86459 Springfield, MA 32:08
Main theme at 18:30.
First verse at 19:00.
Goes into Eyes of the World.
As on the 21st, the band runs though the Weather Report Suite Prelude for a couple of minutes before kicking off Dark Star. It’s a mesmerizing (and somewhat out-of-tune, which seems to be more common than ever) lead-in, and in some ways is a bit like a (brief) successor to the Mountains of the Moon jam in this spot. The introductory Dark Star jam soars right away, majestic and stately. The mix on this Miller transfer is well-balanced, and it’s always nice to notice what a collaborative effort the jams are when everyone is clearly audible.
There’s a subtle shift, evident by 1:40, toward the E minor, as the jam becomes more subdued. On some versions they toggle back and forth between this and a Dark Star jam in A, but here they keep pushing forward with it. At 4:04 Garcia throws in the “it’s all the same” lick that JSegel has named—once you name something, it’s easy to keep noticing it! At 4:30 Garcia is pushing them back toward A, and the jam intensifies, but Lesh underpins it with more E and G. Then at 5:46 Garcia makes a more decisive push for the A, and Lesh let’s himself be dragged along.
At 6:04 Garcia’s rolling lick hints at Wharf Rat and Sputnik, perhaps in equal measure. The A tonality seems pretty well established now, with Lesh hammering on it. By 7:00 or so there are elements of a frenetic jam, but without a lot of tonal movement. Jerry’s triplets at 7:41 slide into a lick that may or may not be the beginnings of the main theme. It seems not, for now. At 8:15 Phil starts walking on the bass, which is not a typical maneuver; he lands on B at 8:43, pushing the band up a notch to where they spent much of the previous rendition (3-24).
The jam is becoming more dispersed, with Kreutzmann rolling all over the toms and Garcia wandering up and down the fretboard. At about 10:45 Garcia is hinting at Other One, still around the B, and Weir has engaged his wah pedal. This doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, and at 11:20 Jerry starts gesturing toward the main theme while Kreutzmann starts jazzing out on the ride cymbal. By 12:30 the music has subsided into a rather dispersed and transitional place, and at 12:54 the band gives way to Kreutzmann entirely. Weir comes in with some high soul rhythms at 13:05; no one joins him, so he plays around for a little while until Keith and Phil trickle back in.
By 14:05 it sounds like they’re getting something together, largely thanks to Godchaux, but it’s still a bit tentative. Jerry comes back at 15:04, the others take it up a notch, and now it really starts to get good. At 16:20 it starts fraying at the edges, but they bring it back up—they’re playing with a loose kind of intensity, and with a palpable sense of freedom and joy. A minute later they’re shooting into the stratosphere again, while maintaining the looseness. When they come down the other side at 18:14 it is clearly time for the main theme. Garcia takes us there, and brings us right to the verse.
As is often the case, the crowd sounds really into it, and as they come out of the verse there’s an audible ovation. Weir has said that by 1974 they were losing everyone with the long jams, but just about every recording that has audible crowd seems to belie this (so far). There’s a bit of throat clearing after the out lick, and Lesh comes swelling up with some fuzzy noise which he turns into a monstrous pulse, and as he pulls back the crowd again goes wild.
A thoughtful yet noisy space ensues rather than the potential throb-fest that suggested itself here. Lesh swoops in and out with the fuzz swells, and the other two string players hover around him—Godchaux and Kreutzmann seem to be absent so far. At 24:50 Garcia start some syncopated wah strafing, and the drums begin to tap at 25:20. They are carefully building a noisescape now, and Kreutzmann adds a bit and then drops out again. Lesh starts playing some heavy chordal stuff, and Billy comes back with the cymbals this time. This might be heading for a Tiger, by now a standard maneuver, but it’s an interesting trip so far. By 27:50 Jerry’s wah tone has gotten cleaner, which may signal a turn away from the expected Tiger.
At 29:20 Garcia starts running arpeggios, and the band has never crossed the line into meltdown territory. This circumspection has paid off with some truly interesting improvising. At 30:50, though, they might be out of gas, as the jam starts to meander. I thought Jerry had hinted at Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring a few minutes back, but it wasn’t distinct enough to note at the time; it becomes unmistakable at 32:38, however. These are dying embers, though, and pretty soon Garcia is strumming Eyes of the World and, as I like to think Gary Cohen might say, the Dark Star is over.
This is a wonderful half hour of music. The jamming is in a way more diffuse and scattered than usual, but that doesn’t come across as a weakness; the playing is casual but confident, and rather than offhandedness, this conveys a sense of freedom and whimsicality. It may be the case that the burst of creativity and excitement about the Dark Star form that came in with Keith in late 1971 is beginning to wane a bit, but for now there is plenty of juice left in the piece.
What was said:
JSegel:
A small Dark Star feint from Phil that instead leads to a full 3 minutes of Weather Report Suite, it’s getting worked out. (Then 30 minutes of Dark Star, followed by Eyes of the World and Playin’ in the Band!) The intro starts in a very staid way, each note articulated instead of trilled, sort of odd. But the groove come in strong and they flow. Jerry even trills away after a minute. Nice and relaxing as it moves along. Jerry is trying several modal outsiders, he hits the “it’s all the same” rhythm before 2 minutes before heading off in longer runs. It’s many ripples of melodies instead of one long flowing one, from everybody, shorter ups-and-downs, little waves lapping. Some plaintive stretches. Bobby gets caught up in a trill on a minor second and goes for some chromatic runs in there, even. A few Dark Star melodic feints, some low string stretches, some lulls.
Everybody is into the shorter fragments this evening, and small interval trilling. In the sixth minute there’s a pedal tone on an open string happening with hammer ons against it, brings the tension up a bit to a suspended chordal area, Phil starts stepping it up. This seems to incite both Jerry and Bill to get going more, but it only lasts another minute or so before a lull into a quieter area. Punctuation with falling arpeggios, then up and down arpeggios, moving into a delicate upper register area, before fading.
At 9 minutes, they settle on a b minor/phrygian area, but it’s still very delicate, coming in and out. It fades, drums pause a couple times, Jerry keeps going, in shorter delicate bursts. Again they come to the minor modal area. It doesn’t seem like anything is permanent here, it keeps coming apart. Bill goes for tom rolling, then heads to ride cymbal stride and he’s nearly all alone by 12 minutes. The band is quietly in there, not playing much at all. Bobby starts a chord strumming pattern at 12:45 or so, punctuated by harmonics. They are still playing with the b minor/C major thing it seems like, and now Keith has an idea for it. Jerry has dropped out for a bit. It rolls around a bit, short back and forths from everybody. Jerry comes back in with runs before minute 15, this seems to hold it together more, he has a melody in his head, and they’re back in the A mixo world. It starts to take off a bit, the whole band moving forward.
The wave crests at around 18 minutes, and they come down and start the Dark Star groove again, people cheer. Verse comes in at 18:35, slowly moving into it. A large fermata for line two, only downbeats against Jerry’s melody. Line three has some bass movement upwards, but it’s wiggly. The refrain is delicate, with a drum punctuation in the middle. Again, the outro notes, like the intro, are very separately stated and not run together like the normal method. The space starts with volume swelled guitar and occasional bass notes.
The bass holds a note that develops into feedback and threatens to take over, starts pulsing loudly. Guitar takes over a delicately fed-back note, Bob comes in with some odd chords. Bass has some sub-bass feedback notes going on, and odd electronic sounds. The guitars are stretching notes, and playing some notes to find resonant ones.
In the 24th minute there are odd wah-plucky sounds and odd atonal chords and notes from guitar and bass. Very little drums are in this section, clicking in and out. String scrubbing noises. Phil is playing double stops, but delicately until his big chords after 26 minutes, in multi-channel separation. Jerry starts the Tiger licks at 27 minutes underneath this, but he cedes it to atonal single notes, they play a slow counterpoint of non-tonal notes, drums start pulsing in and out. Jerry starts a diminished chord arpeggio, falling by steps and then into a sort of “Eep Hour” progression for a bit. The wave crests into slower notes, Bobby makes noises that they are going to move on but it holds on for a while until Jerry eventually starts Eyes of the World.
Another nice one, weird mood they must have been in with all these shorter ideas rolling along, one after the other.
KeithGodchaux:
I love the first 20 minutes. Top-shelf Dark Star. The last 10 minutes feel like they're leading up to a happy-time payoff that didn't happen (like a Tighten Up Jam or something). They kind of used Eyes of the World to do that instead. I guess that works, since it was new. I've enjoyed this DS since I first heard it upon its release on Scooby-Doo House, or whatever number Dave's Picks it is.
I don't "trust" Weir when he says things like they were losing the crowd on longer jams. As you noted, the crowd was well into it at that 18 minute mark when they get into Dark Star's main theme. Aftet its 1974 retirement, the fans had a freakin' sign counting the number of days since the last Dark Star. I think maybe Bobby wasn't any longer interested in long jams. By post-hiatus, I think he had more say in the band's direction, and is probably fond of recalling those days. It's easier to make it sound like the band was going with the flow of the times, but that's not something they ever paid attention to in the past.
Phil sure acknowledged what I think was the flat-out reality:
Within Lesh’s The Last Word chat with David Fricke, the bassist was asked “what was the best part of the Grateful Dead’s success for you?” The bassist had a surprising response, “It was wildly successful for me until we took the break from touring [in 1975]. When we came back, it was never quite the same. Even though it was great and we played fantastic music, something was missing.”
Fricke pressed Lesh on just what was missing and Phil responded, “It’s hard to pin down – a certain spirit. It would come back now and then, on some awesome evening, some particularly great performance. But that was even more frustrating, because it would disappear again for X number of shows, just disappear.” The time frame the bassist mentioned includes such fabled years as 1977, 1985, 1989 and 1991.
That statement validates everything I feel about the post-hiatus Dead. I believe they tinkered with their sound, style, arrangements, and approach too much too fast - so much so that they lost almost all semblance of who they once were. One could argue that yeah, they were always changing pre-hiatus as well, but those changes were more organic. What they returned as post-hiatus was much more forced / manufactured.
Now let's see if I can step down from this here soap box without spraining an ankle....
adamos:
A bit of WRS Prelude gets things started and then they are on their way. Jerry heads out on a lovely line and there is some sparkle to the collective sound. Phil is subtly working underneath and Bob adds some nice textures. Pretty accents from Keith too while Billy works the cymbals. Jerry winds high at first but then heads lower and they slow things a little and conjure up a pretty, introspective passage with good interweaving.
Around 4:30 or so they start climbing upwards more energetically but then level out with Jerry hitting deeper notes. They weave and wind and take their time, ebbing and flowing. At 6:00 Weir's rhythm becomes more prominent and then Jerry starts spinning something up. They spiral upwards with a touch of raspiness in Jerry's tone and Phil becoming more assertive. It feels like the jam might take off into wilder directions but they reel it in and roll forward with some pace.
Around 7:45 they ease up and hover before proceeding more slowly. The momentum starts to kick up again before long though with Keith, Jerry and Bob all working a repeating pattern. After another ebb they open things up in more mellow fashion. Phil works some deep bubbling notes while Jerry takes a similar pattern higher. Billy gets a rolling thing going and Jerry goes deeper, winding through tunnels. Bob brings in a touch of wah and then quickly goes back to periodic rhythmic strumming.
They ease up again and around 11:20 there's a hint of the main theme. It doesn't fully take though and Bill starts working the cymbals while they hover for a bit. The others slowly pull back and it's briefly just Bill. Bob asserts a funky rhythm but it doesn't last long. Keith then starts adding some nice piano work and Phil returns and dabbles all while Billy keeps working his kit. Things slowly begin to take shape and then at 15:05 Jerry comes back and the intensity rises.
Keith plays some lower, reverberating notes that set the mood and they wind and weave and let it run, creating a driving groove with some oomph. By 16:25 they already seem to be letting it go but they regroup and slowly take it back up, building momentum as they go. They charge upwards with notes flying off of Jerry's guitar. It peaks around 18:10 and then they ease up and descend into the main theme; a lovely return to known territory. They then quickly move on to the verse.
After the verse they reset and there's some patient volume knob action complimented by a gently rising feedback hum. Phil then fully unleashes it while Bobby strums along and Jerry adds his touches. Phil eases up and Jerry holds a high note. And they all proceed to explore this feedback-y yet somewhat melodic spacey territory.
Around 23:30 Jerry holds a sustained whale call with Weir possibly joining in as well. As this dissipates Phil starts inserting some low, full notes and Jerry moves into wah. It's a patient, contemplative zone but it feels like freakiness lurks nearby. Phil works low notes while Bobby strums some chords. Jerry's subtle wah work adds some spookiness to the proceedings and they all head in that direction. A Tiger may be on the horizon but it's not yet clear if it will emerge. They dance around patiently in this spooky zone with some string scraping added for good measure.
Then around 26:20 Phil starts stair-stepping before unleashing some heavy chords. It almost sounds like he's going to play Morning Dew for just a second. This turns into some revved-up chord work while the others add freaky jungle sounds around him. A Tiger feels imminent now and Jerry starts spinning it up but then opts to let it go. Instead they return to a driftier, spacier zone.
The intensity starts to build again and Phil lays down some more heavy notes. Things ebb and flow as they continue to explore this spacey territory. There's still some edge to it but they're keeping it relatively in check. Billy becomes more assertive and they swirl around that a bit. Then Jerry gets into a repeating pattern starting around 29:17 that shifts the overall feel. They work this up and then start easing up again around 30:43. They float along for a bit and there's the Jesu quote that bzfgt pointed out. But by now things have run their course and they start up Eyes Of The World.
It’s a good version with its own feel. Not everything is fully fleshed out and the freakiness isn’t completely unleashed. And yet it still feels like a journey with a number of ideas explored along the way. There are pretty passages and variations in mood and intensity that make it engaging.
Another tape with buzzing; this one sounds better than 3-21, but the Dave's Picks release is the way to hear this one. This audience tape is also very good & clear.
Jerry teases the Dark Star notes after Mississippi Half-Step, but they take a little detour through the Prelude first...might as well call it the Dark Star Prelude at this point. (Its third appearance in Dark Star! Although it had also turned up in the middle of a Truckin' jam in the previous show on 3-26.)
Miller's soundboard tape has about 30 seconds of interesting Prelude tuning (or rehearsing) cut out, which you can hear on the audience tape. They've put some more practice into the Prelude, although Jerry's still lost at sea -- he sounds painfully off near the end. (What made this little tune so hard for Jerry?) This time Bob runs through it for a couple minutes, then some dark strumming and a pause leads them into Dark Star. Crowd joy.
A promising start for Dark Star, lush and laid-back. Jerry plays lots of long runs (sounding a bit frenetic) while Keith adds well-placed notes. Phil keeps it light & open. After 3m it starts sounding more like an Other One with Jerry's constant runs, but he pulls it back to Dark Star territory after 4m. Things get more intense and hypnotic approaching 6m, especially when Jerry dives into an extended arpeggio from 6:20 while Phil insistently repeats a note. Dead magic! This section comes to a close around 8m with a crowd cheer. After that the playing gets less focused, like they're wandering around searching for something. Keith stops playing around 9m. Now the jam has a transitional feel (it still sounds like an Other One's about to burst forth, like after 10m). Bill bangs on the toms, and Keith finally comes back after 10:40 with some electric-sounding notes....he briefly uses some effect on the piano, maybe his wah.
Things are starting to go awry, with everyone kind of straying off uncertainly. After 11:30 Jerry teases the theme then strums loose chords, but by now it sounds totally random like they have no idea how to cohere into a jam. They've gotten themselves lost, so at 12:30 they pause for a short little bass-drums break. Then Bob pipes in at 13:05 with some chirpy r&b chords, which no one joins until Keith shows up at 13:40 with a loose accompaniment. This evolves into some scattered jazzy rhythm-section riffing. After 15m Jerry finds his way in: suddenly things click, and they're off on a speedy jam. This gets especially lively around 17m with Bob's spirited picking and the peppy drumming; Jerry's in his element. Then at 18:15 Jerry gives a nod and they all slow down & swirl round his lead to the main theme at 18:30, a nice transition -- lots of applause. The verse comes a bit too quickly at 19:00. The crowd loves it.
That was an odd opening Dark Star jam -- by far the longest of early '73. It gets pretty boring and downright bad for a while. It's really unusual to hear them shamble around in confusion like they've forgotten what they're playing (like all their critics claim!); I'm not sure how they lost the thread like that. They could have gone for the verse at any time, but it felt like they were hanging in there until they found something that worked. Finally in the last few minutes they came through with a nice but rather generic fast jam, the kind they've been doing well lately.
The post-verse figure drops us into the deepest space with Phil's drone and Jerry's volume swells. Phil's loud fuzz drone takes over and inspires Jerry to some high cries & feedback while Bob taps his strings. Delicious thick feedback space for several minutes! This beautiful guitar trio is the high point of this Dark Star (and the crowd digs it!). Jerry steps on the wah at 24:30 and starts hinting at the Tiger at 25m, but it all stays rather cautious and minimalist -- quiet scratches rather than wild screeches. Around 27m Phil's pushing them with some loud bass blasts, which prods some more Tiger action out of the guitarists, Bob & Jerry both scraping away. But once again they swerve away from a meltdown, and at 28m they're back to wandering wah warblings. Keith, as usual, has been totally absent from the space>Tiger portion; Bill adds a bit of drumming now and then. Bob & Phil back Jerry with hints of mad menace. Things get more intense around 29m, and at 29:40 Jerry's back to his long repeated arpeggios against the bizarro background. At 31m they've calmed down, and conclude with a minute of quiet transitional wah drifting. Phil & Jerry are in their classical-Bach mode; Jerry brings it to a nice resolution before starting Eyes of the World, which the crowd is thrilled to hear (more clapping along!).
This is a very scattered Dark Star for sure. I have mixed feelings, it drifts around a lot and my attention can wander. The opening jam's kind of a mess with ups and downs; after a good start they fall apart in the middle and take forever to catch a spark. After the verse they turn around and take us on a wonderful space ride, one of the best, and a forecast of late '73. The Tiger part is restrained and low-key, so the conclusion is more weird than wild, no meltdown but still effective. I recommend the audience tape, with good sound and lots of audience engagement. All the spacey stuff didn't lose this crowd!
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