119. 1971-10-31

youtube Columbia, OH 23:14

Main theme at 4:17 and 6:47.
First verse at 7:17.
Soulful Strut at 13:19.

Slow and stately this begins. We could look at BPM stats, but my sense is that Dark Star has been slowing down, and will continue to do so until 1973. Garcia sounds majestic and lovely on the Strat. One almost wishes he’d just alternate between the Fenders and Gibsons, but the latter emitted their last sounds on a Dark Star some months back.

The intro section tonight doesn’t have much truck with the main theme; for a while there, it seemed they were keeping the theme in play throughout the intro, but now they’re letting it go where it will. I’m not sure exactly what he’s doing (maybe @JSegel will elucidate it), but Garcia seems to be moving things about a bit harmonically; for instance, in the passage from 3:59 to 4:17, which ends with what sounds like a modulation when he takes it to the theme. At 5:08 Jerry hits on a repeated lick that has a sort of controlled scream to it, and he follows with some of his tuba-like expressions on the bottom strings. Then at 5:57 he embarks on a tremolo passage which then hints at the verse melody, although it’s been a while since they’ve played this with a crash to the E minor as they used to do in 1969.

This all culminates in some triplets that ascend to a high note at 6:40, which sounds like the signal for a return to the theme. This comes and ushers in the verse. This was an excellent intro section; although my comments have focused on Garcia, the band sounds really great here. Godchaux has been mostly blending in up to this point, which is a marked contrast to his presence on the first two Dark Stars of his career. His playing fits very well where he can be heard, and he may have been louder on stage, but his contributions seem less central this time out.

The band keeps trucking along after the post-verse reiteration of the intro theme. After about a minute of treading water, at 8:51 Garcia starts in with some triplets which Lesh and Weir latch onto, which brings them into a place not unlike Sputnik. I can’t hear Godchaux at all here. At 9:30 they almost go into Sputnik, but Phil starts playing a rocking line that gets them whipped up again, and by 10:00 they are into a vigorous jam. People start suggesting chords, but it’s not clear which ones, or if there is any consistency to it. Godchaux comes up a bit here, and there is a bubbly jam after about 11:00 which sounds pretty unique, and eventually begins to take on a minor key feel.

At around 12:10 they seem to be trying to get into some kind of modular jam, but I can’t identify which one it is, yet. But in fact it doesn’t turn out to be anything identifiable, but is rather another unique section. And this changes again at 13:04, when Garcia starts up a little riff as a precursor to Soulful Strut, which finally emerges at 13:19. Once again I cannot hear Keith as this gets underway, but they play the heck out of it.

At 15:30 Godchaux comes back into the mix, and he seems to be playing something a little slanty, or else he’s out of tune….either way, the effect is not unpleasant. Jerry caps it off at 16:54 with a one-note solo that takes things up a notch, and this culminates with him playing the melody an octave up from the usual spot. At around 17:48 he starts rolling the chords and it seems they are ready to make a transition. They stay with it for a while though, as Garcia does a Sputnik-like bit from around 18:30 and the energy begins to subside. They slow it down and drag it out; at 19:18 Lesh suggests the theme, and Jerry then echoes him, but they don’t go there yet—it almost seems like they’re going to space instead. At 19:55 Garcia starts in with the stuff that will become the Tiger meltdown in future times; they almost get there this time, with Garcia starting a fast tremolo at 21:17, but it never quite gets to a boil. At 22:25 Godchaux starts pounding away, and one could think we’re headed into another jam, but they grind to a halt, and at 22:29 Weir strikes up Sugar Magnolia.

This is certainly a superb version. It would be nice to hear Keith a little more, but otherwise the band sounds great. On the one hand it feels like Dark Star has entered a new era; on the other, in retrospect this still feels a bit transitional, in light of what is coming in 1972. Either way, they’ve grown and found new possibilities for improvisation, and late 1971 is a wonderful time for Dark Star.


What was said:

Mr. Rain:


Keith's barely in the mix for this one! You can hear him a little way off in the back, but for a lot of the time, this might as well be quartet Dead again. Apparently Dark Star OPENED the second set, the Dead were just ready to go!
Anyway, this Dark Star's spectacular from the moment it starts. Bill's drumming from the opening riff, setting a slow & steady pace. Phil's especially loose, bubbling all over. Bob holds down the structure. Jerry really shines with galactic jamming; it sounds like he's soaring up to the heavens here. The opening jam is totally relaxed & flowing....I don't even notice time passing. Beautiful lead-up to the theme after 6 minutes.
Once they finally hit the theme before the verse, they speed up significantly. This seems to be a 1971 thing....back in '69/70 they'd have to slow way down from the jam to do the verse, but now in '71 the jams have become oozing slow-paced puddles of tranquility.

As seems to be the norm now, the verse just goes straight into more jamming; space is barely even suggested. They soon get into a spiraling thing around 9 minutes. Some more urgency is creeping in, and around 9:45 they slip into a nice fast choppy jam. But there's no solid structure yet, and instead of taking hold it dissolves pretty quickly, by 10:30...sad to hear it slip away so soon. After some drifting, Jerry tries a prettier fingerstyle approach at 11 minutes, kind of a quasi-Sputnik at first. But around 12 minutes they're back to aimless drifting. Weir does some R&B-type jabs but drops out after 12:15, so then it's just Jerry & Phil & the drums ambling around for a while. Bob's back at 13 minutes; Phil strikes a big chord which sets a new direction. Jerry gets back to the R&B chord idea at 13:20, and presto, it's Soulful Strut again!

They really dig into Soulful Strut like old times, glad to have a solid theme at last, and the jam really picks up after a few minutes in the doldrums. Keith's been barely audible through the jam so it's hard to tell what influence he's having, but he gets louder after 15:20 with kind of a honky-tonk feel. After seeming to come to an end, Soulful Strut renews itself after 16 minutes, Jerry sailing ever higher and hitting a wild peak after 17 minutes. At 17:45 the jam shifts, still on two chords (though Phil's trying to stretch it) but transitioning to a different feel, Jerry slipping in some fingerstyle Sputnik stylings after 18 minutes. By 19 minutes they're coasting to a pause on his twinkly arpeggios.

It's a natural stopping point, and Phil sounds like he's ready to go to the theme. But after toying with the idea, Jerry decides to draw the jam out more. After 19:45 they start heading in a dark-atonal-space direction. Keith's totally going for this, and the music gets weird & creepy. At 21:00 we get another proto-Tiger that almost gets to a meltdown but holds back. Things are getting tense as the band builds up some fierce strumming under Jerry's tremolo. Chaos looms, the music surly & brooding. But underneath it all, at 22:25 Keith strikes up a ringing chord that Bill locks onto, and he holds it til they all swell around this chord in a big harmonic crescendo. At 22:50 the cloud breaks with harmonized sustained feedback between Jerry & Bob and some final tinkling from Keith. Bob suggests a chord, they hold still for a moment in this state of grace, Bill starts the beat, and they swoop out of the feedback cloud into Sugar Magnolia.

Magnificent! I'd forgotten that for a few minutes after the verse they're stuck in this aimless late-'71 territory where they flit from one idea to another with nothing sticking. But that doesn't really matter; the rest is so graceful and rewarding. Aside from Soulful Strut being reprised out of nowhere after a year's absence, the ending transition is remarkable. And it's funny how Keith, barely apparent through most of this Dark Star, rises up at the end to deliver the stunning orchestral climax.


JSegel:


Set two starts off with Dark Star for this Halloween show!

After the intro riff, Jerry starts wandering with the opening theme right away, and they head into a mellow jam. Bill is in on the drum set right off the bat lately, for the pulse (no guiros anymore, ya know.) It’s a different beast in that way as well. Really beautiful expressions from the lead guitar, nice tones used, little eddies of notes, and runs. Phil’s got a different tone, (what bass is he using these days?) Nice continuing jam that lands on the A at 4:25 and they start the theme, breaking off for more improvisation on it. This seems much more moving in the world that Dark Star will enter in the following year, it sounds like. Jerry takes the Strat out for some highs and lows, exploring tonal/pickup variation as much as register variation. He gets into a tremolo area for a while.

A strong landing back to the theme at 6:50, and verse 1 at 7:15. Really strong offbeat statements for line two, mild wandering and odd chords coming in on line three. Jerry sticking the guitar doubling for the vocals.

The classic intro to the middle section, which starts with more groove like at the start but Jerry takes it sideways with some fast picking and then arpeggio, Phil and Bobby follow suit. Then Phil goes for that fast pulse bass line thing, and they head into a major key-sounding jam for a bit, but it doesn’t last. The key idea is out the window and they go outside for a while, a groove brings it back in for a bit, they’re exploring up and down, not really sticking with any particular idea, again more like the multiple heads looking in varied directions rather than the multi-headed machine.

Oddly at 13 minutes Jerry starts the Tighten Up/Strut/proto-Eyes Maj7 chords and they go into the Latin flavored jam area. (Apparently the first one in a Dark Star this year and the last version of this in Dark Star at all, say commenters on Archive.) Keith is not with the band on these chords really, he’s got some other idea going on (but he’s low in the mix).

This jam goes on over some hills and dales, starts hinting back at Dark Star melodically at 18 minutes or so, but keeps at tempo until a minute later as Jerry is Sputniking, and the band defers. Theme-like statements, non-temporally as it breaks apart, then non-tonal space with diminished scales and chromaticism. Scary movie stuff, tremolos and trills. Out of this, instead of going to verse 2 or the theme, they start Sugar Magnolia. Ok, then!

I liked the first part of this version, but I felt like it never really got it together after that and the second half just spins out.


adamos:


Beautiful right of the gate with a majestic feeling dripping off the notes. There is a patient, confident vibe but I wouldn't describe it as slow. Jerry and Phil are active and interweaving well with nice accents from Bob and the others. The winding groove sounds lovely. Around 2:00 Phil is bubbling and Jerry spirals upwards and then continues on a little quicker and sharper. There's just a touch of fuzz at the edges that pokes through every now and then. At 3:00 Jerry hits some notes that he often does and then starts reaching upwards beautifully. Bill sounds really good throughout, giving them an even-keeled center to work off of. Keith is there but not always easy to make out.

At 3:30 they do a repeating thing high and low and then keep it rolling into the theme at 4:19. From there Jerry works a bit more sharply with a driving feel, then shifts gears and takes it deep and low. Then around 6:00 we get the tremolo that bzfgt mentioned which launches him upwards again. He reaches high powerfully but still stately then shifts into the theme which they ride into the first verse. Really nice opening; beauty abounds.

Jerry playing the melody of the verse as he sings stands out tonight; maybe he's putting a bit more oomph into it. After the verse they reset and head back out on a wandering trail. Around 8:47 they hover briefly and you can almost feel muscle memory wanting to let things dissolve. But instead Jerry slips into a repeating line and they pick up the pace and collectively rise ending up in Sputnik-adjacent territory. At 9:40 Phil steps forward and Jerry comes in and they take it into a fast-moving jam with nice accents from Bob. But by 10:30 they're already downshifting so it doesn't fully bloom.

They work it low briefly; Jerry starts putting some pretty, higher touches on it and then they get into a nice thing at 11:00 with some Sputnik-ish touches at times. They work this for a bit with Phil's lows coming through nicely as Jerry and Bob take some sharper stabs. Around 11:55 they ease up and sort of feel around for what they want to do, ending up in a pretty groove that is perhaps treading water but it sounds nice. Then at 13:04 they pause and Phil drops a deep note and you can feel them winding up and then at 13:20 they launch into Soulful Strut. They play it with gusto and take it for a ride. Keith becomes a bit more present but he's still buried in the mix. At 15:40 they take it down briefly and then ratchet it right back up with some nice rev from Bob and soaring leads from Jerry. At 16:55 Jerry launches into one more triumphant peak that is just joyous and then they start to bring it down.

By 17:45 it feels like things have run their course and they shift into a lower groove and work that for a bit. They've still got some momentum and keep it cooking along until around 18:45 when they bring it down and Jerry adds some Sputnik-like sparkle. It feels like they are going to return to the theme but they hover for a spell and then shift into a spacey ooze with some volume knob action and other weirdness. They get into meltdown-esque territory but the monster isn't fully let out of the box. At 21:17 Jerry comes in with some creepy strumming and things start to build again. Before long they pull back into mellower freakiness then take it up one more time transitioning into what sounds like the start of another jam with Keith jumping in strongly. Instead they keep it freaky and things start to meltdown again but they it go and Bobby starts up Sugar Magnolia.

I love this version thanks to many plays of Dick's Picks 2 over the years; it's one of my favorites in the series. Listening to it now with Every Dark Star ears was a fun and interesting experience. It is still a transitional version and not everything fully develops; it's also shame that Keith is not more present on the recording. But there is a lot of beauty and wonderfulness here.