142. 1972-09-16

77442 Boston 27:31



Main theme at 10:35.
First verse at 10:49.
Tiger at 21:25.
Goes into Brokedown Palace.


There isn’t a great recording of this. I went with the matrix because it gives us slightly more Phil Lesh, but the biggest problem with all available options is that he’s too low in the mix. As others have pointed out, Ned Lagin is here tonight, but not particularly audible. And Garcia has the Alligator back.


The Bostonians are audibly pleased about the song selection as Dark Star begins. These days Dark Stars generally commence with some kind of reference to the main theme, and we get that here with Godchaux in the lead before Garcia starts his line; this one kicks off with a more ruminative feel than the last did. There’s an intensification leading to a small peak at about 2:40, and then they recede into a beautiful marshiness. At 3:22 Garcia starts hinting, and not for the last time tonight, at the little descending lick that I pointed out last time as something I associated with another song; I wonder now if it wasn’t just other Dark Stars of which I was thinking.


At 5:00 and environs we’re immersed in a bog that is glittering with starlight. From 5:55 Godchaux’s twinkling piano echoes Garcia’s high descending runs, and Lesh can just be heard underpinning them with a repeating riff. As we get to the 7 minute mark there begins an uptick in intensity, but with the same overall feel. They keep pushing it a little at a time, and it starts to transform a little and acquire an edge. Kreutzmann bangs the snare with a lagging backbeat gives the music a kind of lurch, and the polyphonic twinkling of the early going is transmogrified into a loping jam. As the jam starts tapering off at around 10:20, Lesh picks up the theme and they smoothly glide into it; there’s a marked slowing of the tempo at 10:41, and they promptly arrive at the verse.


Garcia comes out of the post-verse lick with a high peel-off; this is a move that will become a trademark of his playing years later, but which we encounter less frequently in 1972. They enter a marshy, pondering scene that is reminiscent of the early part of this Dark Star. Lesh is in the lead here, more or less, with Garcia adding color with his volume knob. Weir weaves in some chordal stuff; these sections are very cohesive tonight, even when they’re searching around. The crowd incongruously claps along a bit. Godchaux comes in and from about 14:19 he and Garcia knit together some Sputnik-like rolls, and as it gets spacier the audience hoots and hollers.


At 15:30 now, it is sounding more and more like a space jam. The band is really taking its time, while the audience seems to be almost inexplicably fired up by this! Maybe they just really dig space. As we arrive at the 17:45 mark Garcia is starting to hint at a buid-up to a meltdown. He starts playing some rolls with the wah effect creeping in, and a Tiger seems to be in the offing. Meanwhile, Godchaux strikes an ominous groove at 18:31 with a few well-placed notes. In typical fashion, he doesn’t exactly settle into this groove, but he does start to build on it as Garcia pushes toward the Tiger. Kreutzmann and Lesh are picking it up, and the band is simultaneously moving toward a meltdown and a funky groove.


At 20:45 Garcia still has the wah pinned, but he catches the beat for a bit here before going back to a Tiger pattern. The Tiger finally comes to a head starting at about 21:25, and at 21:40 Garcia seems satisfied—he groans out some lugubrious tones as Kreutzmann and Godchaux strike up a lilting groove, and soon they all come together and drop right into an upbeat jam. 23:35: I think Weir and Godchaux both have a wah-wah on now, it’s difficult to be certain. Garcia is playing a frenetic line and it really gets cooking. He gets more repetitive with it, and then Godchaux locks in with him at 24:50 and they bring it to a peak that goes on for a good minute. This is really cooking, and if Lesh were mixed better it would be even better, because he is really going at it here too. At 25:52 the jam winds down into an intermediate space, and after some thoughtful throat-clearing Garcia takes them into a beautiful Brokedown Palace.


This is perhaps not the most ambitious Dark Star, but it is nevertheless an excellent rendition. In the midst of a golden period, this is less well-known than some of its contemporaries, but it is a wonderful piece of music; by turns beautiful and frenetic, it has a lot of force and a lot of range. It is a shame there isn’t a better recording, but what we have here is sufficient evidence of a damn good Dark Star.




What was said:

bzfgt:

They're trying different things to follow DS...we had Jack Straw last week, Brokedown Palace this week, and soon we'll get Cumberland Blues and China Cat Sunflower...




adamos:


The guys near the taper are definitely psyched to be getting a Dark Star. There's a mellow, dreamy feel as things get underway. The matrix recording probably adds a bit to that vibe as well. They wind slowly and patiently through some lines. There's a sweetness to Jerry's guitar that is accented by Keith. Bob adds nice textures and Phil working some mellow lines as well. Things start to pick up after 2:15 or so and Jerry goes upwards with a stronger, sharper line before bringing it back to down in the mellow haziness.

They continue to wind along dreamily, pooling and swirling a bit around 4:25 and then floating around in the ether. Bill's cymbals shimmer through nicely and he works a mellow beat. There's a patient, enchanting feel to everything that they're doing.

After 6:30 the intensity starts to grow but slowly; they're building it up in stages. The overall tone gets stronger and more powerful while still being somewhat mellow and a nice groove comes together. Jerry works some compelling lines and Keith mixes in some wah which adds to the vibe. They're still floating along but there is more darkness nearby. Around 9:45 Jerry gets into a high, sharp repeating thing. Then around 10:20 they start finding their way back to the theme and then on to the first verse. The crowd is enthusiastic about "the transitive nightfall of diamonds."

After the verse they reset although Phil's part is quite distant on the recording. Jerry peels off as noted by bzfgt and then they ease into the ooze. It's sort of spacey but also melodic. Phil steps forward (it's a shame he isn't more present in the mix) and Jerry brings in some volume knob action. Bob adds some nice chord work and there's a contemplative feel to the proceedings. Keith then introduces some spacey notes that prompt Jerry to start up a Sputnik-esque line that he keeps at a more deliberate pace.

They bring it to a near quiet, eliciting applause, and then drift further out into the spacey ooze. Some freakiness abounds but it's pretty too. Slowly something heavier starts to brew. Jerry hits some stronger, darker notes and Phil revs it up a bit. Then after 17:50 some wah starts coming in and Jerry gets a sparkly repeating thing going and then starts spinning up fast notes. Keith adds wah then gets into some horror movie type notes. Jerry is driving to a meltdown but Keith continues to work his choppy piano groove. Jerry is letting loose with mini Tiger squalls busting out while the collective groove carries on.

The fury continues to build and then Jerry pulls back a bit before jumping in head first with furious bursts of notes. He starts spinning things up again and by 21:10 the full Tiger starts charging out, screaming with abandon. The crowd is more distant now but they seem to be loving it. It crests after 21:40 and they take things down to a quieter place around 22:10 from which a lighter jam immediately starts to emerge.

They're moving along now in bouncier, more upbeat territory that has a bit of cowboy twang too. Plenty of wah too which adds another dimension. They get cooking along and at a certain point you could picture a seamless transition into Big River. They continue to work the groove and ride it for a good spell, rising up to an extended peak after 24:50. Then around 25:50 they bring it down and coast along briefly in semi-spacey fashion before moving on to Brokedown Palace.



I like the mellow, dreamy feel at the onset and the jam preceding the verse is cool. Then post verse we get some spacey melodic-ness that blooms into a freaky, choppy jam and an intense meltdown. The post-Tiger jam gets a good uplifting groove going too.




JSegel:



With Ned Lagin, it says. Note that Jerry is back with his Alligator Stratocaster again now!

Starts with a pleasant feel, some sparse piano notes from Ned on electric piano, Keith on acoustic. Jerry plays in little fragments for a while. When he starts playing more wildly, he’s stretching notes like mad, getting back in with the Alligator strat. They rein it in a bit, and ride. Series of falling statements and gathering in trills at the bottom, not much separation in the mix, hard to distinguish some things in the seaweed of small sounds, Jerry and Ned are blurring a bit sometimes.

Dark Star theme fragments at 6:45, but hidden in there. They build it back to the Dark Star groove, Jerry runs around. He’s still playing a lot with stretching strings way out. (Reuniting with the Alligator.) They settle into a marching little groove with riffing from Phil. Jerry goes on exploring his guitar, a section with pinch-harmonics. And settling into the theme proper before 11 minutes.

Verse one comes in, very sensitive vocal delivery. Bill continues a bit into line 2, then holds and builds back into the groove for line 3, beautiful refrain from Jerry, people yell and clap, the outro extends and Jerry already playing some melodic notes, then the go more static on suspended chords.

It dies into small swells and notes. Bobby and Phil have a minor modal area that they explore a bit. Bill is keeping a subtle pulse. A Sputnik emerges late in minute 14, moving ominously. It gets really quiet in the 15th, slightly chromatic, but subtly, and stays that way for a while. More latent scary chromatic statements start at about 17:30, with bits of feedback and wah pedal. It grows but not quickly, some arpeggios with wah and then Tiger-like bits at 19 min, stabs from piano, drums build up a fast and odd groove, it stays chromatic and strong building to and through meltdowns. The groove goes on from Bill, Jerry seems like he’s tired of it, then stages a comeback to some high stretches and then back to the bottom to build a real Tiger, he starts to take over with the fast wah wah chromatics to break it apart. Pianos droning on low octaves, Bill won’t quit the groove. Finally at 22 minutes it breaks and a piano (Keith I would think) is playing a saloon western thing, Jerry falls in immediately, then the drums start the train beat, into a fast new jam with a lower volume. Sounds like Cumberland a little bit. Endless riffing from everybody, Jerry gets caught up in several repetitive little bits, at 26 minutes it breaks back to take stock, the drums roll off.

Jerry leads a coda and then brings it into Brokedown Palace. (With a small splice of audience tape in the SB.)



Not the best version, interesting but not spectacular. Some fun experimenting with stretches and sounds from the guitar from Jerry, different from the previous concerts.




Mr. Rain:


An interesting source conundrum... Phil is way low on the SBD tape, in which the instruments are crammed in near-mono surrounded by stereo drums. The audience tape is terrible, but Phil's more up where he should be. The matrix has the audience mixed too loudly for my taste, but perhaps makes the best of a bad situation -- I agree it's the preferred listening choice, the hall sound helps.
According to Nedbase, "Ned Lagin played a Wurlitzer electric piano and Crybaby wah-wah when he joined the band on stage for "Dark Star", after which he and his piano exited the stage." But just like the last Boston Dark Star on 1971-04-08, Ned's barely present on the recording. I confess I couldn't discern him at all in this mix....maybe some of what sounds like Keith is him.

Boston greets Dark Star with a lot of enthusiasm, but rather than respond with their own energy, the Dead get into a mellow low-key Dark Star. Very relaxed start with a jazzy flow; Jerry seems to be biding his time with understated playing. After a couple minutes it starts getting more intense, then sinks back to a dreamy haze. Calm and pretty, with no urgency, just lying back in the ocean tide and watching the night stars turn in their slow orbits. This whole opening jam has a chill vibe of just floating off in tranquil contemplation. Keith's tinklings are prominent and he's a team with Bob here, sometimes adding shimmering wah textures; Phil is more of a ghostly presence. Phil plays his Marbles line again here & there, starting around 6:20. After 7 minutes they start to kick it up in energy again. Quite a nice drippy jam here, very smooth without any of the mood shifts they did on 9-10. It sounds like it could go on endlessly, Jerry going deeper & deeper into infinity; there's some similarity to the jam out of He's Gone. It's a surprise when Phil starts the theme out of the blue at 10:20 -- usually it's Jerry who does this, but maybe Phil wants to move on. Jerry takes the hint and gets to the verse quickly.

Then they sink softly into the spacey ooze... A jam almost seems to be assembling: after 13:40 Bob's chords seem to be taking them to a nice gentle jam (kind of like on 1970-09-17), but it soon breaks up unpursued. Jerry gets into a little Sputnik at 14:30, and they return to the void of space. They stay in soothing quiet tinkles for a while, quietly driftin' & dreamin', echoing in the hall....but some growing feedback hums hint at the coming tension. Jerry turns on his wah at 17:05, Keith has his own wah going, Bill interjects on the drums, the playing gets busier & darker. After some more Sputniky stuff at 18:00, Jerry turns to the Tiger and things get heavy. Now they're doing the same trick as on 9-10, Jerry doing wild flurries while Keith & the band knock out a seemingly unrelated funky groove, and then they converge. Jerry trills & splutters & tickles the Tiger while the band lurches onwards, Keith slamming the piano hard. After some wah squawks around 21m, Jerry dives into the Tiger for real, but they don't reach the Point of Doom; the Tiger screeches fiercely then retreats into the jungle while Keith thrums the low notes. The danger passes and the band relaxes again. (Crowd cheer.)

At 22:20 they're suddenly back in a light toe-tappin' jam, which Jerry's amenable to. The darkness has lifted, the country air beckons. I think Keith's doing the growling wah part here while Jerry's back to normal tones, in an interesting switch.* They hit a repeating crescendo line at 24:50 which lasts for a while, Keith on top of Jerry while Jerry drags it out, til Jerry ends it with a trill at 25:50. Then they float calmly again, Jerry doing his gliding-to-another-song transitional-type lines as the band lays out a pretty background. Unfortunately the SBD breaks off just before the actual transition to Brokedown Palace, so the sound change is jarring and kind of spoils the segue. But this is the kind of soft jam-to-song transition that was becoming more common (you'd almost think they're heading into a '73 China Doll). Big cheer for Brokedown Palace.

*This part's hard to parse. I don't think Bob used a wah (ever?). There are piano notes alternating with the wah, maybe simultaneous...hard to tell since they're all centered in this mix, Bob blending with piano. The wah is consistent with how Keith usually sounded on it, but is used more than he usually did. This could be a case where Keith & Ned are both doing stuff; it's the only place in Dark Star where I could maybe hear two pianos.

This was a great masterful Dark Star in a mellow vein -- not very intense for the most part, an unhurried Dark Star of gentle tranquility. A good one to pick if you're looking for a subtle meditative vibe. Lots of trippy Keith, who does a lot of close interaction with Jerry and sonic shapeshifting between wah & pretty tinkling & jabbing grooves. But it suffers from the thin sound....something we're going to encounter more in late '72. With a better mix this would be really impressive; on this tape it comes off as a little lightweight, but it repays close attention.


The audience is really quiet and appreciative too: no chattering in the jams. They dig space too -- just like in the 1970 audience tapes, the crowd applauds what seem like quiet moments of nothingness. Tells you something about the band-audience bond, and what people expected in Dark Star.