101. 1970-04-24 (possibly 4-23)

19531 Denver 24:39
Main theme at :30, :50, 1:32, and 6:05.
First verse at 6:34.
Sputnik at 11:05.
Feelin’ Groovy at 13:01.
Soulful Strut at 13:54.
Bright Star at 22:05.
Main theme at 22:30.
Second verse at 23:03.
Goes into St. Stephen.

The sound quality of this aud leaves much to be desired. The band cranks along convincingly on the intro jam, with some visits to the main theme punctuating the proceedings. Garcia, who is once again playing an SG, sounds really great here. There is a quite majestic feel to the playing here, and there is a sense of bobbing along on some effective swells and peaks in a continuously flow of sound. There is a particularly rousing peak before the drop into the main theme just prior to the verse.

Once again there is a good patch of near-silence at the beginning of space, which is a particularly unique and effective strategy in the Dark Stars of this era. At 9:30, we find that the return of the SG also has brought us the return of the insect weirdness, which seems to lend credence to JSegel’s theory that he is playing behind the bridge in a way he cannot do on a Stratocaster. Space proceeds very quietly until, at 11:05, there are adumbrations of Sputnik. This is sort of a Sputnik and sort of not, as is often the case these days; I guess it can’t hurt to list it. It soon turns into a more ordinary line from Garcia; Lesh dips into Feelin’ Groovy at 12:40, and after a little dithering that’s where it winds up going, and then it works its way over to Soulful Strut.

They play the heck out of this one, and Garcia sounds magnificent on the SG (or at least, given the quality of the recording, he sounds like he sounds magnificent). By around the 16 point Soulful Strut seems to be winding down, but they crank it back up to a crescendo. Finally at around 17:20 Garcia lets out a flurry of notes that bring Soulful Strut to a close.

He then plays some double stop riffs, and it’s not clear exactly what’s going on here, but it seems like something different. It starts to take the rhythm of Feelin’ Groovy, more or less, but with different chords. At 19:05 Lesh starts playing Feelin’ Groovy, but Garcia keeps shifting up a fourth and throwing it into disarray. Lesh lets out a final flourish of Feelin’ Groovy chords when Garcia stops. At about 20 minutes, they shift back into a Dark Star pattern. This then changes into some 5-beat arpeggios, and then back into a hard charging jam that again dips into a Feelin’ Groovy kind of beat before veering into a Bright Star-like peak; then they take it over the top into Bright Star, drop down into the main theme and head to the verse.

This is a remarkable version. The jamming after Soulful Strut is rather unique, and at times it’s hard to discern what they’re doing. At times, once again, the cadence of this section reminded me of Run for the Roses. The final peak is brutal, devastating. The sound is terrible, though.


What was said:

JSegel:


Audience tape shows an interesting aural spectrum, the band starts the songs and Jerry tests some feedback and swells before a theme entrance, played a few times before heading to more restrained lead playing, sounds like neck pickup in the hall, not super bright—he’s back to using an SG now, a ’66 Standard. They reference the theme a few times before it starts to take off. Nice playing, wish it were a better tape! Bob sounds like he’s keeping the rhythm, essentially, it’s tough to hear his chordal notes exactly. They build with Phil following Jerry closely into waves that crest and break. Some chordal whirlpools at 4:00 in, with Phil controlling the harmonic environment. Back to the song basis, and JG is off again, he’s exploring some nice runs, endless melodic motion, then goes into an area of stretching strings. Really beautiful stuff! Then the gliss up to the A and the theme proper again at 6 minutes, into verse 1 at 6:30.

People clap at the singing (reviews said the audience were sort of expecting Live/Dead and got hit with a full opening set of folk music). Nice verse version, a little more motion as it goes through the lines. And off to the counterpoint and into the middle section, Phil is setting it up droning on the A string as the band tremolos toward quietude.

A slight bell toll from one guitar rings an e-minor… cymbals take over with small sounds from the instruments, hardly audible in this hall recording until they build the volume a bit. Scrapes and sounds. Some volume knob swelled notes. Space. It gets very quiet by 10:30 minutes, sounds like a quiet Sputnik emerging by 11, against some odd sounds still happening, some feedbacks. It breaks at 12 min, melody returns with lead playing, again not the bright Strat tone exactly (I wonder how much of that is the tape?) Phil picks up underneath and they go immediately to the UJB descending bass riff major-key progression. (I’m just going to call it that.) And then a lithe segue into the “Soulful Strut/Tighten Up” two-maj7-chord jam. (I’m still finding all these names weird, and given our historical perspective, it does sound sort of proto-Eyes...) Jerry’s tone is honky and nasal, maybe he has a wah pedal backed off like he used to use, or the SG's tone knob does that? In any case, soaring lead playing, lots of claves and Bill on side-stick latin groove. Move over Esquivel, here’s some real space-age bachelor pad music.

At 17:20 it breaks to a new arpeggio, sort of Sputnik-y, with the “Shall we go” sixths following, playing on them to a new area, which sort of leads back to the UJB riff as Jerry plays with the implied chords. At 20 min it drops back into the Dark Star chordal area. Drums still plugging away a bit and JG starts a type of arpeggiated lead section that relates to the Sputnik chord, but he takes off on it and the band follows upwards. Several melodic waves up and down and to a Bright Star, really playing it out, loud and strong by 22 minutes!

Bringing it down from there in volume and tempo, people clap and cheer as the band enters the Dark Star theme again.

Verse 2 at 23:00, no filigree really, sort of a staid rendition, the outro vocals sound good in the hall, reverberating. Counterpoint leads to the static chords, leading to St Stephen and a searing version of the Eleven, so the audience is gonna get some Live/Dead after all.

This is really a great version despite the bad quality audience recording, very seamless transitions between the jam sections, nice playing all around, great full-band playing. Wish there were a better audio copy!


Mr. Rain:


They're soaring right off! They drop right into a mystical wonderland....something the audience tape enhances with its blurry, far-off prism. Strange creatures wander through the Mammoth Gardens... They do some careful construction around the theme at the start, then work up to a heavy peak at 3:30. This opening jam gets a lot more exotic than usual, oozing all kinds of places before the theme at 6:05. Does Jerry sound excited to be back on his SG?

The exit into the post-verse space has been getting to be more of a big production lately...but the tolling bell is still hanging in there! This is a chimey, glittery, fairytale-forest kind of space...really great use of feedback and, well, space. And as it fades out, a lovely transition to Jerry's usual sputnik routine, half-in and half-out of space, which bursts out in a torrent and then fades away. This whole sequence reminds me of Caliban's speech:
"The isle is full of noises,
Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices,
That if I then had waked after long sleep
Will make me sleep again; and then in dreaming
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked
I cried to dream again."

After that they get into the big jam right away, and Phil wastes no time nudging them into Feelin' Groovy. It's basically just a short introduction; before long it turns into Soulful Strut in a deft sleight-of-hand! (These themes haven't been paired in a few months, on tapes at least.) Soulful Strut is pretty neat; they quiet it down in the middle and then bring it back up again in an old r&b trick. But this theme must come to an end too...then there's a lovely little drift with Jerry wandering downstream Chuck Berry-style (that is, if Chuck had ever played a Dark Star). This gets back into kind of a quasi-Feelin' Groovy...a return to how the jam opened, like a mini-palindrome!
Then the cauldron bubbles & boils, chords flying every which way, drummers going hard, who knows what'll come out.... They're edging back to the Dark Star theme, but taking the scenic route, Jerry climbing back up to the cloudy peaks. After 21:20 he nails a thrilling high flight that climaxes in a blazing Bright Star. After that it's almost funny when they suddenly slow down and return to Dark Star like nothing had happened. The audience is sure impressed!

Great version for sure. Like on 3-24, they sound super-excited, and the jamming really goes places. I could adjust to the recording all right...you can make out the guitars okay, and the hazy mist that obscures the performance is actually well-suited to Dark Star. (This is nothing compared to the brutal ear-hammering that awaits us on the NEXT Dark Star....)


adamos:


Recorded glimpses like we're looking in on something that took place long ago in a far away land. They jump right into it getting a nice groove going with early swells and a fluid feeling. Things slow up a bit and get more dreamy. Jerry is working some lovely lines. Majesty from a distance. They get some more momentum going again; after 3:20 or so the intensity builds and then they ease into a revvy, spacey zone that slips back into a fluid groove. Jerry climbs a spiral staircase and they're cruising through the clouds, reaching higher before shifting into the main theme and on to the verse.

After the verse Phil and Bob do their thing and there's a rumbling feeling before things quiet down. In comes some bell tolling that feels delicately dramatic. They get into almost pin-drop territory with just faint chimes and slight sounds. Things slowly build with cymbal or gong washes and some feedback and a bit of insect weirdness. It's an oozy, other-worldy zone subtly executed to good effect. Around 11:05 Sputnik starts to slowly emerge. It takes its time, not fully formed, then picks up some pace while remaining fairly low-key. Pretty becomes more powerful before giving way around 12:05, after which Jerry shifts into a gentle wandering line.

By 12:40 there are Feelin' Groovy cues from Phil which they launch into properly after 13:00. It's brief but nice and then they shift into Soulful Strut around 13:55. It's lovely and uplifting even from a distance and they work it for a good while, eventually quieting down before bringing it back up for a final peak. Then at 17:20 Jerry hits these high, repeating notes and then some longer, stretchy ones. Everyone joins in and it rises up and gets Feelin' Groovy-ish and then after 19:30 they ebb and swirl and rock and then ease up and transition back into Dark Star territory. Things start to build and they're cooking along, rising up and then bursting into Bright Star that just screams out in triumph. They don't stay for long however and quickly descend into the main theme (which is greeted by enthusiastic cheers from the audience) and then on to the second verse.

A strong performance with plenty going on and an enjoyable listen despite the recording quality.