150. 1972-11-13

105812 KC 32:16 (31:56 actual) (“Dark Star” 22:03, “Philo Stomp” 10:13)

Main theme at 11:22.
First verse at 11:44.
Tiger at 19:25 and (PS) :40.
Philo Stomp at (PS): 1:30.
Feelin’ Groovy at (PS) 7:46.
Goes into Morning Dew.


Here we have an audience recording, and it sounds pretty good in this case. Dark Star kicks off in a mournful mood, with nobody hitting it too hard. At 1:34 Garcia gets into some pinch harmonics, repeating a couple notes for about 30 seconds and then spinning out a lead from there that still sounds like a holding pattern; the task seems to be to create a mood rather than to tell a story. The skein stretches gradually, revealing little knots of intensity. The peak that begins at 3:34 is brief, leads into a lull. The band peaks vertically, so to speak—the music is at all points a tableau or cross section, rather than a progression of ideas.


Another peak comes in at 4:30 and this one empties out into a lurching backbeat from Kreutzmann and some chiming rhythm from Weir. At 5:40 is another peak, or perhaps rather a plateau. As we reach the edge, Garcia threatens a melody, and then drops into a rolling arpeggio passage instead, earning some applause. Although the sequence of notes is different, this could almost be labeled Sputnik. Garcia plays with dynamics, phasing in and out, until 7:50 brings more Dark Star notes, but before this goes too far Garcia starts in with the volume knob in order to keep the atmospheric approach alive. It gets pretty quiet here, but Kreutzmann has a new vibe brewing, and as he lightly but firmly brings the backbeat in Garcia starts flurrying at 9:15. The band is light, agile and rather quiet here.


As is sometimes the case, I am getting Weir and Godchaux mixed up here, but they both seem to have some kind of wah-wah sound going, although Keith started this one out with straight piano. Listen at 10:50 as Lesh is starting to bump up against Garcia from below, doing the funky-jazzy riffing of which he is so fond in this era. This seems to light a fire, and at 11:00 they are again driving toward a peak, this time in more frenetic fashion. As this gets going there’s a cut that plunges us into the back end of the pre-verse theme section, so I switched over to the Hanno version (10089) for this passage—not ideal, so my apologies, but this version sounds better overall. Hanno is also the Bear recording, but there’s a patch at this point, and there’s a really nice little peak there that shouldn’t be missed. The theme starts at 12:32 on the Hanno, and lasts 50 seconds, plus there’s probably another minute or so of the jam before that.


We hear how enthused the crowd is; as the Dead exit the verse there is a rousing cheer. Weir once said that by 1974 they were leaving the audience behind, implying that the long improvisations were not crowd-pleasers. I think that every audience recording we’ve listened to thus far, however, has evidenced a great deal of enthusiasm for Dark Star. Whether this had changed by 1974 is a question I can’t answer with any real confidence; it’s possible that the venues they were playing by then brought in more casual punters.


In any case, the space jam that comes together after the verse elicits more enthusiastic cheers. These are some of the most difficult passages to describe; by now the Dead were masterful at building up these ambient passages that had no real beat or time signature but still have a kind of cohesion and momentum. We get a brief return of Garcia’s tolling effect at 14:33, and everyone gets really weird here in a most pleasing way. While remaining in space, the band coheres and increases the intensity. At 17:15 Garcia starts to build up his line a bit, and one feels it will either lead us out into a jam, or else into a meltdown. This dilemma seems to be resolved in favor of a meltdown at 18:21, as Garcia starts to prefigure a Tiger jam. Lesh and Garcia push it forward while Weir and Godchaux build outward.


The Tiger arrives at 19:25. Godchaux’s piano is titanic, like a turbulent ocean, with Garcia the storm-wracked ship and Lesh the sea monster ascending from the depths. There is calm at 20:45, but they start to build it up again. As the second track (“Philo Stomp”) begins (without a Philo Stomp in sight!) the music is warped, demented; by :40 we’re back in a Tiger jam. No sooner does it peak than Lesh is shifting into Philo Stomp (PS 1:30). Coming out of the Tiger without any bass preliminaries, the effect is remarkable. Garcia, Godchaux and Weir chime right in this time; they almost sound like they know it.


At 3:50 Lesh is ready to try to build out a successor jam. Weir starts a pedalling riff at 4:33, and this turns into a holding pattern. At about 5:00 Garcia seems to be communicating his willingness to play some great leads if the rest of them will only get it together. At 5:19 Weir proposes a two-chord pattern; Lesh approves, and Jerry starts fiddling away. Weir of course abandons the chord pattern at this point, but Garcia is not to be deterred; he ups the intensity, and Kreutzmann approves of this, so he helps drag the rest of them to a howling peak starting at around 6:55. At 7:18 this settles back into another holding pattern, although we are now on a higher plateau and the intensity does not subside.


Lesh breaks us out of this one with Feelin’ Groovy at 7:46. This is a raucous affair, all jittery and cacophonous. They play it almost ridiculously fast, and it’s already over by 9:25. Garcia substitutes another descending riff, and it almost seems like a throwback to 1969, where a modular jam could result in another jam loosely based on the former. It’s not happening this time, though; instead, they go into Morning Dew.



This is a strange and magical half hour. The band at times seems to be getting a little impatient with the Dark Star format, it seems to me; although this is a subtle thing and doesn’t manifest all at once, I think there is such a trend, in any case. Here the first half is almost ambient, and it does seem to cover new ground, at least insofar as they are more committed to that approach here than we’ve heard before. The second half is dominated by space, meltdown/Tiger jamming, and Philo Stomp. The meltdown approach is increasingly becoming the primary mode of post-verse as we get closer to 1973. The two-pronged meltdown in this Dark Star is one of premier instances of the form. A classic rendition.


What was said:

JSegel:



Ok, this is interesting (to me): these next few shows, the rest of the Dark Stars of the year, Jerry is playing an instrument built for him by Dan Erlewine, a walnut Stratocaster with a Gibson stop-tail bridge, big numbers on the fretboard. (I wonder when this was commissioned? His shop was in Michigan at the time, nowadays he’s in Ohio.) This guitar is an odd beast, built out of the same slab of walnut that Erlewine built Albert King’s Flying-V that same year. Erlewine is super famous in the guitar world, he’s a god of repair methods and inventing tools for simplifying things (see Stewart-Macdonald, stewmac.com, he’s designed a ton of the tools they sell.) He fixed an ancient Strat neck of mine once, even, so of course I love him. Look up his story, pretty intense. He sold his Les Paul to Bloomfield, changing the sound of 60s blues from that Telecaster… etc, etc… A Lifetime Of Music: Dan Erlewine - WOUB Public Media

Anyway. Dark Star. Number 150!

Sort of a loose intro riff, into a nice and uplifting side-stick groove, with Jerry reaching up and doing some of those stretches, audience approval all around. Some nice little pinch harmonic eddies after a minute or so, cascading bits from Keith. Into quiet fast little runs. Some people near the audience mics are enjoying it, “wo-o-ow…” Nice alternating melodic lines with fast runs, heading up to that chord with suspension thing from the last time, but more in the groove this time.

Waves crest and they begin anew after 4 minutes, a little sparser to start with. Eddies on a stretched 9th, with rolling rhythm underneath, into a more 6/8 TOO-type groove for a sec, but it breaks out into new chords, striking a strong repeated area before 6 minutes, and holding that plateau for a while, up high. A mesa.

This wave breaks into little arpeggios at 6:40, the audience loves it. Tinkling high piano, sort of Sputnik from Jerry. Back into chordal stabs, rolling it out of mode a little. At 7:50 or so, it breaks apart into an odd area of volume-swelled notes, sparse rhythm and odd piano bits, Jerry comes up with some melodic bits like the vocal refrain notes, then to more stretched plaintive notes, Bill seems to be winding up a new rhythm.

After 9, Jerry scurries around quietly like a little squirrel, while it’s still pretty quiet. Wah on the piano makes some odd background sounds. The suspension chord makes a slight return, (Asus4 to A). The fast runs start to infect Phil, who starts funkifying the bass line and they all build it up till it hits the theme area in the late 11th minute and they start verse 1.

People clap. Line 1 is strong, Jerry really milks the slide on the first part of line 2, strong vocals, Phil holds a high pedal tone on line 3. Keith still playing wah on his piano.

A weird chord in the middle of the refrain, there, Bob. Regardless, they make it to the outro and Jerry breaks apart a chord, while the wah piano warbles around. It dies off into soundscape by 13:40. Odd little notes and swells, the stretched plaintive note. Bill rolls around. A minute later it’s diving into feedback and deep oceanic bass tones. Keith strumming the piano strings (I think.) Almost complete silence a couple time, really small sounds emerging, little feedback and stretched tom tom rolls. Weird piano sounds, string noises… this is cool, very atonal avant-garde like ’69 space, the deep sea of chaos.

Atonal chords and small sounds go on for a long time, diving deeper and deeper. Jerry steps on the wah pedal for some stronger isolated notes. At about 18:30 they start building the intensity again, warbles from piano, Tiger-like bits from Jerry, Bill and Phil getting louder and stronger. Tiger meltdown approaching, in the 19th minute it really starts happening, big clusters from piano, wah-inflected chromatics from Jerry. The bring it down a bit and hover in this world for a while, Phil picking odd notes in a sort of drunk-walking style. It finally is spent by 20:45, the bass is still plucking out odd notes, lead guitar on some little chromatic runs, Keith really goes for some long chromatic piano runs up to the high end and rolls around up and down. They stay in the atonal area, maybe going for another buildup… (in the Dick L copy of the Owsley tape the track separates here, for some reason.) A Tiger Meltdown for real starts with the snarling chromatic wah wah riffs, everybody noisily building it up, Phil coming underneath with big bass chords, people clap and he starts the Philo stomp chords, a seamless transition from the meltdown.

Bass and drums jam on his pop song chords with small accompaniment, Keith figures out some nice falling melodies, the guitars seem to find some of the chords, at 25:00 in they all land on the root, and then back to the fifth, they’re figuring out his song. Jerry eventually takes up some major key jamming with it. Quiets down… audience is clapping along.

The wave crests and Bobby goes back to the suspended chord thing, Jerry still playing out long bluesy major key riffs.

Bill has a moment on a high tom ringing it out. Keith starts mimicking the bluesy aspect Jerry brought up.

At 7:30 (~29:30) they enter a riff area and it a half minute later it heads to a very fast Feelin’ Groovy from Keith and Phil, the band falls in, jamming it out. At 9 (~31) minutes they hold it out on the root note, then hit the progression again a couple more times to round it out. Then they start letting go, to head off somewhere else. Where will it go?

Well, when it finally allows the entrance, Jerry hits the big D chord for the start of Morning Dew. Band falls in immediately, the audience claps appreciatively.

______________
Well, I loved this one, or at least most of it. I love that space that precedes the meltdown, especially stretching out the weird quiet deep sea stuff and then building it up out of that to the prolonged loud meltdown. While I like it, I’m not as keen on the Philo stomp poppiness nor the Feelin’ Groovy riffing (within Dark Star, I should qualify this statement). But still, overall an amazing version. Very inspired and exploratory.


adamos:


The crowd seems pumped at the start although the band has something mellower in mind initially. They glide along in lovely fashion with Jerry working some gentle lines nicely accented by Bob. Starting at 1:27 Jerry plays some high pinched notes and they ride a floaty spiral upwards. Phil is somewhat quiet in the mix but he's working some nice lines underneath. The momentum picks up a bit as Jerry reaches further upwards; he and Bob pool in a repeating thing and then carry forth in lower, raspier territory, reaching a small peak.

They ease back and continue gliding along. They're spinning up something mellow and lovely with Keith interweaving nicely too. Around 4:20 or so the momentum starts building through some pretty repeating patterns. Jerry winds through lower lines with just a touch of raspiness. The intensity grows and they rise up strongly around 5:30 seemingly ready to unleash. They climb upwards until 5:45 and then roll forward with some lovely collective playing. This too builds in intensity before slipping into something more Dark Star-like.

Around 6:30 they quiet and Jerry plays something Sputnik-ish accented by twinkly notes from Keith. The crowd fills the brief pause with applause. Jerry and Keith keep going and the collective vibe is pretty and delicate. At 7:05 Jerry plays some stronger notes that for a brief moment almost sound like Truckin'. He drifts forward and back while Keith keeps twinkling, accented by Bob, and gets slightly Sputnik-y again before they drift into a spacier zone.

Keith adds electronic effects and there's some volume knob action and they float along for a bit playing somewhat around the Dark Star melody. Lots of slide-y, drifting guitar. Phil bubbles up more although he's still somewhat quiet on this recording. This seems to take them in a new direction they spin up a bit with Jerry playing some quicker groups of notes and some funky wah from Keith. The momentum ebbs briefly and then they charge forth again; things are cooking now relative to the overall vibe thus far.

At 11:16 the patch comes in on the recording and the sound becomes murkier but you can still hear them cooking along. They rise to a small peak and things are hopping. They take it up again and hit the theme in triumphant fashion at 12:28. The crowd is psyched and so I am! The original recording kicks back in at 12:55 and shortly after they move into the first verse which features some nice wah from Keith.

After a fairly enthusiastic verse they reset and then fade into an airy, spacey zone. Bill is active initially; Jerry plays some wailing sounds and Phil revs. Then things get quieter and weirder with subtle, intermittent sounds from the ensemble. Volume knob action, a touch of feedback, some building, buzzing sounds. It's patient and freaky. The intensity starts to grow.

By 20:00 it sounds like a meltdown is imminent. Jerry starts spinning towards a Tiger while Phil plays a walking bass line and things quickly ratchet up. The collective fury is unleashed and they work it for a good stretch. By 22:15 things have calmed back down but shortly after they start heading back up again. Lots of piano work and everyone starts getting weird. It builds to another furious peak and then Jerry unleashes the Tiger. They scream and howl and freak out and then right out of this Phil busts into the Philo Stomp. The crowd erupts and rocks along with him.

Around 26:12 Bob starts riffing away and things sound a little Allman-esque for just a moment. They keep the groove going on a low boil and seem to be considering where to go next. Jerry suggests a twangier direction and slowly the groove starts to shift. By 28:10 they've brought it down to a quieter hover and you could imagine GDTRFB suddenly bubbling up. More hovering, things quiet, Phil briefly works a little line and then he and Jerry start playing off of each other. Jerry gets a quicker line going and after some start stop action they begin to build the momentum again. The collective notes are flying now as they zip along with a slightly country-fide feel.

They build to a peak and then start easing back again. Out of this Phil shifts into Feelin' Groovy at around 31:24. The country-ish vibe is still there and they rock it at a fast clip. It builds up and then keeps going on higher ground with a more uplifting feel, hitting another peak. Then suddenly around 32:58 they are finished with it and bring things down while maintaining some forward momentum. They dance around the descending feel briefly and then ease up and create an onramp for Morning Dew.

An excellent version with a lot to enjoy. The first half has a lovely, gliding feel that picks up in momentum and intricacy as it goes along. The post-verse space is compelling and the multi-phased meltdown is really good. Feelin' Groovy is perhaps a bit tacked on at the end but there is some uniqueness there in terms of its speed and feel. The groove that connects the Philo Stomp and FG is tentative at times but good at its peaks.


Mr. Rain:


I went with the Hanno transfer for this one -- yeah, a bit more tapehum, but more importantly it's complete with the patch and the timing's accurate. (Actual Dark Star length 33:37.)
This time, an audience tape made by Bear himself, who apparently decided to dispense with a soundboard recording after the calamity of the 11-12 mix -- no surprise, this sounds good! Guess he found the best spot for his mics. Good balance: it's a little bass-light but the piano's louder than usual, equal with the other instruments. This tape emphasizes the band as a whole organism rather than single players, united and forceful.

The opening is light & jaunty. Jerry's in top form right away, building his hypnotic web (people are already cheering his sweet bends at :50!). At 1:25 he gets into a stretch of repeated pinch harmonics, before diving into a more typical run. The band sounds really supple & responsive, dynamically ebbing & flowing in unison. The music gradually gets hotter, cresting with two chords at 3:30, relaxing, then tensing up again, Jerry hitting more chords at 5:30 then rolling into a spooky Sputnik-type arpeggio. Magical! Suddenly they quiet down and hover after 6:30, which brings a cheer. They extend the Sputnikish idea, floating like leaves on the sea. At 7:55 there's some brief wah from Keith, and Jerry turns to his volume knob. Jerry stays with the swells as Keith pokes at the Dark Star notes and the rest of the band gradually perks back up, a nice contrast; then he joins them with a flutter after 9:10. This is a very light jam: a touch of wah from Keith, Phil being bubbly, Jerry kind of laying back and just adding texture. The jam gains intensity around 11m as they start playing harder. This switches to a worse-sounding patch at 11:15 from a different taper, which sounds distorted with more prominent drums. The sound here emphasizes the band's rhythmic stuttering, like everyone's playing polyphonic rhythms crossing each other. Out of this clashing, Jerry hits the main theme at 12:30 (a big cheer!) and the band nicely swings into it. Back to Bear's tape at 12:56. The verse comes quickly at 13:16. Keith keeps up the wah during the verse, to good effect; this verse is very dramatically done, and gets some applause.

Then they hit the ooze, and soon drop into deep space: low drum patter, plaintive Jerry peals, bass plucks, feedback & jungle sounds. This is the deepest space they've done in a while -- pure ambient sounds 1970-style! It gets to near-silence at 16:50. They build up a freaky atmosphere, Bill tapping, Keith snarling on wah while Phil twiddles his strings and Jerry volume-swells. Very intense mood building up here, the volume rising like the dark shadow of fear. Jerry turns on his wah around 18:50 and it starts getting more ominously Tigerish. At 20:00 it's obviously becoming a Tiger with Jerry's spirals, Keith crashing & Phil puttering, chaos rapidly rising. No slow careful teasing of the Tiger here, it's a rapid volcanic explosion, chaos storming across the stage until it dissolves in dissonant squawks at 22:00.

That was a frightful semi-meltdown, and now they poke around in the freaky aftermath. Will order be resolved, bright melodies return? No, the mood stays grim & unsettled, the music lashing in disturbed confusion. The mood keeps getting darker over a couple minutes -- neat Phil distortions at 24:00 -- and they tumble into a second Tiger at 24:15! Keith shines all through this. This Tiger reprise is even more fierce and noisy, drums pounding, Jerry shrieking -- they cross the point of doom at 25:00, the crowd cheers, and BAM Phil launches into a perfectly-timed Philo Stomp. This starts off mostly Phil/drums/piano -- Bob adds a great accent at 26:14, but Jerry never really steps in, just lending a few notes. Over a couple minutes Phil varies his line more until it turns into a more free-flowing loose jam, the darkness flowing away. Around 28m as the Philo theme fades away, it sounds like Jerry's suggesting a country feel in an interesting crossover. (The crowd briefly starts to clap along at 28:25, then gives up.)

The air's full of possibilities; the darkness has lifted; there's a feeling of spaciousness. Bob starts strumming a chord pattern at 29m; Jerry & Phil respond with a delightful little duet, and Bill gets roused up. The playing gets more gnarly, fast & hard & fierce & almost Cumberlandish like they're slashing through a thicket; around 31m it sounds like they're fighting for the beat in polyphonic rhythms again. Then at 31:20 Phil switches to a fast Feelin' Groovy, and bang the Dead fly off on that route! This is taken at breathtaking double-speed, and Jerry tackles it with zest (at 32:40, wow). Just as it really starts poppin', the band slamming it hard, suddenly it winds down at 33:00. Jerry plays slower notes to ease the bubbling band to a transition; they seem reluctant to calm down, so he keeps strumming the Morning Dew opening chord until they take heed and Bill clears the way for the song. The audience likes this choice!

That was incredible. My favorite Dark Star of 1972. Very moody and intense -- after a light & spacey opening, they give way to a dark space, a double meltdown, then a swift rush back to the uplifting heights. The whole thing sparkles with everyone shining equally, almost casually tossing off simultaneous shifts in direction and high-speed polyphonies. Keith in particular is brought out in this mix, he's as much in the lead as anyone and very much shapes the jam. Jerry sounds less assertive here, more integrated with the band and letting the group mood guide him. The group intuition is especially attuned, they're never stuck; even in the pauses it feels like anything might happen. The Kansas audience digs it!