Lexicon: Themes and Modular Jams

Here is a key to some of the terminology we will be using in our exploration of Dark Star. There are several themes that reappear in various versions, including both modular jams and musical themes that reappear in several Dark Stars.

                              THEMES

Some of these themes were named by Light Into Ashes of the Grateful Dead Guide; these will be marked "LIA." Others were named by ourselves, or are of unknown origin.



Introduction Theme
This appears at the beginning of most Dark Stars, particularly when they do not emerge from another song or ongoing jam.

1970-02-13

Main Theme
This appears near the beginning of Dark Star in many early versions, but eventually it comes to introduce the verse.

1971-10-31 4:22

216. 1994-03-30

14832 Atlanta 10:29

Verse melody at 2:52.
Main theme at 4:18.
First verse at 4:48.
Goes into Drums.


The final Dark Star follows a Playing in the Band that gets rather freaky at the end. Garcia kicks it off, and right away it is a bit more laid-back than the last one—the funky and frenetic approach seems to have been a one-off. Nevertheless, it bounces along nicely, moving at a good clip.


What the hell is Garcia doing starting at 2:02? He’s got some really freaky stuff happening, like he’s tuning a radio; then there’s a rather Hawaiian rendering of the verse melody at 2:52. The playing here is completely unlike anything we’ve heard in a previous Dark Star! When they hit the main theme, Weir almost takes the lead for a moment. There’s a sense of possibility here, and the crowd seems to recognize this with a cheer when they hit the verse.


Jerry follows the verse with some more conventional Dark Star leads, which are welcome here…now we’ve got four minutes for this to go somewhere. As usual, it will have to go out without falling apart entirely, as the latter is a constant danger when Drums are in the offing. By around 7 minutes in, the music has quietened considerably. There’s a little segment where Jerry and Vince are the focus, and Weir drops out for a little while.


We get hints of Sputnik, and at 7:41 Garcia sounds like he wants to start playing Comes a Time! He works a little melodic bit that sounds like the intro to the former, and Vince follows him. The drummers are very restrained throughout this segment; their time is coming, but they allow this delicate jam to unfold. Garcia keeps his Comes a Time lick going, with various permutations, but the band doesn’t quite coalesce around it—rather, they seem content to let it spill away and to cede the stage.


It's very difficult to evaluate this one—even though the band almost certainly didn’t know this would be the last time, it has sentimental force nevertheless. There’s not a whole lot to it, really; on the other hand, and fittingly enough, it has elements that are absolutely unique. What an amazing thing Dark Star is, that it could last so long and go so many places. We are fortunate to have these recordings, and in the end the finale could have been a lot worse. Even though their commitment to Dark Star waned in the last few years, they were still trying new things to the last.


What was said:

215. 1994-03-16

139174 IL 11:15

Main theme at :06 and 4:20.
First verse at 4:31.
Goes into Drums.


This time there is no spacey jamming preceding Dark Star—Long Way to Go Home ends with a vocal coda (which the audience seems to love!) and Garcia, again playing the Lightning Bolt with the acoustic patch, immediately plays the introductory riff. We’ve now arrived at that portion of the Dead’s career many would prefer to pass over in silence, but Jerry sounds really good here, breaking off crisp licks as the band plays a tight and bouncy take on the two-chord pattern.


In fact, this might be the funkiest take on the introductory jam we’ve yet heard, and Garcia’s staccato licks are almost reminiscent, at times, of Shakedown Street. They’ve found a whole new feel here, and it’s a delight to hear, as the protean qualities of Dark Star are still in evidence after 26 years. They know they’ve caught something, and they lean into it—it’s not spacey or mysterious, but it is the sound of the Grateful Dead finding a groove. They’re also going pretty fast, and this is particularly evident when Jerry sings the verse, for which they do not slow the tempo, as they sometimes did in the past when it got brisk in the intro jam.


They continue as they started after the singing subsides, and now Garcia’s line gets more melodic and majestic, even as the band cranks away. They get the idea, though, and soon the music starts to stretch and breathe. The tempo is still quick, but the gestalt changes to something more expansive, if still rather tightly structured. When Lesh climbs at 8:00 things start really popping, as guitar and bass embark on their familiar winding dance.


Welnick is rather timid tonight, almost sounding like TC at times as he swirls around without substantially affecting the direction of things. Weir stays within the funk concept for the most part, which works just fine. Lesh and Garcia have given us a moment, though, and now it’s going to wind down in the direction of Drums, which take an increasingly tribal approach to the funk template that’s been set.


This is surprisingly good, if a bit limited. They explore a single tempo and beat, but they do it really well, and it is engaging throughout. It is perhaps a conservative decision to maintain the tempo throughout the verse--there will be no reset, no need to find a new approach--but it works well enough. This is way better than I expected (or feared).


What was said:

214. 1993-09-22

13801 MSG 8:15

Main theme at 2:08.
First verse at 2:25.
Goes into Drums.


With David Murray sitting in, the band uncorks a 16-minute Estimated Prophet that gets suitably freaky on the home stretch; perhaps because they’re feeling their oats now, they break out Dark Star next. We know, however, that Dark Star doesn’t necessarily mean that there is an improvisational adventure on the horizon, anymore. We just have to see what we get.


Lesh seems to be the one pushing for Dark Star, and after some preliminaries which could as easily be tracked as the last bits of Estimated Prophet, he gets the result he’s looking for. Murray stays out of it entirely, letting them get it together. They bring it to the verse rather quickly, which might not be a bad thing since we’ve only got 8 minutes and we’re unlikely to hear the second verse.


The jamming is pretty normal at first. At about 4:05 Murray creeps in, and he sounds good. Garcia is deferential; he works his way back in, but they seem a little tentative still. Since we’ve just heard them both unleashed on Estimated, this ought to work, but time is running out.


At 6:55 the playing gets more abstract, and it seems like we’re finally getting somewhere, but they’re about to hand it off to the drummers. It’s getting better, but they’re letting the center unravel, and we know that it’s ending.


And so it does. This is nice as a little tag-on to the massive Estimated Prophet, but isn’t up to a whole lot in its own right.


What was said:

213. 1993-09-13

12096 Philadelphia 5:32


Main theme at :06 and 2:58.
First verse at 3:12.
Goes into Terrapin Station.


Playing in the Band is not very long, but it really starts to get out there, and they decide to take it into Dark Star. Garcia is employing the acoustic patch (now playing Lighning Bolt), which is a strange choice here, and he continues this into Dark Star, which begins with the intro lick but without a pause. Garcia plays the theme a few times to start it off, and then a fairly typical introductory jam ensues in which Jerry lays out for a while.


Phil plays with the verse melody a little here, and there are gestures in the direction of E monor. Jerry comes back at 1:15, still playing the acoustic patch. The jam picks up energy here; it’s a very full sound, with everyone going at it hammer and tongs. Although the faux-acoustic isn’t my favorite sound, Garcia plays some beautiful stuff here.


It’s a shame the band isn’t letting Dark Star off the leash these days, because they sound really good on a lot of these last versions. One gets the sense that if anything did happen, it would be something good! We get the first verse after three minutes, though, and then there’s another minute before they pull up into Terrapin Station. I’d like to say they make the last minute count, but it’s not really enough time to sink their teeth into anything, although it’s certainly not bad.


It seems like Dark Star is on its last legs, and in fact it’s not entirely clear why they keep playing it. It’s nice to hear Jerry play these familiar licks, but there’s nothing much happening.


What was said:

212. 1993-06-23

108984 Indiana 7:13 (6:30)

Main theme at :52 and 2:18.
First verse at 2:26.
Goes into The Wheel.


This is a show mostly known for a titanic Terrapin Station that goes into a wild jam. Between that and a 15-minute Space, there has already been a wealth of improvised music in the this second set by the time we get to Dark Star, and much of it is very good, to boot. As Space reaches its conclusion, Garcia has some kind of bowed sound going, which is almost certainly the result of an electronic gate rather than a Jimmy Page maneuver. Lesh moves it into Dark Star, which starts with the theme rather than the intro lick.


The band sounds focused from the outset here, and the intro jam is tighter and more punchy than the previous ones have been. Garcia dips into the theme a few times and they roll to the verse—one almost gets the impression in these latter-day versions that Jerry is thinking “Oh, we’re playing Dark Star now? That means we’re not jamming anymore!” At least this one doesn’t go into Drums, so it seems likely he’ll be on board for the duration.


Vince hangs on the theme longer than usual after the verse—tight and punchy seems to be the approach here as well. Garcia gets into some downward arpeggios that are almost reminiscent of Fire on the Mountain, which I thought of before the verse as well. Listen from about 4:45, as Jerry uncorks some lightning-fast runs—they may not be stretching this out anymore, but his playing here sounds fresh and engaged, as well as being more nimble than usual.

By about 6:30 Jerry starts playing The Wheel, and although it’s still tracked as Dark Star it doesn’t take long for the band to fall in line. It’s kind of surprising this pairing didn’t happen more times, as the transition is smooth and effortless.


It’s hard to fault the band for being perfunctory in such a jam-filled set, but it’s clear that Dark Star isn’t where the main action is anymore. This is quite good, though; there’s some excellent playing, although Garcia is clearly the main attraction this time.


What was said:

211. 1993-03-17

79050 Landover

Main theme at :05 and 2:16.
First verse at 2:26.
Goes into Drums.


In hindsight, much looks different (how’s that for a platitude!). In the last years, I still expected every Grateful Dead show to be a transformational experience, and this led to disappointment. Now, I remember the disappointment, and hence these shows often sound better than I expect them to. Playing in the Band is short, but it gets nice and spacey toward the end, and by the seventh minute, it feels like the perfect time to ooze into Dark Star. When they do—as we future-dwellers know they will—I know to temper my expectations, but as Playing winds down, I get a little tingle of anticipation as they downshift into the familiar introduction.

The first order of business is the main theme, which Garcia has gotten back into playing, somewhere along the line here. At :42 he springs forth with a sweet, familiar line and, somewhat surprisingly, the MIDI kicks in a few seconds later. He has been using it sparingly lately, and I feel almost nostalgic for it now! He uses it sparingly here, too—it crowns his line for a few seconds and then seems to recede of its own will. We’re left with the sweet familiar sound of Garcia and Lesh’s lines winding around each other; the rest of the unit doesn’t do much out of the ordinary, so this intro section is plain but nice.


It's also short—at 2:26, Jerry sings the verse (which seems to briefly take a wrong turn at “crashes”). Out of the verse, and back to the same sort of thing that preceded it, with Vince hammering the theme a few times, as is his wont. He knows how to get out of it now, though, and our patience may soon be rewarded.


At 4:24, Jerry turns into a flute and, as the kids say, I’m here for it. The music starts to pull out of joint, largely thanks to Lesh; Weir seems to be coming in at odd angles too, now. They seem like they’re edging toward a space jam, which is a welcome development in its own right, as Dark Stars have been rather straight-edged lately. Since this comes before Drums, we know it is a race between weirdness and outright dispersal, so we have to hope the center holds, but not too obviously.


So far, they are walking this line quite well; in the neighborhood of 7:30, there is an insectoid jazz club vibe developing that is sufficiently intriguing that I feel deflated when Garcia disappears at 7:47 and does not return. The remaining jam seems to get even better, but we’re on borrowed time now.


In the end, this is one of the most frustrating Dark Stars we’ve yet reviewed. It has some of the best and most interesting post-verse playing we’ve heard in a long time, but no sooner does it get underway than Jerry ducks out. I really love what’s here, but it’s impossible not to yearn for more.


What was said:

210. 1992-12-16

140831 Oakland 8:46 (7:02).


Main theme at 1:44 and 3:26.
Second verse at 4:07.
Goes into All Along the Watchtower.


Space is really cool, but kind of lazy! It doesn’t telegraph Dark Star until the very end, which is tracked as part of Dark Star here. The first couple of minutes is just Space slowly congealing, until 1:44 when Garcia lands on A and starts fooling with the theme. The loose vibe carries over from Space; the drummers are involved, but in a low-key, cymbal-tapping manner until we hear some traps at 3:12. The band swings back into the theme and soon we get the second verse, as they decide to finish the Dark Star from the 12th (there’s one show in between, on 12-13).


It wouldn’t be a huge surprise if they just ended it after the verse; happily, they decide to let it play out a little longer. Garcia sounds energized now, and his piercing lead surely pleased the concert-going public, some of whom may have remembered headier days. There’s nothing too far out, but the band gets a subtle hitch in its step that gives this its own feel and saves it from sounding merely rote.


Weir is more of a factor here than he has been recently, perhaps in part because he’s audible—his crunchy interjections last until at 7:18 his wail cries respond to a similar initiative on the part of Welnick. The latter switches to a wandering piccolo line at 7:27, ceding the seas to Weir. Then at 7:50 Bob gets more insistent with a kind of partial wah effect; Lesh’s walking bass undergirds the sequence, and Garcia gets fuzzy at 7:49, so at this point things are really popping off. One can’t help but glance at the counter, though, and regret that things are ending rather than beginning. Jerry’s tremolo at 8:28 puts an exclamation point on the whole segment, and then they slide into Watchtower.


This is good—well, I’m almost tempted to say it gets great, except this is a fleeting impression, as no sooner has one’s toe got to tapping than it’s over. High marks for what’s here, but it’s not nearly enough. Dark Star can be good in concentrated doses, but it requires a more sustained effort to get to the places we really want it to go.




What was said:

209. 1992-12-12

140829 Oakland 12:57

First verse at 3:00.
Goes into Drums.


Garcia initiates Dark Star after The Women are Smarter ends, flashing the intro and then noodling around for 20 seconds or so before it gets underway in earnest. Once again the opening jam feels a little thin, without much participation from Weir at first. After a couple minutes Welnick picks up a cue from Jerry and starts running the theme, and the band falls in line as we head to the verse.


The intro riff returns and deposits us back in a basic Dark Star jam. Vince shifts to electric piano; for a moment I thought Hornsby was back sitting in, but apparently not. At around 5:20 it starts to sound to me like Garcia’s trying to break out of the pattern a little, as he gets almost a slowed-down Sputnik thing briefly going and then hits on a repeated note. Lesh seems likewise eager to get something happening; he is very active here. The music weirdens accordingly. Vince goes along with this, and Weir is doing whatever the hell he does in this era, which is kind of abstract to begin with.


At 7:49 Lesh gets a little riff going and plays it out, and Vince adds some horror movie sounds for texture. Garcia has dropped out, and the focal point is the bass. It becomes a full-blown space jam, minus Jerry. Weir wakes up, perhaps as a result of Garcia’s absence, and he starts to get some slashing licks in across Lesh’s bouncing line.


Vince returns to the piano sound, and he is playing some interesting stuff at times, but he seems a bit restrained, playing like an accompanist most of the time. This is best at the moments when he breaks out a little, such as at around 11:50 when they hit a peak. Garcia never comes back, and they head into Drums.


There’s a vicious jam at the end of Space which sometimes gets tracked as part two of Dark Star. Indeed, this is what the end of Dark Star might have been like had Garcia remained involved. Lesh gets a riff going to set them on their way, the drummers sneak back in at some point, and Jerry plays some wailing distorted lines. It seems about to meander, but by around 12:15 it’s really going. Weir gets a MIDI piano thing going, and Welnick plays off of it, while Lesh and Garcia uncork some action. At 14:20 of Space, Jerry brings out I Need a Miracle, and that’s where we wind up.


Although Garcia bails on it, the end jam of Dark Star is pretty good, all things considered. If we count the end of Space as part of Dark Star, as some people do, then it’s even better. However, there aren’t any features of this jam that definitively make it Dark Star, if such a thing matters. The highlight of Dark Star proper is probably the part without Garcia. So, this is an interesting and at times rather good version, but one can’t help being a little disappointed that Jerry didn’t see it through.


What was said:

208. 1992-06-22

32490 PA 4:01

Main theme at :05 and 2:15.
Second verse at 2:47.
Goes into Drums.


The end of Victim or the Crime peters out into noodly hints of Dark Star, and then they fire it up. Garcia plays the theme and then plays some really nice standard issue Dark Star leads. Vince is, as often is the case, pretty committed to the theme here. Lesh is fairly quiescent, and the band as a whole is playing rather gently. After a short spell it gets to the second verse; this could be seen as the completion of the Dark Star that began on 06-08, with a brief middle section on the 18th.


They end it immediately after the verse, not passing Go nor collecting the proverbial 200 dollars. This is a bit listless, although Jerry’s guitar lines never entirely fail to please me.




What was said:

SUPPLEMENTAL: 1992-06-18

32487 Charlotte 6:00

Main theme more or less throughout.
Verse melody at 2:36.
Goes into All Along the Watchtower.


After Space, Garcia starts noodling around with the Dark Star theme. He seems to be playing with a delay effect. They play with the theme until Garcia plays the verse melody at 2:36, going all the way through it, although it doesn’t really do the “shall we go” parts. Weir is involved but rather difficult to hear much of the time; the others are more or less present. There’s some lovely stuff by Garcia in the back half, and this is certainly a pleasing little trifle, if nothing more.


What was said:

207. 1992-06-08

150518 Richfield 8:49

Main theme at :05, :34, and :53.
First verse at 1:09.
Main theme at 2:22 and 7:12.
Goes into The Last Time.


A relatively rare post-Space Dark Star, this one begins a bit tentatively without the drummers, who return to the stage after about half a minute. Weir is not in evidence here and much of the time. The short intro section just repeats the theme until Garcia comes in with the verse. Garcia starts to vary the theme after the verse, but that is where we come out again.


This is the first Dark Star without Bruce Hornsby, and Vince sounds pretty good here, mostly employing a pleasing and full-bodied organ sound. Jerry clicks on the kind of distortion he uses on All Along the Watchtower and Morning Dew in this era at 4:09 and the band starts to kick up a bit. There’s a rousing peak at about 4:48 or so, and then at 5:05 Garcia crashes his lead into a fuzzy A chord a few times the way he sometimes does. As they come down it seems like Weir is playing a horn MIDI for a spell.


From here things disperse a bit. Garcia still wants to go, but the rest of the band drops down to almost nothing, with Lesh dropping out for a bit. At 6:42 he returns and they pull together for a few moments, but the band still seems hesitant. They finally end it and play The Last Time.


Garcia seems game for much of this, but the rest of the band doesn’t seem that into it. There is a nice peak in the middle, though.


What was said:

206. 1992-03-20

141785 Canada 14:08

Main theme at :06.
First verse at 1:22.
Main theme at 8:40.
Verse melody at 8:52.
Goes into Drums.


This sounds a little tentative at first, but not in a bad way. Welnick is employing a more or less classic organ sound—I guess not a B3, since that was apparently proscribed? It works more or less the same way for me, though. Everyone is clear in the mix, and it’s well-balanced; the recording has an intimate sound. Hornsby is still hanging in with the band. They go right to the theme, and there is about 80 seconds of what amounts to throat clearing before Garcia sings the verse. Jerry’s vocals are no doubt aged, and it’s become difficult for him to sing Dark Star, but he sounds pretty good here.


Vince goes right back to the theme, but at this point he can be trusted to leave it behind when he needs to. Garcia is playing kind of softly, though when he leans in he’s loud enough. As they approach the four-minute mark he gains a MIDI halo around his notes, but he’s using it more sparingly and tastefully these days. The music is full-bodied and rather pretty. Hornsby is active, but he’s not doing much that’s interesting yet. Vince, on the other hand, is rather psychedelic, although he’s adding color rather than developing many ideas.


Weir caught my ear at 5:55 or so; he weaves a line into the mix here, which is a nice contrast to his usual stabbing interjections in this era. Then he starts to sound a little like an accordion, of all things; his contributions in general seem a little more interesting than I can recall them being lately. Hornsby and Welnick get an offset rhythm started from around 7:00; Lesh is playing a mobile line with short, non-sustained notes. On top of this Garcia plays some off-kilter descending runs. At 8:09, Jerry switches to a more legato line which seems to rein them in; he plays the theme, and then runs through the verse melody. Lesh and the drummers undergird it with a lilting beat, and they play right through the chorus.

They come out of it with a cool, syncopated groove in A; for a moment it seems like a throwback to the days when they’d compose new jams on the fly with unique grooves, although it sort of slides back into a more recognizable Dark Star groove at times. This is actually kind of interesting, as if some of the Dark Star’adjacent universes are closer than one would think. At 11:45, Jerry cooks up a strumming lick that they fall in line with, and after a little bit he cedes the stage, and they ride the groove out a little longer until the drums take over.


This is another Dark Star that is really solid and engaging without being quite long or interesting enough to entirely satisfy our yearnings. It has a really cool sound to it; maybe partly because of the recording, or perhaps due to their sound at this stage, the band really seems connected and in communication with one another. What is frustrating is that this rendition seems to point to powers that remained largely untapped; they seem capable of much here, yet they chose to do much less than they could have. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this quite a bit.


What was said:

205. 1992-03-09

141629 Landover 11:03
Main theme at :05 and 1:29.
First verse at 2:40.
Goes into Drums.


Garcia and Phil get kind of sideways on the intro lick, after a Corrina end jam that likewise gets a bit sideways while hinting at Dark Star. They head right into the main theme. Bruce Hornsby is still hanging in with the band, and he joins Vince in hammering out the theme licks. When they come apart Bruce is rather busy, while Vince spreads some textural chords around. Jerry’s gotten back to playing the theme, and he sprinkles it in a few times, keeping the opening jam close to home.


The verse arrives early, leaving some room for maneuvering afterward, particularly if they forgo the second. Vince goes right back to the theme; he has a pretty pleasing organ sound going tonight, although Hornsby has a tinkly vibe, probably playing an electric piano, albeit with a straight piano sound. Jerry and Phil wind around in the usual way, and Weir is very active with his inscrutable interjections. A very promising bubbly and jazzy jam emerges, lurching along drunkenly but not aimlessly.


This is starting to disperse by 6:40. It still lurches, but it loosens and quietens into an almost pointillist scene. At 7:35 Garcia kicks on a MIDI trumpet, and the jam is still hanging together—loose, but in a confident way. It seems to be heading to space, but taking its time getting there. Jerry has a few bluesy thoughts that are like clouds scudding across the sky, neither changing the jam nor particularly clashing with it. By the ten minute mark they seem to be letting it all slip away. At 10:30, Jerry starts a strumming riff that the others latch on to, but after a few seconds they abandon the whole thing and pass it on to the drummers.


This is really enjoyable music—in fact, it’s been a surprise how much I have enjoyed these latest versions. On the other hand, this really doesn’t add up to much—they don’t seem to have enough commitment left to Dark Star to make a whole lot out of it, anymore.


What was said:

204. 1991-10-31

139276 Oakland 16:46 (I. 10:50; II. 5:54)


Main theme at 1:13 and 1:54.
First verse at 3:43.
Main theme at II. 2:40.
Second verse at 3:58.
Goes into Drums, then into The Last Time.


Gary Duncan of Quicksilver fame sits in, and he jumps right in at the very beginning. He is game, although it’s a little jarring to hear another guitarist try to put his stamp on the song. Garcia takes off at :39, and Duncan backs off for a while, although he’ll get another whack at the spotlight before the verse. The latter comes pretty early, and then they’re off again.


Garcia isn’t holding back, guest or no, but there are a lot of elements in the mix here. It verges on cacophony at times, in fact. At about 6:30 they start to bring it way down, although Lesh keeps plugging away. Then at 7:03, Ken Kesey comes in with a rap, and the band builds behind him. Kesey is a dynamic presence, and he gets louder, finally hollering out the ee cummings poem about Buffalo Bill and ceding the field to the band. They seem to conclude that Kesey provided the necessary climax, though, and let it go to the drum segment.


Space seems like an integral part of the Dark Star segment tonight. Duncan is involved here too, and he seems happy to add to the weirdness, but again he stands out as a foreign element. His involvement tonight underscores how the Dead function as a unit even during the seemingly chaotic parts of Space, in any case. Toward the end of this section he gets a funky little riff going that is amusingly incongruous at first, but it winds up being the thread that leads them into the next jam.


This segment almost sounds like it could go into Other One at first, although it has a lazier, lurching beat and a bluesy orientation. Surprisingly, Duncan is the center of the action now, as the band coalesces around his riffing and takes off. After two and half minutes, they spin it out and swing into the Dark Star theme. Then they blend it with the cadence of the preceding blues jam before heading to the verse. Deftly done.


There’s not much left after this; they do swing back into the Dark Star zone for a little while, but less than a minute later they go into The Last Time.


This is all pretty cool. There’s not a lot of extended jamming, but it’s an action packed segment of the show, and Kesey’s rap is pretty dynamic. It’s especially fascinating to see how the band adjusts to Duncan—at first, he’s almost a contaminant, but they reorganize around him and absorb him into the Dead gestalt. Good stuff.


What was said:

203. 1991-09-26

149553 22:10 (I. 15:28; II. 6:42)

First verse at 8:47.
Main theme at II. :25.
Second verse at II. :36.
Goes into Saint of Circumstance, then into Attics of My Life.


A broody tuning at the head of the second set coalesces into a little jam that turns into the second Dark Star of this six-night run. This starts out jaunty, almost bouncy even, with a tempo that feels a touch brisker than the 24th. The keyboardists really go to town here, and as usual Welnick hammers the main theme at the outset. Garcia’s line feels like it’s everywhere, weaving and bobbing through the keyboard soup.


At 5:30 Lesh starts in with the main theme, but no one seems to pay that any mind. There’s a little peak attendant on Garcia’s jabbing notes from around 6:05, and as it winds down Lesh tries the theme again, but again they keep rolling along. It’s a great wash of sound, fluent and full-bodied. Garcia gets jabbing again at 8:15 and takes them to another peak and, sure enough, this gets Phil running the theme, which finally takes them into the verse.


The jam after the verse isn’t much different than what preceded it, at first—no space, but not exactly straight either, just a massive sonic swirl. At 11:00 Garcia starts ascending, buoyed by Hornsby’s mirroring line, and they come to a peak at about 11:30 which quickly disperses. They wind down like water swirling down a drain, until Jerry gets a jaunty line going that they all hang on to. It’s been a subtle process, but things have gotten steadily weirder; Phil’s bass line is all the way away from Dark Star now, in particular. At 13:30 Garcia gets a Crazy Fingers-like pattern going, but that’s not where this is going; they jam a while longer, and after Jerry kicks on the distortion at 14:55, they start to edge their way into Saint of Circumstance.


The Other One comes out of Space tonight, so we get a classic combination here. They drop back into Dark Star and worry the theme for a short spell before going right to the second verse. They play it pretty straight off the back side, giving the outro a pretty placid and straight kick-off. At II. 3:15 there’s a wind-down that stretches and stretches. Instead of ending, a soft and peaceful segment emerges, with Lesh playing drawn out notes as Jerry and the keyboards produce languorous melody. They come to a stop at 6:14, after which they come back with a few seconds of sort-of Attics of My Life before kicking it off properly, so arguably this isn’t a segue but a full stop.


This is some really psychedelic music, and it seems to me to be an especially unique version, quite different even from the one two days prior. The keyboards are an essential ingredient now, rather than an uncertain accompaniment. The music surrounds you and takes over, a buoyant wash of sound.


What was said:

202. 1991-09-24

150638 Boston 14:22

First verse at 4:09.
Main theme at 11:36.
Goes into Drums.


A slow tempo at the outset here. Vince hangs on the theme for a while, and Garcia says his piece. Jerry and Phil manage to get something going right away, and they head away from the song pattern, although they don’t stray very far. We get a pretty vigorous jam that culminates at 3:05 with Lesh trying to bring back the theme. They don’t fall into line right away, but finally Hornsby acquiesces and we head into the verse.


Garcia gets a flute or piccolo thing going as the second jam begins. Welnick has a kind of ghostly organ sound going tonight, which is rather pleasing. At 6:43 Jerry suddenly snaps back into a regular guitar tone, which he keeps for one minute and then goes back to flute sounds. The jam thus far is pretty straightforward, but it seems to be gradually getting a little weirder and less bound to the usual structure. By about 8:30 it’s getting pretty spacey. Hornsby is ranging up and down the keyboard, and Lesh is likewise showing a lot of vertical movement.


It keeps going in this direction—further out. Both keyboards are very active, and Jerry and Phil are very busy. Weir seems barely a factor, though, just adding a few side comments. Just after 11:00, Phil and then Jerry unexpectedly start hinting at the theme, and when it comes it gathers the jam for a few moments, but they let it start to spin out again. At 12:45 Garcia starts a repeated high variation on the theme, kind of like Bright Star. This all makes it seem like they’re planning to perform the second verse. Instead they let the jam disperse again, with Hornsby swelling and then Lesh playing a rocking riff for a while. This dies down, and there are drums.


This is another short one that has plenty to recommend it. The jamming is just free enough to be interesting, and just conservative enough to be cohesive. Not bad at all.


What was said:

201. 1991-09-10

157119 MSG 24:28 (I. 12:19; II. 12:09)

Main theme at :06
First verse at 3:38.
Verse melody at 10:48.
Second verse at II. :51.
Goes into I Need a Miracle.


They come in kind of raggedy here; they begin with the theme, with the drums staying out and Weir cutting against the beat. Branford is assertive from the jump, again playing the soprano sax. They get some momentum going after about a minute, and there’s a kind of lush soundscape with the sax swirling around. Garcia kicks on the flute effect after another minute, and Hornsby tinkles away, but Welnick is more textural at first. At 3:26 Lesh kicks in with the theme, and they go right to the verse.


Now it’s time to get down to business. Vince runs the theme while Garcia and Marsalis trip around. Vince has some cool sounds going, mostly organ-like but with some ominous swells. From around 6:30 Garcia plays some melodic stuff that hints at a minor tonality and shifts the mood. It is pared down to mostly Jerry, Phil and Vince now. Weir comes back at 7:40 with some volume swells, and Branford follows him back in. There’s no sign of Hornsby yet, but the music is starting to build again.


I think I can hear Bruce at 8:53, he is just playing quietly, I think. There’s a lot of sound going on, though, as they wax and wane a few times without coming to a peak. Hornsby is back in evidence at 9:45, and this leads to another gradual crescendo. There is a minor peak at 10:35 or so, and they start to tail off. They run through the verse melody a full three times, and then almost play the chorus, but instead they get a galloping beat going that is soon taken over by the drummers.


Space tonight is a really cohesive and engaging ambient jam, although it doesn’t have much evident connection to the first half of Dark Star. It gradually comes around to a Dark Star jam, and the main theme leads into the second verse very soon after. They choose to keep going, and it gets hairy pretty fast after the verse, heading right into a space jam. Garcia puts on the bassoon sound, and Marsalis is now on tenor.


This is some really free jamming, now. The drummers duck out not long after the verse ends, but the jam is still pretty intense. Just about everyone is walking all over, with Weir providing a more textural commentary on the side. It continues to build in intensity, reaching meltdown status from about II. 6:40. This (along with Space tonight and in Nassau) is probably the most “out” stuff Marsalis ever played on!


There’s a bit of a lull at II. 8:45; Garcia is back sounding like a guitar, and the music loses some of its cohesion. It was “out” before, but it had an intense core that is now unravelling. At II. 10:15 Garcia is playing some sweet melodic stuff, and Marsalis latches on to it, but in a more frenetic mode. Finally, Jerry switches to the sound he’ll use on Miracle, and there’s some preliminary marshaling of forces well into the next track before they kick it off.


The first half of this is just OK, but the second half is a monster. Space is also excellent, although it seems a bit disconnected from the rest. The jamming after the second verse is definitely the highlight.


What was said:

200. 1991-08-16

141316 Shoreline 10:12 (8:40)

First verse at 3:52.
Verse melody at 5:15.
Goes into Promised Land.

A pretty short first set Dark Star; this basically fills the Bird Song role in the set. It starts out with some ensemble noodling, before Garcia finally kicks it off with the intro riff after a minute and a half. The tempo is rather brisk tonight. This is a good recording, as you can make out all of the instruments very well. Hornsby is pretty active, and it’s nice to hear what he’s doing as he comments on Garcia’s lines. They get up to an early peak at about 3:30, and then Vince starts in with the theme and Jerry sings.


They barely slow down for the verse, and thus they don’t seem to need to reload after the verse, they just keep chugging away. Garcia becomes a horn and gives us the verse melody, playing it three times through; Hornsby doubles him the last time. He gives us some more horn flourishes in lieu of the chorus, and then gets a little more guitar-like and keeps wailing away.


Hornsby is plugged into what Jerry’s doing throughout, at times mirroring his line. Lesh seems a bit quiescent tonight; he just keeps everything running pretty straight. At the nine minute mark it seems finally ready to open up, but that’s not what’s going to happen tonight; rather, they let it wind down and crank up Promised Land.


This is a slight but enjoyable rendition. It’s not ambitious or particularly memorable, but it gets a little bit of jamming into the first set in a pleasant way.




What was said:

SUPPLEMENTAL: 1991-06-28; 1991-08-17; 1991-09-06; 1991-09-08

1991-06-28 150679 Denver 1:33

1991-08-17 107826 Shoreline 1:07

1991-09-06 5560 Richfield 3:29

Denver has a nice little bit in the middle of Wharf Rat where Jerry plays the melody line. At Shoreline, Space starts to hint at Dark Star, and they swing into the main theme for about a minute before going into Morning Dew rather than finishing the previous day's version. Something similar happens at Richfield, but they stick with it for a few minutes before playing Watchtower.


1991-09-08 1069 MSG 9:05


There’s a nice jam between Saint of Circumstance and Drums; it is sometimes tracked as “Dark Star Jam.” It certainly has overtones of Dark Star, but I wouldn’t call it a full-fledged instrumental version, or even really a Dark Star Jam. I was at this show, as it happens, but I don’t have any memory of this anymore! Garcia ducks out a few minutes before the end, and there’s a nice section with Weir, Lesh and the keyboard players. In any case, it’s good music, but it’s doubtful whether it belongs here.



What was said: