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:
I like this one better than the previous Hartbeats Dark Star jams too. It’s still got a casual, sound check type feel but it’s an enjoyable listen. And with Jerry and Phil both prominent it’s nice to just listen to them interact with one another for 17+ minutes.
After listening to the hyped up Greek Theatre show, listening to this Matrix Dark Star is like hearing a coffeehouse gig.
Beatniks, man: guitar, bass and shaker. Starts with the usual riff, but Jerry is way more into expressing something, bright tone out of the gate! SG here? But since there's no Bobby, he’s all there is in the melody/chordal world so he can play with chord changes more than when the actual rhythm guitar is there. Takes 'em five minutes to calm down.
And then they go to a beautiful space. And really take their time, getting back to the vocal-line melody (on guitar) a bit at ~13:30.
Is this the longest one yet at 17:30?
Back to the laid-back Matrix jams. These instrumental versions are kind of like Dark Star without the drama -- there aren't the peaks and valleys of a Dead performance, it's more just aimlessly drifting. At greater length than the Dead were then doing, too! But these are very nice to listen to...most of this first one is just Jerry, Phil, and maracas, and it pleasantly burbles away. (Full drums come in from about 9:40-13:10, but I think there's just one drummer playing here. Can't tell if he's using scratcher or maracas.) Jerry & Phil are like twins here as they play off each other, they seem more confident and relaxed than the previous Hartbeats shows. If anything Phil's even more active than Jerry, endlessly busy. The passage after 12:00 may be a small highlight. This Dark Star kind of runs out of steam in the last few minutes, but it's interesting that Jerry brings it to a close with a little 'bright star' theme.
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