41. 1969-02-22

112691 Vallejo 22:19
Main theme at 4:42 and 6:43.
First verse at 6:54.
Verse melody at 10:06.
Sputnik at 14:05.
Bright Star at 18:57.
Main theme at 20:15.
Second verse at 20:41.
Goes into The Other One (Cryptical Envelopment).


This is preceded by a stupendous version of Mountains of the Moon and, unusually, goes into The Other One. The little jam after MOTM is a bit longer this time. Dark Star seems maybe a tad slower than usual, it has a stately feel to it. Garcia’s opening lead gradually intensifies into an authoritative groove, and TC seems a little more textural in the early going, as opposed to the noodly swirling he often purveys. This results in a relatively thicker sound, and things come to a sort of miasmic head at around 2:12—2:20 where everything seems to condense for a little while. The cohesiveness of the day before is in evidence as the band again sounds very much together, able to converge and bring things to a peak at will. An early highlight is the somewhat Sputnik-y series Garcia initiates at 3:36, which goes from descending arpeggios to double stops before bursting into a sunlit clearing at around 3:11. After the main theme a minute or so later, Garcia unleashes a wonderful little series of leads before heading to the verse, and just after the 6 minute mark the band sounds like they’re ready to explore a bit before they reel it in. At 6:30 this has become a little segment that is obviously pregnant with the main theme, which returns at 6:43 and quickly goes to the verse. They’ve taken their time with all this, but it all feels preparatory; as good as it is, the main effect is an adumbration of possibilities, as they seem a little restrained throughout the introductory part. Weir follows the verse with a bright, bouncing series of double-stopped lines in his usual inimitable fashion, and Garcia plays what sounds like a variation on the 1968 lick out of the verse at 8:13, and then launches into a lead that picks up in the same vein as it was left before the verse. When he turns up the heat a little at about 9:27, the others are in lockstep with him, and Garcia takes the power fed back to him and leads them to an emphatic statement of the verse melody. This keeps things simmering, as it seems like there are potencies here that are at the ready, but have not yet been tapped. After the verse interlude the band’s intensity has increased, but in a rather controlled, incremental way, as Garcia plays repetitious figures and then sets off on an ascending run at 10:57 which seems to point the way to a freer space just ahead. At 11:14 he is toying with the main theme but, perhaps realizing that it is early yet, he sets off for other climes. Garcia’s rolling lines from around 11:37, and particularly at 11:54, sound like something rehearsed or familiar, yet I don’t think we’ve heard it before, and he quickly moves on to other things. It’s probably happened very gradually, but Weir sounds utterly at home here…his playing is vital and creative, and he manages to vary his parts to suit the required intensities of the moment without ever sounding forced or out of place. This may be the biggest factor in the way that Dark Star sounds so cohesively mobile at this point; again, though, there is the sense that it has not yet gone everywhere it is capable, just now, of going. At 12:39 Garcia sounds like he’s going to head toward Sputnik, and again the band picks up on it immediately. But instead of Sputnik, there is a sparkling, twinkling peak, and it’s just a beautiful moment. The band then takes it down, and Jerry takes another run in the general direction of Sputnik, which finally comes in for real at 14:05. Garcia goes to the tolling bell sound at the tail end of Sputnik, and then Lesh suddenly sounds like he means business, firing off some darkly melodic runs as Garcia puts on the weird post-Sputnik effect, and we are almost in a little Space interlude. Garcia plays a melody with this that sounds like what he does on Live/Dead, but Lesh keeps thing spacy and Jerry starts playing with his volume knob. Immediately after, the counterpoint between Lesh and Garcia is magnificent, as Weir wisely keeps things simple with a binding chordal part in the middle of it all, until he begins to syncopate a little—this sets Jerry off, as the band goes into a variation of the main theme with offset rhythms that is one of the most sophisticated things we have heard in a Dark Star, if somewhat brief. This seems like it’s heading toward a Bright Star, which is one way to get everyone back on the straight and narrow without a mishap, and that is exactly what happens at 18:57, although the Bright Star theme is only briefly stated. And, soon enough, we have arrived at the verse.


The highlight tonight is, I think, the pre-Sputnik section.


The name of the Dark Star game, these nights in Vallejo, is cohesion and controlled experimentation. There is intensity here, but not in the form of explosive peaks; the band sounds very much in control of things and capable of peaking, should they choose, but they forgo such theatrics and keep things simmering; or, perhaps its more accurate to say that when the intensity increases it does so continuously, rather than breaking out as a sudden cloudburst. In this sense there is still something propaedeutic about these Dark Stars, yet they are very satisfying in their own right, and even exciting insofar as they show us a band and a song that now seem capable of feats that would not have been possible months, or even weeks, before. If the band was wiped out in a bus crash after the Vallejo shows, I think that the discerning listener may have surmised that the world had been deprived of future Dark Stars that would have reached new heights, and feel this as a loss for humanity. Fortunately, no such thing happened; my point, however, is that there is both palpable development here, and at the same time attainment, as the Dream Bowl both points to what is yet to happen, while at the same time displaying a power of execution that had not hitherto been reached.


What was said:

This may be the dreamiest Dark Star yet....it has an otherworldly feel like it's being channeled from some other zone.
The little Mountains prelude jam is still pretty short, but sets up a nice mystical mood for Dark Star. (The occasional hums and feedback add to this mood.) The intro jam reaches a fair pitch of intensity....it's cool that they keep extending it, taking any detour that arises even after the main theme is introduced. A lovely passage before the verse sounds like they're stepping into a quiet Dark Star pathway they haven't really explored before. After the verse, the entry into the jam seems to be ever more careful, dropping Jerry's usual motifs....Mickey keeps sounding the gong in this spot, hinting at increasing spaciness. (And is that a bit of conga back there again?) A great restless, perpetually changing jam keeps things in motion, not stopping anywhere for long....until he gets to the Sputnik motifs, Jerry keeps away from any repetitive lines and forges forward. Really nice pre-Sputnik before the Sputnik....they're drawing out the Sputnik more and more, dividing it into different parts, and now Jerry's tolling-bell is part of it too. When he turns on his squealy tone, the mood's very subdued, not as charged as last night, and this part feels kind of melancholy, leading naturally to a brief volume-knob bit. (Jerry's rarely used this effect in Dark Star before.) Once Jerry returns to his regular style, they get into a syncopated groove like they're about to break into Reggae Dark Star, but it doesn't last long....it's time to round out the jam with a final climax. Like on the 21st, the Bright Star is tossed off in seconds, barely there at all, and this time Jerry aims for a more spontaneous climax, which works pretty well. (He seems to be losing interest in the Bright Star lately.) Then they coast slowly and quietly to the verse.
Around the Sputnik, the general recording volume seems to drop, unless everyone's playing more quietly. Bob is especially noticeable in this mix; Phil is a little more subterranean. Maracas present at the start, but the organ generally seems to be just out of the range of my hearing. Both drummers are playing after the Sputnik -- it was just Mickey last night, but Bill's finally participating more! The band's tightly synchronized in the jams, ready to spring at any cue.
I agree that this Dark Star feels very controlled and restrained, a simmer instead of a boil, like they're keeping a lot of power in reserve. But it's there, just needing the right mood to be unleashed. I'd call this one a tie with 2-21 for "best yet," but I'm eager to hear how they hold up next to the Fillmores coming up!
Also, it was my expectation that through the February '69 Dark Stars we'd hear the pieces of 2-27 click into place and get developed. But except for the growing Sputnik, this has not been the case at all....each version takes its own directions. Other than the few pre-composed bits, 2-22 shares almost no passages in common with the Dark Stars before or after, and it seems this trend will continue.


The preceding Mountains of the Moon sets a serene and mystical tone that spills over into Dark Star. The pre-verse opening is beautiful and carries you away to some other place and time. You can feel a story unfolding; there's magic and wonder but also hints of pain. The first verse has a feel that harkens back to Mountains of the Moon (and a lyrical flub does not break the spell).
Around 9:20 things start to build but there's still a certain delicacy to it all; really nice lead-in to the verse melody. By 10:45 we're cruising along, as if gliding through the clouds. At 12:1o minutes or so Jerry has this fuzzy beautiful tone with just a bit of edge to it that is compelling. The "sparkling, twinkling peak" at 13:10 that bzfgt pointed out is beautiful. The Sputnik is drawn out and mysterious; a gentle beat rises out of it and by 16:30 we're somewhere else entirely, almost like being lost in the vastness, but around 17:25 we re-emerge safely and continue the journey. The Bright Star and return to the Main Theme are more of glimpse on this night. The song has gone where it needed to go; time to head to the second verse and then on to The Other One. Lovely, subtle version.



Nice intro from Mountains of the Moon, and… the ROR and the fish are in the vibe! Ah yes, concurrent feedback with micing percussion, I think it’s a large shaker of some sort. The band is jamming along as the sound sorts out the mic and feedback issues, JG says: stretchy notes mean deal with this sound issue before I continue.
He even stretches way down and out at 2 minutes, before the whole group quickly picks it back up into the Dark star arena. At 3:10 a nice new little riff intro to the next section, quickly getting caught up in sets of harmonies against the pedal tones. Into the theme at 4:40 after some arpregiating, but then into a quieter area where we can almost hear Tom.
Some very low-key jamming, swinging, though. A few abstract melody fragments surface. And then the verse.
Everybody is honing their sections for the song portion of the piece, it’s a funny transition from the improv to the orchestrated, and back again.
After the song portion, some new arpeggios from Jerry and a clear tone leading into the jam section. He goes chromatic a bit with some blue notes, getting into some tighter areas before breaking into the theme at 10 minutes. He is really rolling with it though, and it never comes back. JG with some lovely rolling licks upwards, it’s all heading upwards for a while. He’s using licks and chord outlines, he seems to have good volume with the amp to control his tone, Phil seems to be having some distortion issues keeping up.
And island at about 13 minutes leads into the harmonics pond, it’s close to the bridge. That suspended chord is the sputnik and leads us there, and it’s a long one, a few waves, Bob left gonging his guitar for a while. As it dies out, sounds like Phil is leading it to new tonal areas while JG is on the microphonic sounds. Both drummers are in here, it’s a free for all! We’re going outside, or…? No, Jerry is going to bring it back to Dark Star at 17 minutes, more jam! we’re going to head furthur upwards to a Bright Star, or…? Almost got a thematic statement, but it broke down at its height into weirdness, and the refrain area afterwards has some questioning directions still.
Nonetheless, verse 2 comes in with the wavery voice. All good until line 3 where Phil seems to get lost!
That sort of makes the madrigal section a bit wonky, but to go even further, they don’t go into St Stephen, but instead into Cryptical Envelopment! (or at least this tape does.)