12. 1968-03-30

8:59

Carousel Ballroom

First verse 2:47. Verse melody at 5:08. Bright Star at 6:13, again with dynamics, leads to Falling Star at 6:31. Second verse at 7:31.




This is the longest version yet. It’s labelled a soundboard, but the sound is very raw, and again this enhances the experience. Garcia encounters some static early on, but perseveres to play some beautiful leads. His guitar sounds incredible here, and he rips off some great licks. As always, his sound on the bass strings is fantastic. He seems a little more unfettered here, tossing out ideas, and throwing in the occasional blue note. Great rendition.

What was said:

Is that the sound of the time/space continuum being ripped wide open in the first few moments? No, not really — just some static or feedback. A rawer sounding version, not quite at the same quality (sound-wise) as the previous one. Though they are beginning to stretch out a little with this one. From around 3:50 to 5:05 there’s some sweet exploratory, melodic jamming (is there a name for this?) before lovely playing through the Verse Melody, where the shaker seems louder. Nice Bright Star and Falling Star here. I love the sound of Jerry’s guitar work through these passages, it’s all shimmery and glistening, with an almost meditative, relaxing quality. A neat Closing Theme segueing into China Cat Sunflower. Solid singing, too, which I’ve not commented on before. Almost 9 minutes — woah, were nearly hitting a double figures Dark Star !!!


The sound is more murky on this one, a little distant and echoed like it's being beamed in from some far-off place. But that doesn't hurt, it's easy to get lost in the looping rhythm....this may be the first Dark Star that gives me the impression, like Tom Constanten said, that Dark Star's always going on and the Dead just latch onto it for a while.
But that said, I don't think it's as good as the last two versions. Jerry sounds distracted by something at the start (electronic mice gnawing at the amps?), so the opening solo is longer than usual. He recovers by the middle solo, which is played a little differently, imaginative and very melodic-- I'm noticing that now he usually starts the solo with an improvisational stretch, before getting into the themes, and this part is getting longer too. I love the new twists he gives the themes here....like the way he rolls into the Bright Star theme around 6:00, and the variations on the main theme after 7:00.
I think this is the first Other One>Dark Star!


Expansive and meditative; nice overall feel even with the technical gremlins at the beginning. Jerry's vocals seem a little less warbly too. I really like the pre-Bright Star ramp up starting around 6:00 that @Mr. Rain pointed out. In the pre-verse solo I also liked the mini-peak staring around 1:30.