youtube Yale 22:48
Main theme at 1:15, 3:25, 7:27 and 9:37..
First verse at 10:20.
Main theme at 18:59.
Second verse at
Followed by Bird Song after a brief pause.
Dark Star returns after a gap of three months, and Garcia is again playing a Les Paul. The band sounds invigorated as they flex their polyphonic tentacles, with Jerry’s piercing brassy Gibson striking sparks off Lesh’s fat round bass runs. As Garcia strikes the main theme at 1:15, a small cut jolts us forward beyond the theme, although I don’t get the sense there is that much missing.
Starting at around 2:20 the band wanders into a kind of spacey pit where the time signature vaporizes and the tonality seems to have a relationship to the old standby E minor. In mid-1969 this might have led to some pre-verse exploration, but since then these interludes seem to lead into the main theme rather expeditiously when they occur during the introductory section, and tonight seems to be no exception, as after about a minute Garcia strikes up the theme. Instead of bringing it all together, though, this time the band darkly broods as Garcia, after some light tolling, strikes out with a spacey lead. By 4:40 this has become a full-blown space jam! Jerry flutters around with some hammer-on/pull-offs as Lesh intones some whole notes that suggest a couple of tonal alternatives in the neighborhood of 7:00, giving us E, A and finally lighting on a hanging G which frames the return to the theme, which Phil proposes at 7:05.
The band broods a bit longer, though, winding up on A with the G natural still hanging in their midst. At 7:37 Garcia states the theme, but we don’t quite get there yet; rather, a majestic and swelling jam rises and rises on the theme chords. As we come down the other side of this, Garcia swirls through the theme again at 9:27 against Weir’s delicate harmonics, again laying in the G natural, until at 10:20 he finally begins singing the first verse after the longest introductory jam since 1969.
After the verse there is a very heavy statement of the main chords, and it seems to be settling into space by around 12:10. This time they do not begin with silence, but rather Lesh plays some woozy effects as Garcia twirls the volume knob. At 13:53, after Kreutzmann beats his toms, the return of the Gibson brings back to us the concomitant insect weirdness. This instigates a dark and heavy jam that begins as a flurry of disparate elements held together by the beating toms, until Jerry’s riffing begins at 15:25 to suggest a way forward—at 16:00 Lesh decides this will be Feelin’ Groovy, and Weir soon picks up on it with some dirty chording. Garcia at times sounds unhinged and vicious in a way that he only does when he is playing a Gibson.
At 17:16 Garcia takes them out with some almost Sputnik-like squalling, then moving to some celestial lead that again heavily suggests the dominant 7th, G. At 18:00 he starts riffing in a pattern we’ve heard before, and which bears a family resemblance to several Dead vehicles like Sugar Magnolia and even Run for the Roses. It’s uncertain where this is going, and by 18:24 Garcia is suggesting a return to Dark Star, but they pause to tear it all down before Jerry strikes up the theme at 18:59. They stretch it out a bit, and there will not be a second verse tonight, an omission that will soon become standard operating procedure. At 22:20 a band member calls for Wharf Rat, and for a moment it sounds like they’re going to go there, until someone counts them in and they start Bird Song—I’m not sure how they figured that one out.
The band plays dark and heavy here, and Kreutzmann lays into the toms frequently which, along with the emphasis on the G, gives this one a rather humidly brooding vibe. The band is absolutely torrid, and there are certainly glimmers of 1972 at this point, which some of my confederates here have begun pointing out already in some of the recent renditions. Although Dark Star has been placed on the back burner relative to its previous central place in the set, in hindsight we can see gestation rather than stagnation, as it will soon return to its place of honor as the jam vehicle par excellence. While they play it less, Dark Star has nevertheless been uniformly strong over the past year and a half. Still, it is rather surprising to find them playing such a long and beautifully realized intro jam at this point. The post-verse section, centered on Feelin’ Groovy, is not as exploratory as the intro section, but overall this version is superb.
What was said:
Mr. Rain:
Another first-set Dark Star! And one of the rare Dark Stars so far played in an outdoor stadium, and one of the few with only four players. (4-26-71 the only other one, I think.) Miller's copy is the same as the release, but with significant speed differences (so the timings aren't the same).
The Dead have another long break before Dark Star, Phil teasing it repeatedly while the crowd gets more excited.
Once it starts, pretty quickly it becomes evident we're in the deep stuff now. Heavy galactic exploration right off. There's a cut around 2:00 but patched with a great audience tape that blends in well (the patch ends at 4:27). When Jerry gets to the theme after 3:20, this would be the usual time when they do the verse, but....they just keep going, deeper into space. You might think they've skipped the verse altogether when they promptly get into a space jam! This is the new-style space, spooky wanderings in the interstellar gloom. Phil suggests the theme after 7:00 but it takes Jerry a minute to go for it. But they just swirl around the theme for a while and then keep going with a heavy jam on the chords. The theme sort of floats in & out, suggested but delayed, until they finally settle on it around 10:00. The last time an opening jam was this long was back on 12-4-69!
The verse is a little uncoordinated but goes straight into more droning bass slams & heavy spaciness. As the guitars wander out to space again, Bill practically does a little drum solo behind them, going wild. Jerry's beeping insect tone makes a surprise reappearance as the toms pound a beat after 14:00, and they get into a churning groove propelled by Bob's dark chords. Jerry breaks out for a bit at 15:30 establishing a new riff, and at 16:00 this emerges as Feelin' Groovy, everyone sailing on the theme. Fantastic moment, and Jerry really tears into it!
The theme dissipates by 17:20 and they coast to a stop, but the jam's soon renewed in an uplifting direction. After 17:55 Jerry gets into a nice rhythm that starts sounding like Bertha, but this trickles off, and Phil wanders around uncertainly. Where next? While they're on pause, Jerry takes the moment to bring in the theme at 19:00, a warm reprise. It sounds like he's about to sing the verse....but instead he pretty much drops out after 19:40 and the others just vamp on the theme for a while. He comes back for a relaxed little jam on the theme, in no hurry. Bill's got the toms pounding, and as the theme jam goes hypnotically on & on it becomes apparent no verse is coming. Jerry's got something on his mind as the music dissolves after 22:25, but what? "Wharf Rat!" someone calls. But there's a hurried band discussion over the closing notes of Dark Star, and bang, Bird Song bursts forth!
In an apparent period of neglect, Dark Star's been growing by leaps & bounds this year, and this version is superlative, really beyond my ability to describe (making this a hard review to write). Bill's really coming forward by now, but everyone shines. While they do kind of get lost at the end and run out of ideas, this is the best one of '71 so far and even competes with the earlier heavyweight versions.
JSegel:
Nice intro, Jerry starts out on a descending line and then picks it up with some lead lines with a slightly distorted and bright tone (Les Paul Special! P-90s!) They sound pretty much into it after not playing the song for several months. Jerry forces an eddy in the moving flow with some repeated notes before 2 minutes in. It all falls apart at 3 minutes and then from the ashes, the theme starts again, drums coming in. It doesn’t seem to stick, though, and they go into some spaciness and off into atonal/arhythmic space world! Wow. This is serious.
It moves forward with odd sounds and string scratching, bubbling up drums and bass, and Phil intimates the Dark Star theme again at 7 minutes, but it doesn’t move into a groove yet, it takes its time to get there, through more weirdness at varying levels, some stretched strings crying out and it all falls back together again in a jumble with some strong chordal leads heading toward Dark Star again, still playing around with the idea of maybe playing the song, but it does happen!
Took ten minutes to get to the first verse, wow. Sort of a mellow verse tempo, lots of playing around with the rhythm, nothing is very spot-on, even line 2’s normal offbeats. Even after the refrain, the counterpoint is slightly offbeat, and it heads to strong bell-like tolling, but breaks down into a new ocean,
Jerry comes in with single note lines again, but not in any specific key. Phil is playing odd things with his strings, bouncing something around shoved in between them. Come volume swelled notes. Drum rolls. Distortion building up as the drums continue rolling around, when it breaks down we have odd behind-the-bridge picking rhythms with drums building a rhythm back up, trilling notes. Bob is interested in a dissonant chord he seems to like. Jerry starts some new lines, drums still rolling around, as Jerry starts up a riff sort of thing, Bob starts some chords and they break into a 'Groovy' jam with some stops on the IV chord. It breaks down for a while, builds back up. Breaks down, sounds like it might move back to Dark Star at 18:30, and gets to the theme again at 19, as if we head to verse 2.
It never gets there. Maybe he forgot the lyrics? JG keeps trying out some solo ideas, Bob and Phil riff on the Dark Star chords, drums roll on. Then it suddenly dies off and they start Bird Song with a crash. What?
Mr. Rain:
I also wondered if Jerry simply spaced on the verse lyrics at that point.... 'Guys? What's the verse? Anyone?' It's really really rare, as you know, for the Dead to just flop at the end of a Dark Star jam like this, especially one that had been so inspired....usually they made smooth recoveries even when they ran out of jam.
I also wondered if Bird Song came to mind because of Bill's big use of the toms through this Dark Star, which he also does in Bird Song.
adamos:
They sound charged up out of the gate and there is a muscular sound to the proceedings. Jerry heads out high and raspy with strong interweaving by Phil and Bob. Within the first minute they are cooking but then they slow up a little to work the theme. Nice repeating guitar sound starting around 1:30. Bill's been working the maraca throughout. After 2:20 they hover and swirl and ooze into a spacey zone, creating a pretty pocket from which the theme re-emerges at 3:25. But they opt not to ride that too far and before long its subsumed into deeper space. Things get nice and weird for a good spell. Bill works the cymbals as the electric instruments explore the nether regions.
Around 7:05 there are hints of the theme from Phil but they take their time and swirl a bit; at 7:37 Jerry starts to play with it but they still haven't fully committed yet. Phil hits some deep notes. It's a pretty passage that suddenly rises up and becomes more intense. They ebb briefly and then flow forward like riding the crest of a wave. They take it to a peak then ease down and play around the theme again, eventually making it more pronounced before moving on to the verse. Wonderful opening segment.
As the verse ends we get a couple of raspy guitar notes, Phil and Bob reset and they rev it up a little before backing off into space again. Things get quiet-ish with Phil playing some vibrating notes and Jerry hitting the volume knobs. Bill's really working the drums and "beeping insect tone" is a good way to describe how Jerry comes in at 13:54. In its own weird way it adds to the tribal feel like there is some kind of arcane ritual taking place around a fire.
They work the groove and get some momentum going then around 15:30 Jerry steps forward with a new line complimented by Bill. The others join in and suddenly they're flying and they slip right into Feelin' Groovy which adds that triumphant feel and Jerry puts some extra mustard on it. Grateful Dead! By 17:20 things seem to have run their course and they glide along a bit with Jerry up high and Phil down low and Billy still working it.
It feels like another jam is starting to come together but it doesn't fully coalesce and they ease up. Around 18:30 Phil steps forward briefly complimented by Bill and they hover again and decide to head back to the theme. They take their time with it, forgoing the second verse and gently downshifting. Bill continues to be active on drums and they keep the groove going for a few minutes. Around 21:45 Jerry picks it up and for a second it sounds like it could turn into a mini Bright Star but he keeps rolling along. At 22:20 there’s a hint of Wharf Rat but after some apparent confusion and a couple verbal declarations of “Wharf Rat” they briefly pause and punch out the opening to Bird Song instead.
This is a very good version despite the inelegant ending. The opening segment is really good and from after the verse though the return to the theme is compelling too. I hadn’t listened to this one in a while and I really enjoyed it.
bzfgt:
So on 1971-07-31 someone is calling for Wharf Rat at the end....I wonder, it seems maybe they had at least a vague notion to pair the two frequently, as the intro to Wharf Rat can flow right out of Dark Star....it never really happened all that much I guess, but I wonder if it was seen as perhaps the new occupant of the St Stephen slot.
Mr. Rain:
Dark Star & Wharf Rat were hardly ever coupled again, maybe 2 or 3 more times. Maybe Jerry decided they were musically too similar, since one can flow all too easily into the other... (There will be a couple instances of "is this a Dark Star or Wharf Rat jam?" coming up in later years.)
But Dark Star>Bird Song, now THAT was a rarity!
I also wondered if Bird Song came to mind because of Bill's big use of the toms through this Dark Star, which he also does in Bird Song.
adamos:
They sound charged up out of the gate and there is a muscular sound to the proceedings. Jerry heads out high and raspy with strong interweaving by Phil and Bob. Within the first minute they are cooking but then they slow up a little to work the theme. Nice repeating guitar sound starting around 1:30. Bill's been working the maraca throughout. After 2:20 they hover and swirl and ooze into a spacey zone, creating a pretty pocket from which the theme re-emerges at 3:25. But they opt not to ride that too far and before long its subsumed into deeper space. Things get nice and weird for a good spell. Bill works the cymbals as the electric instruments explore the nether regions.
Around 7:05 there are hints of the theme from Phil but they take their time and swirl a bit; at 7:37 Jerry starts to play with it but they still haven't fully committed yet. Phil hits some deep notes. It's a pretty passage that suddenly rises up and becomes more intense. They ebb briefly and then flow forward like riding the crest of a wave. They take it to a peak then ease down and play around the theme again, eventually making it more pronounced before moving on to the verse. Wonderful opening segment.
As the verse ends we get a couple of raspy guitar notes, Phil and Bob reset and they rev it up a little before backing off into space again. Things get quiet-ish with Phil playing some vibrating notes and Jerry hitting the volume knobs. Bill's really working the drums and "beeping insect tone" is a good way to describe how Jerry comes in at 13:54. In its own weird way it adds to the tribal feel like there is some kind of arcane ritual taking place around a fire.
They work the groove and get some momentum going then around 15:30 Jerry steps forward with a new line complimented by Bill. The others join in and suddenly they're flying and they slip right into Feelin' Groovy which adds that triumphant feel and Jerry puts some extra mustard on it. Grateful Dead! By 17:20 things seem to have run their course and they glide along a bit with Jerry up high and Phil down low and Billy still working it.
It feels like another jam is starting to come together but it doesn't fully coalesce and they ease up. Around 18:30 Phil steps forward briefly complimented by Bill and they hover again and decide to head back to the theme. They take their time with it, forgoing the second verse and gently downshifting. Bill continues to be active on drums and they keep the groove going for a few minutes. Around 21:45 Jerry picks it up and for a second it sounds like it could turn into a mini Bright Star but he keeps rolling along. At 22:20 there’s a hint of Wharf Rat but after some apparent confusion and a couple verbal declarations of “Wharf Rat” they briefly pause and punch out the opening to Bird Song instead.
This is a very good version despite the inelegant ending. The opening segment is really good and from after the verse though the return to the theme is compelling too. I hadn’t listened to this one in a while and I really enjoyed it.
bzfgt:
So on 1971-07-31 someone is calling for Wharf Rat at the end....I wonder, it seems maybe they had at least a vague notion to pair the two frequently, as the intro to Wharf Rat can flow right out of Dark Star....it never really happened all that much I guess, but I wonder if it was seen as perhaps the new occupant of the St Stephen slot.
Mr. Rain:
Dark Star & Wharf Rat were hardly ever coupled again, maybe 2 or 3 more times. Maybe Jerry decided they were musically too similar, since one can flow all too easily into the other... (There will be a couple instances of "is this a Dark Star or Wharf Rat jam?" coming up in later years.)
But Dark Star>Bird Song, now THAT was a rarity!
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