117. 1971-10-21

112086 Chicago 17:09 (1. 14:57, 2:12)
Main theme at :06, 1:31, and 5:20.
First verse at 6:37.
Bright Star at 12:47.
Feelin’ Groovy at 12:50.
Main theme at 2. :15.
Second verse at 2. :29.
Goes into Sitting on Top of the World and Me and Bobby McGee.

After another good break, Dark Star returns in October 1971. Garcia is now playing the Stratocaster he got from Graham Nash, which will be his main guitar for about two years. The Gibsons are now a thing of the past. It’s hard not to have mixed feelings about this, as he got such a great sound out of a Gibson, but the Strat sounds really beautiful here, and much great music will be played on it. This is also the first version with Keith Godchaux on piano, who debuted two days before on October 19th.

This one starts right off with the main theme, and then they start casting about the heavens. Garcia throws in some pinch harmonics at about :55, and he revisits the main theme at 1:31. Godchaux seems very much at home, and he starts to work himself to the foreground more; there is an intense moment at 1:51 when it seems like he’ll push them outside, and then beginning at 2:56 he starts spiraling upward and then locks together with Garcia, throwing everything into a pleasing sort of chaos.

The jamming loosens up considerably here, and it’s enthralling to hear how the band finds places to go with Godchaux on piano that herald new possibilities for their long form jamming in general, and Dark Star in particular. There is a jaw-dropping sequence that begins at about 4:55, with Garcia and Godchaux ratcheting up the intensity, and Weir providing single note counterpoint while Lesh provides an ominous undercurrent. Garcia then decides this is a good time to assert the theme, before they lose themselves altogether. They draw it out for a couple minutes before getting to the verse, which is delivered rather forcefully.

In lieu of the typical space jam there is a gentle passage, with lyrical musings from Garcia. Godchaux seems to take his cue from the latter, shadowing his line with running commentary, and this turns into more or less a duet, with Lesh laying out and Weir providing color. By 10:40 it is becoming a space jam at last, but at 11:11 Garcia starts a one-note vamp that seems ready to lead them out. Sure enough, a frenetic jam coalesces around him. This section is quite rhythmic, and it seems like it could burst into Feelin’ Groovy at any moment; instead, they drive it to a peak, which Garcia caps with Bright Star—and then, a few seconds later, Lesh and Weir drop them into Feelin’ Groovy after all.

By about 14:12 this seems to be dissolving into chaos, and Garcia starts playing a bit that will often lead into the Tiger jam in the future, although it doesn’t quite get there this time, instead veering into Sitting on Top of the World. This in turn comes back to Dark Star at the end, which proves to be a quick wrap-up with the second verse.

The meat of this is the first segment, and it is magnificent. We’ve heard other musicians sit in on Dark Star, and none have fared particularly well at getting the spirit of the kind of group improvising the Dead purvey. Keith Godchaux, however, at his second show with the band, not only fits in, but he is a central factor here. New and glorious possibilities are suddenly on the horizon.


What was said:

Mr. Rain:


Keith's second show. He fits in so naturally at first I didn't notice him! But then, "oh wait, this piano guy wasn't here before."
The opening is slow and spacey, a low-key cruise through the territory. Dark Star seems to be running at a lower temperature tonight, not too hot. Everyone's very mild-mannered until Keith steps up around three minutes in and starts shaping the music in a more cool-jazz direction, and the band adjusts around him. He sounds ready to dive into space, and things get a little more creepy and intense until a mini-meltdown 5 minutes in. They speed up when Jerry brings in the theme at 5:20, and he jams energetically on the theme for a minute before the verse. He sounds stimulated by Keith's presence.
I think they've been rehearsing the verse at least, it sounds more together than in some of the previous '71 versions, and Jerry's singing is almost '69-style again.

Rather than a proper space, they sort of float on a bubbly foam for a while in various combinations -- Phil/Keith, Jerry/Keith/Bob, Phil uncharacteristically drifting out for a while. Dark Star hasn't really sounded like this before, the piano element has brought them to a very different-sounding place. The volume drops and the music gets very tinkly around 10 minutes in like they're on toy instruments, and within a minute it's closer to a proper space with Jerry volume-twirling over a spacey backdrop.

This doesn't last long, in no time Jerry's hammering on a two-note riff and beckoning the way out. Then boom, the others are right on top of him and between 11:20-11:40 a lovely catchy jam is born on the spot. This is the same post-space move they often did in the 1970 Stars, but now Keith's in the mix too, mirroring Jerry, anticipating every move & building on the ideas. The similarity to 27:30 in the 4-8-72 Dark Star is also striking: just a few notes' difference and it would be almost the same jam. So here's a wonderful moment that both recalls the past and looks forward to the future.

Anyway, the Dead are now blasting full speed ahead at last in a hot jam that Phil turns into Feelin' Groovy at 12:55. It's an extraordinary transformation, like the Dead have been cautiously tip-toeing in the shadows up til now and have suddenly unleashed their power in a full Technicolor explosion. Feelin' Groovy is a powerful top-speed thrill that can barely contain itself; but somehow after 13:50 they calm down and the jam dissipates. And in a blink, suddenly we're in discordant space! (Like bzfgt noticed, this sounds like a predecessor to the Tiger jams of '72, just less Tiger-ish.) As the fog descends and atonal chaos looms, suddenly Jerry pulls Sittin' on Top of the World out of his sleeve. And what do you know, within three seconds everybody's with him (including Keith), so I think they were expecting that song although it was the first performance that year! (Phil anticipated it at 14:05.)

Once it ends SoToW turns right back into Dark Star (Phil plays the theme as the song closes). Sounds like a good place for another jam, with everybody loosened up...but no, after 30 seconds Jerry sings the verse. Phil's harmony stands out on this tape. Jerry plays a descending counterpoint instead of his usual notes in the outro. The audience would have been waiting for St. Stephen but that gets deferred for a few songs; instead they get Me & Bobby McGee in another planned segue.

Some new developments here! Keith most obviously, the bold new guy duking it out with Jerry. You'd think he'd been playing Dark Star with them from the start....maybe a few of his note choices are "off" or overly busy sometimes, but he's totally confident, and adds a new jazzier feel. He's obviously pushing them in a new direction that they're happy to go in. (Notice how the opening jam turns from normal Dead-centric to Keith-centric, and also notice how enthusiastically Keith goes for the atonal-spacey meltdown stuff that's relatively new to Dark Star.) Bob's almost sidelined by the new player! But also they're using Dark Star as a mini-suite, embedding another song inside, an idea they haven't explored much. They'd done it on 2-18-71 with Wharf Rat, but now they're juxtaposing Dark Star with country material in a way they haven't before.

This is a pretty Dark Star, all too short as they zip through it, but it's also starting to show a little of the more chilly, cerebral mood it'll take on over the next couple of years. They take a while to warm up and get reacquainted with it, but once they do, the last few minutes of the main Dark Star are great. Very strong sense of possibility, and it's no wonder the Dead start performing Dark Star a lot more often now!


bzfgt:


Yeah, this is the beginning of the renaissance....and an intense period for us.


JSegel:


This is a definitely new era for Dark Stars, here. With Keith Godchaux on piano and Jerry using the Nash Stratocaster, (which later becomes “Alligator", right?) I feel the same wistfulness about "no more Gibsons!", I really loved the SG playing. This particular Strat, however, really sounds good, better than that '63 Strat he had for a while the previous year.

Starts with intensity, a very exact rhythmic statement of the intro, into a nice jam, with piano. Jerry has some nice licks going on, back to a Strat now, really good tone to this instrument, he starts playing with the pinch harmonics even near the top of the song. Takes a long way around the Dark Star melody, lots of multi-note pull-offs and eddies with the whole band, it’s like the “equipment” that is the improvising band is warming up, lots of spacing out, and Keith goes into a whole tone planing chords thing at 3 minutes that takes them tonally outside for a while, out of that wave into a theme statement but then more extra-modal wandering. (Jerry really picks up on the atonal/polytonal thing whenever Keith goes outside, it seems.) Trilling from the piano. It’s a very different sound than the most recent Dark Stars, especially those earlier in 1971.

They even take it full on into intense monster movie atonalism, but it breaks apart and Jerry forces a Dark Star theme at 5:30, the band comes in and it gets going again. A short jam and then verse 1 at 6:40, nice strong guitar and vocal melody leading it in unison. Strong offbeat accents on line two from rhythm section, then the groove continues in line three with slight ornaments from bass. Nice outro and into the middle, it trills away on bass, chords from piano. It quiets way down, but the space is still tonal and fairly pretty. Then on to introspective noodling from everybody, Jerry goes back to trying the pinch harmonics for a while, then back to melodic lines. By 11 it’s very quiet and odd noises are starting, but the piano is still arpeggiating mostly diatonically. They pick up on a quick pulse that goes into a major key jam, which eventually goes to Feelin’ Groovy chords, descending major key bass. It oddly goes sideways halfway through 14 minutes and goes atonal again! The piano doing this makes it sound sort of classical. The way out from this is apparently to start playing Sittin’ On Top of the World, quick and bluesy.

Outro licks of SoTotW song go almost directly back into Dark Star, at a comfortable pace, and to verse 2 almost immediately. This part doesn’t seem real, somehow, like a 7” single 2 minutes of Dark Star edited on to the end. The outro to Dark Star is very exactly played, the outro chords go to Me and Bobby McGee. Weird!


adamos:


There's a beautiful gliding feel as they start and by ten seconds in we get the first little flourish from Keith which adds to it nicely. I definitely agree about the SG but it's also kind of exciting to hear the Nash Strat knowing what will come with that moving forward. They take their time and conjure up a lovely vibe, everyone interweaving nicely. At :45 Jerry starts reaching upwards with these staggered notes that Phil echoes underneath and the pinch harmonics that have been noted come in. This spins forward into a thematic feel that Keith contributes to nicely and then takes further form around 1:30. They continue to wander forth and it's all so pretty.

Around 3:00 Keith starts climbing upwards and the others play off it taking them into a spacier zone. You'd think Keith had been playing with them for some time. Starting at 3:45 there are thematic touches again followed another spiraling, swirling feel. Things start to percolate and then they bring it down and hover briefly before starting an intense, upwards run around 4:53 that spills forward into the main theme at 5:20. They are beautifully gliding again but with more pace and just a bit more edge. This carries into the verse at 6:37.

There's a bit of fuzzy rev to the guitars during the verse. Afterwards they reset and shift into a bouncy, wandering zone and Keith remains prominent along with Phil underneath. Eventually Phil pulls back and Jerry starts a gentle, winding line. Bill's cymbals stand out more for a bit too. Jerry and Keith play off each other at varying speeds with subtle accents from Bob and Phil. Around 10:45 they start to enter spacier territory but it still has its own feel. There's some volume knob action and nice little textures from Bob. But rather than taking it deeper Jerry starts a repeating line at 11:10 and everyone falls in and they're off on a jam. The momentum gathers quickly and they drive it upwards powerfully with a touch of Bright Star mixed in at the peak and then suddenly they burst forth into Feelin' Groovy at 12:55. Olé!

Feelin' Groovy is fast and glorious and just makes you want to move. Around 13:50 they start to slowly bring it down and by 14:10 they're in a totally different zone, seemingly wandering out into space and you can feel the Tiger ready to growl. But they pull back and transition into Sitting On Top Of The World which is a fast and fun diversion. A few minutes later they return to Dark Star but it's really just a curtain call as they quickly move into the second verse and then on to Me & Bobby McGee.

A really good, interesting, transitional version. The opening segment feels like a lovely work of art and there's good action in the back half too.