138. 1972-08-21

139581 BCT 27:38

Main theme at :07 and 9:20.
First verse at 9:51.
Tiger at 16:15.
Goes into El Paso.


In August of 1972, right in the thick of the peak era for Dark Star, the Dead played two outstanding renditions at the Berkeley Community Theater. The first of these charges right out of the gate with a statement of the theme, and then at :21 Garcia starts to travel and the band goes to it. All the instrumentalists are nice and loud in the mix here, and they’re all working hard right from the beginning. They maintain a kind of equilibrium until 1:22 when Jerry goes high and distinguishes himself from the pack a bit.


The band ebbs and flows—but mostly flows—in waves of energetic sound. There is a continuous melodic dialogue going on across the various instruments: at 3:10 Garcia pauses on a B, and Weir interjects a triplet passage from Bb to B before Jerry picks it up again. At 4:34 Godchaux is in the lead, and then at 4:47 Garcia bursts out again. Most remarkably, in the space between about 5:00 and 5:25 the lead line rolls around among all four instrumentalists.


By 6:15 they are starting to converge and the band drives to a little peak, cresting at around 6:35. At 7:00 a little roll keeps going back and forth from Godchaux to Garcia, while Weir and Lesh punctuate. Jerry starts double timing at around 7:42, and then the music scatters…listen from 8:02, has Keith switched to an electronic instrument, or there an effect on the piano? There’s a little roar at 8:08 like he’s scratched the piano strings and it’s been run through an effects processor of some kind. At 8:43 the music quickly starts to swell, peaking at 9:01; Garcia plays a little figure (AAA GDE) that is somewhat reminiscent of Bright Star…they coast down the other side into the theme at 9:20 and cruise into the verse, bringing to a close an incredible intro section.


Coming out of the verse the music gets intense more or less immediately. They play some blocky swells, and then split off at oblique angles to one another, and it sounds like they are going straight to some kind of meltdown. At 13:23 Garcia starts playing a Tiger-like line, only with a cleaner tone. At 13:42 Godchaux takes off on a crazy trip around the keyboard; he again sounds like he’s playing with some kind of effects.


As Garcia and Keith zip around, Weir somehow accompanies them in a cogent way that keeps it all together. Lesh is likewise rambling around, but he starts putting out a groove at 14:32, from which he sometimes departs and returns. But at 15:30 a new thing seems to be on the horizon; Lesh’s groove is gone, and centrifugal forces seem to be dissolving the center. Then at 16:01 Lesh starts stabbing at the groove again, and Garcia’s frantic line seems to respond to it, until it suddenly veers into Tiger territory at 16:15. This time Keith goes along with Jerry, to thunderous effect.


Now we’re in a scary atonal jam; at 17:07 Garcia starts hammering a note and everyone joins him, taking the jam to a new peak of intensity. This crests and then starts to unspool, winding down at 18:18 into a little space where mostly Weir, Garcia and Kreutzmann are left to hold things together. At 19:39 Garcia starts playing a little melody; and for a moment it seems like they’re going to move into saner territory, but the weirdness still has the upper hand. Garcia at first succumbs, then gets melodic again at 20:25. Finally at 20:45, he starts playing Morning Dew. Weir tries to go along with him but no one else is having it. He goes through the intro riff twice and then again succumbs to the spacey undertow.


At 21:50 Godchaux is playing a little up and down figure…this doesn’t catch on at first, but then it becomes a new center of gravity, and they drive to a peak, which crests at 22:16 and then rather quickly disperses. Coming out the other end, Keith is still in charge, and he lightens it up a little as Lesh jumps in with a bouncy riff at 22:33. Keith and Phil lay down a base for a little while, and Weir trickles in. At 24:57 Jerry finally comes back, and they ride a bright and bouncy groove for a while. At 27:25 they seem to have had enough of this, and they trickle down more or less to a halt; Garcia starts comping a little in a way that suggests El Paso, so Weir kicks into it and the Dark Star is over.


All I can think to say in summation is, what an amazing band! Here we have an absolutely magnificent Dark Star. Before the verse they execute some of the most incredible improvising in the classic Dark Star mode that we have yet heard, and then after they bring their more recent harsh and atonal approach to perhaps its most satisfying development to date. This is the real stuff!


What was said:

adamos:


This one sounds really good right from the start. Everyone is clear in the mix and there's a symphonic vibe with some majesty sprinkled in. Bob's textures and counterpoints stand out and contribute nicely and Keith adds some good fills too. Jerry and Phil work their wandering lines. Jerry plays some stretchy notes and then heads a bit higher before taking it lower again. The collective interweaving comes through really well on this recording. By two minutes in they are cooking along well; there's an upward surge around 2:30 that pulls you in and they continue to ebb and flow through wandering lines.

Things start to quiet down around 3:10 and they ease up while maintaining forward momentum. Jerry plays some climbing upward notes then pulls back again. Bob's textures continue to stand out nicely. After 4:00 Keith steps forward for a good spell although here he sounds a little muffled on the recording. Everyone plays off him nicely and then Jerry comes forward again. The group interplay is well on display in this opening segment. They continue to wander and weave and then around 5:40 they start building towards a peak. It rises up nicely with high notes from Garcia and then levels off after 6:30.

They continue forth weaving this lovely spell. Jerry and Keith play off each other sweetly and there is a shimmering quality to the proceedings. It does sound like there is some kind of electronic effect on Keith's piano as bzfgt noted. They continue to swirl and then around 7:55 let things dissipate. They hover briefly; there's a quick, quiet Tiger-ish growl from Keith at 8:05 and then they get a good swirl going again. Lovely, immersive sheets of sound wash over the listener. Around 8:40 they start building to a peak with rising, triumphant notes from Garcia and Keith in tow. They ease up around 9:15 and slip right into the theme and then on to the verse.

After the verse they reset, gather briefly and then move right into some revving, squealing, freaky stuff. Keith gets very active then pulls back a bit before re-entering. Jerry sounds like he’s going to spin up a Tiger but lets it be absorbed back into the collective weirdness. Keith is going for it too. Phil gets a quick paced, bouncy thing going around 14:3o and Bill is working the beat. Jerry comes and goes in flurries of fast and furious notes. The tension builds and Jerry spins a climbing, swirling line then gathers and moves toward Tiger territory which comes forth around 16:15. Keith chases and does his own freakout.

This spills over into an intense, freaky jam. Jerry starts hitting a fast, repeating note and Keith is hammering along too and Bob is complimenting it well and it rises and rises and it feels like it will burst but it keeps going! Whoa. They start to slowly ease up around 17:45 but maintain some craziness on the way down.

They settle into a quieter space around 18:20; Jerry takes his time with some wailing, stretchy notes and Bob adds complimentary strumming followed by some melodic notes. Things start to sound more delicate and pretty but there's still a sense of foreboding and it doesn't take long for them to shift back into freaky territory. It feels like another meltdown could be percolating but Jerry heads in a prettier direction again. Then at 20:45 he starts playing Morning Dew; not a hint or tease, he fully starts it up. Bob joins in but Phil vetoes it with some thundering, ominous bass notes and Keith seems to stay on the side of weirdness. Jerry persists but it's not going to happen so he lets it go and slides back into the freakiness.

From there they cast about a bit and let the intensity build. Keith gets very active; Jerry and Bob go high and somewhat screechy while Phil thunders below. They bring it to an intense and powerful peak that subsides around 22:20. As things quiet Keith and Billy carry forth in a jazzier zone that Phil joins in on as well. They get a nice bouncy groove going; it has some pace but they take their time with it. Bob starts sprinkling in some notes and then slips into the groove. They slow it down and start to hover and then Jerry joins in around 24:45, very quietly at first and then more prominently. Things pick up again and they work it for a good spell with Jerry winding lines around the groove. They keep it going until around 27:25 and then slowly let it subside. They hover briefly and then shift into El Paso.

A wonderful performance. The pre-verse passage is majestic with lovely interplay. The freakouts and weirdness are intense and powerful and they get some nice grooves going too. At times it feels like so much is happening that you have to just stop and let it wash over you. Glorious!


JSegel:


The Alligator Strat is in the shop for a month now that they’re back in California, so Jerry is using a 1956 Stratocaster that seems mostly unaltered. After Ramble on Rose, a little telegraphing, an allusion to the beginning of El Paso and then to Dark Star, they begin Dark Star with the intro and into the groove with soaring bass lines and everybody moving along, building a solid groove with some interesting bendy statements from Jerry, lots of motion from everybody, some odd chromatics thrown in from Bob occasionally. It goes through some longer waves, comes down to reassess after a few minutes. The roll into a dip at 5 min in, a long slow build out of it that never reaches super high (6 min the ‘all the same’ a g a e). (Sounds like some filter effect in the piano? Wah pedal?) before abandoning the groove almost entirely at 8 min and going more chromatic around it. They start doing a build again and Jerry finds a melodic area in the high register before stating the theme at 9:20, in a bendy way. Verse 1 come in at 9:40, Jerry sounds haggard on line 1 but delicate on line 2, with full fermatas, line 3 is somewhere in between groove and stops, the drums roll through Shall We Go and stop on the refrain, they play the outro and intro to the next jam, mostly Phil, and then he starts up big chords, trills from piano and into space with crying guitars and dissonant chords and chromatic runs from the piano.

Several builds in an atonal arhythmic monster movie soundtrack, to trills and close chromatic runs.

Bill starts a rolling rhythm at 14:30, Phil chugs in, Jerry starts more concise runs, still fairly non-tonal, with big piano chords coming in. Jerry still running around in chromatic stuff, building to the Tiger style meltdown stuff, though it passes a crest and continues into a lower area, till they hit on a pulse at 17 minutes in and it starts to hit a key for a while, riffs from Keith and Phil. Over that hill and still in the short chromatics to a lull, people cheer.

Jerry starts a slow wah-toned non-tonal melody as it winds around. Jerry starts Morning Dew licks at 20:40, but it doesn’t get there so he wanders away and catches some pinch harmonics, building it to a static high lick. Keith is going for some jazzy progression and Bill joins in with the groove. They go on with a fast bass, drums and piano jam and the guitars drop out for a minute. Bob back in on rhythm moving along. Drops down to a lower level with mostly kick and bass, some Bobby and lower keys. Jerry comes back in and they continue the jazzy groove, he goes for some quick licks. Jam continues and builds and falls back a bit, then suddenly as it dies off Bob sticks on the intro to El Paso and they segue to it.

I’d consider this to be an enclosed window song, and especially since they come out of it into “Space” before Deal and then Sugar Magnolia. Bob sounds a little tired singing El Paso. People clap as they end it and the band starts chromatically dropping, tuning, some little licks and more space playing with a slow bass line with a more tonal feel, just Phil and Jerry for a couple minutes. Nice.

Not my favorite, though some nice parts. Lotsa Keith in the mix, including that mostly piano jam toward the last part.


Mr. Rain:


The opening riff is a little uncoordinated, but they soon all find the same track. At the start it sounds a lot like a Bird Song jam, but after a minute it deepens into a strong, straightforward Dark Star jam. Rich sound, multifaceted playing -- there aren't any digressions or space-outs in this opening jam, it's all based comfortably around the theme. Keith's in the center of the mix, more to the fore than usual, which adds weight to the band texture. There's a dreamy little Keith interlude after 4:15 -- at times he runs the piano through a wah-pedal (very noticeable again from 6:50-8:30, when he does some cool things with it). The jam flows and soars like a Dark Star fantasia; there's a surge around 9:00 and Jerry flirts with the long-lost Bright Star lick; but they settle smoothly into the main theme at 9:20. This was one blissful opening jam!

The verse concludes: big Phil chords, immediate blastoff to meltdown territory! But after 12:00 it soon calms down into spacey goo & swirling gases. After a minute they're slipping into a whirlpool, and before long Jerry starts pointing in a Tiger direction. The band gets frantic, unsettled. Keith's got his wah on, adding manic notes to the discordant freakiness; Phil lends a rhythmic pulse which is soon dropped. Phil & Keith hit some heavy notes after 15:20; Jerry tumbles closer to the Tiger; and they hit it after 16:10 -- but the actual meltdown spurt is brief and they get right back into the freakiness. After 17:00 Jerry hammers on a single note with Keith, climbing up in intensity, and as the whirlpool suction grows it sounds like they're on the way to a Tiger reprise!

But suddenly after 18:10 they drop into a quiet space: mostly eloquent slide-like sad notes from Jerry, backed by Bob patterns, some Keith, some hums from Phil. After 19:30 they start building up to something, Jerry turning up the melodic tension -- what's coming? At 20:40 Jerry starts Morning Dew -- then starts it again -- but Phil & Keith are just ignoring him, staying out in the mad zone -- so back into space he goes. A gorgeous intense passage follows after 21:00, Jerry's high notes combining with Keith's insistent riffing & Phil's deep booms.

Then suddenly around 22:15, Jerry drops out (broken string?) and Keith takes the lead! Now they're in a lighter mood with peppy drumming -- with Phil & Bob bobbing along, they're a jazzy rhythm quartet for a while (like in the middle of 7-26-72), which starts to drift after a couple minutes. After 24:30 Jerry trickles back in with a zippy lead, quiet at first then more intently -- it's a Dead bumblebee jam! Keith's effectively sharing the lead with Jerry in this part. At 27:10 this reaches a final surge and peters out. Jerry suggests a chord rhythm, and Bob picks up El Paso...the first Dark Star>El Paso. I guess Jerry decided nobody was in the mood for Morning Dew.

After El Paso they get right into space again. You'd expect a Dark Star continuation, but this turns promptly into some brief tuning and a quiet melodic Jerry/Phil duet. This is very cool, and explores a place they didn't really get to in this Dark Star, until Jerry takes a left turn to Deal. I can't say it's part of Dark Star, but it is one of the best between-song transitions of '72.

Partly because of the mix, Keith dominates this Dark Star more than usual. (Which makes me wonder how our impressions of earlier Dark Stars would change if Keith were front & center like this.) He even takes the lead a couple times! Plus he's got a new wah he's playing with, to great effect. So I think of this as Keith's Dark Star. Otherwise this version is pretty straightforward -- theme jam, freaky space/Tiger, fast jam, with more of the jazzy feel that's been creeping in lately. The meltdown's not too noisy (they prefer staying in the hectic regions rather than reaching the Point of Doom) and it ends rather casually, but it's all fantastically played.