Main theme at 7:31.
First verse at 9:06.
Sputnik at 17:28.
Verse melody at 23:41 (beginning cut)
Bright Star at 24:21.
Falling Star at 24:58.
Main theme at 25:21.
Second verse at 25:48.
Goes into St. Stephen.
This comes out of a really beautiful Mountains of the Moon jam. It opens with Garcia flashing the main theme right out of the gate, which doesn’t seem to happen much (or really at all, I don’t think), even though it seems like an obvious thing to do. TC plays the ROR for about 30 seconds; it’s still hanging in there, at this point, but not playing a very large role. By 2:30 or so, Garcia is sounding restless, and seems to be sort of prodding the band to break the structure a little; this one starts to move out a little early. Lesh hovers around and eschews any indication of chord changes.
4:34 to 4:57 sees a convergence as Weir, Garcia and then Lesh increase the intensity while narrowing the harmonic range of the jam. This eddies into a kind of holding pattern where it seems like the main theme is on the horizon, but at 5:24 Garcia takes off again. He climbs to a new plateau and starts holding again; at around 5:40, however, things get weird as Garcia again climbs and holds, and the music stretches and quiets, then Garcia starts playing a percussive tremolo at 6:01, and we’re almost in a little space jam. He goes back to the holding pattern at 6:11, then climbs again at 6:20, and then takes a little run around the fretboard starting at 6:27.
At 6:38, Garcia asserts himself in a way that suggests they are going to reel it in, but instead they increase the intensity, and from around 7:05 there is a remarkable little flurry that leads up to the main theme at 7:31. One thing that has become remarkable by this point is the variety of ways they have to play the main theme, with little flourishes and variations, and also a difference in emphasis and feel from version to version. This one is bold and jaunty, and leads fairly promptly to the verse.
The verse comes out into a straight reading of the main theme changes before the tolling begins. This section is bright and loud tonight, in contrast to the brooding feeling of the night before, and at 11:26 Garcia fairly leaps out of a brief caesura into the middle jam. His stinging lead here is thrilling, and by 11:53 the band is fairly exploding, as everyone proceeds to play their asses off!
As the jam streams along, it hits little pools, but these are soon swept away and the momentum returns. It’s hard to disentangle what is happening at around the 15 minute mark, as TC, Garcia and Weir at times seem to be occupying similar sonic space; Garcia somehow holds a note, at times feeding back, from 15:04 to 15:14, and I think Weir starts feeding back at some point here too. The result is a rather excellent cacophony for a few moments.
At 16:35, Garcia plays some staccato lines, turning to double stops, as he and Lesh have an animated conversation. As things wind down, Garcia lays Sputnik into the next lull, at 17:28. At 17:40 he goes to the exaggeratedly retarded siren licks he sometimes places near the end of Sputnik, and Lesh responds with some equally exaggerated and lagging chordal slashes. At 17:48, Garcia returns to a more normal Sputnik pattern, and the loud guiro comes in soon after. They seem to be wringing every last drop out of Sputnik tonight.
Sputnik finally ends around 19:52, and this time there is a sort of interim jam until Garcia switches on the insect weirdness at 20:33. Lesh is playing a descending pattern reminiscent of Caution here, but this doesn’t stay long. At 21:26 Garcia returns to a more normal tone, and suddenly there is lightness and melody breaking out. At 22:35, it almost seems like they’re going to break into a thematic jam of some kind, but they’re just blowing, the ideas are coming thick and fast tonight.
At 23:19, Lesh starts the main theme pattern; Garcia keeps playing a lead line over this until he decides to lay in the verse melody; it seems like we haven’t heard this in a while, and indeed, according to my notes, the last one was April 13th. Garcia’s lightning over the E minor leads back into an astringent lead line that takes us to Bright Star and, briefly, Falling Star. From here, it all soon comes to a close, as we are returned to the main theme and the verse.
This is a stunning piece of music, played with confidence and clarity, and saturated with wild energy. It is the longest version of Dark Star to date, and not a second is wasted, as the band maintains a thrilling level of focus and intensity throughout.
What was said:
Mr. Rain:
A Mountains of the Moon introduction is always a good sign! Seems like this song has been getting rare lately....and, looking ahead, there's only a couple more to come.
This Mountains acoustic jam goes on for a while, with some light percussion from both drummers. After Jerry switches to electric, they set the mood with a quiet little electric jam for about 30 seconds before an impatient Jerry tugs them into Dark Star.
The cassette recording's a little fuzzy but deep. Mickey's on shaker, and Pigpen's on congas again throughout. TC's as quiet & unobtrusive as ever; I rarely noticed him in this Dark Star, and he seemed to all but disappear in the second half.
Really long, deliberate opening jam, the longest opening yet (nine minutes!)...they're really stretching out now. It's not super-dramatic or varied, just steady coasting with the usual ebbs & flurries. Bill comes in on drums at 5:50 in a quiet moment, prompting a little trill from Jerry. The tension tightens and they slide expertly into the main theme -- they're really good at setting this up. Jerry toys around playfully with the theme for over a minute before the verse.
Big applause when Jerry sings the verse! Boy, the folks at the Ark like this song...
Unlike last night, there's a really striking bell-tolling section after the verse, with dynamic support from the others; Jerry bangs his strings, shades into feedback, then rips into a hot lead. Liftoff! A lot of times lately this part has been kinda subdued....but not tonight! Bill joins on drums right away, and an exciting jam pours out. Jerry tamps it down into quieter spots now and then; Mickey adds some shaker & cymbals. Jerry lets out a howl of feedback at 14:50 -- this has been rare lately, there was a lot more feedback in the Dark Stars a few months ago. The jam seems to turn inward after that, and Jerry goes staccato after 16:30, dueting with Phil as Bob gamely keeps up. This nicely sets up a Sputnik, which Jerry opens up with relish.
Sputnik is unusually long & noisy -- Jerry's really getting into it, dragging it out with feedback while all the percussionists clatter. He doesn't head into the insect noise right away, but sets it up with a more normal little solo while the band makes ominous sounds of doom. Phil's doing his Caution chords as the weirdness starts. But despite this promising start, they don't delve into wildness...insect wings buzz by for a minute and then are gone, uneventfully.
The next part's really nice, as Jerry turns toward melodic sweetness for a couple minutes. Bob isn't doing much in this part, so it's very reminiscent of the Hartbeats: mostly Jerry & Phil & percussion. After 23:00 Phil & Jerry are teasing the main theme; they re-enter it very sweetly, and then....at 23:45, a tape-flip! There's probably not much missing, maybe less than half a minute -- but the sound suffers in this part, it gets worse from here on.
The recording cuts back in the verse melody, which hasn't been played in a while, but sounds very aggressive. (Mickey stays on guiro while Bill handles the drumming.) Jerry goes straight into a kind of staccato bright-star that ends with a little variation on the falling-star, then tapers off to the main theme again.
More applause for the second verse!
A majestic version for sure....the longest yet but it doesn't feel like a half-hour. Their timing's really good, each section seems to evolve naturally and flow right into the next. Jerry's more lit-up than on 4-21, although Bob seems a little less active; and Bill's drumming has been getting steadily more assertive. If I were to quibble slightly about this version, it's that no part really stands out as being especially awesome... Some of these Dark Stars I want to play again right away, which wasn't the case here. It's all evenly good without taking the next step into mind-blowing.
JSegel:
The never ending jam: not counting the end of Mountains of the Moon’s outro jam (oddly counted on Archive.org as a separate track of almost 3min itself, I guess denoting that MotM ended and it isn’t Dark Star because Jerry is on acoustic for the first 2 minutes? Sort of sounds Star-ish at that point on, with Bobby on a two chord thing), and even with a cassette flip, this Dark Star clocks in at 27:22! Longest version to date.
They slide into it with some intro riffs coming directly in the noodling. And TC starts the ROR, Mickey goes for the guiro rasping. The band is sort of working around the Dark Star modality testing some extensions for the chords and the rhythm, oddly there’s bits of the melodic climb that are usually in the outro thrown in after about 2 minutes, but after a lull, and some cymbals we’re getting some spacey suggestions of DS thematic material. They take it up a wavefront and down the other side, but still no proper thematic statements. Take it up and down again, let’s see where it comes out. Bobby’s found a bunch of notes that are similar to a chord that he seems to like. At 5:45 the ebb has some weird scratching and tremolo notes from JG, Bill is entering on the trapset, JG is playing with the same flatted note he was in the MotM jam. So after a climb he suggests the theme, but it’s abstracted still, and he gets caught in some riffiness. This wave of the jam seems to be picking up some rhythmic propulsion and yes, at about 7:30 we hit the theme.
They play with it for a while, TC rolls around, Bobby plays the chords, they stretch the theme idea out, some notes reaching their spot from different angles. JG goes to the low E string and comes in with verse 1. People clap, they were waiting for it.
First line comes off as if it were a song, Reason tatters is a scary warble, Phil is changing his notes on what was a spy-theme rhythm, he’s subdued in his statements, not super strong. Nobody really casts about on the searchlight.
A nice verse outro into the Transitive Nightfall, the classic intro to the jam (I think of this as different than the intro riff simply because of the descending guitar countrpoint line.) JG steps back to start a slow bell tolling and the rhythm section starts responding to the bell more and more instead of playing them. JG’s got some feedback attached, lots of cymbals. Phil takes a sideways note, then they come in with the song-form jam, through line one it holds together, line 2 is rhythmically stronger, but then line 3 really takes off with Bill’s drums and everybody moving forward, and now we’re into a good old jam session.
Bill is rocking it! The band heats up and JG steps into some pools but with a strong tone like we’re gonna explore these areas with some bright light on them, they get into a serious propulsive rhythm at 13”. It might go elsewhere, but we seem to be locked into the mode. It’s full speed (as such) ahead for awhile, then JG leans back a bit, but the band comps full on at whatever volume level he’s setting. TC, when you can hear him, is still flourishing his dumb classical riffs, JG steps into a feedback solo but it doesn’t space out so much as come back to notes. When it comes down he tries one of the AG-AE riffs, lots of mini hills and valleys, then at 16:45 we move into a new rhythm that is like the Main Ten setup, but never goes off that way, and instead comes back to the Dark Star comp. But JG steps into a slight Sputnik, but does some weird tuning/bending before he decides his guitar has the right notes for the Sputnik. Feedback from mics. Sputnik continues with the weird guiro way up front. It’s odd how that chewy weird guiro has some moments in space sections before, but he’s thinking it fits in the sputnik now.
The sputnik exploration is limited to a few of the chordal notes rather than arpeggios. They come out into new modal territory, emphasis on some different notes. Sounds like Phil has a new riff to play with with some flat chords, JG goes for his Insect Weirdness tone, but it’s not super insecty, when he comes out he has some round tone to play some very Dark Star mode notes, but not exactly thematic, more wandering. But they want to build it slowly, Phil has some resonances he wants to stay on. At 23” they play on the intro riff idea, sort of a backwards approach to it, but it nonetheless instigates a DS comp jam area, which goes through the song form again, this time, Phil and Bill actually do the strong line 2 spy theme rhythm. Line 2 takes it wandering off, lulls a bit, but heads toward a Bright Star. The normally crying notes are individually stated, rather than cryin-bent at the top.
Into the theme, TC does his arpeggios. On to verse 2, slightly before 26”. Very enunciated vocal delivery, the backing vocals are more on tonight, but still a little weird. The outro goes normally, though Phil is playing with it these days. Bill has some rolls in before St Stephen starts.
I have to say, despite the length (I do like an immersive musical experience, y’all), not my favorite of the Ark trio, though I did like the comp-jam going on for a longer time, it didn’t feel like they really “explored” much. (to me anyway.)
Mr. Rain:
I didn't hear any "new" exploration in this one either, it was more like a well-done performance of familiar territory. Given the length, I was expecting more spaciness, but it didn't happen this time, just longer jamming. But I can't complain about that!
Adamos:
The preceding Mountains Of The Moon jam is lovely and MOTM really is a wonderful way to set the stage for Dark Star. After brief opening notes and the flash of the main theme that bzfgt mentioned they’re off, cruising along in the clouds accented by the ROR, guiro and shaker. Bobby adds some nice flourishes starting at 1:14 too. Jerry sounds beautiful at the two minute mark, more gentle TC at 2:21, a brief guitar peak from Jerry at 2:40 which kicks off some really nice playing by him. By 4:30 the collective intensity is building and Jerry’s guitar screams out, then they downshift and hover a bit as Jerry continues weave his way through. At 5:45 we get some drums and at 5:54 he starts this repetitive thing (that I just found myself air guitaring in search of a word for it) from which he takes off on a run but then eases off. From there the path is clear again and they work their way into the main theme and first verse.
Post-verse the bell tolling and gong washes start gently but really pick up in intensity and you can feel the collective energy surge. At 11:10 Jerry takes off and there’s a glorious peak (Bob sounds good here too); by 12:00 Jerry is bobbing and weaving; at 12:41 it starts getting more intense and the jam is hot; at 13:05 there’s a repetitive rhythmic thing going. It’s a rich tapestry tonight! Around 14:13 they ease off a bit, the drums are more prominent with Jerry still working it and then at 15:10 he makes this kind of whale sound and they’re all off; there’s a brief easing off again at 15:30 but there’s more they want to do here. At 15:40 Phil steps forth more with a nice bass line and Bill sounds good on the cymbals too. There’s a bit of a peak from 16:15 -16:30 followed by an interesting, repeating thing on guitar and then they start heading to Sputnik.
Phil lays down a nice foundation for the familiar Sputnik notes to enter the scene. At 17:49 they hit it low and heavy and then go back up high again at 17:59. Strong guiro scratching at 18:23 and TC adds some swirls as well. Sputnik stretches out for a bit, somewhat mellow yet still driving, Bobby comes in at 19:48 and it takes on a more rhythmic feel that Phil gets in on too. At 20:12 Jerry pivots a bit and we get a little feedback, nice flourishes from Bob and then shortly after we’re into insect weirdness, although it’s brief and more melodic on this night. The Caution-esque chords from Phil emerge here as well. At 20:57 there’s kind of a going up steps feeling and then Jerry’s working the Sputnik-y notes for a bit more before shifting to something different at 21:35.
This is a nice passage with a mellow, pretty feel and it seems like they’re trying to decide what to do with it; at 23:00 everyone else briefly pauses and Jerry and Phil play off each other for a moment, hinting at the main theme, and then Bobby and the drums ease back in. Lovely. By 23:30 they’re fully back to familiar territory…Tape cut! We re-enter with the verse melody in process, they’ve got a head of steam now and at 24:25 they’re into Bright Star (again not the most triumphant telling of it but still a good peak), a touch of Falling Star and then they work their way through to the end. I thought this was a wonderful version overall.
No comments:
Post a Comment