#65 1969-05-30 Peppy start and I agree about the old school vibe. Bob is prominent in the mix and adds some nice contributions. Starting around 1:35 Jerry is reaching upwards with everything filling in around him and it sounds really good and uplifting. At 2:20 they briefly ease up and then Jerry brings out a crunchier tone. A lot of energetic interweaving as they progress. They slow it up again before shifting into the main theme at 4:04 and then into the first verse. TC comes in more strongly just before the verse. Post verse Jerry starts to take off right away but then quickly shifts into bell tolling. At first it sounds like there is more cymbal than gong washes but then the gong becomes clearer so perhaps not. Starting around 6:10 they do this repetitive, revving thing and you can feel it start to swell. Some nice Phil jumps out at 6:34 and then at 6:47 Jerry is off again. At 6:55 for just a moment it sounds a little like something The Allman Brothers might eventually play. They build to a peak around 7:30 and then keep cruising along with a chugging, revving vibe. They’re really going for it in a rock jamming kind of way. After 9 minutes they back off a bit; Jerry works the volume knob and they start cruising again, working in familiar territory but still revving it up. They slow down again around 11:10 but keep it going. At 11:24 Jerry starts doing this quick strumming thing and then they start heading towards Sputnik. Sputnik is also energetic; lots of cowbell, rhythm textures from Bobby popping up, strong buildup. Around 13:05 it becomes more of a floating vibe yet still driving. They keep it going and it builds again with good contributions from Phil and Bob; the collective groove is really good. By 14:15 or so it works into a frenzied, scrubby peak which then becomes spacey again. Some insect weirdness at 15:12 and some strong bass lines from Phil. There’s a kind of triumphant, almost celebratory vibe now as they head towards the finish, although Jerry’s also still bringing in some weirdness at the same time; it’s an interesting mix. Slowly things start to run their course and after 16:30 they ease off, collect themselves and start heading into Cosmic Charlie. Definitely an interesting version.
#65 5/30/69 Portland: 17:02 Springer’s Inn Interesting little lick after the intro, leading into a mellow jam with TC building as Jerry does a bell-like toll. (Maybe he’s tuning). Takes a minute before JG starts off in the mode to explore the Dark Star idea and then he does. Beautifully. Some little points of interest explored, a pull off, a riff, a collection of notes. The band sound very together, they build little complexities together and then unknot them. Jerry has some cool guitarisms to play with, the guy was always practicing, wasn’t he? At 3 minutes an almost-theme statement, but then off to explore more, Phil does little groups of threes to play with the rhythm. Bobby playing with interesting chord extensions, with that flat 6th. At 4 min the theme comes in for real, TC on reedy organ sounds before the verse comes in. Strong line-by-line variants for the verse, though the “searchlight” is limited in its casting about. The jam begins with guitar statements from Jerry before he thinks, “oh, bell, right”. Somebody is yelling “Hey! Hey!” The bell’s not developing feedback so much, so he starts trilling. It dies off, and then they start a nice jam with Bill in on drums, it sounds like everybody has a piece of a rope and they are tying little knots and untying them over and over. I love this. Each wave of intensity is like a little knot or mandala. JG’s got some new guitar things he’s playing with, arpeggios going up to new notes, but everybody is firing on all cylinders. A dip at 9 minutes, small statements, could almost go to a drum jam, then JG starts off with a volume swell thing. Bobby coming in on feedback. Ok, kids, we may be heading into space… but they sound like they’re going to build this into a new knot of pull offs and forward-moving drums (both drummers on kits by now, I should have mentioned.) At 11 min, new little eddies of notes, but it’s breaking out into a country-sounding Dark Star riff area! With fast tremolos from Jerry. This moves oddly into a Sputnik as Jerry tries to tune his E string. Sputnik continues, TC warbling about, Mickey has decided cowbell is the way to go here. It comes up, has a lull and JG continues with the high version. But Phil is jamming out on the bottom end for a while. They develop it into the rhythmic Sputnik version they’ve been trying out lately. It’s going on for a while, JG settles into some fast note trems, then seems to break it apart in sweeping behind the bridge and it falls apart into low note feedbacks, odd scratchy sounds, warbles on organ, insect sounds, but Phil comes in hot and heavy with a riff after 15 minutes while Jerry is in the insect tone. A lull again, some pull offs, (more cowbell…) a static insecty weirdness, and feedback. It leaves Phil alone for a moment, then JG comes in with a 6/8 thing, or more swung bluesy-cowboy type stuff and Cosmic C riffs… uh huh, I can see where this is heading… Cool, we’ve transcended Dark Star, no second verse, and instead we move into Cosmic Charlie! Wow. That was a nice surprise
#66 5/31/69 Eugene: 23:58 Coming after a very moving rendition of “He Was a Friend of Mine”, Dark Star starts very ‘traditionally’ with shaker and ROR, but it quickly shows that it's going to be a new thing. New twists to the intro themes come in, the ROR stops almost as soon as it started and goes into organ playing bits of chords and trills. Bobby strumming it up, but he and Phil follow Jerry to rhythmic worlds suggested by the lead. Cool little area at 2:30-on almost like a new song in there, and even when it starts to suggest Dark Star-proper a bit more, there are darker harmonies. And some odd ones. It’s like some players are having the Dark Star in their minds and others are stretching out of that. Awesome quieter area at 4 min, sounds like Phil yells out “yeah!”, when JG comes in again he’s playing around on the Sputnik bits but refraining from actually moving into it. Man this is some together playing, they are really making music happen for this whole section. The 5-6 min area sees Bill switch from shaker to drums while Mickey stays on guiro. They develop it up to some proto-theme area and then JG jumps in with the theme by 7. We’re back to Dark Star territory, so the verse comes in. TC playing a bunch of lines on the first vocal line, Line two has the offbeat spy theme but Bobby hammers it on to swing it more. Line three, everybody wanders, and it comes down to the “chorus” lines. Great vocal delivery from Jerry. They start a strong jam section with the classic intro, but when JG comes in with the bells, everybody is getting on that in their own way, no strict rhythm and it leads to feedback and chromatic noodles from the organ. Drums and cymbal splashes, bass feedback! Noise feedback! Volume swells on odd notes, hammerings-on. This section doesn’t have anything spontaneously spring out of it, so they die down and then JG starts in on a mellow toned beautiful lead area with Phil and Bob figuring out some chords to back it. It develops quickly into a sort of classic “Dark Star” jam section, but Bob’s chords are not the usual ones. He’s getting caught up in certain sonorities he’s finding. Phil is jamming it out. This is great stuff. JG building it up, they get caught in a knot of notes at almost 13 minutes, it drops off, sounds like JG is gonna start the Sputnik, but he has to tune some strings. So it goes slightly sideways and he gets distracted into a new set of alternating notes/chords. Mickey is working on some weird bell things. It’s a rhythmic jam, sort of sputnik based. It may get there. 14:30 we’re approaching an actual Sputnik type area, with TC doing his arpeggios. Nobody is really committing to the Sputnik of yore, they have already abstracted it. Mirror world. Even when JG starts the high arpeggios, there are still odd notes floating around in the mix. And they bring it down and back to a rhythmic style of it, Phil doing some “bell tolling” on low notes. Some serious weirdness interrupts at 16:49, sounds like a prankster on stage, the band goes sideways again, into atonal messiness, from which JG emerges with the insect tone. Whoa, this is a real trip, I can hear some people on stage vocally careening around back there too. (Sounds a bit like Babbs?) At 18:30 we get a tremolo section with some excited yells from said prankster, but JG breaks out of the lull into more beauty, mellow tone melodicism, with melodic statements coming from who knows where—they’re related to Dark Star notes (it's Mirror world probably still), but it’s gonna take a while to get it back to being the, um, “song”… and at 20’ we are almost in Bright Star territory. But only for a second, there, kids. Gonna build it up yet again to get near that peak, and they do by bits of the scale, landing at the theme at 21:30, and are we getting a verse 2? Oh yes, thank you, at 22’ we’re back in the song. Verse 2 comes in, with a melismatic “shatter” and a warbling “glass hand”, reminding us that while we’re home again, it’s often a scary trip. All vocals present for the last lines, classic outro accompanied by hand drums and a drone organ and guitar back there, and into a slow intro for “Doin that Rag” which builds side-eyed into the song careening around like a drunk, at least until the chorus. (The song is just like that to begin with, of course. Especially with what sounds like extra singers on stage.) This cuts off, and I guess Cosmic Charlie afterwards to close the set, or anyway there is a small bit captured in the tape of the show. This was a phenomenal version, so I thought, seems like a great concert overall. Wowzers. New vistas, new music made, pulled right out of thin air.
66. 1969-05-31 76 Eugene, OR 23:53 Main theme at 6:51. First verse at 7:29. Sputnik at 14:24. Bright Star at 20:09. Main theme at 21:59. Second verse at 22:19. Goes into Doin’ That Rag. The intro is rather mellifluous and straightforward tonight. Garcia plays gorgeous lines that feel timeless. At 1:50 he starts to make a fuss, and a little after two minutes there is a little peak with Garcia playing piercing tones; typically, this abates and returns a few times rather than simply building and receding. At 3:15 Garcia has worked his way into a little groove, and this turns into a chugging rock and roll section, although this doesn’t last long. By 3:34 a new section starts with Garcia and Lesh mirroring each other, and Weir and TC adding chiming color tones. After about a minute, a minor flavored segment commences, which excites someone enough to yell “Yeah!” in the background. At 5:25 this winds up in a Sputnik tease, and then it seems like they’re working their way back around to Dark Star. This intro has covered a lot of ground, and quickly. They hit a little peak before getting to the theme, which is played emphatically this time (6:51). After the verse, Weir starts in on the two chord pattern right away, and it seems like there will be no weirdness but, as they sometimes do these days, they take a little while to get there, starting out from the basic song framework. Some tolling and feedback commence, and by around 9:20 the song has dissolved and they are weirding out. This turns out to be a pretty deep space jam, lasting until 10:43 when Garcia comes in with a rather gentle lead until, at 11:07, Weir decides it’s time to get after it and the band kicks up again. As usual, they build and subside and build again, with one particularly intense passage occurring at 12:44 when Garcia repeats a note for about 10 seconds. This leads to an announcement of Sputnik at 13:08, but then this is deferred for the time being. By 13:43 Garcia has worked his way around to some Sputnik-like jabs, but they still don’t go right into it, until by 14:24 it seems clear they are playing Sputnik, and unclear exactly where it started, and even here, for a while longer they seem sort of half in and half out of it. Garcia seems to want to explore new patterns in Sputnik, and again he alternates arpeggios with jabs. At 1640 Garcia gets some ungodly sounds out of his guitar, and someone in the background has something to say about this. At 16:48 Sputnik seems to be over, and the band plays some ominous chord changes. At 17:17 the insect weirdness commences, and the band swirls around for a while. There are more vocalizations happening concurrent with this and, as JSegel suggests, I don’t think it’s a band member. At 17:56 Garcia switches off the insect tone and plays a little descending melody, and then at 18:05 he starts in with a choppy passage that rely sort of defies description. The band responds to this by getting suitably weird again. At 18:45 our mystery vocalizer seems overcome with excitement by all this! Then, at 18:51, Garcia begins to play in a way that seems to signal a return to relative normalcy, and a very melodic section begins. At 19:53 Garcia begins to play a variant on Bright Star, and he works his way into it by 20:09 or so. This winds up being a rather brief peak, but scarcely has it died down then they work their way back to another, more intense peak; this culminates in a return to a Bright Star-like lick at 21:30, but this comes when the peak has passed, and eases the band back down until, at 21:59, Lesh and Weir slip into the main theme, which takes us to the second verse and the end. Dark Star still seems like it can break out further, since they don’t seem to stay with any departure from familiar territory for very long. On the other hand, there are lots of little departures here, and the band is playing together, and listening to one another, magnificently. They have become a rather incredible improvising unit, and this one is a whirlwind tour of what they can do together in this era.
1969-05-31. One of the best yet; maybe my favorite so far. Very smooth, graceful opening jam....they're in the zone from the start. Jerry's approach is kind of minimalist, lots of repeated notes. Bob's more up-front than usual. Around 4:30 an interesting quiet jazzy section starts around Bob's chords, with Jerry laying back for a minute. Mickey picks up the guiro, Bill starts tapping on drums, and the jam steadily picks up energy til it sails into the theme. Nicely done! TC's present but kinda quiet again, doesn't seem to do anything distinctive. Congas again, not very prominent. Emphatic singing in the verse. The post-verse space starts off with a burst of energy -- Jerry's bell-tolling is almost drowned out by Phil & Bob's forceful strumming. Long howling feedback from Jerry! This opens up a quasi-Feedback space, sounding like the end of the show. Phil & Bob nudge it back toward Dark Star, and Jerry starts a lovely lead. Bill's drums kick the jam into gear, and the intensity builds, an uplifting feel, more repetitive strings of notes from Jerry. They pause around 13 minutes (the 3 percussionists can be heard), and it sounds like Jerry's starting a Sputnik, but he kind of plays around it instead in a quasi-Sputnik tease. Slowly the jabs turn into an actual Sputnik arpeggio pattern...they linger on this for a long time while Phil drones; it's like their ship has got lost in the clouds of delusion; the mood stays very creepy. By 17 minutes they come out of this sideways in the weirdest way, surly and threatening. But the weirdness isn't over yet....it's time for the insect tone! The unearthly feel continues (someone's "singing" along with Jerry here!) until Jerry breaks into wild tremolo shimmering and the band sort of oozes around him. "Yea God!" (I always liked to imagine that was Phil feeling the spirit, but I guess some prankster was wandering around the stage.) Spectacular passage! Jerry restores normality, starting up a nice mellow melody with his prettiest tone, Bob & Bill backing him. No sign of Phil for a minute, but as the jam heats up, Phil comes back in around 20 minutes, recovering from his cosmic epiphany, and they get straight into a Bright Star. This keeps building for a minute to a new triumphant peak, carrying on Jerry's melodic theme, and they finish it with a Bright Star reprise as the main theme starts back up. Very nice! And a soothing conclusion to a hair-raising jam. Bill's toms announce the verse. Jerry sounds shattered when he sings "shatters." Something tells me he's not feeling quite normal....but they handle the harmonies well. Interesting choice to go into Doin' That Rag afterward instead of the expected St. Stephen. Awesome stuff, wild and hairy, a real adventure. They keep turning up the weirdness dial more and more....it sounds like they're even freaking themselves out.
67. 1969-06-05 135483 Fillmore West 20:32 Main theme at 3:47 5:39, and 6:23. First verse at 6:56. Sputnik at 11:06. Bright Star at 16:19. Main theme at 17:07. Second verse at 19:00. Goes into St. Stephen. This kicks off with a bright and snappy little intro; to me, Garcia on the bass strings always manages to sound like a giant bug, regardless of guitar or era. What stands out to me above all in this section is Jerry’s fluency; for instance, at 2:34 he launches into a disquisition that goes on without a breath until 3:14, at which point he begins to punctuate a bit more, but he keeps right on going and going. I’m reminded of a story about John Coltrane, who is said to have told Miles Davis “When I’m playing a solo, the ideas just keep coming, and sometimes I don’t know how to stop.” Davis famously replied, “Just take the ****ing horn out of your mouth.” In this case, Garcia keeps rolling until he hits the main theme at 3:47. The band isn’t yet ready to hit the verse yet; instead, they bring it down and Garcia starts playing with the volume knob. Things are starting to get pretty spacey; at 5:24, with things almost at a standstill, Garcia starts hinting at the main theme, and the hints get stronger as the music starts to pick up. Garcia throws in a rake and some chordal stuff, and begins to he throw some C naturals into the mix until at 6:23 he starts playing the main theme with a decidedly bluesy flavor. This mood carries over into the verse, which is paced slowly, and Jerry’s melismatic vocals seem sort of mournful this time. As is their wont lately, the band follows the restatement of the intro theme with a restatement of the structure for a few bars before building tension, with Garcia tolling and then laying in some feedback. Weir plays some almost Latin tremolo flourishes, and at 9:17 Garcia begins a lead line that sounds quite pensive and ominous. At 9:51, he begins a little lick that I recall from Live/Dead (1969-02-27), although it may show up elsewhere as well, and then at 10:16 he begins a more upbeat line that also harks back to the classic Fillmore version. At 11:00, Sputnik arrives rather suddenly. This is given a chaotic reading, with TC swirling around and Jerry doubling timing the arpeggios. They almost seem a little impatient with Sputnik here, like it’s on the version of developing into something else. It winds up being a pretty short visit, as at 13:35 Garcia kicks on the insect effects. This only lasts for 30 seconds, but when he returns to a more normal tone the music remains ominous and unsettling. At 14:45, Jerry seems to be putting in a plea for normalcy, and the band responds, but the jam retains a minor feel, and no one is feeling very bouncy. At 15:21, Garcia starts playing a repeated lick that seems like it will develop into Bright Star or the main theme. At 15:48 he plays the main theme, and the band is now building toward some sort of resolution. By the 16 mark, Garcia is beginning to work his way toward Bright Star, and we get there at 16:19. This one feels chaotic and squally thanks to Weir’s scribbling, and when the main theme returns at 17:07 he ups the ante with some deranged bluesy counterpoint. The lead-in to the second verse is again rather unique, as Garcia begins muting his strings on the theme, the drummers responding with a lurching backbeat; Jerry likes this groove so much he starts soloing again at 18:21 with a little melody that doesn’t last long, but it fires up the band for a few moments, until everyone seems to simultaneously decide that enough is enough, and we drop into the verse (Jerry starts singing “mirror crackers” and makes himself laugh). Tonight we’re back to the classic transition into St. Stephen. One thing that stands out to me on these latest versions is the variety, sometimes subtle, of ways they have found to present the parts of Dark Star that are in some respects the same every time. This one starts out really straightforwardly, and never quite gets back to that. On this date we find brooding intensity, bluesy riffing, and controlled chaos. The call-backs to Live/Dead were a bit surprising.
This was another really good one. I don't always say that, because it feels weird to write something like "This was another really good one" every time...but these Dark Stars lately have been particularly kick ass, and it's remarkable how it continually changes and progresses.
@adamos We're missing your write-up of #66! I'll edit it in when you submit it, unless you want to take a breather for one....but I fear that if you allow yourself to do that once, it could lead to bad things...
Good points of comparison abound In terms of other improvisational warhorses of theirs like "The Other One," Playing in the Band," etc
Crazy work week so I haven’t had a chance to set aside time for a focused listen, but I plan to tomorrow.
Cool, sorry I didn't mean to nag....but we're a small group and you're a key player! And if it was me, if I let myself skip one, pretty soon I'd skip another....
No worries, I didn’t take it that way and I definitely want to do them all; it’s part of what makes it a cool experience.
1969-06-05. Comes out of Sittin' on Top of the World!? I bet we're not going to hear that happen very often. The opening jam's kinda typical, nice and relaxing....nothing spectacular to start with, but they've got it down. Pigpen on congas again; there's some shaker. TC's pretty clear in the mix, doin' his ROR at the start before he veers away. He seems to do a nice job in this one -- laying out a lot, then coming in with just the right swirls or chords. Mickey, from what I could hear, does very little in this Dark Star except for the gong & some drums at the end. Things get interesting after 4 minutes -- when Jerry introduces the theme and the band settles down for the verse, he instead takes a different course with the volume knob as Phil lays down a lovely line. They get into a sparse little creepy twisting passage, then drift quietly back into the theme again, a really satisfying reprise. (Bill comes in on drums here. Pigpen's been tapping away on congas through this, incongruously, and he stays busy on them through the rest.) It's funny that, as you noticed, the Dead are currently picking up the theme again right after the verse (Jerry almost reprises his '68 lick here), and then within a few seconds it drips into space like a Dali painting. Tonight's space is warm & enveloping...a little tolling, a little feedback, a lot of gong. After a minute Jerry starts a fragile-sounding jam which almost seems like it's going to tip right back into space around 10 minutes, but restores itself and plunges ahead. But it doesn't get far before Jerry switches to a Sputnik! This Sputnik is thick and gooey as everyone gets all swirly. This first part subsides soon and there's over a minute of spiky jabs and half-arpeggios and creepiness. Then it concludes with part three, the insect weirdness, more like a brief burst of strange alien music. (This seems to be the classic three-part Sputnik structure lately.) Jerry breaks out of it abruptly with an almost Bach-like figure. The band still sounds very unsettled....there's a haunted feeling in the air. (Bob is dedicated to keeping the mood uncertain, and finds a funny repeated note.) After 15 minutes Jerry tries working his way back to more solid ground, but the music's still a little scattered and it takes a minute for the Dark Star theme to emerge. Once they're there, they quickly pick up speed and hit a Bright Star, which lasts for a minute, getting thicker & sloppier as it goes. Mickey finally enters on drums here. (Bob's hanging onto his new favorite note for dear life, adding a very strange counterpoint.) Jerry returns to the theme, but wait, things aren't normal here -- Bob's still playing some other line completely, and as Jerry keeps repeating the theme, Bob grabs the lead and launches into his own little high-pitched solo! Wow, this is unusual, a stirring moment. It wraps up at 18 minutes, and Jerry re-starts the theme for good -- but, oh wait, it's still not back on track, the band's getting into this Caribbean kind of counter-rhythm like they're opening up a whole new jam! But this is short-lived...instead of going on, they decide that's that, and drop right into the verse. (Maybe too quickly for Jerry: "Mirror crackers!" He also totally messes up the time of the "glass hand dissolving" line, a very rare occurrence on his part, which confuses the rest of the band but they quickly recover.) Hard to pin this one down. It's pretty typical for the time, subdued really without a lot of noise & feedback or standout peaks, but at the same time they're embracing strangeness in more subtle ways. While following the usual steps in the structure, some of the little bypaths they take are very different and unexpected, and they keep getting better at playing "weird" -- especially after the Sputnik here. Bob's sudden takeover of the jam right when everyone else thinks they're finishing is great, and the last thing you'd expect from him at this point.
These are more or less my thoughts. They're sort of subtly getting weirder....they don't plunge deep into weirdness so much as continually find new little ways to subvert things; it seems like they've been doing this every time out lately. Every Dark Star, when you listen closely, has unexpected and unprecedented things going on, even when they don't blow out your synapses with freakouts. Even the blues jam into and on the theme before the first verse was really strange, insofar as they never really did that before.
5-31 is definitely not one to skip! I don't think we're going to get big departures or Dark Star paradigm shifts anytime soon, it's going to be a process of small incremental changes.... It won't be "whoa, they've taken a bold new step!" but more like "wait, they stopped playing this part a while ago" or "huh, this part sounds different now." Like for instance, when did they last play the instrumental verse? It's been a while, hasn't it? Yet we hardly noticed when they stopped. The bell-tolling that transfixed Jerry for months has been fading away as they get more spacey; and Sputnik seems to be slowly molting into a new shape as the Dead get more interested in disorienting listeners. We're listening in hindsight so we know the Ideal Dark Star Endpoint they're headed for (whether that's in 1970 or 1972 or whenever). But there we have the advantage over the 1969 Dead, who don't know where they're going and must take one small step at a time into the void.
Right, but that's sort of a different question, i.e., longitudinal development....what I was saying is there are all kinds of different things popping up from night to night, and the hypothetical I was contrasting this with wasn't a paradigm shift, but rather a deeper dive into some of these weird little pools....although, taken collectively, if they started doing that I guess that would be a paradigm shift....
#66 1969-05-31 Dreamy and melodic out of the gate with plenty of Bobby on rhythm. It’s moving at a fairly fast clip too with Jerry weaving about wonderfully. This builds to an emotional peak around 2 minutes and then recedes back into the groove. They get into a repetitive, chugging thing starting at 2:28 with Jerry and Bobby playing off of each other; a bit of organ seeps in too. Around 3:00 or so it becomes harder charging with more distortion and then at 3:34 Jerry shifts out onto a different path, first upwards then sort of hovering and weaving again. TC steps forward at 4:19 complimented by percussion then the others start to fill in. “Yeah!” Nice groove. At 5:20 there are hints of Sputnik but Jerry takes it in another direction. It’s floaty and dreamy again, nice strumming from Bob; it builds to a little peak before hitting the main theme at 6:49 and then on to the first verse. Coming out of the verse Bob is playing strong and loud rhythm; it’s the dominant sound initially and then Phil comes charging in too. At 8:43 there’s a bit of bell tolling and then everyone is building and they start doing this repetitive, swelling thing that comes around several times. By 9:15 it starts to get weird and then they break through into a spacey void which they explore for a bit before finding their way back to the trail around 10:30. Nice gentle groove from here that kicks it up starting at 11:05; Jerry is reaching out into the sky and then they’re cruising along with pace. There’s a bit of ebb and flow but they’re still moving then things build to an intense peak starting around 12:15. About 12:50 they downshift and then start heading to Sputnik but it takes some time to arrive as they end up in a nice little groove instead. This slowly evolves, the percussion becomes prominent and Jerry starts jabbing; it’s kind of a staggered groove now that finds it way into Sputnik proper. By this point Sputnik is melodic but still a bit staggered. It’s starts to build, organ fills; its kind of a Sputnik groove now, some ebb and flow but it keeps going. By 16:48 it seems to have run its course and they collect themselves and shift into a new zone which then evolves into insect weirdness at 17:15. The guy caught on tape doing his own vocal accompaniments certainly seems to be enjoying himself! (I like JSegel’s Babbs guess). At 17:55 there’s a little lull and then Bobby briefly plays some chords that sound like what will become Weather Report Suite. At 18:06 they shift into this cool thing with a fast fluttering sound that extends longer than you’d expect before eventually winding down. At 18:51 Jerry emerges from it and heads out again with the others filling in around him. Nice rhythm from Bobby again and the proceedings have a pretty feel. This gently builds for a bit and then a more pronounced ascent takes them into a brief but uplifting Bright Star around 20:10. They quickly downshift but then at 20:30 they decide to ramp up into an even stronger peak culminating in a bit more Bright Star at 21:30. From there they descend and hit the main theme and second verse. Wonderful version!
There is a brief WRS intro lick between songs in the second set of 4/5/69. Bob said that it was a guitar exercise he came up with a few years before it became part of a song.
They never do anything for long in these Dark Stars. They hardly ever hold onto a single theme or module for more than a minute before moving on. Sputnik is kind of the exception in that they've fallen in love with it and drag it out a lot, but otherwise they're a restless bunch, they want to keep things moving. I've noticed throughout '69 so far, usually the best rare bits in Dark Star disappear almost as fast as they're played....by the time you say "what was THAT?" the Dead are someplace else.
#67 1969-06-05 The beginning has a bit of a throwback feel with plenty of ROR and moving along amiably. Jerry works familiar lines; after 1:10 he slows up and it gets a little dreamier and then he starts working the low notes. It proceeds in familiar territory; nice rhythm from Bobby, plenty of shaker, a touch of congas and TC adding some color. The energy slowly builds and Jerry gets some extended leads going that just sound good before spilling into the main theme. Around 4:15 he starts playing with the volume knob and things get spacey. Phil is now more prominent as well. There’s some brief loveliness before it gets weirder and a little spooky. Around 5:30 Jerry starts working back towards the main theme which fully emerges at 5:39 and sounds lovely in juxtaposition. Things start to slowly pick up again; drums are more prevalent and they come around to the main theme again and then the first verse. After the verse they briefly work the intro theme; in come the gong washes, things start to swell, bell tolling and it gets spookier. There’s some feedback, quick rhythm flourishes from Bob, TC’s in on the action. Then around 9:12 Jerry starts heading out; it’s subtle and contemplative and a little ominous. Bob adds more rhythm, the energy starts to build and there’s a swelling peak culminating around 10:12 from which they launch out again. A driving groove gets going but in less than a minute they’re suddenly in Sputnik. It builds nicely, lots of TC swirls, the pace quickens, jabbing guitar, it’s really going fast. Jerry shifts upwards at 11:57 and keeps it going in that range until around 12:15 when it seems to have run its course but instead Jerry keeps going with a repeating sequence of notes that are kind of like a partially deconstructed Sputnik. It starts to build up and take greater form but then he slows it down and it’s more like a fragment again before they shift into insect weirdness at 13:49. At 14:18 they come out of the weirdness into some emotive and foreboding playing. Then at 15:00 they start trying to work back into familiar territory but take a scenic route. There’s some variations on the main theme that become more pronounced around 15:45 and then they start ascending to Bright Star which seems to come in stages before fully blooming after 16:25 and lasting for a good bit compared to some recent versions. It’s a little all over the place but the triumphant vibe is still there in spades. At 17:15 they hit the main theme and groove on that energetically with Bob going for it a bit which is kind of neat. They keep the jam going for a couple minutes before slipping into the second verse and wrapping it up. I agree that this one starts out straightforward but they end up going to a variety of interesting places even if it’s a little rough around the edges at times.
This would make a great seminar class if we could gather in person, I'd love to hear people's 'reading' and then discussion for each performance. Anyway... #67 6/5/69 Fillmore West: 20:32 Second set, China Cat leads with the acid spaciness and a nice jam at the end and then right back down to earth with Sittin’ on Top o’ the World, then some chomping at the bit to start Dark Star, the guys sort of running over themselves to play the intro lick. Song starts and the ROR is signifyin’, boys and girls. Jerry comes in with a strong tone and full of melody dripping out of the guitar. The recording is really clear and it seems obvious that the players can hear each other really well, and are very carefully playing off each other. It’s like the coffeehouse vibe with the hand drums and percussion again, but the electric players are volume-adjusted really well. They are really taking this opening jam into some new form of Dark Star, it’s so casual and yet intimate. The eddies and little knots that the band gets caught in in the jams have a really wide dynamic available. By 3 minutes they’ve taken it up, but it’s not *loud*, it’s strong. Like bzfgt said, Jerry holding forth. They come back down, and at 3:50, Jerry states the theme, almost out of “nowhere”, but we’ve been in the DS chords off and on. TC comes in on chords and it’s a feint to the verse, and instead, JG goes for small feedbacks and volume swells, precipitating an arhythmic area leading to chromaticism and cymbal swells and hits, really off into space for this early in the song! A little hint from Jerry as to ‘hey what song are we playing?’ and they move slowly back into a DS mode jam, with Bill on drums now (pre-v1), quietly. Some chromatic stabs at the theme take it to the theme and they may actually get to the verse, at almost 7 minutes. Strong vocal recording, he’s playing with the emotions of the words, the band does the classic three part form on the lines, but TC’s ‘casting searchlight’ is restrained, slower, it’s very nice. I like him more lately in general, better sound and better ideas for fitting in the sound. (I should try to find his book, did someone say he'd got a new organ?) I love Jerry’s accent on “while we Cäääään”, I guess I miss Northern California. Into the transitive nightfall, they’re already taking it down low, the bell(s) tolling, cymbals and gongs, blowing away the fabric of reality at the Fillmore and bringing us into the new fairyland. Lots of little chromatic/noise statements from everybody, Bobby hinting at chords, eventually Jerry comes in, some strong tone from that SG (right? sounds like a new amp though, much clearer at the level's they're playing at) he’s playing with building feedback at medium volume levels, the band follows it up and then the wave breaks and they launch into a classic DS jam, it’s all systems go. Everybody is sounding great, right in the groove with the sounds at the right time and place. This builds and falls to start a Sputnik at 11 minutes, TC going wild as they build it up, Phil reaching higher. Then suddenly Jerry going hyperspeed with the banjo-style picking on the Sputnik arpeggios! Playing with volume swells, Bill is still in a groove though, carrying, while everybody considers (banjo style, like Sitting on Top of the World after China Cat, should be a grounding in reality, right?) and Jerry goes off on this new way of dealing with the Sputnik, the bass is tentative while it goes up and down, TC still arpeggiating. And then moving into the insect weirdness! Bobby and Phil are taking this more minor-key than usual. Breakout at 14:15, new mode, very stately lines from Jerry, some static chord playing from the band. Right before 15’ there’s an amazing odd counterpoint section, everybody on lines moving forward at similar speeds, Jerry eventually takes it down and hints at the DS theme, by 16’ they’re on it, but it’s mirror world version number n+1. Bobby’s got some weird chords to play with it, stretching it up, by the Bright Star, he’s rocking out under the high melody statements from Jerry. Even when Jerry lands on the theme proper at 17 minutes, there’s more guitar jamming going on still. Is that Bobby or someone else on stage now, hey now? I thought Elvin Bishop played the next night’s show… Phil sticks to roots for a while, eventually more to that, but after the new dude’s (Bob's) soloing, we’re back in a sort of rhythm comp jam. New guy has some non-Dorian ideas for the mood it seems. At 19’ they all decide on verse 2. Interesting slight variations in the rhythmic progress of the lines from Phil, nice bounciness below line 3. This was a really nice and intimate version, and I'd say a new level of inter-band communication and playing. I’d say we just leveled up, actually! It’s great when the band can obviously hear themselves and each other really well, well enough to play quietly or loudly and have everybody be able to be there.
