97393 1:37
On this source, Charlie Miller has tracked the jam at the end of Mountains of the Moon as “Dark Star Jam.” This makes sense insofar as (as Mr. Rain points out) this is the only instance where they played Mountains of the Moon, and Garcia switched to electric and played a jam, and it did not go into Dark Star. Also, it is arguable that Live Dead is the canonical recording of Dark Star, more so than the single. On that recording, the track “Dark Star” begins before the familiar introductory riff, with the jam that comes out of “Mountains of the Moon.” The jam here, then, sounds a lot like something that is part of the track “Dark Star” in what many consider to be its definitive rendering—at least, if not the best or even most important version, perhaps something that plays a role for many Deadheads similar to that of a studio recording.
On the other hand, this is not really a "Dark Star Jam" insofar as it doesn't really resemble anything that is definitively Dark Star, and while it only appears when Mountains of the Moon is played, here it occurs in the absence of Dark Star. Upon reflection, then, I am calling this "Jam" rather than "Dark Star Jam," but including it here due to its relation to Dark Star.
The track begins shortly before Garcia begins to play electric guitar, as he always does when Mountains of the Moon goes into Dark Star. The song ends with a jam with Garcia playing acoustic, then he switches to electric, and then—every time but this—they start Dark Star (more or less) shortly thereafter.
I would say that this jam sounds like itself more than it sounds like Dark Star or Mountains of the Moon. It has a distinctive feel, and the various versions are all akin to one another. Garcia here plays some beautiful lines, with expressive rakes and emotive dynamics, and Lesh is very active. Above all, listening to this here makes me think what a beautiful jam it is, and it is sort of a shame that they never extended it much more than this. It usually moves pretty quickly into Dark Star; here, it goes into China Cat Sunflower.
In the future—particularly in 1973 and 1974—it will become a tricky question just what constitutes a Dark Star and what constitutes a Dark Star Jam. It seems clear to me here, however, that this does not count as a Dark Star, nor as a Dark Star Jam, but it’s something we should nevertheless acknowledge and address.
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youtube Wembley 31:27 Main theme at 9:57. First verse at 10:53. Goes into Sugar Magnolia. When the Grateful Dead went to Europe for what wo...
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Here is a key to some of the terminology we will be using in our exploration of Dark Star. There are several themes that reappear in various...
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147766 Miami 26:41 First verse at 2:10. Second verse at 13:58. Goes into Drums. If the Brendan Byrne show proved that Dark Star wasn’t to b...
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ReplyDeletehttps://archive.org/details/gd1969-04-26.sbd.miller.97393.sbeok.flac16
JSegel writes:
"Jerry sort of plays with some of the melodic ideas for a minute (literally) and then they go on. So I don't really think this counts... I'd put this down as simply a MotM jam."
Mr. Rain writes:
"The Dark Star tease....at least that's how I think of it. They get right up to Dark Star's front door and then Jerry chickens out. Too bad for us listeners!
It's so close to the Dark Star opening on Live/Dead I can't regard it as just a MotM jam. Also, is there any MotM jam without Dark Star? No, there's not a single Mountains of the Moon I can think of where there's an electric ending jam not attached to a Dark Star....except this one.
All part of the weirdness of this show!"
Archtop writes:
"I listened to that segment from 4/26/69 today and I'm firmly in the not a Dark Star jam (not even close) camp. Harmonically, it's a continuation of the outro improv from Mountains of the Moon. It has nothing to do with Dark Star other than bearing a strong resemblance to something that once was a lead-in to Dark Star (but never really part of Dark Star) when Dark Star was linked with Mountain of the Moon. If anything, it's a Mountains of the Moon outro jam extension."
Adamos: "Agreed that this is a MOTM outro jam (or a unique jam that evolves out of MOTM) that sounds like it could go into Dark Star because we are used to that happening, but it’s not actually a Dark Star jam."
Mr. Rain: "I fall in the middle and think of it as a Dark Star tease...Phil does seem to be hinting that way at 1:15, only for no one to follow him. A real Dark Star jam should at least include the theme somewhere.
It is a shame not only that Mountains of the Moon didn't last long, but that they didn't develop this outro jam into some extended piece of its own. I suppose musically, maybe Dark Star swallowed up this kind of mystical fairyland territory."