79. 1969-08-23

6639 Oregon 26:57 (cut)
Main theme at 1:29, 3:36, 5:52 8:03 and 9:34.
Sputnik (sort of) at 11:20.
Sputnik at 17:17.
Bright Star at 20:19.
Falling Star at 21:27.
Main theme at 24:02.
Second verse at 25:16.
Goes into St. Stephen

After a torrid Spring, Dark Stars have varied in quality lately. The band has seemed tentative at times, and sometimes this uncertainty has seemed to make them more conservative. This time, the intro has them staying pretty close to home, although at times it seems they are trying to break free. The main theme pops up very early (for the era); at 2:50, Lesh decides to take them to E minor for a spell, but they return to A at about 3:06. At this point, they seem restless and ready to try something else; a few moments later, however, they are returning to the main theme again.

With the band still hanging on the theme at 4:10, Garcia plays some of his foghorn bass lines, then starts twirling the volume knob; at 4:43 they all seem to finally get some traction and a nice jam begins. This doesn’t go very far for now, but it does seem to get Dark Star off the ground after an inconsequential beginning. As if they don’t want to press their luck, they soon take it back to the main theme. But 6:26 sees Garcia trying to start another jam; at first the rest of them stay with the theme, but then things ease into a dark little passage with minor overtones and a swelling gong.

They again return to the theme just after 8 minutes in, and lean into it a little. At 9:04 Garcia stirs it up with a quasi-Bright Star jam that swings back to the main theme again. Now we’ve been going for 10 minutes without a verse, and without much exploration, and I find myself wishing they’d either play the verse or move on. At 11:00 there’s a hopeful moment where they seemingly decide to pretend they’ve just passed the verse, and they briefly play some big and tense chords. Not much happens here, though, and they move on to Sputnik—or so it seems, as this stops sounding like Sputnik rather quickly, and then there is a cut at 11:53 which seems to have removed the first verse.

When we return they’re playing something rather close to the theme again, briefly, and then we again hear some Sputnik notes at 12:20 as we descend into a space jam. Now things are getting interesting—Garcia plays some mostly very quiet notes, TC swirls around, and there is some gong action, and everyone else lays out for a while. At 13:33 Garcia tolls very quietly, and there is a pregnant silence surrounding him. He lays on the volume knob, and TC and the gongster quietly accompany him. Lesh then trickles back in, but everyone is still holding back.

They are committed to the space this time—more so than on any previous occasion. As we reach the 16 minute mark we are still in the thick of it. At 16:12 Garcia seems to think of an exit strategy—he starts tolling again, at first very quietly. The band swells but they’re not leaving space, this is really weird stuff! And at about 17 minutes they settle down again, and we’re back in the weird and quiet zone we just left.

At 17:17, Garcia starts playing Sputnik after a full five minutes of space. This is a gentle and weird one, and for much of it there is only Garcia and TC. At 18:39 Garcia switches to a straighter rendition of the Sputnik arpeggios and the band joins back in, although I still don’t hear Weir at first until he starts playing arpeggios behind Garcia, and at 19:07 he plays what sounds like his China Cat intro lick.

At 19:35 Garcia gently starts Bright Star, and it seems they are going to try to get to a peak. TC is very loud now, but everyone else seems reluctant to break out at first. At 21:27 Garcia’s line is a hybrid between Bright Star and Falling Star for a bit. This gets to a nice hard jam eventually, until Garcia seems satisfied and takes it back to the main theme, which Garcia varies and turns into another peak jam.

This is an odd one. The band does not sound very confident or inspired for much of it, and they seem to lack direction. However, the space jam here is remarkable; it lasts for an unprecedented 5 minutes and shows the band starting to experiment with the idea of incorporating silence into a jam. This is definitely not one to be skipped, even if it isn’t entirely successful.


What was said:

JSegel:


Sounds like Phil is into it but a bit out of tune at the start. It wanders around after the intro, TC has that lovely warbly roller-rink-flute tone on his organ. Weird tapping on the hand drums before the theme statement at a minute and a half in, then some stretching strings from Bob (?) sounds like they are trying to figure out who is actually in tune here. This wandering listlessness seems to go on. Ok, they’re relaxed maybe. Right before 3 minutes, Phil settles on his low E string to tune it up. In rhythm. The next section gets very spacey, TC holds some long tone, eventually JG does some stronger theme statements to get them on track. Some aside vocal yells on stage, something isn’t working right. At about 4 minutes they head into an odd jam that develops in some outside ways, and ends with Jerry swirling on a couple notes, TC adding some reed stops. They get to the verse intro theme by 6 minutes. BUT it doesn’t go there. Jerry starts some high pull offs and the band dies down, he’s being very quiet and hard to follow. By 7:30 there’s still some runs but no verse, though the vibe is starting to sound nice. Relaxed, still. The go to the intro theme again. Maybe Jerry has no vocal mic, he goes off on chromatic runs. TC is loudly following along, they build it up, almost to a crying star/bright-ish. And the drums come in around 9 minutes.

It all sounds like lead in to the verse, but Jerry is fooling around. At 10:20 is almost entirely dies out. Phil has a few choice notes, but this space is building up like looking into a Dark Star from the outside. Threats of Dark Star. The bell starts tolling from the bass, but it doesn’t develop into the “Transitive Nightfall” jam really, it dies off and starts a new thing at 11:30, sort of Sputnik-based but not exactly.

Then a tape cut, we enter again in classic DS chords and strong bass, no JG, but then they drop out to leave malleted cymbals pulsing around, with some weird swells and twirls from the organ. Super space! Sound bath jam! Nice one, this is real space, people, it’s quiet and odd. Some volume knob guitar note swells come in to add tone to the jam, bass sneaks in with a few notes. TC is really the dominant tonal sound here though, making some very weird trilling organ sounds falling down the keyboard. It’s an organ space! Wow.

Some string scraping leads into a quiet Sputnik at about 17 minutes, TC still leading in a way, with arpeggios. Sputnik goes to the higher version, some bass and guitar enter bit by bit. It drops down to allow a new section at 19:20. Jerry starts a quiet tone based slow lead area, it’s going to bring them back, TC hits the intro theme notes. A minute later a very mellow Bright Star starts and begins a build. The band comes in to back it up. It’s slow and deliberate, but building, even to a crying star lead as TC starts to hit straight chords.

22 minutes, Jerry heads to the bridge pickup for a brighter tone and continues the brighter star area. This goes on for a while, to the theme statements proper at about 24 minutes in. JG starts some arpeggios, Phil jams on it, then back to the crying star, after which it dies down.

Verse 2 at 25:15! Strong vocals, the song form is skeletal, for example line 2 has the offbeat rhythm only in bass until that last A chord, minimal wandering on line 3. Slightly out vocals for the outro, a long build into the St Stephen intro.

Weird one! No first verse, and that amazing space in the middle with organ and cymbals. But otherwise slow and not exactly “in tune” in many ways. A lot of aimlessness in the first half.


Adamos:


As it gets going they slip into a mellow, amiable groove. The organ is prominent and seems a little peppier than the overall vibe at the moment. Jerry and Phil are working some lines with Bob adding gentle textures. They get into the main theme fairly quickly but don’t linger for long. Jerry is spinning a web and picks up the pace a little; he pauses and Phil comes in with some boumb, boumb, boumb from which they pivot a bit. Things get spacier for a moment and then they’re back into the main theme. TC continues to assert himself.

Around 4:20 Jerry hits the volume knobs and then moves forward with more bite. They’re starting to conjure something up now; the intensity increases and it gets more compelling but before long they are back at the main theme again. This time they are more into the groove though so it’s still a pretty good stretch. They ease up, the shaker steps forward while they gather themselves, and then they proceed in mellower and more contemplative fashion although this quickly shifts back into the main theme again at 8:00.

They launch into it with a bit more gusto and the gong washes create a swell. Jerry is moving more quickly now with Phil playing off him and Bob adding little accents. It gets Bright Star-ish for a moment before slipping back into the main theme. TC comes in strongly again. After a couple minutes they downshift and Jerry plays some lower notes and then shifts into something a little edgier. Still lots of TC. Around 11:00 they start hitting some big chords sort of like bell tolling but it sounds different. From there Sputnik starts to emerge but doesn’t fully come out and then there’s a tape cut.

When it cuts back in they are in the main theme again with Phil leading the way. This gives way to some big gong washes and they hover and build up a swell primarily through the gong plus some TC. Out of the void Jerry hits the volume knobs and now they’re drifting in space. They stay there for quite a while and it starts to get weirder and more intense. TC is certainly giving it his all tonight.

They ease up and from the quiet Jerry slowly builds up into Sputnik. TC is following along and adding a second layer to it. They work to a peak and then hover for a moment before Jerry pivots and starts a gentle climb towards Bright Star. It reaches a nice peak that they sustain and as bzfgt pointed out there’s a bit of Falling Star mixed into some of the Bright Star licks as well. This launches them into a high energy jam and they build to another triumphant peak. Eventually they come down and head to the main theme but then proceed to rock it out before giving way to the second verse.

This is kind of weird one. In the first half they seem a little directionless and just keep coming back to the main theme. You almost wonder if they are a little bored with it or maybe they feel they’ve done all they can with the opening portion. But then it starts to get spacier and more interesting and it finishes strong too. So it’s difficult to know what their mindset was not only with this one but some of the other recent uneven performances as well.


Mr. Rain:


An elegant opening. Here's our friend the guiro again. (The congas seem to leave quickly though, in a surprise change; there's a lot less percussion than usual in this Dark Star.) TC's organ is a lot louder than usual, and has a very ghostly tone....it's kind of surprising how much his tone has changed in recent months; having a Hammond instead of a Vox has given him more options. There's one great bit at 3:20 where he echoes Jerry's feedback!
They keep referencing the theme in the opening jam, kind of like they did at Woodstock. But I don't hear the tentativeness you do...I think they're just changing their approach to a quieter, more minimal style in Dark Star. (It's really not that different from, say, the Fillmore East 2/13/70 which has a very similar feel in the opening jam; that's a Dark Star that also stays largely on the quiet/restrained side.) The jam seems to rise and swell almost like breathing, but stays mostly low-key. Lovely evocative playing from Jerry, and TC adds some nice shading too. It's like they're trying to play as gently as possible. The gong enters quietly after 7 minutes, which urges them on to a more forceful passage which hits all the harder after the preceding quietness. At 9:30 it's even shading into Bright Star for a moment, and here come Bill's drums! Now the theme yet again...is it time for the verse? No, they make a fascinating detour into a theme-based digression. Then they move into a quasi-Sputnik introduction which doesn't really go anywhere before the tape cuts at 11:50.
I heard this very differently than you did....usually thus far, when the opening jams are over 10 minutes long and the Dead keep deferring the verse, it's been a good sign that they're really into it. Are we to say this time they're just timidly dragging it out, sputtering along without direction? Maybe.... Or maybe they're trying a new approach. It's nothing like the shaky "how-can-we-get-out-of-this" feeling at Woodstock.

The verse is cut and the tape resumes right after the lyric with the little theme reprise, then the space. And what a space! This is much more extended than we've heard before, and much more of a true "space," drifting along in the darkness. Jerry does volume twirls while the gong hisses and TC makes creepy Halloweenesque organ noises. This is almost like a horror movie soundtrack. After 16 minutes Jerry does some bell-tolling and they rise up in a little frenzy, then calm down again. And out of the silence, the Sputnik quietly starts at 17:20....a very effective transition. (And it skips the usual intermediary jam -- Sputnik normally doesn't come right out of space.)
The Sputnik is a quiet one, starting out mostly as a TC/Jerry duet; the others join in for a little bit but it doesn't get crazy or get into the jabbing/insect-weirdness part, instead they just fade out around 19 minutes. The quiet mood is sustained. You've mentioned that Sputnik, after months of dominance, seems to be dissolving lately like they're getting tired of it, and this is a good example...it's more a short atmospheric tease than the full display.
At 19:20 Jerry moves into the long-deferred jam, a beautiful transition aided by the swelling gong. After a minute it's already turning into Bright Star with a very uplifting feel -- they get louder, the drums enter, and they stretch it out with an interlude & a long Bright Star reprise at 22:30, really milking the phrase in a heavy climax. (Echoes of Falling Star at 21:30.) After 23:00 Jerry moves into a hypnotic stretch over Phil's drone for a final burst, and at 24:00 they dive back into the theme. I love the little flourishes Jerry adds to the theme here, I don't think we've heard this variation before -- then back into Falling Star AGAIN at 24:40! An ecstatic finish. After all this they somehow calm down for the verse.

I'm going to disagree with you on this one! I think this is the best Dark Star since Atlanta (not that there's been much competition). I know the opening jam wasn't popular with the rest of you, but it didn't sound aimless or uneven to me at all, more like quietly brooding chamber music....like they're finding new depths in low-volume playing. Considering this was at some middle-of-nowhere festival in Oregon, I imagine them playing this under the stars as the breezes blow through the redwoods....
The big breakthrough in deep space is a sign that they're starting to take Dark Star in new directions, and the sustained quiet vibe doesn't sound like a lack of confidence to me but an intentional choice (or, perhaps, their mood that day). Jerry may not be in top inspired form but his understated approach here is also satisfying. Great ending too, a huge contrast to the earlier parts. It took me places.