24. 1968-11-22

21933 Columbus, OH 11:52

Last Dark Star with Pigpen on keys for a good while (He added some organ on some 1972 versions, at least, but this is the end of him playing the ROR—though not the end of the ROR, as TC will take it over, although he’s less relentless with it than Pigpen) and Hart is the only drummer (Kreutzmann was sick, according to LIA).
Main theme at 2:08.
First verse at 2:32.
Sputnik begins (more or less) at 6:43.
Bright Star at 9:12.
Main theme at 10:02.
Second verse at 10:30.
Goes into St. Stephen.


This is a bad-sounding AUD, but at least Garcia is loud…his guitar really flows on the (short) intro, as his increasing mastery of the instrument is really evident here. We’re almost to the end of 1968, and Garcia is still coming out of the verse with the same little figure. It sounds like a cliché—or I guess it is one—but from the moment he begins the break proper on some particularly assertive low notes at 3:55, his playing is especially lyrical here. At times it’s almost as if he’s saying something with determinate semantic content, and if you strain you can catch his point…at least, we can almost identify a kind of syntax, as there’s a series of commas and then, at 4:17, an ellipsis opens; he gives us a second to let this secondary point sink in, and then rephrases it, after which he returns to his primary thesis with some emphatic low phrases at 4:25, then soars back up into a higher register to expound the finer points… at 4:45, he is suddenly confident he’s won our assent, and you can almost see him excitedly nodding as he works out some of the implications of the thesis to which we’ve now all agreed. Then at 5:06 he lurches into a series of funky rhythmic double stops, and again the music just seems like music…or maybe that was the thesis all along: it’s just music, so stop trying to impute some sort of message to it! At 5:37, his repetitious phrase descends into dissonance and feedback, intensifying at 5:47, as if to underscore the point, or lack thereof…which have somehow become the same thing in my interpretation, which is probably a good indication that it has run its course! But Garcia’s solo has not, in fact it takes off into a blistering series of peaks which reaches its apex around 6:42, at which point a transition into Sputnik begins. Although Weir is lost in the mix for much of this, we can hear him contributing to the Sputnik as it nears its peak, which increases the excitement considerably. Then by 8:05 we briefly enter one of the spaciest segments we’ve had in a Dark Star thus far, which culminates with a quick reiteration of Sputnik at 8:44. The Bright Star that follows (it’s hard to identify the exact beginning of this one) is one of the most thrilling iterations of this theme to date, although there’s already been so much excitement that it seems almost superfluous! Although the sound is not good, this is a very worthy addition to our stock of Dark Stars…and it might be even better than I think it is, since we can’t hear a lot of what is happening.


What was said:

23: 1968-11-01

9965 Chico, CA 12:23 (actual time 12:10)

Main theme at 2:39.
First verse at 3:08.
Verse melody at 6:18.
Bright Star at 7:51, 9:32 (feint) and 10:02.
Main theme at 10:27.
Second verse at 10:51.
Goes into The Other One.

This one seems a bit slower than most versions to date. The sound is a little muddy, with Garcia coming through most clearly, but it clears up a bit a couple minutes in so that Lesh comes through more; however, the rest of the band stays back in the mix. Garcia begins with a winding, vaguely Eastern-flavored solo. Lesh plays some bouncy lines under the verse…from 5:28 to about 6:05, Garcia plays a repetitive line and Lesh winds around it with some variations. Coming out of the verse melody at 6:38 Garcia plays a very fluid, longish passage and then reverts to repetition at 6:55, a particularly effective combination. At various points he throws in some bluesy bends. At 7:35 he begins a repetitive passage and then lets it unwind—kind of the reverse of the strategy mentioned just above—until it becomes Bright Star at 7:51. At 7:59 there is a kind of variation on Falling Star, which has become more rare (although Garcia is not done with it yet). Bright Star briefly returns at 9:32, with variations, until it bursts out in earnest at 10:02, an effective exercise in delayed gratification. Overall, the variety and fluency of both Garcia’s and Lesh’s lines is remarkable here; this has come a long way in just under a year.


What was said:

HARTBEATS D: 1968-10-30? (2)

1205 MATRIX 19:47

Probably not from this date, but this is how it circulates.

Main theme at 1:59.
Sputnik (pretty much, anyway) at 9:42.
Main theme at 13:14.
Main theme at 15:16.
Bright Star at 15:40.
Main theme variation at 19:00.

Garcia comes in at :47 with what is essentially a statement of the verse melody, and sort of noodles it out from there. Phil is very active again here (this is sometimes said to be Jack Casady, but I think this is definitely Phil; the bass sounds the same as it does on the first version listed on this date, and it sounds like Phil’s playing). Garcia sounds like he’s trying to change things up a bit, as with the other Hartbeats versions I suppose. There’s a bit of the verse melody again around 5:30, and elsewhere it’s woven into Garcia’s leads as he spins some variations; as ever, his playing is often very melodic here, and usually seems rooted in the basic melodies of the song in one way or another, even as he investigates other avenues. At 8:05 Jerry and Phil start doing some heavy riffing, with Phil playing chords on the bass. Garcia comes out of this with some striking runs; he’s developing a sense for drama in his playing that will perhaps see its most striking, and anyway its most well-known, formulations on 1969-02-27. At around 9:40 Phil starts pushing the tempo just before Garcia begins playing what is more or less Sputnik. Garcia varies Sputnik a bit here; at around 10:07 it starts to transform into something else which is a kind of variation on Sputnik that we don’t, I don’t think, hear elsewhere. Phil plays a sort of high, peppy line around 10:17 but soon abandons it and starts playing chords again, and then he and Garcia start playing more deliberate lines, as the tempo seems to vary a bit again. At 11:38 Phil begins a rolling, bluesy figure that gets things moving again, but he doesn’t stay with this long either, and at 12:20 Jerry hints at Bright Star and then the main theme. Kreutzmann comes in with the full kit at 12:48, which is a welcome change; up until this point, it’s essentially a guitar/bass duet with a little percussion. Phil signals for the main theme at 13:08, and Garcia takes him up on it at 13:14. Garcia’s tonal palette seems narrower on these Hartbeats versions, but he switches to a rounder tone at around 13:20. At 14:06 Garcia seems to put on a little tremolo, and he sounds like an organ; he repeatedly plays 4 notes for over a minute and lets Phil blow before stating the theme, and then Bright Star. It gets rather spirited at this point, and then the energy starts to dissipate, with some Sputnik-like runs and a few partial stabs at the main theme popping in before the end, and the recording fades out just as they seem to be returning in earnest to the main theme. Once again, although the full band is missed, this is a kind of low-key pleasure nonetheless…


What was said:

HARTBEATS C: 1968-10-30 (1)

1205 MATRIX 17:24

Main theme at 3:34 and 13:10.
Verse melody at 13:20.
Goes into Death Letter Blues.

Loose and relaxed, with Garcia playing free and easy. Lesh's tone sounds different to me, but apparently it is he…there’s a feint at the main theme at 2:56. Garcia and Lesh bounce off each other throughout. While Weir is still missed, this seems a bit more successful than the previous Hartbeats renditions due to the interplay between the two of them, which seems closer and tighter than the last two. Garcia seems to employ a lot of double stops and/or triads here, more than usual anyway. Lesh goes high around 8:09—the bottom drops out, I suppose, but it’s a striking passage—he seems to be mixing it up here more than on the previous Grateful Dead version (10-20); around 8:49 he starts playing chords, another notable passage. Some bashing on the drum kit beginning at around 10:50, but oddly it doesn’t change the feel very much. There’s a bit of a peak around 12:25; Garcia has been playing some rolling chordal passages and then Lesh again plays some chord stuff. Check out Garcia’s rake at 13:38…Garcia begins a new theme around 14:10, pushing at the tonality, but in short order, he reels it back in. Lesh tries an ascending riff around 14:50 that (pleasingly) sends it off track again for a little while. There is some delicate interplay toward the end, with a rather subdued Bright Star coming in at 16:28, with Lesh playing up the neck. Overall, an interesting version.


What was said: