feedback, a bit of bell tolling and then at 11:58 they’re off again. Quick and sharp playing from Jerry, more percussion comes in, then he downshifts just a little and they’re collectively cruising along. It’s building again; a little guitar peak at 13:22, the groove is good. Starting around 14:10 Jerry does a repetitive, ascending thing; they’re winding and weaving, another peak, they keep rolling, Jerry and Phil playing off each other, oh man. Around 15:20 they ease up and start heading to Sputnik.

    Sputnik is more melodic but still gets pretty intense, lots of TC, and then at 17:10 they collect themselves and slowly transition into insect weirdness which also builds into something interesting and intense. Rumbling bass, more drums, Jerry repeating some variations and they’re off on another jam.

    Things build and then around 19:20 they reach a plateau where they linger briefly then it’s further upwards seemingly heading to Bright Star. But at 19:58 they ease off and switch things up, working in this space for a bit before starting another ascent. By 20:50 they’ve downshifted again and then starting at 21:10 we get a lovely, subtle Bright Star that continues into a gentler passage that’s mostly Jerry and cymbals. Around 23:10 the others start coming back in, the vibe is kind of brooding now, doun, doun, doun, doun, nice TC, Jerry’s doing this repetitive thing with different accents, his guitar is crying out and then they seamlessly shift back into the main theme.

    Wonderful, glorious version!
     
  6. johnnypaddock

    johnnypaddock Senior Member

    Location:
    Merrimack Valley
    I listened to this version a few times this morning and all of your posts really add to the experience. It’s crazy how you can listen to the same thing repeatedly and still pick up on new things. Thanks!
     
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  7. bzfgt

    bzfgt The Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler Thread Starter

    62. 1969-05-07 6028 San Francisco 22:17

    Main theme at :06.
    Main theme at 4:17.
    First verse at 5:49.
    Bright Star (more or less) at 8:48 and 10:10.
    Sputnik at 15:05.
    Bright Star at 18:16.
    Goes into Drums>Turn on Your Lovelight.


    Garcia begins by playing the main theme a few times, with the ROR providing a counterpoint. They start to drift off the two chord pattern after that, and it’s gone by about the one minute mark. Garcia hits a high note at 1:55 and stays on it until 2:08, then starts playing a descending line and winds up on the bass strings. At around two and half minutes they are pedaling on a repeated quarter note beat and, after they get away from it, this little pulse will return at times, more subtly, as an undercurrent to the opening jam. (Note that at 3:07 Garcia is playing a figure we’ve heard before and will hear again, I almost feel like it should have a name…)


    Garcia slides into the main theme at 4:17; by 4:39 this has mutated into a kind of blues lick! At 4:57, however, Garcia reëstablishes the theme. In the lead up to the verse, and then during the vocals, TC plays a little legato figure that functions almost like a violin part; then he plays some more staccato bits during the build-up after the verse, which is again very unique.


    At 7:52 Garcia bursts out with a line that suggests perhaps they’re going to go full tilt into the jam, but then everything quiets down. At 8:33 Garcia starts playing a hazy lead in keeping with the dynamics, but then at 8:48 he suddenly bursts into some Bright Star licks and everything changes again. At 9:47 he starts playing a figure based around some repeating bass notes, and then he soars back into the Bright Star theme at 10:10. Then things get quieter and hazier again.


    Just after 11 minutes Garcia is hinting at Sputnik. Instead, they hit another bluesy groove, as the whole band starts hammering on a riff they seem to have just devised. This changes a bit, turning into a chugging, driving section shortly after 12:00. At 12:40, Lesh starts playing a jazzy line that we have not heard in Dark Star before; this is similar to the line he had sometimes played in Clementine, which others have suggested is derived from the bass line Jimmy Garrison plays in Coltrane’s Greensleeves, but it is somewhat different. There might be something this matches more closely, and I’d be happy to have it pointed out. The jam gets kind of jazzy here, in any case.


    At 14:20 Garcia repeats a high note while Lesh repeats a low one, and things get rather squally for a bit, and then they suddenly quiet down and head toward Sputnik. This is an odd one, as everyone seems to keep going off in different directions. It’s interesting to see how widely Sputniks can vary, and they are certainly not committed to nailing it down one particular way; instead, they keep pulling and prodding at it. This goes into a series of jabs again, but they’re not entirely committed to it this time. At 16:59 Phil has had enough; he starts playing the main theme, while Garcia fiddles with the volume knobs for a while.


    They build on this for a bit until Garcia bursts into Bright Star at 18:16. He soon leaves this behind, continuing to drive the band to a peak but choosing other notes; at 19:11 everyone is ready to come down again, and they ooze along for a bit. Garcia drops out, and there’s a strange, ooze little jam…At 19:43 Weir gets a little showcase, and then everyone weirds out for a bit again until Weir starts up a little riff that Lesh picks up on but this doesn’t last, either. Lesh comes to the fore at 21:25. This whole section is quite odd. Perhaps Garcia broke a string…in any case, this jam trickles out into drums without the second verse ever arriving.


    Dark Star has come a long way; there are more unexpected and unprecedented things happening each time, it seems. At some point in the future, it will become standard to omit the second verse; I’m not sure it was entirely intentional this time, however. But this is a fascinating version, and it opens up new horizons once again.

    I can't remember the last time Dark Star didn't go into St. Stephen....
     
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  8. bzfgt

    bzfgt The Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler Thread Starter

    I lightly edited this, and changed it to accord with the times on Dick 26

    61. 1969-04-27 5070 Minneapolis 25:46


    Main theme at 3:23.
    Bright Star at 4:32.
    Main theme at 7:53.
    First verse at 9:15.
    Sputnik at 15:33.
    Bright Star at 21:13.
    Main theme at 24:05.
    Second verse at 24:55.
    Goes into St. Stephen.


    This sounds a little busy at the outset, with Garcia playing leads almost immediately, during the part where TC has the ROR going, as Lesh plays very melodically. They seem to realize this, and take steps to adjust a little (although it is by no means an unpleasant beginning); from around :43, everyone has pulled up, and all four non-drummers start playing sustained notes, and then at :53 things pull back together with a little more of a measured feel. Garcia lays back for a few seconds here, and then reëmerges at :56 with a rather horn-like line.


    Garcia lays down his horn at 1:17, and he comes back a couple of seconds later with the verse melody, altered a bit so no one is tempted to crash into the E minor. The band seems to be casting about a little bit (not in the sense that they are lost, I should add, since that happens sometimes, too!). At 2:07 Lesh starts a descending two-note figure, and Garcia adds an ascending counterpoint that starts to gesture toward the main theme. Things come to a halt at about 2:37, and Garcia returns with strong hints of the main theme that are taken up by Lesh, who will not be caught flat-footed.


    As Weir joins Lesh and begins bouncing on the familiar two chords, Garcia at 2:50 starts to spin out some piercing A mixolydian melodies that repeatedly descend to an E. These obliquely invoke Bright Star, but one feels as though an imminent big A hit will take us to the main theme. Sure enough, Jerry goes into a big wind-up, taking us up to a suitably dramatic A at the 17th fret at 3:17; again, however, this one trickles back down to E, this time alluding to the verse melody. Then Garcia slyly omits the initial A as he begins the main theme. He then plays it a few times with the A tagged on the end, rather than at the head of the figure. This allows him to pull it out of shape a little more each time through, by degrees, until he’s not recognizably playing the main theme anymore, and neither is the band.


    Here we can see how the fundamental musical figures underpinning Dark Star are now as likely to appear not as foundational structures, or even as simple way stations, but rather as objects of innuendo. Maybe it is a bit less fanciful to say that these figures (the main theme, Bright Star, the verse melody, and the two-chord pattern A, Em/G) serve as building materials that are continually shaped and reshaped, keeping just enough of their texture to be recognizable within the new structures that are formed from them (although the metaphor of construction I am using is perhaps a bit too inert for its purpose here).


    This turns into a jam that sounds rather bluesy, as Weir and Lesh emphasize E while Garcia plays some licks from E Dorian, hanging around the middle and lower range, until beginning at 4:28 he climbs and erupts into Bright Star (although with a swung cadence that perhaps makes this a borderline case). At 4:44, Bright Star culminates in a repeated peel-off on E D C# that, in replacing Falling Star, evokes a feeling of hanging rather than one of falling. Following this, Garcia keeps coming back to E with a secondary emphasis on G, building suspense. At 5:05, he ascends to the stratosphere, but gently; there are brief allusions to Falling Star, most markedly at 5:14, and then he starts fluttering down. When he touches down at 5:30, it is again on an E…after a breath, he at last reaches A at 5:33, which arrives in the guise of the bell toll missing from the post-verse section of the last Dark Star (04-23)!


    Lesh also begins to heavily emphasize A (the tonic), but Weir seems to be playing A minor, making for a dark interlude rather than a push for the theme, at least for now. At 6:23 Garcia seems to want to slide in the theme, but they seem unsure how to get out of this minor bag; Lesh is all over the place, and in the 6:30s he starts emphasizing F# and pushing everyone into what I think is a jam in D major, although it has a minor feel. Garcia begins to play a lovely melody that descends from F# to A, until at 7:27 Lesh maneuvers him into winding this section up in a C natural (the minor third of A, thus not part of the mode they most commonly play in Dark Star, A mixolydian)…at 7:32, as Lesh and Weir start playing C minor, Garcia starts signaling for the main theme! At 7:52 Lesh comes along, and the theme has arrived at last.


    By 8:40, Garcia is taking off again, but after throwing in some ascending runs he reigns it back in at 9:03, and we head to the verse. This arrives at 9:15, as this edges past 1969-04-22 for the longest intro section to date. Garcia mangles the lyrics a bit here, and we head to the middle jam.


    After the restatement of the intro theme, Garcia lays out for a few seconds, then enters with some volume knob activity and then feedback as the band again makes this tension-building segment a strange one (although not as strange as 4-23). Garcia begins tolling a bit at 11:31, but in a higher register than usual, and Lesh lopes around; Garcia’s piercing lead seems to enter out of nowhere at 11:58.


    The jam begins darkly but with a strong burst of energy. Kreutzmann is very active here. An early little peak is reached at 13:21 with Garcia playing a variant of Bright Star. The descent leads him to a repeating riff beginning at 13:41, as Weir chimes along, and Phil briefly joins them, until at 13:59 Garcia starts to climb out; at 14:12 and he is telegraphing Sputnik, but then he starts spiraling up again, with Lesh playing a counterpoint, and they dance around each other for a while. This begins to skirt the edge of madness beginning at 14:48. Garcia keeps finding little pockets of repetition, and then taking off again.


    At 15:25 it becomes clear that Sputnik is inevitable, and at 15:33 they finally succumb. This is played in a quite variant manner this time, however; the Sputnik pattern emerges, recedes, mutates, and resolves itself into a series of soft jabs that see the band coalescing on a syncopated groove. Note Lesh from about 17:13, playing a bouncy rock and roll riff as Garcia stabs and pokes. This section extends itself further, alternating between repetitive jabs and a percussive Sputnik pattern, with the familiar series improbably reëmerging at 17:50.


    Sputnik goes into a tense and frenetic little jam beginning at about 18:15. This jam winds up and then down again a few times from here to the 20 minute mark. At 20:03, Garcia starts playing an ascending pattern of the kind that often precedes a peak or a resolution. At 20:39 it starts to sound like Bright Star, but it winds down again until at 21:13, with the band at a low ebb, Garcia quietly starts to play Bright Star. Rather than bringing it back up, however, the band stays down as Garcia wanders away from the Bright Star theme. Weir drops out by about 21:24; Lesh starts to lay out at 21:38. Things seem to be hanging in the wind here, as everyone hangs back, with Garcia fiddling away over the drums, as TC pipes along. Finally, at 23:10, Lesh comes back in, and Weir joins at 23:21. They seem to be in a holding pattern, repeating two chords, and then they build a little until Garcia drops into the main theme at 24:05.


    Remarkably, then, this Dark Star culminates in a kind of reverse peak; rather than coming together in a burst of energy, the post-Sputnik section climbs down into a meandering stretch where the band is oddly becalmed. Like everything else about this rendition, it is rather surprising.


    This is a really amazing piece of music that sees the band reaching beyond the comfort of tried and true strategies perhaps more than any other to date. Without offering any of the truly outré space jams or quasi-meltdowns we have sometimes encountered, this manages to be perhaps the weirdest Dark Star yet. The introductory jam and the Sputnik are the obvious highlights, but there is not a dull moment to be found—even the anti-peak preceding the return of the verse section is riveting.
     
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  9. bzfgt

    bzfgt The Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler Thread Starter

  10. bzfgt

    bzfgt The Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler Thread Starter

    Oops, updated on the blog to reflect that it's Dick 26 and not source 5070
     
  11. Mr. Rain

    Mr. Rain Forum Resident

    Location:
    US
    1969-05-07. An outdoors Dark Star, played in the park! On a sunny afternoon, no less. It's prefaced by the band making crowd announcements.....did that lost girl ever find her mother? Did the people in back ever clear the stage?
    One thing that immediately strikes me is how different the mix is from Bear's recordings on tour. The guiro's louder, and TC is WAY louder....I don't think he's been this forward in the mix since January? Pigpen's on congas again, but really just occasional tapping this time. The guitars are basically in mono. As a result this mix is very dense, all the instruments fighting for dominance -- TC & Bob really blend together.

    Fabulous opening jam! Once again, Jerry doesn't give his usual pause after the intro statement before starting the lead....he starts right off with the theme, then kind of trickles slowly into the lead, playing one note over & over for 20 seconds. Classic Jerryism! The jam starts off hesitantly, but he's got a great lovely tone and finds some nice repeating figures....one leads into another evocative repeated-note 2 minutes in. (I think the bass riff Jerry does around 3:07 is something he's done briefly in two other Dark Star openings lately, but I'm not sure he'll do it often enough to be worth naming?) Jerry starts a little drone-pulse around 2:40 that dies off before long, but Phil brings it back around 3:55 in an absolutely delightful stomp that transitions perfectly to the main theme. Around 4:40 the theme turns into this great, short-lived riff that I don't think we've heard in Dark Star before! But Jerry soon yanks them back to the theme; and after a full minute of coasting on the theme, he sings the verse.
    This opening had a different feel than usual...more cautious, searching for something. But it works for me, it's full of memorable licks.

    Loud gong in the verse! The post-verse space is going in a new direction, still with the gong-crashes but a more gentle feel, and Jerry isn't bell-tolling but instead striking a repeated chord in a higher register. (Bill joins the jam here, and stays in.) Jerry's lead starts off strong and then -- immediately dies down and gets quiet. (Mickey quickly switches from gong to guiro to suit the mood.) Interesting shift...Jerry's going for a slow build instead, playing a lot of repeating licks. (From around 9:30 to 10:00 it almost sounds like he's stuck in place.) After 10:30 Jerry starts a climbing riff that seems to be going places, and then at 11, he's playing a familiar figure....what's this?....a CLEMENTINE JAM!
    Well that was unexpected. The others catch on quickly, but they don't really develop it; instead the jam gets kind of discordant for a minute, like they're clashing or pulling in different directions. (Phil hints at his old Clementine riff at 12:40 but quickly moves back to the Dark Star theme.) They kind of float around in the aftermath, not really going in any direction; uncertainty reigns. But Jerry pulls them together and takes them up to a flaming high peak around 14:20. Nicely done!
    Jerry coasts down gently after that, with a smooth transition into Sputnik. This one has a different character -- less smooth swirl, more edgy grind. Mickey, who's been sitting out the past five minutes, comes back not on guiro as usual during Sputnik, but on his drumset. They sustain it for a minute and quiet down into a kind of percussive, discordant bomp-bomp-bomp around 16:40.
    This is the point when normally the insect weirdness would come in, but things take a different direction this time. Phil starts up the theme at 17:00 while Jerry does his volume twirls....a very lovely, effective moment. Normally Jerry doesn't work the volume knob for long in Dark Stars, but this time he sustains the effect for over a minute over the band's lush backdrop (Phil!) until he climbs right up into a Bright Star. What a sequence!
    Jerry's continuing the peak, it sounds like he's aiming for another climax....but then oops, a string breaks around 19:05, and he kind of angrily bows out with a final lick and a gust of feedback. Now it's time for Bob to shine! An interesting chordal jam follows, and the band shows what they can do without Jerry.... Turns out they just putter around pleasantly for two minutes, not taking it anywhere. Jerry isn't coming back in a hurry, so they decide on a long drum break. After that, understandably, they decide not to finish Dark Star but finish off the show with Lovelight.

    Fascinating version for sure, with many great moments. Sometimes it has a droney, repetitive feel that gives it a mantra-like quality. I think this is the first one without the second verse? Not intentional, but a pointer to new possibilities. I couldn't tell what effect the sunshine and park surroundings had on their playing, but there's little sloppiness here -- they hit some spots of confusion where they don't know what to do next, but they always recover and pull out some rewarding surprise.
     
    Last edited: Jul 14, 2021
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  12. adamos

    adamos Forum Resident

    Location:
    Southeastern PA
    #62 1969-05-07 TC is really prominent in the mix at the start and it gives the organ kind of an unusual sound. Also lots of guiro scratching in the right channel. After some brief time with the main theme Jerry eases in with some nice, gentle lines. His playing sounds pretty and spooky from 1:00-1:25, buttressed by Phil. A little more fuzz at this point and he takes off a bit more although there's still a subtleness to it. Starting at 1:55 there's a high, repeating note that then combines with TC to create a dreamy feel. From there Jerry goes low for a bit and then they do another repetitive thing around 2:30 that gently builds and then at 3:07 there's a nice, lower, rumbling thing going on. Mini peak starting at 3:21; Jerry's doing some runs, Phil is weaving in and becomes more prominent around 3:50 with his own repetitive notes. Back to the main theme at 4:17 then around 4:40 it evolves into this nice riff that almost sounds like another band before returning to familiar territory at 4:56 and working their way to the first verse.

    Post verse starts with a gentle vibe, gong washes, it's starting to build and swirl, it feels ready to launch and they almost do but then around 8:05 it settles back down and they enter a quiet passage. This leads to a Bright Star-esque moment at 8:48 and they work this area for a bit; chugging vibe at starting around 9:42 and then hitting a semi-Bright Star again at 10:05.

    Things ease up briefly then at 10:35 Jerry starts ascending and they get into this cool sounding passage that sort of resolves by 11:00. From that point they transition into a repetitive thing, perhaps collecting themselves, lots of cymbal here, the intensity starts to build and they've committed to exploring this jam. By 11:23 it's being fleshed out more, there's a Clementine vibe that others have noted, you hear it more from Phil around 12:35-12:40 and then he it takes it back to Dark Star. However not everyone immediately follows and they continue to hover in this zone for a moment; Jerry's playing is gentle and melodic, complimented by Billy on drums. Then around 13:10 things start to build again, they're merging back into the familiar and they bring it to a powerful peak at 14:20. That plateaus by around 14:36 and then they ease their way into Sputnik at 15:00.

    Sputnik feels more melodic and multi-layered with a certain gentleness even as it builds. It starts to dissolve around 16:35 but not into insect weirdness, instead there are these kind of poking sounds and when they run their course Phil steps forward with the bass line and Jerry makes these pretty and sort of spacey sounds (which I've learned from you guys he's doing with the volume knobs). He and Phil play off of each other for bit which sounds really nice and then Jerry shifts gears and takes them into another Bright Star. Beautiful.

    They sustain the peak for a bit and then around 19:10 Jerry stops playing (re: it being a broken string I think he yells "string" off mic but I'm not sure). They gather themselves with Billy and TC prominent and then Bobby comes forward with his own variations on the theme, complimented by Phil, which turns into a nice passage. That builds for a little, eases off briefly and then they keep it going a bit more with Phil more prominent before eventually giving way to a drum solo.

    Definitely a really interesting version with a lot going on.
     
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  13. bzfgt

    bzfgt The Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler Thread Starter

  14. JSegel

    JSegel Forum Resident

    Location:
    Stockholm, Sweden
    5/7/69 Golden Gate Park: 22:19

    The Bob and TC melding the ROR with the rhythm guitar makes so much sense. It’s like we never heard it right before. Loud guiro as the sole percussion in an outdoor show also! Phil seems ready to take it out almost immediately, he’s into some descending line thing as he was before.

    A little intro jam settles into a pool of single notes and scrapes. Are we out of the intro jam…? I don’t think so, some more places to explore. TC this loud in the mix gives us a better insight into his place in the jam, it’s a good sound in there with all those guitars.

    Mickey sounds like he alters what he plays after Jerry, and then TC follows that. They wind it up and then a strong thematic statement at 4:20. Which builds the theme into a riff with blues notes. Back down the other side of that, we’re heading toward verse 1.

    Cymbal crashes with the vocal introduction. Some weird notes coming in the off-beat chords on line two, from both Bobby and Tom. The searchlight’s casting is mellow. Nice counterpoint for the outro of the verse and intro to the ‘transitive nightfall’.

    A jam is building on Phil’s descending idea while the tolling is coming, but the chaos is taking over from a straight bell tolling idea. It almost falls apart entirely into noise but Jerry comes playing out of it, with some odd stretched notes, they go back into a groove, now with Bill on drums keeping the rhythm. TC switched to a reedier tone, but still keeps with his various pentatonic riffs. Phil and Jerry are grooving toward something, keeping the jam moving forward. A few little eddies on Jerry’s part, but for the most part it’s classic “Dark Star” mode. Bob with his extended chords, Jerry heading around in little circles toward a brighter star.

    Some interesting stuff at 10 minutes, strong bass notes indicating roots, but no real chord progression. Out of this, JG has a sputnik-like arpeggio, but he’s on a new rhythmic idea for it, it’s coalescing everybody into a chordal jam, TC and BW on chord statements.

    Into a little quieter part with a lilting rhythm. Jerry finally switches into a brighter tone, which is leading the jam back upwards in intensity, to a head at 14:30 or so. Then a die off, some light notes, Phil playing double stops. Sounds like a sputnik is going to emerge, but it’s got some odd notes, not the usual 5-6-7-6. Even when JG switched into a higher register, he’s playing the arpeggio differently. Finding new melodies in it and then jumping in patterns of 3s, the band hops on.

    The song lulls. Phil takes up an intro riff type melody. He’s carrying it back toward the intro area, but the rest of the band is playing with volume swells and melodic play of specific notes. Eventually Jerry erupts with the bright theme …ish. Nothing is obviously written in stone, these are melodies to be played with and around. It dies off with weird bends like a dying bird! Into feedback and stasis, Phil on one note for a minute. Some small pools of new ideas in the 20th minute, seems like Bobby is holding a song together there somewhere, will it emerge? But Phil and Jerry are onto something new, and by 22 minutes, it seems like we won’t reach the other shore, they dissolve into drums by themselves. Never to come back to Dark Star.

    Is this the first time we lose the second verse? (I hate that, I always want it to come back home from the journey.) Regardless, exciting outdoor improv in the Polo Field, a lovely place for outdoor rock shows. Must have been a hoot!
     
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  15. bzfgt

    bzfgt The Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler Thread Starter

    You've got a lot of disappointment coming, then! I think there are 35 Dark Stars in 1972, and maybe 2 second verses....3, tops
     
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  16. Mr. Rain

    Mr. Rain Forum Resident

    Location:
    US
    But on the bright side, there's about 50 more Dark Stars before then with the second verse.

    I also love when they return to the theme after a jam, it's one of the most satisfying moments in Dark Star. They closed a door when they stopped doing that.....but then, new doors opened.
     
  17. bzfgt

    bzfgt The Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler Thread Starter

    63. 1969-05-10 132812 Pasadena 20:56
    Main theme at 2:29 and 4:41.

    First verse at 5:04.

    Sputnik at 12:55.

    Bright Star at 17:38.

    Main theme at 18:39.

    Second verse at 19:19.

    Goes into St Stephen.


    Garcia jumps right in with a sprightly lead, and the initial vibe is bouncy and bright. Lately, the band starts looking for an excuse early on to get away from the two chord pattern, and Garcia starts hammering an E at 1:18 that provides the pretext this time. They have become adept at a kind of one chord (or no chord) swirl, and this will enable them to travel to some magical realms over the next few years (as will their ability to play in a kind of one-beat time signature).


    At 2:27 Garcia takes an acrobatic tumble into the main theme, but it’s just a brief visit as they quickly slide into a rather majestic little jam. At 3:34, Garcia again plays the acrobat, and then he brings the jam into a higher register; this all sounds like a big wind-up for the main theme, but not before we get to a thrilling peak at 4:14. As this settles down, Weir and Lesh are pushing for the theme, and Garcia complies at 4:42, taking us to the verse.


    The aftermath of the verse is very calm this time, until tension starts creeping in at about 6:38, and the at 6:43 Garcia starts tolling and raising the volume level. This section still seems a little subdued next to recent versions, but after a little feedback, TC starts playing a wild fanfare at around 7:20, and Garcia mimics him at 7:30—7:36 before launching into a solo.


    The band is going full throttle right away this time. Garcia keeps repeating patterns and raising the energy level still further, culminating at 7:29 in a little Bright Star-like flourish. They do not relent here, however; they just keep pounding away until suddenly, at 9:23, there is a lull and they start to rebuild. Garcia stays quite busy, and by 9:53 the energy is surging back; another lull comes at 10:06. Most of the dynamics here are coming from the rest of the band while Garcia madly fiddles away, until he starts to rein it in at around 10:45.


    At 11:06 Lesh initiates an off-kilter bounce with a cadence that is somewhat reminiscent (or rather prefigurative?) of Cumberland Blues, until he pulls it out of shape and then slides back down into some drawn out tones. At 11:30 the band seems to be pushing toward Sputnik; they come so close they’re almost playing it, but they back out again. At 12:25 Garcia starts bouncing around, and then Lesh latches on, and we get into a remarkable little squall at 12:37 that has blown over by 12:43. At 12:51, Garcia all but says “It is time for Sputnik” into his microphone, and a few seconds later it begins.


    This is a very restrained Sputnik, especially compared to the last few. Again we get some jabbing from Garcia, and they start kicking up a little bit of a fuss, but it is all very civilized, and at 14:25 Jerry starts playing a new line and the Sputnik is over. Everyone else is hanging back here, and then Lesh starts laying in some counterpoint. At around the 15 minute mark, however, they seem to start thinking “Hey, that wasn’t weird enough!” Or maybe it was me that was thinking that; Phil’s line pushes into some strange tonal territory for a second or two, then he leaves Garcia alone for a moment, and then they start to duet again, and Weir comes in, and now it seems like we’re going for power rather than subtlety as Bright Star pokes its head out at 15:27. It doesn’t come out, however, and then we’re on to something else.


    Weir pulls up and it gets back to Jerry and Phil at 16:03, until at 16:24 Weir starts playing a counterpoint solo. This is very interesting for a little while, and marks a departure from the Garcia/Lesh dynamic that keeps reëmerging tonight. The band starts working toward another peak that starts at 16:56, and by 17:10 they’re really banging away, but it’s just getting started here. But I have to back up for a moment: first there is another nod toward Bright Star at 16:30 or so, and then at 16:39 Garcia starts playing a repeated ascending figure which leads them to another peak which he crowns at 17:10 with a repeated, screaming high A below which, right at the apex at 17:27, Weir now plays Garcia’s ascending wind-up figure, before moving into some twanging double stops at 17:32. This all culminates in Bright Star at 17:38, each iteration of which Garcia spaces with more of his hanging A. Garcia continues to throw in the Bright Star lick as we come down the mountain, and he opts to go right to the main theme before things fizzle out. Lesh, however, has not had enough strangeness, and he subverts the theme rather than falling into line until, at 19:12, he finally succumbs and falls into line. Garcia quickly jumps in with the verse, a little off key, before Lesh can get away again.


    And so we have another remarkable Dark Star. The section between Sputnik and the second verse is so rich it’s hard to do it justice. While it culminates in one of the most intense peaks we have yet heard, it is at the same time packed with moments of interest throughout. After the last few versions, it’s hard to believe that there is much more they can wring out of Dark Star, much less acknowledge that we are still at a relatively early point in its development. What a time to be alive!
     
  18. bzfgt

    bzfgt The Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler Thread Starter

    Is there any sane explanation for why every entry pastes in as number 28?! If you see any numbered 28 (aside from 1969-01-24) it's because I forgot to correct it...
     
  19. bzfgt

    bzfgt The Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler Thread Starter

  20. Mr. Rain

    Mr. Rain Forum Resident

    Location:
    US
    1969-05-10. This is one of the most loose and aggressive Dark Stars yet.
    The tape quality is not good, unfortunately....the band is mostly in mono, and the drummers are very muted. Tape problems also make the second half of Dark Star very scratchy-sounding, which is irritating. On the plus side, TC is part of the blend again, and Bob is higher in the mix than he's been lately so it's easier to hear some interesting things he's doing.

    The Dead faced a number of power outages and tech problems in the first part of this show, so you'd think they'd approach Dark Star a little nervously -- but no, they jump right into it, hot and eager. Jerry starts soloing right away again, and the band gets busy. An early stop at the main theme around 2:30 turns out to be just a feint, and the band barrels ahead like a locomotive. Around 4:00, my goodness what's going on, they're hitting a full-blown climax like it's the end of Dark Star already! But they smoothly climb down to the main theme again. That was quite an active opening jam, promising exciting things ahead.

    Oddly the post-verse space is relatively calm & subdued as you said -- some bell-tolling and feedback, but it comes across more gentle than tense, maybe because of the squished mix. But hey, then TC jumps in with a wild swirl, kicking Jerry into action....TC's getting better at this! Everybody piles into a stormy hard-driving jam, Bill on drums now, and we're in full-blown rock'n'roll territory. This could almost be the middle of a Dancing in the Streets jam here. Gradually Jerry quiets it down until they're more bubbling than full boiling. (Cute pre-Cumberland tease from Phil.) Jerry steers the jam in a Sputnik direction, but veers away in another digression with Phil for a minute before returning to Sputnik.

    Sputnik seems to be changing character lately....the swirly arpeggio part is dispensed with quickly & absent-mindedly, since Jerry would much rather peck at his discordant jabs for a minute. It's kind of fun to hear the band match his demented squawks. Once this fades, the expected insect weirdness is forgotten once again when Jerry carries on a more normal line. What's neat here is that Bob is backing him in a brief little duet over Bill's drumbeats -- it's rare to hear just Bob & Jerry playing together for long. Phil & TC come back in, trying to anticipate Jerry's next move. But he's not so obvious, he pauses to poke around rather than heading straight for a climax. (I hear some congas back there too.) The jam takes some odd stops & starts, any sense of momentum leaking away, until finally Jerry sneaks his way to a long-deferred Bright Star in a hot little final burst. They linger on the climax -- when Jerry returns to the main theme they sound uncoordinated like they're having trouble slowing in step with him, so it's a discordant return. Bob resolves his difficulty with a little feedback, after which things snap into place.

    It's unusual to hear a Dark Star end so sloppily. I can't say I was really satisfied with this one. But it is different, energetic, and takes unexpected steps. Stretches of it are basically a free-form jam in Dark Star disguise.
     
  21. JSegel

    JSegel Forum Resident

    Location:
    Stockholm, Sweden
    #63 5/10/69 Pasadena: 20:59

    Warm up jam has some nice odd twists and turns from Jerry, bending the strings in and out of phrases. I love how he gets caught up in little note groups like they’re gems to be examined. Lovely long descending run into the theme at 2:30, but the jam flows onward. Some really soaring statements in the mode, it’s a very (relatively) uptempo jam, reaching for new heights. The whole band gets caught up in an eddy at 4” and continues onwards. Dipping down to the intro theme, heading to verse 1.

    Decent vocal delivery, but pitchy, maybe not the greatest monitors and he’s listening from the hall bounce-back. TC has added new chords to resolve an extension in the second line. "Searchlight" has an extra vocal reach, and he uses a vocal ornament on the “Through”. Really nice light and dark verse/"chorus".

    The transitive nightfall starts with the band floating about for quite a while before a tolling bell comes in. Then it starts blowing this world away as another takes its place, TC wildly arpeggiating. JG comes in and Bill joins in with him, strong jam ahead! Riffs galore as much as lead lines. TC is bright and loud in the mix, in fact the balance is pretty good frequency-wise between all players (except low drums overall).

    At 9:30, they seem to start a rhythmic jam that is plowing ahead for awhile before sort of settling into the swing of the Dark Star style jam. JG is now in his lead pickup, but he’s testing out some tone variants. It gets to a tidepool of tonal clarity, Phil settles down for a while, playing with off beats as they head off into a sputnik-y thing, JG on the previously-normal notes this time. But out of this short sputnik-y area into new forward-moving jam, the multi-headed single instrument style of band playing, until it goes into a “real” Sputnik with the e minor arpeggio, high note moving the B to a C# to D to C# (5-6-7-6 against the 1 and 3, e and G). Then they take it off into a rhythmically cropped version of these chordal stabs.

    At 14:30, we’re heading into a new modal jam, nasal tones from JG. He gets stuck on a particular riff, but swings out of it while Bobby splays out some chords. They’re heading to a brighter star, all moving apace, but it dies down. Quietness. Not gone, but low. Small statements from everybody. Phil is moving it along a bit, JG has an idea of upwards runs, but then goes the other direction into a chromatic downward thing, before they all bring it up again and at 17” we’re into the actual bright star territory, with a long melodic version of the thematic material before some more literal thematic statements. And back to the intro riffs.

    Verse 2 preceded by some Phil chromatic oddness. He wants to go somewhere else? But Jerry and Bobby lead it to verse 2.

    Line 2 has solidified again into its offbeat rhythm, now with more chords up and down the spy-movie rhythm. It’s interesting, it had solidified in late ’68 versions into the strong rhythmic statement against the vocal line, Phil and Bobby got it together, then when TC joined in he was right on top of that, but then subsequently they fell off playing it as a strong rhythmic counter to the long vocal lines. Phil seems to be the instigator of the strength of line 2’s rhythm. Now it’s been building back, with TC using specific extended notes on the tops of the chords (9ths and 7ths), and here he’s even using more separated chords, different notes per hit in the offbeat rhythm, while Bobby and Phil are both back on the strong rhythm for that line. Line 3 (searchlight/lady in velvet) allows the wandering against the bubbling rhythms.

    Another characteristic is that sometimes they go through these lines within a jam section, the song-form jam of the three lines: 1st is usually with the vocal melodic theme, simple rhythm, second line with the spy-theme offbeat rhythm, third going wandering off into melodic jam, though of course, sometimes they just get to line two of the song-form and it wanders away. Anyway, no song-form in the jams lately. I expect it will come back…

    Nice madrigal vocal outro, and lovely counterpoint instrumentally, off to St Stephen.
     
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  22. adamos

    adamos Forum Resident

    Location:
    Southeastern PA
    #63 1969-05-10 Brisk and a little raspy right out of the gate. Bobby is more present in the mix which is nice. Good repetitive, fuzzy lead starting around 1:18 which shifts higher at 1:54. A touch of the main theme at 2:30; Jerry is climbing and powerful, reaching upwards, strong swirling peak around 4:15 and then they ease back at bit and take it to the first verse.

    Jerry has a particularly extended “Searrrrrrrr-rrrch light casting” vocal. Post verse starts rather mellow; plenty of TC and Bobby then some brief bell tolling as the energy builds. TC is really going for it from around 7:10-7:30 and Jerry launches out of that. The jam builds, everyone’s putting power into it; intense in a rocking way. They ease up at 9:20 and Jerry continues forth, slowly picking up speed with Phil weaving underneath and Bill prominent too. Another semi-pause at 10:05 but Jerry’s got momentum and keeps rolling on. He eases up a bit around 10:35 but still keeps going. By 11:45 it sounds like Sputnik is coming but Jerry comes around again with another run and there’s a nice little peak before they head into at 12:45.

    Sputnik is relatively gentle although it still builds briefly with some TC flourishes. Jerry starts a choppy thing at 13:33 and they work that for a bit before moving on at 14:20. Jerry has some nice fuzzy, building lines; he’s covering a lot of ground tonight. By 14:47 it’s mostly just him for a bit with the others adding some textures. That builds and the others join in and we get a hint of Bright Star at 15:25 but it doesn’t full materialize. At 15:55 there’s a lull and they regroup and slowly start working it again, tentatively at first but then quickly building and by 17:34 they’re bursting into Bright Star. It’s not the full-on triumphant type but Jerry plays with variations of it for a little while even as they’re coming down. Things settle and at 18:35 it’s back to the main theme and then second verse.
     
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  23. JSegel

    JSegel Forum Resident

    Location:
    Stockholm, Sweden
    What would have really freaked me out would be getting into some random jam the next night and coming back into verse 2!

    btw, is deadlists.com gone or am I geo-located out of it? I can't seem to access it anymore.
     
  24. pbuzby

    pbuzby Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, US
    Just checked, it is still there for me.
     
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  25. sleepjar

    sleepjar Underachiever

    Location:
    NJ
    Yesterday I devoted the entire day to the Dead, concluding with this at night. Never really paid much attention to it before, but it was stellar. Thanks for the write-up which brought it to my attention.
     
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