112. 1971-02-18

111793 Port Chester, NY 1. 7:02 2. 7:19
Main theme at :54, 1:56, and 3:02.
First verse at 3:26.
Second verse at 5:44.
Goes into Wharf Rat and Me and My Uncle.

The first Dark Star of 1971 gets off to a bold and snappy start. Garcia is now playing the Rick Turner “Peanut” guitar; although he did not play it for long (Jan. 21—April 29), he got a striking sound out of it, and it is a sound which became much-loved due to the self-titled live album from April 1971. The playing here is beautiful all around, and Garcia’s tone is magnificent. Jerry briefly dives into the theme at :54, then circles around a bit and comes back to it a minute later. He breaks out some double stops at 2:30 or so, at which point Weir really starts driving him, and a splendid peak is reached before they again double back to the theme, and on to the verse: “Dark star flashes.”

There is a brief reprise of the introductory jam after the verse. They never quite get to space; rather than descending into silence, Garcia keeps frittering around, and then they go into the first Wharf Rat. This is played solidly and confidently; this whole sequence so far is a tour de force, although one wonders whether they are beginning to feel a bit less motivated to draw out Dark Star, and if the energies that have made it such a consistently powerful element of their set are beginning to dissipate.

Wharf Rat dissolves into a bluesy take on the Dark Star theme. They start a vamp on A with a little kick to the D; then the band goes to a B minor to A pattern while Garcia starts playing a melody on a D major/B minor scale, and the famous “Beautiful Jam” comes shimmering out of the speakers. This really sounds like it was composed, especially since Garcia starts his line right when the others modulate.

At 2. 3:25 it turns into a vamp on the A, with hints of Sugar Magnolia, and they pedal along there for a while. The preceding jam has cast a powerful spell, and I kept expecting it to resolve back to B minor, even though A is the home chord of Dark Star. Instead, Jerry sings the second verse, and it’s all over.

What can I say about this jam? It is gorgeous, and all too brief. Not much of consequence happens afterward, but it doesn’t really need to—this has been a major statement, a stunner. This is an extremely pithy Dark Star, but a powerful one. It poured out of the amplifiers and into history, and we are fortunate to have these recordings.


What was said:

111. 1970-11-08

28609 Port Chester, NY 16:06 + Main Ten Jam 5:51 + Jam 2:58.
Main theme at 5:45.
First verse at 6:38.
Goes into Dancing in the Streets after the Main Ten Jam.

The last known Dark Star of 1970 begins with Garcia playing a repeating pattern that flirts with the main theme. Lesh steps out a little, but everyone is playing gently here, and there is no real lead line. They seem to be suggesting E minor quite a bit as they go on, and the music sort of broods along. Garcia plays a flourish of triplets at 4:12 that stands out as it skims over the top, but for the most part they are blending their instruments into a larger whole. At 5:45 Garcia starts to fire up the main theme, but they maintain a light weave right up to the verse, which is laid in gently.

Coming out of the verse, it seems they are keen to maintain the meditative feel of the piece. Space brings us down to almost nothing but some cymbals. Someone makes bird noises, eliciting a lot of laughter at 9:10; Weir jokingly admonishes the crowd, “This is serious!” The crowd seems rather fired up for the occasion, even as the band tries to play a quiet and spellbinding Dark Star. Space stays at a minimum for a good stretch here, and when the intensity increases it is more or less a deluge of sound, but not a barrage of notes. Again there is some bells or glockenspiel as we near the end of space, and then a repeated note that is almost like a beeping. Garcia finally starts playing The Main Ten, and the band picks it up.

This is also played rather gently, although as is to be expected it gathers some momentum as it goes along. By about 3:50 this turns into a one-chord vamp, and the band seems to consider moving on to something else, but they just sort of hover there for a while. A little bit after the 5 minute mark Garcia starts hinting at a return to Dark Star, but instead they get into another jam that drifts toward Dancing in the Streets. After a couple verses of this, they break into Soulful Strut, and this ends with what briefly sounds like a Dark Star jam, so this could also be seen as a continuation of Dark Star...

The main portion of this is understated but quite beautiful, with a very effective space after the verse. Once they come out of space the jamming seems a bit listless, though, although not without charm altogether. To me this is an ambiguous version: one could surmise that they are running out of ideas for Dark Star, but one could just as easily say that they are still uncovering new possibilities.


What was said:

110: 1970-11-05

17182 Port Chester, NY 21:07
Main theme at :32, 3:33, and 4:25.
First verse at 4:38.
Feelin’ Groovy at 16:31.
Bright Star at 18:37.
Second verse at 19:32.
Goes into St. Stephen.

Once again the audience recording is far from perfect. Weir lays down a chugging rhythm, and from Garcia there is a variation on the main theme at about :32. I’ve listed this above, although it’s not always easy to determine what is to count as an iteration of the theme. The introduction has a blithe, happy-go-lucky feel, and after three minutes there still is not a clear sense of direction. At this point Garcia starts to heat up a bit, but we soon arrive back at the theme. The band drifts away a little, comes back, and the first verse arrives.

Space emerges as a kind of gestalt this time, a surrounding ambience of foreboding that sort of oozes along. At 9:40 there are hints that a more familiar music might emerge, as we start to distinguish individual instruments and track their direction. However, there isn’t any recognizable movement away from space until 11:14, when hints of Sputnik are given. Weir does his shimmering thing, and then at 11:49 Garcia strikes up a melody. Somebody is out of tune. At about 12:22 Garcia does a rolling sort of thing which is not Sputnik, but may have some genealogical connection to the latter.

By about 13:10 we seem to be in a new jam, which doesn’t sound much like anything we’ve heard before—we are out of space, but the foreboding heaviness remains, and this is almost a kind of funeral music. Are there hints of Feelin’ Groovy poking through this dirge? Lesh seems to be making a suggestion in that direction, while Garcia seems to be pushing it toward a more Dark Star-oriented jam. He alludes to the theme at 15:25. Weir is quite assertive here, and a guitar duet takes shape. At 16:13 Garcia is worrying at the theme again, but then at 16:31 Lesh again pushes for Feelin’ Groovy, and this time it goes through.

This is a gentle rendition, with some very lyrical work by Garcia. The chord sequence dissolves shortly after the 18 minute point, and the band pedals along on one chord until 18:37 when Garcia brings out Bright Star. At 19:09 this transforms into the main theme pattern, although Garcia never plays the theme itself.

At times the introduction felt a bit aimless, but the rest of this is quite entrancing. Dark Star is becoming a much less central part of the Grateful Dead phenomenon, but it will see a renaissance when Keith Godchaux joins the band. For now, though, they still seem to have something to say with the form.


What was said:

109: 1970-10-17

119329 Cleveland 19:17 (cut)
Bright Star at 13:13.
Sputnik at 15:02.
Main theme at 17:13 at 17:41.
Second verse at
Goes into St. Stephen.

Here we have another imperfect audience recording. In fact, it sounds really bad. Garcia fiddles around with the verse melody in the beginning, but it does not go to the e minor, so it is unofficial. In any case, it is a very vigorous opening; they keep it close to home with the two chords going, but the playing is pretty intense. At 3:13 there is a sudden cut to the end of the verse, though, so we seem to have missed a bit of this very promising intro jam.

After another descent into near-silence, space elicits some boisterous cheers when the bass starts rumbling. There is a rather scary swell, and then as it recedes Garcia is there with some Sputnik-like licks, although he does not go into Sputnik; rather, space continues with some volume swells. On the other end of this Garcia again flashes Sputnik and Weir plays the shimmering accompaniment that has become familiar. An alternately swelling and receding melody with a minor feel emerges here.

As Garcia’s line becomes more pointed, someone is playing some bells (or a keyboard that sounds like bells?). A two chord jam coalesces here and gathers steam. Garcia takes the opportunity to build a stinging line, at times hinting at Bright Star, which is where it seems this will go, although it’s not time for it yet. Aha—there it is, coming together at about 13:13.

They regroup off the back of Bright Star, and soon reach another peak, with Garcia from about 14:14 really howling and raising the energy level again with a repeated lick. There’s a pretty unique peak heading into the 15 minute mark that unexpectedly turns into Sputnik, so we have another familiar element that seems out of place. More frenzied jamming ensues, and what sounds like it’s going to be an elegant transition into the main theme turns awkward before it gets there. At 17:43 there is another cut that takes us into the verse, where it seems that Garcia is doubling his vocal with the guitar (as he always does--see Mr. Rain below!).

This is a really gripping version, and we can only regret not having a better recording. The band seems eager to shake things up, and there is some outstanding jamming here.


What was said:

108. 1970-10-11

9500 Wayne, NJ 20:29 (cut)
Main theme at 2:14 and 3:22.
First verse at 4:08.
Sputnik at 11:32.
Main theme at 18:33.
Second verse at 18:56.
Goes into St. Stephen.

This horrible recording cuts in right in the middle of the action, and it sounds like they’re going at it rather splendidly—everyone is playing aggressively as they hit an early peak. They slow down and stagger the beat before broadly hinting at the main theme at 2:14; however, they blast off again without committing to the theme, which they return to a little over a minute later.

The post-verse space seems rather noisier than the last one as it gets underway. The song structure drops out, but there are cymbals and then a lot of whooshing and sproinging. At about 10:30 Lesh starts a really heavy riff and there is a remarkable segment that unfortunately doesn’t last very long. After some deliberation, Garcia turns to Sputnik to get us of space. We don’t get very far out, though, and things seem to collapse back into space again until Jerry starts playing a lead line that sort of gets them moving.

At 13:30, Weir tries a rock and roll riff for a bit, and Garcia seems to me to be anticipating Soulful Strut at times. A rock jam coalesces. It starts to sound a little more like Feelin’ Groovy, at least rhythmically, but tonally it seems more of a Dark Star jam. Finally at 15:45 Lesh plays Feelin’ Groovy, but then Garcia seems to start the verse melody and Lesh starts playing the main theme pattern, which they then gravitate toward.

By 16:50 they seem out of gas, and the whole thing stalls. Various directions are proposed, and Garcia starts hinting around at the main theme, and the band follows suit, but it takes Jerry a while to get all the way there. When the second verse starts, it doesn’t seem a moment too soon.

There is, as usual, plenty to enjoy and admire here, including a pretty wild space section. But the band seems scattered, and at times they seem to run out of ideas and fail to keep things going. It’s possible that the bad recording magnifies the effect and there is something more going on I couldn’t hear. In any case, this one is interesting but inessential, and kind of painful to listen to.




What was said:

The Two Chord Jam (Mr. Rain)

I think they do some simple two-chord theme coming after space in most (if not all) of the 1970 Dark Stars, but as far as I've noticed they never do it the same way. So it's kind of elusive, and I'm not sure if they're actually repeating the same chords each time.




While this thread has lots of in-depth reviews of individual, isolated Dark Stars, so far there's not so much comparison among groups of Dark Stars. So in the interests of scholarship, I put together a little timing list to make easy comparisons of at least this little section of 1970 Dark Stars -- the jam coming after space. Specifically, I was looking for the two-chord part that often kicks it off that year, or sometimes shows up a minute or two in the jam.

1970-01-02 at 17:00 (but the really unique theme starts after 18:00)
1970-01-17 at 10:40 (comes out of Sputnik, turns to Dark Star framework after 11:30)
1970-01-23 at 10:35 (comes out of Sputnik)
1970-02-02 at 10:20 (starts loose, gets more structured after 11:40)
1970-02-08 at 14:00 (very loose, gets more Dark Starry after 15:40)
1970-02-13 at 14:30
1970-02-14 at 10:55 (they lean hard on the 2-chord bit, as on 2-13)
1970-03-24 at 6:20 (theme gets going at 7:20)
1970-04-24 at 12:10 (comes out of Sputnik, Feelin' Groovy starts at 12:40 so not much here)
1970-05-08 at 8:30 (comes out of Sputnik, sounds like a slow Dark Star theme)
1970-05-15 at 8:30 (Sputniky phase at 9:20, 2-chord theme at 10:00)
1970-05-24 at 12:05 (comes out of Sputnik, Bob hits chords at 13:20, then new theme)
1970-06-24 pt. 2 (Dark Star theme after Attics, not really comparable)
1970-09-17 at 11:15 (comes out of Sputnik, slow theme similar to 5-08)
1970-09-19 at 13:15 (comes out of Sputnik, Bob hits chords at 13:45)

And looking ahead a bit....
1970-10-11 at 12:30 (comes out of Sputnik but takes different path, not very comparable...this sounds insane)
1970-10-17 at 8:10 (OMG! totally different! -- then Bob hits chords at 10:15, a slow take)
1970-11-05 at 11:30/12:15/12:50/13:40... (very slow start out of space....totally unlike previous jams til they get to Dark Star theme around 14:30, this is WTF amazing!)
1970-11-08 (Main Ten out of space, completely different)

So, unless it resurfaces in 1971, I'd say this two-chord theme pretty much reaches its culmination on 9-19-70....the Dark Stars later on in the year go other places. Mind-boggling places.

As far as when it started, I haven't really investigated late '69 for it yet, but I don't recall the December '69 Dark Stars locking into this two-chord theme at all. They do feature an important predecessor though, Bob's dreamy arpeggio that he often uses out of Sputnik -- like at 12:40 on 12-26-69, or 12:55 on 12-30-69. This is the riff that Bob often uses in 1970 to introduce the jam, leading into the chords. The Dark Stars of January '70 have the same kind of loose open-ended feel as in Dec '69 when the jam gets started, but some like 1-23 or 2-2 have that two-chord theme creeping in, and on 2-13 it's full-blown, and it stays put in Dark Star through September.

A couple caveats: I don't know if "theme" is the right word here. The chords seem to me to be kind of a funky variation on the Dark Star theme, kind of a cross with Soulful Strut (and often leading into it). I think it should be given a name, but...this is probably too late now that almost all its performances are behind us!
Also, it's played a bunch of different ways; the jams it was in could vary a lot, so it's not like a theme where everyone had a specific part to play. The main connecting thread here is just Bob's chords, which he could alter to suit the occasion...sometimes a slow Dark Star groove, sometimes a hard R&B style.
Anyway those are just my layman's observations; someone more musically astute could come up with a better analysis.

JSegel:

Specifically, I was looking for the two-chord part that often kicks it off that year, or sometimes shows up a minute or two in the jam.

This is the chord theme that goes A7 to G7, using the F natural as a contrast to the F# that usually exists in the Dark Star world, right? I tried to make note of it, usually yeah, going into the Major 7 version of the G (at the very least, if it goes full on"Soulful Strut" latin vibe, the A also gets the Maj7 and it has that proto-Eyes feel.)

This is great, doing whole-period summary stuff. Thank you!

107. 1970-09-19

31510 Fillmore East 25:30 (25:23)
Main theme at 1:47 and 5:06 and 6:09.
First verse at 6:23.
Sputnik at 13:16.
Feelin’ Groovy at 16:10.
Bright Star at 20:51.
Main theme at 21:15.
Bright Star at 22:16.
Main theme at 23:27.
Second verse at 23:51.
Goes into St. Stephen.

The feel is rather relaxed at the outset compared to recent versions. Garcia’s remarkable entrance begins with a note at :22 that comes in and out and finally swells in on a razor edge of feedback. Once he starts his line proper, it is subdued and meditative, seemingly elicited by the delicate playing of the rest of the band. They touch down on the theme early, and head back out.

At 2:35 Garcia again swells in and out on an extended note, this time with a little tremolo picking a la the beginning of Foxy Lady. At 2:50 Garcia does some of the bell tolling we sometimes hear after the first verse. The ruminative playing seems to suggest E minor, then at 4:13 Jerry strongly suggests A, but no move is made toward the theme for almost a minute. When they do hit it, they use it as a springboard to a more assertive jam, although the intensification is by degree and feels organic, leading back to the theme again and the verse. This is one of the most beautiful introductions we have yet heard.

Weir comes to the fore following the verse, with Lesh gently rumbling and Garcia throwing out a bell toll or two, and then there is a transition to silence to begin the space section. A few volume knob swells at an almost subliminal level keep a kind of momentum in play, and then Garcia gently tolls a bit and the cymbals swell. There is a sound like dripping water, and then some amplifier noise cuts in. At about 10:25 a transition seems to be occurring as an intense wash of sound starts bubbling up from the band.

At 11:14 Garcia and then Weir start making sounds that bear a recognizable relation to their origin in guitars; at 12:03, something resembling Sputnik starts coming out of Garcia’s guitar, but we don’t seem to be leaving space, which is if anything just getting more insistent. Then at 13:16 Garcia starts up Sputnik, which could be our line out. Weir’s counterpoint here is gorgeous. Suddenly Garcia is climbing and Weir is playing some funky chords, and, after a magisterial space segment, the middle jam is underway.

At 14:35 Weir sounds like he wants to start Feelin’ Groovy, but nothing comes of it yet; instead, a quite vigorous jam, basically on A with a little kick to the D, coalesces. At 16:08, everyone pauses and Weir kicks into Feelin’ Groovy. Garcia’s lead here is particularly effective; after such a subdued preface, he cuts loose at last. This does not last long, though, as the band shifts through various pedaling maneuvers, and at times seems to touch on Sugar Magnolia. This seems to be one of those segments where they allude to certain structured jams, but manage to stay out of all of them, creating something unique in the process.

A bit after the 20 minute mark Garcia seems to be pushing toward Bright Star, which would get us back into Dark Star territory. When he finally hits it at 20:51, he does it half time rather than taking the jam over the top with it, and they bring it down to the main theme. Rather than going to the verse, they cast about a bit and land in a beautiful jam into which Garcia drops a delicate hybrid of the main theme and Bright Star. This gathers steam, but they are not aiming for a crushing finish tonight—even the peaks feel meditative. Soon they return to the theme, and thence the second verse.

What a wonderful Dark Star. Calmness and a kind of majesty reign throughout, as the band never pushes too hard. This is a monumental rendition that belongs in every Dark Star fan’s rotation.


What was said:

106. 1970-09-17

145891 Fillmore East 26:40 (26:28)
Main theme at 3:03 and 4:01.
First verse at 4:22.
Sputnik at 10:29.
Bright Star at 16:45.
Soulful Strut at 17:42.
Main theme at 24:27.
Second verse at 25:05.
Goes into St Stephen.

A cry for Alligator is heard; many is the time that song will be mentioned prior to a Dark Star. Again we start briskly and with purpose, but the recording does not sound great at first. At 1:50 the band sidesteps into an alternate reality; they go off on a droney bit that takes the jam away down a side street. But at 2:47 Garcia starts in on a Bright Star bit that brings it around to the theme. They wander off a little but then come back to theme rather promptly, and so to the verse.

Space has been bleeding back into the bit between it and the verse lately; when they get to space proper, there are some elephant noises, then a cymbal crash, and the audience is appreciative; I’m not sure if there was a visual component to this that helped get their attention. For the most part, this space isn’t a continuous flow so much as a bunch of weirdness, it seems. But as we get to the ten minute mark it starts swelling in, with volume knob maneuvers starting to glue things together a bit more. By 10:29 Garcia’s Sputnik licks are audible and getting louder, which is a pretty standard route out of space at this point.

This time Sputnik settles into a harp-like pattern from Weir that we’ve heard before, and Garcia starts a high, piercing line that indicates the start of the middle jam. His playing gathers momentum as the band lays down a two chord pattern, and by 15:00 or so they are hitting a peak. They circle about a bit, and at 16:45 they hit again with Garcia playing Bright Star. Coming down the other side, they seem to be struggling a bit to get into Soulful Strut.

When they do hit it, the tempo is very brisk. Listen to Garcia’s licks at 20:00; he gets some good ones in. He seems to have exhausted the fund by around 20:45, though, but Weir keeps on with Soulful Strut a bit longer, and this section feels kind of aimless. Then when they seem to be getting out of it, Garcia prolongs it a little more (21:45) until they sort of crash; the audience gives them a solid cheer as they wind down into a spacey little jam that seems rather unique. By 24:00 they are pedaling and seem almost about to kick off another modular jam, but finally Garcia throws out the main theme and they latch on at a rather quick tempo with the audience clapping along. They don’t try to slow it down this time before bashing right into the verse.

The sound quality makes it difficult to evaluate this rendition, insofar as moments that seem aimless or tentative may just be partly buried. In any event, they get in lots of really good jamming along the way, and even your most discerning Head will find something to appreciate here.


What was said:

105. 1970-06-24

23062 Port Chester, NY 1. 10:01 (9:46) 2. 6:39 3. 30 (Feelin’ Groovy…first 30 seconds of track “Sugar Magnolia”) 4. 3:03
Main theme at 4:00 and 6:11.
First verse at 6:29.
Bright Star at 2. 2:30.
Soulful Strut at 2. 2:54.
Feelin’ Groovy at 3. :30.
Bright Star at 4. :30.
Main theme at 4. 1:14.
Second verse at 4. 1:29.
Goes into Attics of My Life, Sugar Magnolia and St. Stephen.

This is a renowned show despite the quality of the recording. This begins rather brashly, it seems, although audience recordings have a tendency to skew that way. Garcia and Weir lock into a funky little thing at around 1:30, and then Jerry goes spinning up into the stratosphere. Lesh and Weir keep up a perky counterpoint throughout the early innings, and when Garcia gets more ruminative Weir keeps him honest with some chunky riffing. There’s a stirring peak at 3:45 which leads into the main theme. It’s notable that the theme is not really even hinted at prior to then, in contrast to several recent Dark Stars.

They wander away from the theme, and as we cross the 5 minute Rubicon there is a little dip in intensity that sets them up for a wind-up that takes us back to the theme by 6:11. This time it leads into the verse. The post-verse space demonstrates that Mickey has found his gongs; at 8:42 someone in the audience is heard to remark “Oh, my God!” Relief is on the horizon, however, as the band goes into Attics of My Life after a couple minutes of space.

As Attics ends the band gets right back into Dark Star. They start out playing the main chord pattern, and it evolves into a vigorous jam, with Weir again playing chunky chords. It is possible to see Attics as a proxy for space here, and now we’re heading into the middle jam. It’s a rather full tilt affair, with Garcia howling and driving as he starts to whip up Bright Star already at 2. 2:30. Before he’s done, Weir is already cooking up Soulful Strut. By around 2. 5:00 this has gotten really intense, as they reach a polyphonic peak, and after a little dip they bring it back up again by 2: 5:50. Garcia unleashes some crazy runs at about 6:35 before they go into Feelin’ Groovy. This is tracked as Sugar Magnolia, and after 30 seconds they go into the latter.

Sugar Magnolia transforms into a jam which isn’t clearly Dark Star at first; once again, the change comes about 30 seconds into the track, when Garcia returns to Bright Star. This settles down into the main theme, and then the second verse takes us out.

This Port Chester show sees the band playing ferociously, and the Dark Star here, while it may not be very exploratory, spread as it is among various segues, is a hot one. The playing is downright vicious at times. Not to be missed.


What was said:

104: 1970-05-24

6481 Newcastle, UK 21:26
Main theme at 4:22.
First verse at 5:27.
Sputnik at 11:13.
Soulful Strut at 14:39.
Bright Star at 19:20.
Main theme at 19:36.
Second verse at 19:54.
Goes into St. Stephen.

This comes on fast and furious as they waste no time in getting into a groove, and by 1:25 Garcia has already ascended to the heights and unleashed a variant of Bright Star. From here the intro seems to be all peak. At 3:34, Garcia starts hammering on a dominant 7th (G) and Lesh, and then Weir, double him. The recording goes off a bit shortly thereafter, but everything is still audible in any case. The band swings into the theme, and then takes it way down for a while before Garcia finally sings the verse.

The band gets kind of crazy in the little section between the return of the intro theme and space, with some feedback squalls beginning before we get to the space proper, which proves to be a rather feedbacky affair overall. Weir, I think, yells “Hey, watch where you’re going, ****er!” as space gets underway; I wonder whom he is addressing. Someone has an amp humming, whether intentionally or not, which kind of ties the space together this time. The band seems to rediscover the possibilities of feedback here; in lieu of a keyboard player, they get a good variety of sounds going tonight.

At about 11:13 Garcia initiates something along the lines of Sputnik, and this gets more Sputnik-like as it goes. As this turns into a more quotidian Dark Star jam, Lesh sounds really fuzzy, and one wonders if an amp has been blown. At about 13:20 Weir is laying in some dreamy Sputnikish stuff under Garcia’s line, which soon turns to a funkier chop. Just before 14 minutes it seems like they’re angling toward a modular jam, and a two-chord pattern emerges which suggests Soulful Strut, although without the Soulful Strut cadence at first. It sounds a bit like the pattern used in the famous Beautiful Jam of 1971-02-18, which is itself probably some kind of variant of Soulful Strut.

At 14:39 they fully commit to Soulful Strut. This turns into a magnificent version. At about 17:40 they start moving into something else, but it’s not clear what that is; it becomes a bubbly jam, then pedals along between a I and a vii chord until at 18:50 Weir starts playing his Dancin’ in the Street lick. Finally, at 19:20 Garcia plays Bright Star, but he almost immediately switches to the main theme and brings us to the second verse.

This isn’t the best Dark Star I’ve ever heard, but it isn’t chopped liver. There is a rather magnificent Soulful Strut, and some interesting interstices where possibilities seem to gather, although they don’t get explored very patiently. In any case, there’s nothing here to complain about!


What was said: