The Woodstock Dark Star was pretty bad! But 1972-10-26 sure is tired & uninspired. Limp as a noodle. That Playin' must have left them drained. Maybe at the end of all this we can have a poll for the Worst Dark Star Ever....
#147 10/23/72 Milwaukee: 28:23 AUD Odd that this one is with a couple seconds of the same length as the last one… We have an audience tape! It’s sort of wonderful that way, too, it blends the band a bit. It starts with the intro riff and settles into a mellow ride-cymbal vibe pace and cruises. Jerry soars off the bat and plays upwards and downwards arpeggiated runs with Keith following. Some plaintive bends happen after a few ups and downs, but he still is resorting back to those arpeggiated runs. An eddy forms at about 4:30, the sense of pulse backs off a bit into short gestures, little chordal stretches from Bob. Phil keeps it up for a while, but eventually cedes to the depth of the space they find themselves in by 6 minutes. Building back out takes a few tries. It’s almost a groove again a few times, but backs off with short melodic things and chordal stabs. A very low eddy comes by 8 and there’s some Sputnik-y feints, but it’s mostly just holding the 6/8 to the swing rhythm, they build it up. Thematic feints at 9 minutes in, heading back toward a Dark Star groove, with Bill subdividing into twos. Star-theme bits at 9:50, deconstruction still happening from all members. It falls apart into melodic groups of three and then heads back down to an droney pool. Back to a deconstructed falling melodic version of the Bright Star at 12 minutes, which makes it to the theme proper and the verse. Verse 1 at 13 minutes, nice strong vocal delivery. Nice fermata on line 2, hard to hear a build back on line 3, Phil doesn’t explore much here. The refrain is a nice offset to the sound, and they hold the harmonies together well, people clap heartily as they start the outro to the Transitive Nightfall, with Jerry on high pinch harmonics, making a melody, and some latent happy groove bubbling up from Bob and Phil and Keith. The band moves into swirly eddies as Jerry continues, they start some ‘Playin in the Band’ rhythm stuff (dah-dit-dah, dah-dit-dah) but Jerry takes it to a minor/phrygian mode, and they keep a rhythm forming there. It starts to go outside tonally, more chromatic notes. Wah-wah on the piano, he has a little lead area at about 17:30. Seems to be dropping to a fast jazzy feel, Jerry is doing his little fast atonal/diminished chord licks but fairly quietly. Possibly Bob drops out for a bit. (It’s the Miles Davis section.) By the end of the 19th minutes, Bob is back and Jerry is getting louder and higher, still they’re plugging along really quickly with walking bass style stuff. By 21 minutes they are heading for a Tiger-style kung fu meltdown, but the keys and bass are still holding to the jazzy feel, so it takes a while, it gets extremely chromatic by 22 minutes, and gets very noisy and meltdown-y. Not in the Tiger chromatic pull-offs, though, but in chromatic notes strewn about up and down, everybody freaking out. It dies down a bit at 24 min, but they are still wailing and Jerry finally starts up for the Tiger riffs, everybody scrubs their instrument strings loudly and it seriously goes outside. As it comes down, more enthusiastic clapping! A sustained lull for the 25th minute, holding feedback and some chords. Jerry starts a pretty folky melodic ramble by himself, and then with some volume swells. They maintain a lower volume pool with feedback and string noises and volume swelled slow melodic notes for a while, in D as it sounds like it might go to Morning Dew… but stays in this space for another minute or two, with allusions to the Dark Star melody even. Phil plays isolated notes as accompaniment to Jerry’s swelled notes and then as they hold the last note, he starts the intro upswing into Mississippi Half Step Uptown Toodle-oo. __________ Well, wow. This is a great version, really too bad that it’s only an audience tape (or we are lucky that it exists at all, I suppose). I love the pools they fall into in between areas in the first half, I sort of missed those old eddies int he jam. And the post-verse jazz jam leading to the meltdown(s) is epic.
#148 10/26/72 Cincinnati: 21:32 (No bass in the soundboard mix which is difficult, but he can be heard in other mics.) This Dark Star is deep in the second set, which again had started with Playin in the Band (a long one). Drums roll over the intro as they attempt to settle into a paced groove, accented with little riffing from Jerry and Phil. Lots of little runs from all players, small eddies in the current keeping it from settling down. Phil is playing fast little runs intermittently also, and getting into riffing things that the other pick up on. Jerry makes some theme statements before the 4 minute mark. At 6 minutes it lulls, into a pool, Bob playing with some minor hammer-on chords. Starts a section of trilling and arpeggios that leads to a strong set of emphasizing the three-beat feel, this builds and breaks to a thematic groove area at about 8:30. It doesn’t hold together, Jerry goes into insect weirdness somehow (on the Strat!) and plays some repeated single notes and then to a pull off that heads atonal. They start speeding it up a minute later, getting more intense, but again it doesn’t stay and the band falls away. Jerry stretches out with some more repeating notes breaking away into riffs and then to a chord back and forth (A sus4 to A). Even though the rhythm is mostly died away, Jerry is still working on little fast riffs, so Bill picks up a side stick thing. The chordal suspension comes back, almost a song hidden in there. Phil sounds like he’s just playing riffs endlessly. Some tuning happens at 13:20 or so, then volume swelled notes. A nebula is forming, some Sputnik-y playing way down low. And they break back into the Dark Star groove at 14:20, a strong thematic statement from Jerry a little later, but the licks are all starting high and falling. The groove happens and heads to verse 1 a minute later. Strong and dramatic vocals. A big fermata on line 2 from everybody. Hard to tell exactly but I think Phil is exploring a bit on line 3. To the refrain, Bill rolls out of it. The outro happens with rolling toms from Bill, and into a suspended chord set, but Bill is holding a rhythmic beat together, so Jerry starts his falling chordal arpeggios and into light fast runs initiating the jazzy fast bits with Keith rolling notes out. After 18 minutes, it sounds like the guitars drop out and it’s piano and drums (maybe bass too.) He uses his wah pedal on the piano. He eventually drops out and it leaves drums and bass (which sounds like a drum solo.) At about 20 minutes, Phil is starting the Stomp, but Jerry is riffing again. Neither is gelling, really, so Bobby starts Sugar Magnolia. Not a great version, sort of a wandering set of whirlpools that never develop. It’s not helped by the lack of strong bass in the mix. OK, OK, I'll probably also say "worst of '72."
#148 1972-10-26 Truckin' slowly winds down with some bluesy guitar from Jerry and then they shift into Dark Star. Bill does some rolling drums as they get underway. Things are very mellow at the start, almost sleepy. They drift along in the clouds as Jerry works a low-key line with complimentary textures from Bob. Bill is fairly active relative to the others (or is perhaps more present on the recording). Phil bubbles up and is doing his thing but it's sometimes difficult to make it out. By 1:45 or so they've picked up a bit of momentum and Jerry gets into some repeating notes. There's a pretty quality to the collective sound as they mosey about. Jerry and Phil play off of each other in lower territory. Keith adds some sparkle in the distance. Jerry heads higher and there's a touch of Sputnik sound to his line. The vibe has mellowed again and Jerry dances around the theme with a light, bouncy feel. The collective interweaving is become more apparent and they continue to wander forth. They return to the theme briefly at 5:15; Jerry works some gentle notes and Keith adds some pretty, wavey sounds. Around 5:40 there's a lull and they shift into lower territory with a different vibe although it's still very mellow. There's kind of a ruminating feel and Bob adds some rhythm textures that sound a little like Sugar Magnolia. Jerry winds up a bit and they get into a spinning pattern but it's all still very low key. By around 7:45 or so it feels like they might move into a more melodic or thematic jam. The momentum starts to slowly build and then suddenly they rise up more emphatically. They climb to a small, spiraling peak that crests around 8:42 and then keep wandering forth. Things are still mellow but with a bit more pep. Around 9:15 or so they start to head in a spacier direction and Jerry busts out some insect weirdness! He works it for a spell in fairly gentle fashion. Bob adds some intermittent rhythm and Bill is active. The momentum starts to build a little and then suddenly they launch into a fast paced thing. It sounds like it could become frenzied but then they pull back. Jerry brings back the Sputnik-esque sound at 10:50 and then shifts into something that sounds like The Other One. They linger in this zone in semi-hover mode and Jerry strums some chords that sound like they could prompt a new direction. Phil is percolating underneath but they don't seem to be collectively latching on to anything. Bob comes in with some twangy rhythm and again there are possible on-ramps to a jam but they don't seem to be grabbing anything. Instead they continue the mellow ruminations and things get a little Other One-ish again. Jerry works this for a bit and then shifts it up and Bob adds some melodic notes somewhat delicately. Jerry goes low again and they reach a quiet zone where not much is happening. There's a bit of volume knob action and gentle intermittent sounds from various players. Phil suggests the theme and then around 14:35 it rises up and they saunter to the verse. The vocal delivery seems to match the overall vibe. After the verse Bob plays some notes, Billy works the kick drum and Phil comes in and it sounds like a groove might be coming together. Jerry spins up some quicker paced notes and Keith comes forth more strongly. But they opt to keep it all on the low burner. Bill comes forward more and Keith adds some wah effects. Then he drops out and it's mostly Bill with a bit of Phil but this doesn't fully come to fruition either. Phil adds some deeper, darker strums and Jerry riffs for a bit and then Bob steps in and starts Sugar Magnolia. This is a mellow and relatively uneventful Dark Star. It has some pretty qualities and occasional moments but they don't seem interested in fully exploring anything. It was nice to get some insect weirdness though.
It is pretty good for the first 10 or 12 minutes, but then loses the plot and fizzles out after that. Plus Bob’s guitar progressively gets more out of tune as it goes along.
149. 20405 Cleveland 27:46 Main theme at :06, 9:31 and 10:51. First verse at 11:27. Philo Stomp at 16:50. Tiger at 25:23. Goes into Sugar Magnolia. A little bit of the main theme leads into some volume swells by Garcia, and the Dark Star starts clopping along. Godchaux and Weir open up a bubbly jam space while Lesh and Garcia wander a bit. Kreutzmann is pushing them along (check out his runs at 1:51, 2:16 and 2:33, and 2:47, etc.); he keeps goosing the band, creating forward momentum. In this case, he seems to be leading the jam as much as anyone, and perhaps he inspires the tumbling riff that Garcia unleashes at 4:05, which Keith picks up on, one of many such bursts that drive the jam forward tonight. From about 4:20 Kreutzmann starts to play a more lurching beat, and again there is a reponse as at 4:43 Lesh puts forth a funky riff, and again Godchaux is right there, embellishing it and pushing it further. At 5:05 Garcia’s chords start to swell up and they all come together with a thrusting beat that raises the pressure again. At 5:55 the band is steaming along and Garcia starts spinning some frenetic lines that turn into another hammering motif at 6:08; Godchaux locks on, and they take it to a sort of peak, and it seems the general trajectory is ever upwards. The music gets denser and busier. Now Lesh starts a double time pulse at 7:55. They all seem to pull back a little at the same time, and at 8:11Garcia starts a driving chord pattern. This seems to bring everything up another notch, as they alternate between a driving sway and dot-dash pounding until Garcia begins an ascent at 9:21 that leads to high A at 9:23; he tumbles off it into a kind of main theme/Bright Star hybrid. They start to settle into the theme, but there’s a detour at 10:05, a misty little grotto that has hints of a rolling Sputnik jam. This leads us back to the theme, which brings us to a dark and lurching verse. (In a throwback to the ‘60s, Jerry gives a little vibrato shake to “Shall we go…”). Out the other side, Garcia immediately puts out some spooky vibes with a watery wah effect. While Kreutzmann starts up a deliberate beat, and Lesh adds a deliberate riff, Garcia considers some weird directions. The band swirls down the drain until, at 14:35, Lesh barks out his intentions. Garcia echoes him for a little while, and then Lesh drops out for a bit, leaving Bill and Jerry. As Phil returns, there’s a little bit of space, and everything seems uncertain. At 16:50, Lesh takes charge and launches Philo Stomp. This proceeds with bass and drums for awhile, but the others trickle back in. When Garcia lays in a distorted lead at around 18:30, Lesh pulls back the riff and reduces it to a thudding fundament, and the jam develops. The Philo Stomp bass riff might be too dominant to leave much room for a band jam, and Lesh’s solution to this seems to work this time—they’re flying along, they don’t seem to want to keep it going for too long. and it already starts to unravel at 20:10. The jam is sprouting frayed ends all over the place now. At 21:30, Garcia gets ahold of something, and a kind of abstract and choppy funk seems about to emerge, and almost does. Instead, there is more unravelling, until Garcia’s wah at 22:22 unmistakably ratifies what seems to be the only possible direction this can go in, toward a meltdown. Lo and behold, the madness does indeed seem a bit more methodical now that we can identify it with a recognized move, and we arrive at a brief Tiger before everything unravels a little further into an abstract space from which there will be no returning. At the utmost extremity, Weir finally kicks off Sugar Magnolia. This is one of those Dark Stars where the first and second halves seem to have little to do with one another. Unless, that is, the second half is a kind of riposte to the first—whereas the intro jam kept exploring new ways to push forward, the back 40 is filled with weeds; with the exception of Philo Stomp and the short jam that it catalyzed, there is not much in the way of momentum in the second half of this Dark Star. We find instead a wonderful sprawl, a space where it seems almost gauche to develop one’s ideas overmuch. Yet another classic.
#149 10/28/72 Cleveland: 27:43 (From Bear’s tape, drums a tad loud…) Starts with the intro, settles and then Jerry moves into the plaintive bends. Some triplet rolling underneath from Keith and Bobby. Nice mellow jamming with little takeoffs in the rhythm from Bill and Keith. Keith is really rolling along on this one. Jerry backs off and then goes for some fast little jazzy riffs, while again Keith has some upwardly rolling triplets. More plaintive stretches in there, they get caught in little eddies of the triplet rolls. A lull in this long slow build before the five minute mark, and they start to build again in a minor area. Jerry takes them on a striking upward set of chords and it breaks into more Dark Star mode again. Jerry gets into some fast repetitive riffing at 6 minutes, Keith comes along. The whole tempo moves up, the band gets excited. Bill is into some dit-dah, dit-dah kick pattern, mirroring the “it’s all the same” thing that Jerry often plays with around it (does that pattern have an accepted name that I don't know? I do tend to make up my own names for things.) They move into more fast playing, building it up in pitch and then down again before sort of settling into a pedal tone suspension on a strong rhythm, really jamming hard. A set of fast bits crest the wave, with big country licks from Jerry coming in at 9 minutes, still playing on the suspended chord. It finally breaks at 9:30 and the Dark Star theme emerges and the tempo slows. Really nice transition, great playing and great musicality. They enter a quieter area, with some thematic entrances again at 10:45, heading toward a verse. Verse 1 at 11:24, strong vocals, very feeling. Audience claps and yells! A big fermata on line two, building it back on line 3 with a more grounded bass, Keith wandering in clouds on line 3, spotlight-casting. Refrain with monster movie vocals back again! And an outro leading to a weird watery tremolo sound in reverb from a melodic instrument (? Bobby?) bringing us into the Transitive Nightfall. Rhythm attempts to pick up but the guitars go into soundscape, so Bill goes into rolls. The band dives deep into the sea and there are monsters, big bass dissonances strike at 14:40, drum hits play around them, guitars stretch odd double stops. Some feedback in the background as Bill rolls on for a bit, drum solo accompanied by feedback and occasional bass notes. By 16 minutes we are entering an area with volume swelled notes and feedbacks, big deep minor isolated bass chords. At 16:50, Phil starts his rhythmic strumming on major chords, Bill joins in. Instant song, though only bass and drums really. It’s a very poppy song, this Philo Stomp thing, actually. The guitars start to figure it out. Keith is fully in by 18:20. Jerry starts lead playing a little later. He settles into some high rock riffing with the wah wah on. At 20:20 or so, Jerry starts playing with some extra-modal riff, heading somewhere else, but it doesn’t really get there and winds itself up into high stretched cries. This moves into the jazzy fast jamming, which breaks down with weird stretched chords. By 22 minutes it’s falling into atonal chromatic little licks, Bill rolls in and out. Jerry is insinuating getting to the Tiger meltdown, but it’s never coalescing, he stays outside tonally, with wah wah tone. He’s nearer to it at 24:40, actually playing the chromatic Tiger riff finally, moving harder and higher. Meltdown! They hold the high point for a good while until it breaks at 25:40, and it’s back to smaller sounds and isolated double stops moving away from the center accompanied by string scratches and small drum hits and rolls. They settle on a dissonant bit, Bill is playing a drum while changing its pitch like a talking drum. It dies out and Bobby starts Sugar Magnolia. Quite a nice version, in the end. Goes through some interesting changes.
1972-10-23. Not the best recording...very murky, like you're stuck in the back row. It's like a flashback to 1970, hearing an A+ Dark Star on a D- tape. But I can adapt! And it gives me the chance to contemplate Dark Star in a different way. The band's all blended into a single organism, rumbling through the theater like a giant whale through the deep. The beginning's sparkly and optimistic, Bill's drums subtly insistent, Phil steady on the low end, the ringing notes of Jerry, Bob & Keith like splashing waves over the current. By 4-5 minutes it's getting more contemplative; they reach a little eddy at 6 minutes where the jam gets more subdued, then revives. But there isn't any big shift in mood or direction in this opening part; they stay in a straightforward Dark Star mode, continuing in the same vein with little spots of rising and ebbing tension. The theme's often hinted at, and by ten minutes or so they seem to be in stasis; in this sound quality it's starting to get a little monotonous. But then Jerry repeats the main theme after 11:40 (in Bright Star fashion, echoed by Keith); the rest of the band slowly comes around to it until they're all swingin' the theme, and the verse comes triumphantly at 12:42 -- a very nice buildup. They don't go for space after the verse at all but throw themselves right back into a jam, Jerry pinching high notes. The mood gets looser around 16m, and sometime after 16:30 Jerry drops out for a while and Keith takes over with a wah piano solo. Funny how Keith sounds way more assertive here than normal! The playing gets jazzier and more hectic; Jerry comes back around 19:30 and grabs the lead again. The jam gets more frantic, like they're getting sucked into a whirlpool; around 21m Jerry's got his wah spirals going, aiming for a Tiger. The intensity keeps rising, Jerry high-strung & wailin', everyone in a tizzy, getting crazier at 23m, Phil puttering madly. At 24m they teeter precariously on the edge, then plunge over the waterfall into a ferocious Tiger. The audience claps after it bursts at 25m. Jerry's sustained feedback lingers in the air, then turns into Bach-like ponderings over Phil's warbles. Then all of a sudden they're a graceful classical string trio, all violins & cellos playing a hazy melody on the edge of feedback. The last note dies away, in one of the only times I can think of where Dark Star actually comes to an end. Then Jerry plucks Mississippi Half-Step to wild applause, a very odd transition. Hard to hear, but remarkable. This is a very straight-ahead, unified Dark Star where they all seem fixed on a common goal without any digressions. Particularly after the verse, which often breaks up into sections, here the jazz jam/meltdown/aftermath comes off as a single movement, steadily building in speed & intensity until it explodes and we're left with petals rippling on the water. Unique & outstanding finale. Phantom ships sail phantom tides, until Half-Step rudely breaks the spell.
1972-10-26. A rare Dark Star coming out of Truckin'! And there the excitement ends. The mix is not too good -- basically mono, bass very quiet, drums very loud, which is fatiguing to listen to. (Bear apparently had some recording gear stolen at the 10-21 show, and the tapes from there through early November have a variety of odd mixes, when there are soundboard tapes at all, as he tried to work around whatever went missing.) Probably the main thing affecting this Dark Star is that the Dead had just played a massive raging Playing in the Band a few songs earlier with a jaw-dropping jam -- this seems to have drained them more than they realized. The Truckin' jam starts well but quickly settles down to a Nobody's Fault-type jam, pleasant but undistinguished. (Keith's kind of buried in the mix but I hear some wah work.) Within a few minutes they're petering out, and the last minute tapers off to some surprisingly quiet blues riffing; they seem uncertain how to end this. But a big drum roll ushers in Dark Star. The opening is very subdued and low-key, but not bad. Though quieter than usual, Phil's still present -- the passage at 2:50 bzfgt pointed out where Phil plays a high lead while Jerry plays bass notes is pretty neat. Jerry teases the theme at 3:50, and the jam gets more busy & engaging, various musical lines curling around each other. Keith switches to wah after 5m, with a nice swirly effect. But there's still not much energy, and by 5:40 things just sputter out, and they hover quietly for a bit. It sounds like a minor-key jam might blossom here, which stays an intriguing possibility for a while with some dark chords from Bob, but it isn't pursued. Jerry gets restless and after 7:30 he starts spinning out other directions. They dig into some chord riffing after 8m, finally a small burst of energy! -- then it's back to regular Dark Star jamming around 8:45. They amble along; there's some insect-buzzing from Jerry at 9:30, and everyone else quiets down. The jam gets noodly; Phil seems to be barely participating. Jerry speeds up around 10:20, Bob & Keith trying to help, but this also dies out and they return to noodling. By now I get the impression Jerry's just casting around for anything to stick, no one's able to push this forward, and the energy onstage is very low and still dropping. At 11:30 Jerry starts strumming a two-chord riff like he's about to bust out Foolish Heart. Bob follows this and there's some promise, but this soon vanishes as well. Back to more noodling after 12m, getting ever quieter like they're fading out, back to soft chords at 12:50. Then after 13:20 they stop to tune up and things all but skid to a halt. They barely play for a minute after that, just quiet tinkles -- it sounds like they've totally lost interest. At last Phil brings up the theme around 14:30, and everybody gratefully clings to it like a life-raft, and they lumber their way to the verse at 15:38. Jerry sounds kind of sad in the verse. Well, that was very dispiriting -- it's like listening to the band's battery run out as the life drains out of their playing and they all get quieter and slower. Will things improve after the verse? The usual post-verse figure sounds like it's about to usher in good things, but they just putter around aimlessly for a while. Jerry sounds bereft of ideas, and the jam struggles along without picking up. They make way for a Bill/Keith/Phil break at 19m - but Phil gives up, then Keith, then Phil quietly noodles along with Bill. Jerry returns after 20:30, which gets Phil's spirits up -- time for liftoff? -- but no, it's only time for some more quiet noodling, Jerry all but left to himself until Bob starts Sugar Magnolia. I will say, the transition to Sugar Magnolia is very good as Jerry seamlessly makes the switch, and the band gets their rock & roll shoes back on for a rousing version. That was a disaster. They sound very tired and out of sorts and not interested in playing Dark Star at all. Some pretty moments in the opening jam go nowhere, and it sounds like they'd rather be playing anything else and just want to get out of this. Not since Woodstock has any version gone this badly. In short: skip this one and listen to the Playing in the Band instead.
#149 1972-10-28 Things get started smooth and mellow. Big kicks from Bill as they get underway; he's prominent in the mix. Some stretchy, sliding runs from Jerry with nice accompaniment from Bob and then Keith. Phil is doing is thing too, also in no particular hurry. Bill's pace seems quicker than the others but some of that could be his forward presence on the recording. Jerry heads out and they stroll amiably through the early proceedings. At Jerry 4:05 starts up a quick repeating pattern that Keith jumps in on and it seems to propel them forward. But they quickly settle back in and continue winding and weaving. Around 4:45 Phil asserts himself which Keith gets in as well and they work that for a bit, changing the feel and picking up some momentum along that way. Things spin upward. Starting around 5:20 Jerry launches further up before shifting into a bubbling, forward driving line that gets everyone cooking. There's a nice jazzy feel now and they're moving along nicely. There's a bit of ebb and flow and they start pushing it forward again with good collective interweaving. The groove shifts again starting around 7:55 and after a brief pooling Jerry pushes out again with a touch of rev in his tone. They climb upwards and then maintain a driving plateau with nice interplay between Jerry and Keith. Then around 9:03 Jerry kicks it it up again with a raspy, almost country-twinged charge. He bursts out of that and into a Bright Star-esque peak that transforms into the theme, as noted by bzfgt. The others pull back briefly and then join in on theme. They find a calmer space within the theme with some nice piano from Keith. Then Jerry shifts into mellow Sputnik-esque variations while the overall vibe is still thematic. It's a pretty passage and you could almost imagine a female vocal suddenly coming forth with some kind of poetic verse. They move back into the theme proper and then continue on to the first verse, which includes just a touch of warble! After the verse they briefly reset and Jerry dives into some watery wah which sounds cool. They hover briefly and appear to be revving up the engine. Bill and Phil start something up but instead of launching into it they pull back into some weirdness with Jerry still working the wah. They pool in this zone and Phil seems to be offering suggestions. Phil then pulls back while Bill asserts himself before bursting back with some strong strums. He eases off again and there's a brief semi-drum break accompanied by freaky sounds. Things get spacier and more ominous. As it quiets Phil starts ramping up and then shifts into a Philo Stomp which the crowd responds to well. Phil and Bill do their thing and rock it up for a spell. Jerry and Bob start slowly coming back in after 18:00 followed by Keith. Then Jerry starts up a line with some kind of effect and this coalesces into a jam and they take it for a ride. Around 19:20 Jerry shifts into a faster, edgier, repeating thing that takes it up. He eases up but they keep cooking along until 20:10 or so. At that point they downshift a bit while Billy keeps it going, and then he shifts the beat around 20:35 and they start picking up momentum again. Phil works underneath while Jerry dabbles in some progressively freakier sounds that intermittently call out into the night. Around 21:30 Jerry starts a new line with a stuttered feel and they work around that as he takes it deeper and weirder. Jerry shifts to wah and Bill eases up for a moment and they step clearly on the path to meltdown territory. They slowly wind their way there with Bill quite active again and Bob adding sparkly textures to Jerry's freaky lead. Things start spinning more quickly and starting around 25:10 or so the Tiger is unleased. It screams out for a bit and then around 25:40 Jerry pulls back and they shift into spacey weirdness. There's some string scraping, tribal drumming and other assorted sounds. Jerry works a deep, freaky line for a good spell accompanied by Bob. Slowly they begin to ease up and out of the resulting quiet Bob starts up Sugar Magnolia. It's a really good performance. There is a lot happening in the first half which at times has a more sophisticated feel. In the second half not all of the jams fully materialize but there's lots of general freakiness and I liked the watery wah effect right after the verse. We also get a Philo Stomp and a meltdown and some spacey weirdness in the outro.
Here's some recent examples: 5-7-72 @ 10:55 this little lick that Jerry has played several times in the past, it is a repeated “dit-dah dit-dah” nursery rhyme rhythm against the beat of whatever is going on, with descending intervals. This evening it’s D-C#, D-B, a couple nights ago he used it on a major third, G#-F#, G#-E. Not structurally important, but I always hear it when it happens. Just so you know.) 7-18-72 "It’s all the same" lick @ 10:18 8-21-72 @ 5:58 min the ‘all the same’ a g a e—these same notes have been used in this pattern often since the previous winter or maybe earlier. 9/27/72 Jerry goes on a tangent of ‘it’s all the same’ dit-dah, dit-dah at about 1:10 in. 10-18-72 after the intro to post-verse jam space—> a Dark Star-ish melodic area, slow and delicate, though building in intensity on the simple (“it’s all the same”) lick, stretched-out, from Jerry developing into feedback, starts around 14:30
Thank you, I got it now. It is a familiar thing, I wonder how many things could be singled out depending on where we focus our attention.
I think that lick is a queue to the band: "guys I'm high as **** right now, just give me a minute to get my head together"
1972-10-28. The mix balance is slightly better than 10-26, but still very narrow, almost mono except the drums which are louder than everything else. After the count-in, it starts off nice and sweet. The opening is dense & bubbly; Bill seems to be kicking everyone ahead but that's probably due to his volume. The energy subsides after 3m and they seem to coast for awhile; around 5m Jerry lays back and Keith comes more to the fore. But at 5:30 Jerry surges back, and more energy sweeps in like a fresh wind. Keith & Jerry seem to be in the lead here, Keith following Jerry's every move (sometimes rather imitatively)....Bob & Phil are less conspicuous in the mix. The jam gets more stingin', and Jerry leads another charge at 8:15 which loops around some country rolls and swings up to a nice high Bright Star-styled theme at 9:20 -- home run! This being all too straightforward, the Dead drop the main theme at 10m for an unexpected swim in a foggy bay, then sneak back to the theme at 10:50. Very nicely done; the verse follows at 11:28. Jerry's vocal is quite loud. Jerry steps on the wah right away coming out of the verse, whew! An unexpected touch: the band swirls spacily, making clouds. Jerry's in the mood for some odd shimmery sounds; I think Bob turns his chorus effect on around 14m. Phil putters around, then turns up the bass around 14:40, and the guitars step back except for bits of feedback. Bill keeps rattling the drums, and the band seems to be pausing for a drum solo. But then around 15:50 Bill backs off a bit, and they change course and go into a nice little volume-swell space. Phil's in a melodic mood and starts strumming chords, ushering in the Philo Stomp at 16:50. Bill's ready with a hard-charging drum accompaniment this time, and at 18m the rest of the band chimes in with cool accents, emphasizing the beat. As everyone else comes up, by 18:50 Phil drops the theme for a basic line and Jerry takes the lead -- and boy, Jerry starts flying with some great hummingbird wah as Keith hammers the chords! The peak of this Dark Star. They start to trickle off after 20m, just Bill keeping up a beat; Bob & Keith seemingly drop out. Jerry feels around and it seems to be just Jerry/Phil/Bill doing a quirky agitated jam for a while....some little chirps from Bob, but mostly Jerry being weird. Then around 22:30, Jerry's wah starts leading to a Tiger. Bob quietly pitches in with nervous notes; Phil bubbles & pops; Keith can't be heard (where'd he go? haven't heard him since the Philo Stomp). This mix emphasizes Jerry & Bill up-front, with Phil & Bob quietly behind them, so the balance is awkward. The final Tiger spiral starts around 24:45 and reaches a fierce shrieking peak at 25:40; oddly Phil doesn't seem to be playing at all in this part, no chords of doom. Then for the last two minutes they warble and float on Jerry's wah tides, Phil scritching his strings, Bill making odd bubbly taps, the guitars sparkling like moonbeams. (But no melodic statement like on 10-23, the playing stays busily confused & abstract.) They reach a halt, Jerry touches a resolving chord, a drum-roll...in the pause, Bob whips out a crackin' Sugar Magnolia. Bill misplaces the beat to begin with, and has to start over. Now Keith finally shows up again, after sitting out the last 8 minutes! I had some mixed feelings. Maybe my mood's off....it has nice moments, I particularly like the Philo Stomp and the spacey stretches; Jerry gets some lovely sounds. On one listen it felt like they were trying to get something going and not quite reaching it. But then on another listen it felt like they were hittin' it, I was just getting distracted by the off-kilter drum-thumpin' mix as players seem to come and go. I liked the opening jam more on each listen (as usual). But in the final stretch it sounds like only half the band's really participating. I bet an audience tape would portray this differently, but Keith plays for like two minutes after the verse and Phil doesn't always seem quite present. Bill's always loud & clear though, making this a drum-centered Star. Maybe partly because of that, it also sounds rather hard-edged and jittery; even the spacey parts are kinda spiky....this isn't a very melodic or relaxing Dark Star, it's more restless & abstract.
150. 1972-11-13 105812 KC 32:16 (31:56 actual) (“Dark Star” 22:03, “Philo Stomp” 10:13) Main theme at 11:22. First verse at 11:44. Tiger at 19:25 and (PS) :40. Philo Stomp at (PS): 1:30. Feelin’ Groovy at (PS) 7:46. Goes into Morning Dew. Here we have an audience recording, and it sounds pretty good in this case. Dark Star kicks off in a mournful mood, with nobody hitting it too hard. At 1:34 Garcia gets into some pinch harmonics, repeating a couple notes for about 30 seconds and then spinning out a lead from there that still sounds like a holding pattern; the task seems to be to create a mood rather than to tell a story. The skein stretches gradually, revealing little knots of intensity. The peak that begins at 3:34 is brief, leads into a lull. The band peaks vertically, so to speak—the music is at all points a tableau or cross section, rather than a progression of ideas. Another peak comes in at 4:30 and this one empties out into a lurching backbeat from Kreutzmann and some chiming rhythm from Weir. At 5:40 is another peak, or perhaps rather a plateau. As we reach the edge, Garcia threatens a melody, and then drops into a rolling arpeggio passage instead, earning some applause. Although the sequence of notes is different, this could almost be labeled Sputnik. Garcia plays with dynamics, phasing in and out, until 7:50 brings more Dark Star notes, but before this goes too far Garcia starts in with the volume knob in order to keep the atmospheric approach alive. It gets pretty quiet here, but Kreutzmann has a new vibe brewing, and as he lightly but firmly brings the backbeat in Garcia starts flurrying at 9:15. The band is light, agile and rather quiet here. As is sometimes the case, I am getting Weir and Godchaux mixed up here, but they both seem to have some kind of wah-wah sound going, although Keith started this one out with straight piano. Listen at 10:50 as Lesh is starting to bump up against Garcia from below, doing the funky-jazzy riffing of which he is so fond in this era. This seems to light a fire, and at 11:00 they are again driving toward a peak, this time in more frenetic fashion. As this gets going there’s a cut that plunges us into the back end of the pre-verse theme section, so I switched over to the Hanno version (10089) for this passage—not ideal, so my apologies, but this version sounds better overall. Hanno is also the Bear recording, but there’s a patch at this point, and there’s a really nice little peak there that shouldn’t be missed. The theme starts at 12:32 on the Hanno, and lasts 50 seconds, plus there’s probably another minute or so of the jam before that. We hear how enthused the crowd is; as the Dead exit the verse there is a rousing cheer. Weir once said that by 1974 they were leaving the audience behind, implying that the long improvisations were not crowd-pleasers. I think that every audience recording we’ve listened to thus far, however, has evidenced a great deal of enthusiasm for Dark Star. Whether this had changed by 1974 is a question I can’t answer with any real confidence; it’s possible that the venues they were playing by then brought in more casual punters. In any case, the space jam that comes together after the verse elicits more enthusiastic cheers. These are some of the most difficult passages to describe; by now the Dead were masterful at building up these ambient passages that had no real beat or time signature but still have a kind of cohesion and momentum. We get a brief return of Garcia’s tolling effect at 14:33, and everyone gets really weird here in a most pleasing way. While remaining in space, the band coheres and increases the intensity. At 17:15 Garcia starts to build up his line a bit, and one feels it will either lead us out into a jam, or else into a meltdown. This dilemma seems to be resolved in favor of a meltdown at 18:21, as Garcia starts to prefigure a Tiger jam. Lesh and Garcia push it forward while Weir and Godchaux build outward. The Tiger arrives at 19:25. Godchaux’s piano is titanic, like a turbulent ocean, with Garcia the storm-wracked ship and Lesh the sea monster ascending from the depths. There is calm at 20:45, but they start to build it up again. As the second track (“Philo Stomp”) begins (without a Philo Stomp in sight!) the music is warped, demented; by :40 we’re back in a Tiger jam. No sooner does it peak than Lesh is shifting into Philo Stomp (PS 1:30). Coming out of the Tiger without any bass preliminaries, the effect is remarkable. Garcia, Godchaux and Weir chime right in this time; they almost sound like they know it. At 3:50 Lesh is ready to try to build out a successor jam. Weir starts a pedalling riff at 4:33, and this turns into a holding pattern. At about 5:00 Garcia seems to be communicating his willingness to play some great leads if the rest of them will only get it together. At 5:19 Weir proposes a two-chord pattern; Lesh approves, and Jerry starts fiddling away. Weir of course abandons the chord pattern at this point, but Garcia is not to be deterred; he ups the intensity, and Kreutzmann approves of this, so he helps drag the rest of them to a howling peak starting at around 6:55. At 7:18 this settles back into another holding pattern, although we are now on a higher plateau and the intensity does not subside. Lesh breaks us out of this one with Feelin’ Groovy at 7:46. This is a raucous affair, all jittery and cacophonous. They play it almost ridiculously fast, and it’s already over by 9:25. Garcia substitutes another descending riff, and it almost seems like a throwback to 1969, where a modular jam could result in another jam loosely based on the former. It’s not happening this time, though; instead, they go into Morning Dew. This is a strange and magical half hour. The band at times seems to be getting a little impatient with the Dark Star format, it seems to me; although this is a subtle thing and doesn’t manifest all at once, I think there is such a trend, in any case. Here the first half is almost ambient, and it does seem to cover new ground, at least insofar as they are more committed to that approach here than we’ve heard before. The second half is dominated by space, meltdown/Tiger jamming, and Philo Stomp. The meltdown approach is increasingly becoming the primary mode of post-verse as we get closer to 1973. The two-pronged meltdown in this Dark Star is one of premier instances of the form. A classic rendition.
That is what I remember too (they had some odd recording experiments after the taping equipment was stolen around early October).
#150 11/13/72 Kansas City: 22:03 + 10:13 AUD (Bear's AUD patched ) Ok, this is interesting (to me): these next few shows, the rest of the Dark Stars of the year, Jerry is playing an instrument built for him by Dan Erlewine, a walnut Stratocaster with a Gibson stop-tail bridge, big numbers on the fretboard. (I wonder when this was commissioned? His shop was in Michigan at the time, nowadays he’s in Ohio.) This guitar is an odd beast, built out of the same slab of walnut that Erlewine built Albert King’s Flying-V that same year. Erlewine is super famous in the guitar world, he’s a god of repair methods and inventing tools for simplifying things (see Stewart-Macdonald, stewmac.com, he’s designed a ton of the tools they sell.) He fixed an ancient Strat neck of mine once, even, so of course I love him. Look up his story, pretty intense. He sold his Les Paul to Bloomfield, changing the sound of 60s blues from that Telecaster… etc, etc… A Lifetime Of Music: Dan Erlewine - WOUB Public Media Anyway. Dark Star. Number 150! Sort of a loose intro riff, into a nice and uplifting side-stick groove, with Jerry reaching up and doing some of those stretches, audience approval all around. Some nice little pinch harmonic eddies after a minute or so, cascading bits from Keith. Into quiet fast little runs. Some people near the audience mics are enjoying it, “wo-o-ow…” Nice alternating melodic lines with fast runs, heading up to that chord with suspension thing from the last time, but more in the groove this time. Waves crest and they begin anew after 4 minutes, a little sparser to start with. Eddies on a stretched 9th, with rolling rhythm underneath, into a more 6/8 TOO-type groove for a sec, but it breaks out into new chords, striking a strong repeated area before 6 minutes, and holding that plateau for a while, up high. A mesa. This wave breaks into little arpeggios at 6:40, the audience loves it. Tinkling high piano, sort of Sputnik from Jerry. Back into chordal stabs, rolling it out of mode a little. At 7:50 or so, it breaks apart into an odd area of volume-swelled notes, sparse rhythm and odd piano bits, Jerry comes up with some melodic bits like the vocal refrain notes, then to more stretched plaintive notes, Bill seems to be winding up a new rhythm. After 9, Jerry scurries around quietly like a little squirrel, while it’s still pretty quiet. Wah on the piano makes some odd background sounds. The suspension chord makes a slight return, (Asus4 to A). The fast runs start to infect Phil, who starts funkifying the bass line and they all build it up till it hits the theme area in the late 11th minute and they start verse 1. People clap. Line 1 is strong, Jerry really milks the slide on the first part of line 2, strong vocals, Phil holds a high pedal tone on line 3. Keith still playing wah on his piano. A weird chord in the middle of the refrain, there, Bob. Regardless, they make it to the outro and Jerry breaks apart a chord, while the wah piano warbles around. It dies off into soundscape by 13:40. Odd little notes and swells, the stretched plaintive note. Bill rolls around. A minute later it’s diving into feedback and deep oceanic bass tones. Keith strumming the piano strings (I think.) Almost complete silence a couple time, really small sounds emerging, little feedback and stretched tom tom rolls. Weird piano sounds, string noises… this is cool, very atonal avant-garde like ’69 space, the deep sea of chaos. Atonal chords and small sounds go on for a long time, diving deeper and deeper. Jerry steps on the wah pedal for some stronger isolated notes. At about 18:30 they start building the intensity again, warbles from piano, Tiger-like bits from Jerry, Bill and Phil getting louder and stronger. Tiger meltdown approaching, in the 19th minute it really starts happening, big clusters from piano, wah-inflected chromatics from Jerry. The bring it down a bit and hover in this world for a while, Phil picking odd notes in a sort of drunk-walking style. It finally is spent by 20:45, the bass is still plucking out odd notes, lead guitar on some little chromatic runs, Keith really goes for some long chromatic piano runs up to the high end and rolls around up and down. They stay in the atonal area, maybe going for another buildup… (in the Dick L copy of the Owsley tape the track separates here, for some reason.) A Tiger Meltdown for real starts with the snarling chromatic wah wah riffs, everybody noisily building it up, Phil coming underneath with big bass chords, people clap and he starts the Philo stomp chords, a seamless transition from the meltdown. Bass and drums jam on his pop song chords with small accompaniment, Keith figures out some nice falling melodies, the guitars seem to find some of the chords, at 25:00 in they all land on the root, and then back to the fifth, they’re figuring out his song. Jerry eventually takes up some major key jamming with it. Quiets down… audience is clapping along. The wave crests and Bobby goes back to the suspended chord thing, Jerry still playing out long bluesy major key riffs. Bill has a moment on a high tom ringing it out. Keith starts mimicking the bluesy aspect Jerry brought up. At 7:30 (~29:30) they enter a riff area and it a half minute later it heads to a very fast Feelin’ Groovy from Keith and Phil, the band falls in, jamming it out. At 9 (~31) minutes they hold it out on the root note, then hit the progression again a couple more times to round it out. Then they start letting go, to head off somewhere else. Where will it go? Well, when it finally allows the entrance, Jerry hits the big D chord for the start of Morning Dew. Band falls in immediately, the audience claps appreciatively. ______________ Well, I loved this one, or at least most of it. I love that space that precedes the meltdown, especially stretching out the weird quiet deep sea stuff and then building it up out of that to the prolonged loud meltdown. While I like it, I’m not as keen on the Philo stomp poppiness nor the Feelin’ Groovy riffing (within Dark Star, I should qualify this statement). But still, overall an amazing version. Very inspired and exploratory.
#150 1972-11-13 (Hanno transfer). The crowd seems pumped at the start although the band has something mellower in mind initially. They glide along in lovely fashion with Jerry working some gentle lines nicely accented by Bob. Starting at 1:27 Jerry plays some high pinched notes and they ride a floaty spiral upwards. Phil is somewhat quiet in the mix but he's working some nice lines underneath. The momentum picks up a bit as Jerry reaches further upwards; he and Bob pool in a repeating thing and then carry forth in lower, raspier territory, reaching a small peak. They ease back and continue gliding along. They're spinning up something mellow and lovely with Keith interweaving nicely too. Around 4:20 or so the momentum starts building through some pretty repeating patterns. Jerry winds through lower lines with just a touch of raspiness. The intensity grows and they rise up strongly around 5:30 seemingly ready to unleash. They climb upwards until 5:45 and then roll forward with some lovely collective playing. This too builds in intensity before slipping into something more Dark Star-like. Around 6:30 they quiet and Jerry plays something Sputnik-ish accented by twinkly notes from Keith. The crowd fills the brief pause with applause. Jerry and Keith keep going and the collective vibe is pretty and delicate. At 7:05 Jerry plays some stronger notes that for a brief moment almost sound like Truckin'. He drifts forward and back while Keith keeps twinkling, accented by Bob, and gets slightly Sputnik-y again before they drift into a spacier zone. Keith adds electronic effects and there's some volume knob action and they float along for a bit playing somewhat around the Dark Star melody. Lots of slide-y, drifting guitar. Phil bubbles up more although he's still somewhat quiet on this recording. This seems to take them in a new direction they spin up a bit with Jerry playing some quicker groups of notes and some funky wah from Keith. The momentum ebbs briefly and then they charge forth again; things are cooking now relative to the overall vibe thus far. At 11:16 the patch comes in on the recording and the sound becomes murkier but you can still hear them cooking along. They rise to a small peak and things are hopping. They take it up again and hit the theme in triumphant fashion at 12:28. The crowd is psyched and so I am! The original recording kicks back in at 12:55 and shortly after they move into the first verse which features some nice wah from Keith. After a fairly enthusiastic verse they reset and then fade into an airy, spacey zone. Bill is active initially; Jerry plays some wailing sounds and Phil revs. Then things get quieter and weirder with subtle, intermittent sounds from the ensemble. Volume knob action, a touch of feedback, some building, buzzing sounds. It's patient and freaky. The intensity starts to grow. By 20:00 it sounds like a meltdown is imminent. Jerry starts spinning towards a Tiger while Phil plays a walking bass line and things quickly ratchet up. The collective fury is unleashed and they work it for a good stretch. By 22:15 things have calmed back down but shortly after they start heading back up again. Lots of piano work and everyone starts getting weird. It builds to another furious peak and then Jerry unleashes the Tiger. They scream and howl and freak out and then right out of this Phil busts into the Philo Stomp. The crowd erupts and rocks along with him. Around 26:12 Bob starts riffing away and things sound a little Allman-esque for just a moment. They keep the groove going on a low boil and seem to be considering where to go next. Jerry suggests a twangier direction and slowly the groove starts to shift. By 28:10 they've brought it down to a quieter hover and you could imagine GDTRFB suddenly bubbling up. More hovering, things quiet, Phil briefly works a little line and then he and Jerry start playing off of each other. Jerry gets a quicker line going and after some start stop action they begin to build the momentum again. The collective notes are flying now as they zip along with a slightly country-fide feel. They build to a peak and then start easing back again. Out of this Phil shifts into Feelin' Groovy at around 31:24. The country-ish vibe is still there and they rock it at a fast clip. It builds up and then keeps going on higher ground with a more uplifting feel, hitting another peak. Then suddenly around 32:58 they are finished with it and bring things down while maintaining some forward momentum. They dance around the descending feel briefly and then ease up and create an onramp for Morning Dew. An excellent version with a lot to enjoy. The first half has a lovely, gliding feel that picks up in momentum and intricacy as it goes along. The post-verse space is compelling and the multi-phased meltdown is really good. Feelin' Groovy is perhaps a bit tacked on at the end but there is some uniqueness there in terms of its speed and feel. The groove that connects the Philo Stomp and FG is tentative at times but good at its peaks.
