9570 San Francisco 15:27 (14:00)
Main theme at 5:26, 7:26, and 9:08.
First verse at 9:35.
Goes into The Other One.
The late-1971 Dark Star boom continues with this short (14 minutes) version from the Harding Theater. The tempo is again relatively languid, and the band eases in without much sense of purpose it seems to me, although there are some nice lines going on. Keith is a bit quiet in the intro here, although he is audible if you listen for him.
At 3:37, Garcia initiates a rolling passage that does not achieve the intensity we would usually expect here; the band still sounds like it’s biding its time. It builds a little after about a minute, but no one seems eager to kick it into another gear, and the music eases back again. Garcia finally starts the theme, although this seems a bit out of joint. Lesh sounds like he’s trying to push it to a different key to avoid the theme, until at 6:15 he starts hammering on the A repeatedly. Garcia tries to get the theme going again, then wanders off, and by 6:30 they start easing into a B minor thing, although without much conviction.
This all seems like it could get terribly interesting at any moment, if they decide to get it together, but after some musing in this direction Garcia comes back to the theme at 7:26, and this time the band seems willing, if not eager, to go along with him. At about 8:10 Garcia starts repeating an A, in a reiteration of Lesh’s gambit of a couple minutes before. Phil hints around at a jazzy bass line of the type that will soon become common. Keith creeps in a little more; Garcia plays a ritardando build-up to the theme at 9:08, and this time everyone comes along, taking us to the verse.
The post-verse jam starts with some tremolo from Garcia which Weir and Godchaux take up, and then Jerry starts pumping a repeated note that seems intended to start one of the frenetic little jams that are becoming common. By 12:00 or so this seems to be coming together nicely, although in keeping with the overall mood tonight it’s rather gentle. As this goes on, everyone seems to be getting it together in a way we haven’t really heard yet tonight, as it sounds like they’re all playing on the same team, for the most part. But by 13:20 it seems to be fraying a bit at the edges, and another transitional section emerges—if that’s the right word, since the transitions seem to just lead to other transitions tonight. At 14:28 Lesh starts indicating Feelin’ Groovy, but then at 14:36 Garcia starts playing The Other One, and that’s all for Dark Star. This threatens to congeal, but then it disperses into a drum break before they’ll get back to it.
The Grateful Dead sound lovely in general, which is the saving grace of this thing. This would make one heck of a tuning break, in any case. They never sounded all that interested in Dark Star here, though.
What was said:
pbuzby:
All sources of 11/7/71 on the Archive seem to be the same mix, sounding similar to 10/31/71, although with more crowd noise at times, and Keith not as low. The timing of the "Dark Star" varies between sources since some of them include the tuning before it (which has some pretty "Dark Star" teases). The Boswell source is running slow. The newest GEMS source is a nice clear version.
I agree that the band seems to be having trouble finding focus here, I think mainly due to Garcia, who keeps vetoing Weir and Lesh's pre-verse jam ideas by bringing back the Dark Star theme. The post-verse is better, but again ended by Garcia who steers it to The Other One.
Various members of the group are doing the repeated single notes thing that is common around this time, most definitively featured in 4/8/72. I don't know offhand if this was in earlier '71 versions.
bzfgt:
Yeah there have been a few versions of that jam that gets to me its definitive edition in the pre-verse section of 1972-04-08.
Mr. Rain:
The "tuning-break Dark Star!" The band sounds great, anyway (though Keith's still low in this one). Timings are more accurate on the GEMS copy.
Very pretty start; cool long sustained note by Jerry at :22. Phil's in a bubbly mood, but the opening's more placid than energetic. Which is just fine: the effect's a bit like floating on a peaceful lake among the waterlilies. Keith adds background tones; Bob seems subdued as well. They hover in place after 2:10; the drums come in around 3:00 and break it up. The opening jam stays in a zone of relaxed spaciness, with Jerry dipping in & out of the theme (3:55, 4:47, 6:00). Phil doesn't seem to be quite on the same page with this, clashing with Jerry and pushing out in other directions, but they mesh for a while in one oozy swampy stretch after 5:20. The mood starts getting more tense & angular after 6:40; when they do hit the final theme for good at 7:40, it feels like they're taking a more jaunty step. Verse at 8:07.
They go straight into scrubbing squiggliness, but it doesn't last long; after 10:20 Jerry starts up a perky line and they regroup & sound like they're building up a nice jam. And....it sounds that way for a while, like they're just about to break out into melodic beauty; not blazing hot, just nice. Phil briefly teases Feelin' Groovy at 11:38, after which they start getting more scattered. Soon it sounds like Jerry & Phil are playing in random separate jams, and Bob all but stops playing, uncertain where things are going. (I think Keith is following Jerry, but not sure.) After 13:10 Jerry decides it's time to bail on this and starts playing the Other One riff (which echoes his repeated note back at 10:10). The others join in, and they ease into a little Other One prelude before the drum break.
The Other One turns out much better than the Dark Star did. I'm not sure if the problem was that they weren't interested or focused enough, or the moment just wasn't right for a cohesive Dark Star. There were times back in '69 when they ditched Dark Star early for the Other One too. There is a nice gentle mood here, certainly a pleasant way to spend 14 minutes, but no sparks fly. An interesting one for Phil students too, since he dominates and sounds like he's playing at right angles from Jerry.
adamos:
The tuning does sound nice. They start off slow and easy, gliding along. Phil is prominent and buoyant in the mix. There is some gentle maraca in the background. Jerry works a patient, pretty line with accents from Bobby and Keith. At 3:37 Jerry starts a repeating thing that has the potential to rev things up but they keep it to a low boil; sounds nice though. They build a bit of momentum with Phil particularly active but still opt to keep it on the mellow.
Around 5:05 Jerry starts to sound a little '74-ish and then they touch on the theme and dance around it for a spell. After 5:50 they pick up the pace, relative to the performance, but then ease back again. In the space that is created Phil jumps in with a quick repeating note that Bob adds to gently. Jerry contemplates the theme but lets it wander elsewhere and they get into a semi-spacey zone. For a moment it sounds like things could ratchet up towards something meltdown-ish but they keep it mellow and then gently return to the theme at 7:27. It starts almost as a whisper and then they work it up a little, back to a gliding vibe. Jerry gets into a repeating thing that Phil and Keith play off and things get a bit more active before they hit the theme again and head to the verse.
After the verse they reset and Jerry does some fast strumming that the others fall in with and it sounds like they are trying to open up a portal. Things get deeper and spacier and then at 11:50 Jerry breaks out with a line that sets them off into the makings of a jam. They work it and the pace and intensity begin to grow and it seems promising but it never fully takes off. Instead they downshift and continue to wind through adjacent territory. It all sounds good just perhaps not fully fleshed out. As noted there's a touch of Feelin' Groovy from Phil but shortly after Jerry starts gently playing The Other One riff and that's it for Dark Star on this night.
The opening segment has a gentle, pretty feel and they attempt some exploratory jamming that certainly sounds nice but they never fully commit to it.
JSegel:
Back in San Francisco, at the Harding Theater, 616 Divisidero. It was a nice deco theatre in the 1930s, not sure how it was holding up in 1971, I don’t think this was a usual venue—it’s the Emporium now, trying to revive the deco theater that was there, and oddly it’s next door to the Independent Club (which has been the Kennel Club, The Justice League, The Vis Club, etc) which has been a music venue for the past 4 decades while most of that time the Harding was empty.
Nice tempo start, lots of bass in the mix, sounds like Bill got himself a hand shaker of some sort. Jerry plays a bit then goes into feedback before a wide melodic pattern, really creative lead playing of the theme-adjacent areas that dive down into quiet tones and build back up. Everybody is playing at the edges of the Dark Star theme groove world, it’s back in there somewhere, but the players tonight are skirting the edges in different ways. Really interesting repetitive-pulse groove area a few minutes in, and it leads the drums into the groove. Phil is leading this, it seems like, though possibly he’s just loudest in the mix. He comes out of this area into some low chord arpeggios that lead the band into spaciness, with some scraped cymbals and non-rhythmic playing until Jerry states the theme at 7:45 and the drums bring a groove back in, though Phil is still in exploration mode so it doesn’t stick and heads back to spaciousness, Jerry comes back again to the theme at 9:20 and they finally are playing the song. Verse 1 a few seconds later, nice reading, the drums providing a groove for line one, then punctuating larger stops for the off rhythm on line two. A very together route into the refrain, and the outro. Phil has a nice melodic statement leading to the intro riff, then as they settle into the Transitive Nightfall, it’s all fast quiet tremolo and oddness, low notes from the bass, blowing reality away again, some string scrapes and things, but a drum hit starts Jerry off on a lead run at a new pace in a minor key area (sound like b minor, the same notes as the A mixolydian, but accented differently. It’s almost that ‘beautiful jam’ area, but Bob never quite gets on the actual chords. Some weird nursery rhyme things from Phil, he’s really in his own world this evening. Phil even plays the Feelin’ Groovy descending chords for a try, but then Jerry starts the Other One rhythm and it goes off for a bit, and devolves into a drum solo! Ok, weird one, guys. Nice playing, they’re still sounding a bit like a multi-headed thing that can’t focus it’s minds together, each head is sort of looking in its own direction.
Though the drum solo is maybe not a part of this version, I’d say (though it’s just labeled “Drums” of course), so much as the extended intro to The Other One. The Other One is much more intense, though weird in its own way, encompassing Me and My Uncle in the way that the band is doing these sort-of acid rock things lately that enclose country/blues ballads. Where the blowing away of reality in Dark Star used to lead to space, it’s now leading us to other more “human” realities with the ballads. The second half of The Other One after M&MU is much more like continuing Dark Star, there’s even a Sputnik at 3:30 into it, and it’s very filled with space, I would not have been surprised if they had completed Dark Star with its second verse here or after verse 2 of TOO (in fact I would have appreciated it…!) but as somebody on stage says “We probably wouldn’t have stopped there, but we got a broken string.”
ianuaditis:
Garcia was doing that kind of stuff in his side bands, though we don't seem to have any tapes from the latter half of 71 that could provide confirmation or negation of a 'missing link.' A couple of versions of 'Save Mother Earth' from 72 struck me as much more like 72 GD meltdown stuff than anything played by the GD in 71, but as you said they started doing that in fall of 71 with Keith on board.
Most of what solo Garcia exists from early-mid 71, even when it gets wild, is more funky jazz fusion type stuff.
5-20-71 and 5-21-71 have that type of thing, with some near-meltdown moments:
There is a bit here from about 14:00 on, and then from about 15:45 there's a brief meltdown.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58r1wsSWfz4&list=PLIJmYQvaDU3HewYD_YWvuw3PmJnjEH-M0&index=5
there's also a little bit here from 5:45-6:30 or so, and then again from ~9:15 on for a while, then 12:30 or so, but it's more like a groove peters out, they doodle about for a minute and then start up a different groove, which from what scant evidence we have seems to be how these early Matrix/Keystone jams went.
But skronky atonal meltdowns are a part of that milieu, and also it's possible they had a native origin; while there wasn't much of that within Dark Star before Keith joined, 'atonal space' and 'discordant meltdown' aptly describe many 'Feedback' segments from 68-70.
Most of what solo Garcia exists from early-mid 71, even when it gets wild, is more funky jazz fusion type stuff.
5-20-71 and 5-21-71 have that type of thing, with some near-meltdown moments:
There is a bit here from about 14:00 on, and then from about 15:45 there's a brief meltdown.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58r1wsSWfz4&list=PLIJmYQvaDU3HewYD_YWvuw3PmJnjEH-M0&index=5
there's also a little bit here from 5:45-6:30 or so, and then again from ~9:15 on for a while, then 12:30 or so, but it's more like a groove peters out, they doodle about for a minute and then start up a different groove, which from what scant evidence we have seems to be how these early Matrix/Keystone jams went.
But skronky atonal meltdowns are a part of that milieu, and also it's possible they had a native origin; while there wasn't much of that within Dark Star before Keith joined, 'atonal space' and 'discordant meltdown' aptly describe many 'Feedback' segments from 68-70.
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