79057 Munich 26:29
Main theme at 1:21, 10:51, and 12:39 .
First verse at 12:48.
Tiger at 22:26.
Goes into Morning Dew.
This, somehow, is the first time that Dark Star went into Morning Dew. Before that, though, they play the introductory lick and then the usual sort of thing follows. There is some lovely interplay between Garcia and Godchaux in the first couple minutes, with the latter gliding around the keyboard with great agility, and Garcia really tears into the main theme at 1:21 before taking off again. The jam here is built around the theme much more than we’ve heard it recently. The band really leans into the two-chord pattern; they’re all playing hard, and it’s particularly noteworthy how aggressive Keith is here.
At 4:55 it sounds like they’re ready to quiet down a bit. The music gets more contemplative, but it’s still delivered forcefully; they sound really on top of it so far. At 6:50 Garcia initiates a somewhat Sputnik-like roll. He pops in a harmonically interesting double stop blues lick at 7:26, and then a fast and light jam emerges with Weir playing some funky rhythm. Keith is all over this again as get bouncing and percolating along. This picks up steam, and at 9:07 Garcia even quotes Bright Star as the band rumbles along.
At 9:46 Garcia unleashes some ferocious licks, with another nod to Bright Star, and then finally at around 10:00 it starts to wind down with Jerry putting in some volume swoops and then fluttering down through the theme melody. At 10:36 the theme all but arrives, but instead Jerry unleashes a series of triplets as Godchaux stabs along before they finally land on the theme at 10:51. After a few times around Jerry takes off again and they come to a little peak before returning to the theme and then heading to the verse, bringing this outstanding introductory segment to a close at last.
As the post-verse licks die down, Phil and Jerry hammer on the E a little in a way that brings to mind the bell tolling Garcia used to do here. Lesh keeps it going as Garcia plays a somewhat distorted lead with some feedback and pinch harmonics, and a heavy space jam takes shape. The bass emits monstrously distorted groans that turn to feedback as Garcia begins to guide them toward a meltdown. (At times it sounds like someone is vocalizing in the background, but I can’t really make it out.)
By 19:00 it has gotten really quiet, but Garcia is still playing lines that seem to be preliminary to a Tiger. From 20:19 the guitar sounds like it’s got a new effect on it; I’m not sure what it is…it seems to combine the wah with a temolo effect. Weir and Godchaux seem to have some kind of tremolo going too, and the music starts to sound really weird here! Finally, at 22:23 Jerry goes into Tiger mode, accompanied by offbeat stabs from Weir and glissando runs on the keyboard, as Lesh plays some fast muffled runs. (The Tiger kind of waxes and wanes from here, so the timing above is approximate). This very intense meltdown continues for a few minutes until some rolling lines bring us to D, and it almost sounds like Playing in the Band here for a few seconds until Garcia starts strumming Morning Dew.
This is a very different rendition from the previous one. The first half is a masterful jam, and the band sounds cohesive and pointed in a way they did not in Rotterdam. The second half anticipates late 1972 and particularly 1973 in being entirely occupied by what is, I think, the most intense freakout we’ve yet heard in a Dark Star. The pairing with Morning Dew is epoch-making, and will be repeated often from now on. A monumental, classic Dark Star.
What was said:
JSegel:
Lotsa futzing about and tuning beforehand, the track length I have includes a couple minutes of it (it’s not the 26’ listed). Dark Star is coming toward the end of the concert and going into Morning Dew (which is a great idea, though they hadn’t played Morning Dew for a while and it’s a bit rusty.) Slightly restrained start riffs, into a floaty initial jam. Bill is rolling around on tom toms already. The jam is colored by some skipping descending riffs and a restatement of the them after a minute, with pretty intense cadences from the drums in a mild jam. At 4 min, Jerry steps it up and turns it up a bit (with a slight bit of feedback). He’s stretching some interesting notes, coming from outside the normal mode. He even hits his amp and sends a reverb shock through it!
It comes down to a sparser section, but it’s a pretty one, lots of major key runs from everybody. It goes arhythmic, static, by 8:30 and Jerry holds a sputnik-y arpeggio for a while. Bob plays with some chord riffs, building a rhythm, Bill and Phil come in. Nice melodic building in the tenth minute, mostly over a pedal A. It builds to Bright territory but no theme per se, then it breaks into a quieter area by 12 min and comes back to the theme groove at 12:46, which holds some nice melodic lead playing that stretches up to the B above the high A for a while and into chord-jams on the Dark Star groove, heading to the theme proper at 14:30 and the verse.
Really good lead vocal delivery with slight nuances and appogiatura. The band really hold the fermatas on line 2, and groove out on line 3 like it’s a Pink Floyd song. Refrain is well played from all with a big ending chord from Phil.
Into the next jam it’s immediately suspended sustained chords and then dissonant arhythmic bass chords and wah-wah backed off tone on guitar, rolling. It starts a new section of atonality with a downbeat kick at 17:30, it gets super scary with feedback bass and rhythm guitar, a wailing down stretches and feedback from Jerry. Then sparse strong hits from bass and drums, atonal riffs. Intense strong space, lotsa bass feedback with small repetitive high picking from Jerry, who continues when the bass backs off later. It’s quiet and non-tonal runs and odd chords for a bit and the bass comes back in. This sort of atonalism is like music-simulacra, it holds a rhythmic cadence as if it were obeying normal tonal music cadence but the notes are unrelated, like bizarro world song. Then it devolves, with a load of tremolo coming in (keys? Or Bobby tapping his guitar with a slide?) In any case, they build it up to a monster movie tension, even Bobby is stretching notes. Hammering away, lots of wah wah tone on fast little chromatic bits, drums loudly rolling over it all. Keith starts on chord repetition for a bit and it breaks to a new rhythm, Jerry riffing heavily with chromatic descending elements.
They bring it down finally at 27:30 or so, and hold a D chord, which allows them to start Morning Dew.
Intense. The first time I listened to it, I thought it was unfocused and chaotic, the second time I heard more of what holds it together. It’s a good space out atonal abstract section, but the first half is mostly just figuring out where to go. Nice that they got there.
Adamos:
There's a floaty yet spritely feel as they get underway. Phil is buoyant and Jerry glides along with accents from Bob. Keith's piano flourishes run up and down and add nicely too. They hit the theme at 1:21 and then continue to play off it with Jerry and Keith interweaving well. Bill adds in some rolling drums and cymbal action too. Jerry brings in a bending sound around 2:13 and everyone is pretty active. The intensity builds but then they ease off a bit and keep gliding along. After 3:00 Phil gets into some running, bouncy notes as they continue to work around the theme.
Things build again until around 4:50, after which they shift into a mellower zone. However there is still a lot of activity and they manage to interweave with some pace even in this lower-key passage. They get into some up and down runs that create a spiraling feeling. Around 6:25 Phil goes lower and more rumbly and then they find another quiet space at 6:50 from which Jerry gets into some soft, gentle, Sputnik-like notes.
Around 7:05 Bob starts introducing a riff that slowly builds up and gives Jerry a new direction to work from. Phil joins in too and suddenly they're off on a new jam. Keith becomes more prominent again as well. They get some nice momentum going and rise toward a peak. Bright Star doesn't fully manifest but it's heading in that direction. Around 9:45 Jerry adds some bite and reaches upwards powerfully. This serves as the final peak and after 10:00 they collectively ease up and wind their way back down.
They touch on the theme briefly and then get into a quick repeating thing before returning to it at 10:51. It sounds lovely and they put some enthusiasm into it. Jerry hits some high reaching notes and they move through it energetically with punctuating textures from Bob. At 12:38 they quickly hit the theme one more time and then move into the verse.
After the verse they reset with some plucky notes from Bob and Jerry shifts into a stretchy thing. The collective sound does almost have a bell tolling feel as bzfgt pointed out. Little flourishes from everyone and then Phil gets into a low revving thing. Jerry adds a low, winding line of his own and things begin to get freaky. Phil unleashes the thunder and they move into an intense and feedback-esque zone. Jerry's guitar sounds Twilight Zone-ish at times and everyone is getting weird.
Eventually it quiets down with Jerry continuing to work a spidery line. They find some stillness; Jerry continues to play quietly and Bob adds some contemplative strumming that almost sounds acoustic at first. Phil is also working gently underneath. You can feel what is eventually coming but it's still off in the distance.
Jerry gets into a volume knob-ish wah sound and the spacey weirdness starts to bubble up again. Keith is adding freaky accompaniment and there's an underwater feeling to the proceedings. Bill is active too which adds a rolling, rumbling feel. Around 22:00 Jerry takes it up a notch and the Tiger feels imminent now. The intensity builds and they rise up and the beast is unleashed. They work it with some ebbs and flows (relative to a Tiger) and then scream forth more intensely starting around 23:13.
They maintain the peak for a good while before finally giving way around 25:15. Keith plays a descending series of notes and they stairstep down and hover and swirl a little. You can hear some PITB-esque notes and a bit of the theme from Keith too and then they reach a quiet space from which Jerry begins Morning Dew. I agree that it's wild that this pairing had never happened before now.
This is a really good performance. It seems like after the vast, sprawling version on 5/11 they wanted adhere a little closer to the general framework, at least initially. The opening segment is beautiful and melodic they weave a nice tapestry broadly around the theme. After the verse there's a section that somewhat harkens back to post-verse space passages of the past although it's its own thing. And then the Tiger meltdown is intense and powerful and a natural lead-in for Morning Dew.
Mr. Rain:
In the 30 seconds before the song starts, there's a very nice Dark Starry tuning bit, like a little introduction to the jam; they can't wait to get started.
Nice rollicking opening jam -- Bill's busy on drums with lots of tom rolls, everyone sounds extra zesty. (Jerry's lit up; he makes a strange sound after 3:40!) It's a forceful opening but stays tethered to the theme structure for the first few minutes, more than usual for this tour. It loosens up around 5 minutes but doesn't really start to drift until after 6:30 when they get spacey and Jerry starts his sputnik-type pretty pattern. But even then Bob starts playing a jazzy Wes Montgomery-style rhythm at 7 minutes, and soon enough the others pick up on it and by 7:40 they're in a new bouncy jam. It gets more intense for the next few minutes, almost sounding like a later Eyes jam, hitting a peak and then cresting back down at 10 minutes, Jerry patiently aiming for a return to the main theme though it doesn't arrive for a minute. 10:50, they hit the theme -- usually on this tour this means the verse is soon to follow, but in this version they go back to the older 1970-style practice of jumping back off to some glorious energetic theme jamming before they circle back to the theme at 12:40 for a well-played verse.
They jump right into the sunflower blossoms after the verse -- intense beauty! Phil chord slams, Bob feedback, Jerry pinched notes, dramatic drum rolls... Phil turns toward loud grumbling feedback while the guitars pluck out scared little notes. At 18:40 it drops to just the guitars for a bit and gets more quiet & gentle (actually sounding a lot like one of the 1983 Bob & Jerry duet spaces). But gradually it gets more strange as Jerry uses the wah, Phil prods, and Keith drops back in at 20:30 with an echo effect, promptly copied by the guitars, and by 21 minutes they're in Bizarro land playing anti-notes. By 22 minutes, Jerry's starting his Tiger spirals and everyone else keeps up their crazed patter. They escalate to a heavy, drawn-out meltdown, one of the most intense of the tour, screeching & jabbing & tearing and stretching out for several minutes. By 25:30 they're easing up, Keith's smoothing their ride to a soft landing, and the last minute sees them coasting gently on the landing strip with little wisps of feedback. There's a feeling of warm homecoming after all the turbulence. Given the performances lately, you'd expect Bob to pop out Sugar Magnolia here -- but no, Jerry decides on Morning Dew, and they're ready for it.
This was a very straightforward version! Not many detours or meandering around here; instead there's punchy jamming in the first half and fiery freakiness in the second half. The last few versions were rather cloudy, blurry, aimless; in this one they're determined and hard-hitting. The whole thing's a highlight; one of the best of the tour.
bzfgt:
Agree, I got it in my top 5 (with 4-8, -14, -17, and -24)
Mr. Rain:
That puts the other May '72 Dark Stars in the bottom 5 of the tour! Interesting in your ratings, how after the first four Dark Stars of the tour there's a drop-off and the next few Dark Stars don't hold up so well. (But maybe we'll see a turnaround at the Lyceum....) I'm a little curious why that happened with Dark Star since the Other Ones stayed mostly pretty fierce through the tour, but then I haven't been comparing the Other Ones back-to-back.
bzfgt:
Well it's all relative, I didn't hate any of them! But those first 4 Dark Stars of the tour are untouchable.
April 29th is great too, mind you, doesn't get enough credit....
Mr. Rain:
That was a spacey swampy noisy version! May 18 is relatively unsung too, a lot more forceful than usual for the May '72 Dark Stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment