Hartbeats A: 1968-10-08

HARTBEATS A: 1968-10-08 25757 

Sometime around this point Weir and Pigpen were supposedly fired from the band, although the exact dates, and how serious the firing was, are unclear (the Dead would play with Weir a few days after this, and although Pigpen was absent, this is said to be because his girlfriend was ill). At the time, this show seems to have been billed as both “Jerry Garrceeah and his Friends” and “The Grateful Dead with Elvin Bishop,” depending on the listing (1968-10-08 The Matrix, San Francisco, CA, USA - Jerry Garcia ). ). It seems that there are no shows that were billed as Mickey and The Hartbeats until the next year, although Garcia calls them that at one point during this set. In any case, the personnel on this Dark Star seems to be Garcia, Lesh, Kreutzmann, and Hart.




12:55 (track time on the above source; there’s space at the beginning, this really lasts about 12 minutes). No verses. Sputnik (maybe, there is some controversy still!) at 6:28. Main theme at 7:11. Verse melody at 9:59. Goes into Cosmic Charlie.




This starts with the familiar intro lick. It’s very laid-back and noodly, and lacks the drive of the Dead versions of the time. It’s striking, in fact, how little seems to be happening at times with just two non-drummers playing (and the drummers aren't doing much). Garcia fiddles around a bit and then at 2:39 he starts a chordal vamp much like Weir would have played; this briefly mutates into a three-chord figure that sounds a little different than the usual part, which Lesh only loosely follows. Garcia plays something like the main theme starting at 5:14. Beginning at 6:28 Garcia plays what I think we can maybe call the first Sputnik, although it will subsequently pick up a few more notes. At 7:11 Garcia briefly plays the main theme, and since there are no verses starts playing around with it a bit. Starting at 8:19 Garcia starts fooling around with a little rolling figure that starts to sound a little like Sputnik. Around 10:30 Garcia begins to whip up some excitement, but I find myself thinking of a Weir part building underneath it, and how much better it would be…at around 11:40 Garcia gets a sweet tone that sounds almost Fender-like, probably something that’s more noticeable without another guitar in the mix (this is near the end of the tenure of the black Les Paul, although it’s possible he played a different guitar for this gig…I can’t tell that just by listening, but I am pretty sure he is still playing a Gibson here, in any case). This lacks the usual ending, as Garcia plays a harsh swell in prelude to the intro to Cosmic Charlie, which does not yet have the Chuck Berry-like double stop intro, but starts with the main riff. Overall this is certainly of interest, but it’s not terribly exciting. Goes into the first known “Cosmic Charlie,” which lacks the chorus (“Say you’ll come back…”) lyrics at this point. I put on the last Dark Star to check @Mr. Rain 's timing corrections (thank you very much for that!) after listening to this. For all our lukewarm reaction to that one, it seemed absolutely sizzling with molten energy after listening to this one!




What was said:

Can't add much to that. Very loose, low-key version, almost like practicing in a closet. Maybe the weakest Dark Star of '68, but the later Hartbeats versions get better! I imagine that on this first Hartbeats night, Jerry and Phil suddenly realized that they needed Weir after all, and weren't sure yet how to fill up the hole...there's a lot of aimless noodling, not very exciting. Things perk up the moment Cosmic Charlie starts.
By the later Hartbeats shows, they'd adjusted more to playing by themselves and there's more focus and purpose in the playing. I'd be hard-pressed to single out any notable moments in this one. I found it engaging enough, but not riveting.
The Sputnik moment you point out doesn't seem that much more Sputniky than the earlier proto-Sputniks, since it's just Jerry briefly passing through it by himself. He's added a couple dissonant chords here but you'll have to wait until 10/12 for a full-fledged version.
The percussion is very clear...a full drum kit even kicks in now and then, not for long, but that's a change from previous Dark Stars. I think there's only one percussionist playing in this, switching from the scratcher to the drums midway through, so one of the drummers is sitting this out, an interesting choice! The second drummer comes back right away after Cosmic Charlie starts, so I guess they felt at the time there was no place for a second drummer in Dark Star.




I think Bill's there with his maracas throughout, while Mickey plays guiro and a couple of times switches to the drums when Jerry is playing loudly.




Yes, whenever I hear these Hartbeats tapes I imagine them thinking, "I guess we do need Weir..."




An interesting curiosity but there’s not a whole lot going on; it does feel more like a rehearsal. There seems to be some uncertainty before they even begin although we don’t know what was happening on stage at that moment. Jerry is casually noodling at the start, almost like he’s just chilling out with his guitar backstage. A little bit of a groove builds over time but it’s pretty laid back. There’s more action in the second half but it still sounds like an outtake where all the parts aren’t in place yet.