137365 San Francisco 23:26
Main theme at 3:50.
Sputnik at 7:44.
Main theme at 11:48.
First verse at 12:05.
Bright Star at 18:52.
Main theme at 21:25.
Second verse at 21:36.
Standalone; Alligator follows.
The Grateful Dead are joined by a tenor sax and a violin player here. The conventional credits are for Charles Lloyd and David LaFlamme, although this is not certain.
The band sounds really bubbly and perky out of the gate, and they stay with the two chord pattern for a fairly good spell here, maybe due to the presence of the guests who need to fit in. The ROR seems to be gone at this point (it was absent last time as well, I think). A little after two minutes in they seem to be heading for a one-chord vamp, but Garcia starts quoting the main theme, which keeps them grounded for a while longer.
The fiddle is scratching away in the background at times, and is at other times inaudible. At 2:04, the sax begins to assert itself. Garcia quotes the main theme at 2:10, and the sax duets with him around the theme for a while. At times, Garcia lays back and lets the sax take the lead, and at other times he comes to the fore again. They seem to be building a pretty good rapport here; at about 3:10 the band starts to move away from the two chord pattern, and Jerry starts to lead the sax away from the song structure, but then at 3:50 he swings into the main theme and brings it all back.
At 4:14, there’s a little bit of Sputnik, and another opportunity to take things out emerges from this. They build a nice little peak, and at 5:04 Jerry starts playing a some Bright Star licks. They seem to be taking baby steps away from, and back toward, the song structure. By 5:15 the fiddle player (I think) is playing a little drone, which is mirrored by the sax. Then at 5:35 the fiddle takes the lead for a bit. It’s interesting to hear Jerry play what is basically a backup part here; in any case, it is certainly different from his usual approach.
At 6:35 Jerry is working his way back into the lead, and everyone else besides the drums (Kreutzmann?) drops out for a bit. With forward momentum is halted, at 7:28 Garcia switches on the insect tone, and the sax freaks out a little. Then at 7:44, Jerry starts up Sputnik. The sax player responds to this and gets more assertive, and Sputnik turns into a nice little squall. At around 9:30 we’re out the other side of Sputnik, the two chord structure is gone, and it seems we’re finally in for some exploration.
A rather chaotic crescendo follows, with the sax really leaning into it at 10:45 and environs. This builds and crests, until at 11:35 or so everyone calms down; the band kicks into the main theme, and we go to the verse (with some botched lyrics).
The post-verse section starts out calmly, with some melancholy ruminations on the melody by the fiddle player. Garcia tolls a little and the sax joins him, as the fiddle keeps oozing melody. At 14:14 Garcia starts playing with the volume knobs, and things descend into a little pocket of calm; then at 14:30, Jerry decides to lead them out of it into the post-verse proceedings. Weir, who has been fairly quiescent for much of the time so far, lays down an E minor base for the band here; the sax and violin drop back for a bit, and a brooding jam emerges.
The sax plays a supporting role for a while as Garcia and Lesh do what they do so well. As things start to build, the horn and fiddle start to work their way to the fore again, and the band starts to swell toward a peak. At about 17:50 we get there, and things sound pretty chaotic for a bit. At 18:45 this dissipates and the band kicks up the main theme, and Garcia tops it at with 18:52 Bright Star.
This segment is a lesser peak than the one directly preceding it, but it bubbles along for a while with a good amount of energy until they wind it back down into a main theme that goes quickly to the second verse.
This is a successful, if not revelatory, collaboration with outside musicians. It winds up being a solid Dark Star. Rather than pushing them into unexplored territory, the presence of other musicians seems to have made them slightly conservative, but they pull it off.
What was said:
ianuaditis:
IIRC its the rest of the tape where they really freak out.
JSegel:
With David LaFlamme and Charles Lloyd! (We assume). Very cool to open the jam up to new musicians. It starts with the classic intro and cruisin’ jam rhythm, hand drums and that guiro fish. TC wandering around. JG plays around a bit before soaring, stopping to perhaps invite others onstage. Nice bass sound from Phil. Some jazzy substitutions from Jerry outlining chords that aren’t there, he starts a theme with saxophone response at 2 minutes. Lets it go into the sax groove. JG picking up on how Charles Lloyd hits the modes, so they’re both jamming on it.
At 4.5 min there’s some tuning on a pseudo-Sputnik to settle, then they continue. Bobby is finding some nice harmonies for his chord comping. Violin sneaks in, brittle tone (it’s hard with a violin into a guitar amp with no pre-EQ, believe me.) They settle, violin, sax and guitars on some odd long note chord structures, and then JG is back in the lead with the rhythm section very subdued. Mickey plays a bunch of cowbells and then tom toms. Yeah, dude. JG comes into the insect tone at 7:20 or so, sax trilling in response. Sax goes chromatic and low as Jerry enters a Sputnik, going into the rhythmic version almost immediately. The sax and violin stretch this out harmonically quite a bit, it dies down and starts a semi-thematic jam with the sax taking lead, as the band ladders up and down on the chord/mode. All the instruments are jamming out, Jerry is going for a kind of a bright star, but with the sax and swinging drums it’s very jazzy, and he’s not the front line of the melodies! Chaos of star. It ebbs, the band gets back on track with the intro theme and into the verse!
Funny delivery of the verse lines, the line two rhythm sits on its last beat for a keystone, the wandering of the third line continues upwards over the whole line.
The new guys seem to know the melody and how it shifts. When the center jam starts, LaFlamme is playing the Dark Star melody over the incoming bell tolling, very interesting maneuver. Some ups and downs before Jerry whips out a long introductory lick and the band settles into a mellow jam area. Phil and Bob have moved into a groove, Lloyd is comping on long notes. The drums come in. It builds. LaFlamme and Lloyd are finding some long tones in the tops of the chords, following the vocal melodic line. Soloists building alongside each other. By 18 minutes in there’s a slow chordal building up from the extra guys, Jerry is jamming full on, then it peaks and Bob leads back to the Dark Star song area, Jerry follows with a happy skipping melodic DS theme, and carries it onwards. They build it more, the sax coming in with some bluer notes, but bring it back down and get to verse 2, with little sax interjections.
Nice vocal delivery on verse 2 from all involved, all parts present—plus! Again, Phil and TC are emphasizing the offbeat A chord within the last beat of each bar in line 2 again, a new rhythmic take on that spy theme thing. Sax tries to play along with the outro melody, which for some reason sounds to me like Albert Ayler from roughly this same time period…Witches, I think? I think some of the sax parts in the entire recording reminded me of Ayler, melodically, but it wasn’t until this outro that it fell into place in my mind.
This is a lot to listen to. I’d speculate that a lot of serious deadheads don’t like this kind of thing with the extra guys (not sure about that, just an assumption on my part) but I thought it was very cool, new takes on the song *within* the band’s own idea of it. I liked this one!
Adamos:
An upbeat, breezy vibe out of the gate. The guiro is undeterred by the additional instruments and asserts itself in the mix. As they move forward it feels like something is bubbling and swirling in the background. The sax gently works its way in and I like the interplay with Jerry starting around two minutes in; it sounds really nice. I wonder if Jerry had that smile on his face that he’d get when interacting musically with someone on stage.
There’s a touch of Sputnik starting at 4:15 while still maintaining the broader melody. From there the intensity picks up and things swirl a bit before easing back again. The violin is adding some texture and there’s plenty of percussion in the background too. It’s a nice, mellow, groovy jam.
Around 6:45 everyone lays back and it’s just Jerry and some cowbell for a moment before the others start coming back in. Jerry takes it a bit weirder and brings out the insects which prompts some fluttering sax after which they get into Sputnik more fully and intensely. As that runs its course they start to build up another jam that hits an intense peak before giving way to the main theme and first verse.
After the verse the violin steps forward and works the melody while Jerry does some gentler bell tolling that the sax plays off of as well. The violin is a little reminiscent of what David Cross would be doing with King Crimson a few years later.
Jerry works the volume knobs and they move forward with Jerry, Bob and Phil establishing the framework while the guests lay back to get of sense of where it is heading now. Things start to build and the sax enters more strongly again. They spin upwards reaching a somewhat chaotic peak before releasing into the main theme and a more melodic telling of Bright Star that the violin joins in on as well. They continue to jam in this vein for a while before taking it down and going into the second verse.
This was a fun and enjoyable performance.
Mr. Rain:
This gets off to a plucky start. It sounds like the fiddle player's scraping away at the start....there's a strange grumbling sound that might be a sonic anomaly. The full percussion complement is going with Mickey(?) on guiro & Pigpen on congas. Very upbeat opening like others have said. The sax player steps aboard two minutes in, and right away Jerry gives him room and plays backup for him. He fits right in and we've got Dead Jazz. (It's strange to think there wouldn't be another sax player in Dark Star for 20 more years.) The fiddle player sneaks in again during a swirl at 5 minutes (or his volume's turned up) and they let him take his turn in the lead. This part's more floaty; he's not as assertive as the sax. Mickey won't be denied with his cowbell. The other players kind of trickle away and then it's just Jerry & Mickey for a while in a quasi-Alligator-break section with occasional interjections from the others.
Hey, the insect tone! The sax guy likes this. Things are getting topsy-turvy in this Dark Star, made more obvious when Jerry goes into an early Sputnik. The sax imitates his circular riff and keeps blowing over the jabbing part til they get to a kind of controlled crescendo. Then they back off for a more relaxed stretch, the fiddle playing a swinging chord while all the instruments blend together in a mellow stew. But the intensity's growing again -- Jerry hits some high notes, Mickey bangs away, the sax wails! This comes close to being a Bright Star and they hit a nice crest, Jerry & the sax dueling for the lead. Then they calm down again: time for the theme and a verse.
Jerry sounds a little lyrically distracted during the verse. The guests must know the song, they accompany the verse too (I like the fiddle plucks).
The fiddle comes to the fore after the verse, playing a reprise of the melody while Jerry does some bell-tolling. Phil & the sax ooze together in a drone, and Jerry wraps it up with some volume twirls. Then Jerry's ready to carry on the jam -- the guest players drop away and for a minute it's just the Dead again playing a melancholy little tune. Mickey creeps in again; the sax guy's getting antsy and breaks out in cries; the fiddle rejoins and they all come to a frenzied boil, a splendid surge of noise, Jerry trilling with abandon. Then it subsides and Bob calmly continues the theme, a nice contrast in mood. Jerry strikes up Bright Star and Mickey piles on, but it's not played like the usual climax, instead it's a cheerful backing for the new guys who burble happily on top of it.
Gradually this dissolves, and Jerry's ready to finish with a quick theme and verse. The guests stay in to the end....and perhaps to be accommodating, the Dead make a surprise move to Alligator instead of St. Stephen.
Very enjoyable and different Dark Star with unique textures. Two guests somehow fit in very well, and all the spontaneous changes still manage to sound almost composed without much confusion. The dynamic shifts don't throw anyone (although the sax player apparently is used to dominating the music). I didn't hear Bill at all in this Dark Star -- Mickey in his place sounds a little clumsy in comparison. Jerry adapts nicely to the extra players, giving everyone space, and it helps that they sound familiar with the Dead's style too.
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