Sultan, WA
Main theme at 2:05, and again at 3:46. First verse at 4:49. Verse melody at 8:13. Sort of a flash of Bright Star>Falling Star beginning at 10:38; Main theme at 11:05, which mutates into Bright Star, and back into the main theme by 12:05, although at times the distinction between Bright Star and the main theme is blurred here. Second verse at 12:40.
Weir is rather loud on this source, and Garcia switches channels a lot early on. Garcia again plays the old lick out of the verse. Proto-Sputnik at 10:08. Garcia again is masterful here, and there is a lot of momentum to this and some dynamics, although it doesn’t seem to push things forward much. This is a solid version, but in the grand scheme of things not a particularly significant one.
Despite what Light Into Ashes says, we do not really get a Sputnik until 1968-10-08 (which is the next one we will consider).
What was said:
Long pre-first verse jam - it seems once or twice that Garcia will sing but instead he starts playing again. Interesting different chord from Weir at 2:39 (a mistake?). Seems like they're exploring more of a variety of moods than most previous versions, but they don't settle on anything long enough. I'd put this one slightly below the August versions. The mix sets the organ riff to be barely noticeable but is also a bit light on Lesh.
Weird mix, but yes we get to hear the Bobby stuff developing, which is pretty cool. He's a weird player, I think his choices are good for this sort of jam, hammer-on chord notes and 7ths (I don't really get the band dynamic that was going on at the time, like kicking him out for playing it like an acoustic guitar? But I guess that'll give us those Mickey and the Heartbeats Dark Stars...) But they both sound a but too distorted on the recording, can't tell how much might be tape overload.
I think this must have been an nice outdoor festival (at a Raspberry Farm!), they sound pretty bright and excited right off the bat with this Dark Star, I feel like the 8-12 min jam has some nice exploration, up and down in the proto-sputnik and some playing around with the themes at 11min.
Mickey's still shaking that gourd. I don't get his choices of playing it through the verse and into the "shall we go...", but: I've been thinking a lot about the structure that was inherent to the "song" part of the song, the ideas that go back to the original single studio recording, and one thing I'm picking up on is Phil's idea of form. Coming into the verse, he has the melody rhythm, that slowly swung on-the-beat, with everybody (and the skaker/guiro), and he holds it only for the first line, then for the second line, "Reason tatters...", the rhythm sort of falls apart (appropriately) where Phil moves into halftime and the shaker wavers, and then, being Phil, on the third line, "Searchlight..." he makes that heavier slow phrase into a jumpy little groove.
So, I noticed he goes through these same little developments when the themes come back (~ 8:14) in the improv sections, like he's still keeping the structure of the 'song'. Now I'm wondering if he has areas where he uses patterns like that on other sections... hmm..
(edit, realizing I didn't make my point) anyway, possibly Mickey feels like playing the shaker is the only thing grounding the song, like it's gonna fly off into outer space! Or that everybody else would "lose the beat" ...as if... But it's creating an interesting contrast, the very idea of the shaker and the ROR being super-constant in this ever-changing and developing piece.
In this one, the ROR fades in and out nicely. He does **** up the loop a few times (~10min) but that's a Hammond, you can tell especially on the other tracks from the show.
Jerry’s guitar seems to have a fuzzier edge or maybe I’m just noticing it more in this recording. There’s a rawness to this version that I like although it also feels a little less precise or perhaps less fluid at certain points, particularly in the latter portion. But it’s still powerful.
The mix leads one to believe that Bill is playing the world’s largest maraca which must have been a bit awkward on stage.
Not as good a recording as usual, perhaps due to the festival setup. Dark Star suffers from being the first song in the set since there are a number of mix adjustments on the fly. The performance might suffer a bit too...this sounded like an unfocused version to me. Or maybe I was unfocused while listening, but my attention kept wandering during the music. Jerry's playing doesn't seem as strong here, like he wasn't quite warmed up for Dark Star, but that's the peril of starting a show with it. "Nothing special" would be my verdict.
It's interesting that after he plays the theme in the intro jam, you think it's time for a verse as the band tees it up, but no, he basically starts over, accounting for the long pre-verse jam with two themes.
The main jam gets better as it goes along, but never really takes off. By 9-10 minutes they're getting into it and doing some nice stuff. I agree that the bit after 10:05 is just a Sputnik tease, it doesn't go far since they drop it after about 20 seconds, but it sounds like Phil & Bob are adjusting their playing to it and actually making it a distinct little motif, it's not just a Jerry arpeggio this time...so this is the beginning of how it would grow.
The best part is at the end of the jam after 11 minutes when they quiet down and stay quiet, creating a more intimate subdued mood. I wish this part had lasted longer. Even more remarkably, Pigpen stops playing his ROR around 11:55 responding to the new mood and actually plays a few tasteful chords in support! He gets back to the usual riff about 20 seconds later, but still, this is a unique moment hinting at what '68 Dark Stars could have been like had he varied his playing more.
A few small timing corrections: main theme introduced again at 3:48. The theme Garcia starts after 11:05 turns into a "bright star" theme (clear by 11:30) and he doesn't return to the main theme until a minute later. And once again he does his bass lick before the verses.
This Miller copy has a second "alternate mix" of Dark Star at the end, I thought it sounded better than the first (not so much channel-hopping). The organ and shaker sound more prominent.
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