154. 1972-12-15

17186 LBC 25:00 (I. Jam 14:04; II.Dark Star: 10:56)

Main theme at II. :00
First verse at II. :26
Goes into Morning Dew.


As will become more common, there is a jam here which at some point it becomes Dark Star, and the placement of track breaks and boundaries remains ambiguous. The jam comes out of Truckin’; Hollister does a good job of placing the first break right around where they seem to depart from the structure of that song.


As Truckin’ winds down the band pedals on E for a bit, and there’s a kind of bluesy vamp. Godchaux is playing wah, and Lesh has some kind of fuzzy doomy thing going on. At 1:01 of Jam, Garcia alludes to Dark Star briefly, and then they head into a moody section where the music seems to hang in the air. At about 2:45 Kreutzmann lays down a beat, and a gentle groove starts to form. They migrate toward A; there are allusions to Dark Star throughout, until the groove picks up momentum, and then a little two chord jam pops out that has little overt connection to Dark Star.


This starts to rock pretty hard; they roll back the volume a little after 7:00, but the playing remains intense. At 8:21 the jam has run its course, and Lesh comes to the fore. He leads a Garcia-less section which doesn’t take on a distinct character, until the latter returns at 9:51 and the music begins to coalesce a bit more. There is a kind of pure improvisation happening where they don’t seem to have a destination in mind yet. Godchaux again adds a percussive muted part, as in the last Dark Star. At 12:30 they seem to be pulling it all together; a three note lick emerges that serves as a holding pattern, and then the music again disperses.


Finally they go to the Dark Star theme, which is where the next track begins. They stay with it for a rather short time before getting to the verse at :26. The jam out of the verse heads into space after a minute or so and becomes very sparse. Godchaux continues to make use of muffled strings, which is an interesting development lately. At 5:05 Garcia and Weir unleash some eerie moaning feedback, and they seem poised for the next phase.


This begins with Lesh and Godchaux, with the latter now letting his piano strings resound. Garcia joins in with a line that seems to point toward meltdown territory. He lays in some Tiger licks; Lesh joins him, but the overall effect is very restrained. The train is gaining momentum, but the feel here is spooky. If there has been a Tiger, it was dispersed in time, and it never comes to a head at any particular moment before sliding into abstraction. By 10:00 they are back in a holding pattern, and there they stay until Garcia starts Morning Dew.

They spend a lot of time in limbo during this sequence. I kind of like it, though; you can hear them thinking and communicating with each other, which is one of the charms of improvisation. This is no tour de force, but it’s a fine place to observe the band dynamic and reflect on the defining features of Grateful Dead music in this era.


What was said:

JSegel:


A jam at the end of Truckin’ leads to a jam that leads to Dark Star, the track separation is still in E but on a huge Phil bass note, followed by some feedback and stretched notes over the occasional low E. It takes a bit to settles down to nearly nothing, to start to build it back up again with some thematic runs suggesting the Dark Star world before any idea of rhythm comes back. It takes its time, almost 3 minutes before Bill starts up a sidestick mellow groove with Keith on rhythmic chords with jazzy extensions.

At 3:50 Phil goes for some cool fast licks—that contain the Dark Star intro riff! It sounds like a whole new riff thing played like this so they jam out of that into a two chord thing. Nice groove, it speeds up and moves, a long slow climb up the hill of intensity, a few little glens to cross, it goes smooth after about 8:30, the guitars backing off, then it’s bass and drums. Bill is still moving, Phil is zeroing in on a riff or set of notes.

At 9:30, he starts a new thing, a little help from rhythm guitar. Jerry comes back in quietly and they maintain a quiet but fast area. Drums eventually start just rolling on the toms. The guys stick with a percussive but continuously rhythmic but quiet area for a while, only getting a little louder in the 12th minute. Before 13, they start a syncopated rhythmic phrase, it takes it down and there’s a hint of the Dark Star theme before it goes soupy and then suddenly they break into the actual Dark Star theme and groove, to the verse.

Not a very good vocal entry, but he recovers. Nice long fermatas on line two, breaking up the rhythmic drive. Only a tiny amount of Bobby wandering on line 3, into the refrain, which is slightly rubato. The transitive nightfall line slowing still, to the outro and onto part deux with isolated repeated notes and feedback, Phil slowing it down to drop it into the ocean, Keith still with some chordal playing. Jerry starts some volume swells, it’s very spacious, hardly anything else. More feedback wails, and lighter controlled drones. Bobby makes some string noise, feedback calls still in the distance. Some pedal tones from piano. Very interesting feedback section from guitars and bass at 5:00 (19:00) with long slowly moving pitches.

That poor instrument, the piano, has only discreet pitches so then he plays some of them, and some dissonant clusters.

Jerry starts to come in with wah-rolled-off pre-tiger fast chromatics. Drums are building it back up, some cool dialog bits between drums, bass and guitar. Jerry is continuing in the fast scary bits, Keith on cluster chord stabs, but he’s got a rhythmic design to it.

At 8 (22) they start from the bottom, low and chromatic, hover around a bit threatening to break out, but it never gets super scary wild. Then a minute and a half later, they cede to slight melodic germs, it backs off into a more potentially pretty space, latent with modal themes threatening, some guitar statements right at the end of this lead to Morning Dew.

______
Nice version in general. Very cool feedback and odd space in the second half, the threat of a full Tiger meltdown slightly averted toward the end and steered slowly into Morning Dew.

So ends 1972, generally a very good vintage! Looks like it’ll be a couple months before a new star happens.


Mr. Rain:


This one presents us with a philosophical conundrum: Where does Dark Star begin? Are they playing a 16-minute Truckin' jam before they start the actual Dark Star, or have they sneakily been playing Dark Star all the while? It's ambiguous. Unlike 1970, when they could do a Truckin'>Dark Star with a clear demarcation, by 1972 it's getting harder to tell just where a Truckin' jam ends and becomes something else. We'll face this dilemma again!

But I agree with bzgft here about the main turning-point (Hollister and Sirmick's files both place the jam break at the same point). After a couple minutes of Truckin' boogie, there's a dramatic shift: bass bombs, Jerry feedback & Keith wah take us into a spacier world, like Jupiter sailing overhead. (This is one of the epic moments of '72, deftly coordinated and rarely equaled.) After a minute Jerry hints at the Dark Star mode, but they decide not to go there fully; instead they hover, making clouds. They stay in this delicious indeterminate zone for a while instead of starting the Dark Star theme, the wah piano buttressing wistful guitar melodies. Then at 2:45 Bill's drums & Keith's chords form a basic rhythm pattern for a laid-back jam, with some more Dark Star hints from Jerry. Phil pops out a catchy bass riff after 3:48, derived from the Dark Star opening notes, that he repeats for a while, and the others build off it. (It sounds familiar, but has he played it before or am I just remembering it from this track?)

By 4:45 the jam's getting spicier, picking up speed, the groove accelerating -- Keith seems to be pushing them with chords bouncing off Phil's bassline. After 6m they're flying, everyone's loose, it's pure straight-ahead jamming. After 8:20 the momentum dies all of a sudden; Jerry wants to move on to something else and recedes. At 8:48 Phil starts a lead bass line, just Bill & Bob accompanying, but after a minute this goes nowhere. After 9:45 Keith tries out the damped strings again, maybe going for a reprise of the 12-11 percussive jam; but Jerry soon comes back with more melodic ideas. After 11m there's a cool part where Keith's damped strings juggle with Jerry's notes, a unique duo that almost harks back to a '68 Alligator break. A jumpy rhythm takes shape; Bob & then Phil pick up on it and they coast for a bit, but the new jam only coalesces for a short time, dying out at 12:50. After throwing out a tentative hook, Jerry turns back to the Dark Star theme at 13:20. They go back to hovering in the clouds, making spacey waves before settling into Dark Star at 14m. (Nice tapped-out rhythm on Keith's muffled strings!)

Jerry sings the verse straightaway, making it obvious that we've already been in Dark Star for some time now. Keith seems to overplay a little in the verse, not quite in step with the others. They slide right into a minimalist space, Keith tinkling under Jerry's feedback. They glide into volume swells and some harmonic Bob & Jerry feedback. Oddly Phil sits out for a while, not adding much; after 4m Keith & Phil sidle their way in, Keith still playing with the partly-muted strings. Jerry's quiet feedback space continues, the feedback reaching a crescendo after 5m. They seem very reluctant to actually embark on a jam: Phil plays a promising chord, Bill starts a drumbeat, Keith drops a hint, but nobody pushes it out of space.

Finally at 6m Jerry enters on wah, his mind on the Tiger, and they focus on that direction. For a few minutes they play a kind of scattered mini-Tiger -- it's got all the ingredients, Jerry's screechy flurries, Phil's bloops, Keith's atonal chords, but they never commit to a total meltdown; instead they just ease out of it after 8:50. The tension dissipates and they wander around for a while, each seemingly in his own space; Bob's got his chorus effect on, Keith tinkles playfully, Jerry has a more mournful feel, Bill drums randomly. At 10:30 Jerry signals Morning Dew and they gather around that. Jerry plays a lovely little line in the transition, but the actual Morning Dew intro is sloppy as they have some trouble coordinating.

This felt like a lightweight Dark Star that promises more than it fulfills. It has some great moments, particularly the first eight minutes, but after that it feels like they're not quite getting together. There's a lot of spacey treading water, jam possibilities sputter out, and even the Tiger feels a bit perfunctory. Not sure what happened here after the initial inspiration; maybe the mood wasn't quite right. Still, it's all good and enjoyable, I like the feedback space, and the first portion is as great and unique as Dark Star openings get.


adamos:


As the Truckin' track ends the jam is slowing down and there's a howling sound that hints at a stranger direction. This continues into the "Jam" track punctuated by some strong bass notes from Phil. They keep it rolling with Jerry slowly stretching and holding the occasional high note and Keith adding some wah. Then at 1:01 Jerry brings in some Dark Star notes and a new direction begins to materialize. Keith's wah adds some funkiness and there is some sparkly accompaniment from Bob. The overall feel has shifted now and they start slowly winding down the Dark Star path. There's a gentle otherworldliness to the proceedings as things begin to take shape; a sort of spacey, melodic rumination.

Starting around 2:45 a mellow, jazzy groove starts to form with snappy hits from Bill and Keith working the piano nicely. Jerry winds his line out gently and Phil starts to get more active underneath bringing in more pronounced Dark Star notes that the others latch onto. The momentum starts to build and before long they are cruising along in a Dark Star jam. They ride it for a good spell, letting it rip before pulling back a bit after 7:00. From there they take it back up again briefly before letting it go around 8:18 or so.

At this point they hover a bit with Bill most prominent and Jerry and Bob shifting into intermittent accents. Phil steps forth and starts something up but it doesn't seem to fully come together. Jerry reenters at 9:51 and they play around in this general area. They are working a groove but it also feels a little stuttered. Jerry starts to let it rip but then pulls back and they let it percolate again, building up some momentum with Keith playing off Jerry's line with kind of a repeating, thumping thing. By 12:20 something more collective is coming together again and Jerry soars upward. They ride it until 12:50 or so and then start a staggered downshift that dissipates into a semi-spacey transition zone. They swirl a bit and more Dark Star notes enter the fray in kind of a bluesy way. And then as the Dark Star track begins they briefly hit on the theme and then move into the verse (which starts a bit bumpy).

Afterwards they reset and shift into a spacey zone. There's some howling feedback and volume knob action and other assorted freaky sounds. Keith adds nicely to the brew as well. They take their time, conjuring up a spectral feel. There's a kind of whistling, screechy sound, the howling feedback calls out again and then they start to look for something else.

Bill comes forward more and Phil and Keith poke around but nothing seems to be coming together yet. Then around 6:00 Jerry kicks on the wah and Keith plays some spookier piano and they slowly head towards meltdown territory. Jerry starts winding up and spinning out but it is somewhat muted overall. Bill is working it and Keith, Phil and Bob contribute to the collective freaky sounds. They whip up a partial frenzy but I agree that it's kind of a scattered mini-Tiger as Mr. Rain described it. There's a final upward push starting around 8:15 and then they begin to slowly let it go. Things stay freaky for a while longer and then they ease up and hover for a bit with everyone adding a little bit to the collective stew. This slowly leads to an onramp for Morning Dew.

It's an interesting and enjoyable version. It doesn't fully come together everywhere but I like the gradual, jammed out transition from Truckin' into the Dark Star proper. And they conjure up a good feel and some compelling moments at various points.