17: 1968-08-24

11:20

Shrine Auditorium (Two From the Vault)
This is a very energetic and tight version, and the band sounds really together. Note how quickly the first verse arrives this time. Garcia does not employ as many different voices this time, or wander as far as he did on the 23rd, although he throws in a major 7th a couple of times, which I’m not sure has been done before. Note when Jerry pedals beginning around 4:42, the band brings it up behind him; again at 6:50 Jerry hangs on one note and the others start to bring it up, this time in a kind of profusion of notes that sounds really distinctly Grateful Dead. A satisfying version overall, if not entirely remarkable.


What was said:

I can't be too critical of this version since this is the performance that turned me on to the Dead, so I've imprinted on it like a duckling. I admit the 23rd was better...this one doesn't suffer too much from being briefer, but it doesn't have as much high drama either.
Like JSegel, I like Pigpen's ROR too...here it goes up and down in the mix, so maybe when mixing Two From the Vault they were trying to make it a little hallucinatory? Phil's right up there in the lead with Jerry. Bob's playing is getting impressive in these August versions...given that the jam is mostly on two chords he varies his approach a lot, he's very sensitive to what Jerry is playing.
They kind of hurry to the verse this time...I wonder if they were intentionally tightening it up since they were recording for an album. Notice that Jerry starts the solo at 2:35 with his familiar introductory figure from the single, which has become rare in Dark Stars by this time. (It needs a proper name!)
One thing Jerry does sometimes in these Dark Stars is explore repetition, like using a little drone or single-note repetition for a while, which isn't too common in Dead music...that one note he hangs on for like 40 seconds must be a record for him! The rest of the band isn't really bringing it up from quiet to explosive behind him like they would later on, but they're starting to get the idea.
To bring in the second verse, at 9:25 Jerry plays that same bass-strings riff doubling Pigpen that he did on the 23rd....if he does that more often maybe we should give it a name. It's kind of a surprise how often in '68 Jerry reinforces or emphasizes Pigpen's ROR, he must have still considered it an integral rhythm in the song, or liked returning to it after the jam. It reminds me that, even though Dark Star isn't considered a "busy" song melodically, even the early versions often have four different melodies being played at the same time by the band, but so intertwined in counterpart it sounds really simple. But that was the Dead.


That rolling section at 11:35 that builds to a crescendo progresses to a mind blowing moment on the October 12th version. Y'all will see when we get there!


This one feels closer to vest and to me it lacks that extra something that was abundant on 8/23. But it’s still a nice version. There’s a good early peak shortly after the verse melody starting around 3:58.
I can still remember the first time I played Two From The Vault shortly after it came out. At the time my best known reference point for Dark Star was Live/Dead so this one seemed fast and developmental by comparison (which of course it is). But over time I grew to appreciate it for what it is, and August ‘68 GoGD is special.



Some interesting Jerry soloing that turns into the main theme very soon and we're already in verse #1 before you know it (only 1:33). Then there's first a solo which features a short quote from the verse melody but things get better when Jerry sticks to a single note towards the end and Phil and Bob really get into it. They do not reach the heights of later versions but you can hear where they're going. A heavy Bright Star takes us back to the main theme and then verse 2. I've heard better transitions into St. Stephen though.


I'm really enjoying this thread, and the pace has been just lazy enough to give me time to listen to each version carefully. I agree with the general consensus that 8/23/68 is the most fully and dramatically realized version so far. 8/24/68 takes a slight step back in terms of drama and expressiveness, but it still feels like progress in the wake of what they figured out about the tune the night before. It's amazing that they put this little tune together and then gradually discovered whole universes of musical possibility in it. 8/24 and the single version are the only early versions I knew before this thread, and I always thought 8/24 was sort of too fast and stilted compared with the later, longer, more familiar versions. So it's fascinating to approach it in sequence now as part of the dramatic development of the Dead's performance in 1968 and into 1969. It's not a breakthrough like 8/23, but I can now appreciate it as another step in the process with its own flow and its own contributions.


The August 1968 versions seem quite long when you've just listened to a bunch of January and February 1968 versions.


It's illuminating to take any '68 version and then listen to one from just one or two months earlier. The changes are striking. Like baby photos, I guess!


Although low in the mix, it sounds like one of the drummers goes to the drum set during the jam (around 13:30), maybe for the first time. I guess it's Mickey since you still hear maracas while this happens.