176. 1974-06-23

122269 Miami 22:04 (1. Dark Star 17:21, 2. Spanish Jam 4:43)

Spanish jam at 2. :31.
Goes into US Blues.


This counts as a Dark Star, I say, particularly as it starts with the intro riff, although there’s no verse. The band sounds quite focused at the outset compared to some recent versions. Weir has gone harmonic crazy, and this works well here, providing a springy bed for Garcia and Godchaux (on Rhodes). Lesh drops in and out, and he gives us a particularly long break from about 1:25 to 2:13. The playing is still somewhat diffuse, as we often see in this era, but at the same time it has momentum and drive, although this can vary from minute to minute.


Between 3:00 and 5:00 the groove dawns falsely a few times before a mostly Garcia/Godchaux interlude spins us out into rather uncertain territory. Lesh seems disinclined to establish a groove, inserting sporadic commentary instead; Weir tries to get one going once or twice, but soon subsides. The music has become quite scattered as we pass into the seventh minute, but now Kreutzmann seems determined to get something going. At first there isn’t a concerted response, but at 6:23 Garcia gets a lightly prancing Latin thing going, and it comes together a little. This doesn’t last, though, and Bill moves on to something else.


The eight minute brings spacier thoughts of impending doom, and this seems to fire them up a bit; at about 8:10 Jerry decides this is going in the direction of a meltdown, and this gives them a sense of direction. There’s a crazily askew groove brewing now, but it peters out by 9:15 without ever having culminated in a meltdown or a groove…then suddenly, from around 9:30, it’s coming to a peak…not exactly a Tiger, but some kind of cataclysm. This calms down into flat-out weirdness, and again there are nascent grooves bubbling under, mostly instigated by the indefatigable Weir. Also again, none really catch on.


Between 11:00 and 12:00 there is a further unraveling; Garcia plays some chirpy stuff, then gets into one of his Sputnik-adjacent outpourings. Again, Lesh is in and out, contributing but staying on the sidelines, at times laying out. Some kind of crazy groove emerges, mostly driven by Jerry and Keith, and at 12:48 it’s ratified by Phil, and now things are popping off. Garcia is again threatening to take us to the Tiger. But Phil is not a driver of grooves tonight, even if he is participating; his role is more (than usual) that of another lead player.


This makes it more striking at 14:45 when he lays down a brooding undercurrent and then at 15:10 finally bursts into some funky riffing. Now the band really takes off! They hammer on it, regroup at 16:10, and then hammer some more. By 16:30 Garcia has some power chords going, then some chiming double stops higher up the neck, culminating in pellucid high tremolo bursts, and then at 17:08 there’s an allusion to Dark Star before they come down into a brief interlude that makes room for a soaring Spanish jam, kicked off by Garcia this time with a heavy minor chord.


If you listen to Phil’s musical declamations at 3:45, you may become enlightened. His playing is viciously heavy as at 4:19 he smashes out some power chords and Keith pedals along until at 4:30 a shuffle beat announces the next jam, an extended intro to US Blues that is now justly famous.


Those of us who have been a bit disgruntled by the more abstract and wandering nature of Dark Star jams lately will doubtless not be entirely convinced by this performance, but once again I cannot but endorse it. This is mostly very free jamming, and grooves are largely (but not entirely) shunned. But, as the Rolling Stones say, I like it. It should also be noted that this whole sequence must be considered, as there is an arc here from somewhat chaotic improvisation to the focused blast of Spanish jam and the driving US Blues intro section. Verdict: essential.


What was said:

JSegel:


22:04 (instrumental, DS 17:54 > Spanish Jam 4:10) – excerpt on So Many Roads, complete Dave's Picks 34 (also AUD)

An all-together intro, and into a relatively fast Dark Star groove that seems to hold together, incredible. Bopping bass lines and modal melodic lead playing, moving sort of toward fast runs and then back again. Bill’s got the sidestick going on, they’re actually jamming out on the groove and it’s sort of normal. It doesn’t really eddy out for a while, they just keep plugging away at it. It even picks up some speed, and then finally at 4 minutes, Bill and Phil drop out and Jerry plays a descending melody. Bob echoes it, Jerry heading to Sputnik-like playing, and into quiet little runs. It enters a very light area, with mostly guitars and piano. When Phil starts to come back in, he’s playing with short phrases that don’t seem to guide it anywhere, and it sort of plateaus, though Bill picks it up with faster sticking in a syncopated rhythm, which Phil starts to pick up on at about 7 min against some arpeggiated licks from Jerry, down then up again.

About 30 seconds later, it starts to go sideways tonally, into a scary atonal section with little swells and ebbs, heading into a tremolo held area, Bill picks up the intensity.

Moving away from here, they start playing with licks that move in and out of key, like an echo with slow modulation. Back to held tremolos at 10 minutes, and the scary wide arpeggio-licks interspersed with atonal melodics while Phil starts up a groove with Bill.

Oddly, in the middle of this, Jerry seizes the opportunity to play the A and then G chords, insinuating that Dark Star is still happening, but it goes back into tremolo and then string noises and weirdness against the drums, and Jerry heads back to a Sputnik-y arpeggio, with the moving top note like a “normal” Sputnik, even.

Twelfth minute is very free jazz, Keith is rolling around on a repeated thing on the Rhodes, Jerry plucking out odd little double stops. Jerry hits the wah pedal for some rolled-off-tone notes and licks.

Phil starts stepping into a bass riff in min 14, Keith is with him in the rhythm, Jerry moving around it for a while, Bobby trilling odd chords, jazzy and odd groove. Phil starts hitting big bass chords, it gets super hot in the 15th minute, Bill swinging it out with a big bass beat. It holds together for a while, Jerry starts some place holder licks, then into chordal accompaniment, with odd shakes from Bobby on warbling notes.

At 17 min, it’s sort of like the climb to a Bright Star but as it reaches the peak, Jerry plays the phrygian progression that brings them into a new tempo and mode, and starts the Spanish Jam.

It takes about a minute to fully transition, and then they’re here in the Spanish Jam, Jerry steps on the fuzz pedal and they go for it. It’s a nice, very strong version of the jam, goes up and down and builds again, big and tough and eventually drops us right smack into US Blues.

_______
Well, that was interesting. Could have been a nice Dark Star if they actually played the song part! Funny that they ran the groove for so long without doing that, especially when most of this year’s versions have been so scattered with short ideas frittering away into space.


adamos:


The familiar notes get things going and then they're off. Jerry wanders out on a crisp, mellow line and there's a nice full sound from Phil underneath. Bob and Keith add good textures and Billy has some sidestick going as noted by JSegel. There's a laid back feel but the pace is not languid; there's even a touch of pep to it. Jerry works a high, wandering line and they interweave nicely. After three minutes there's kind of a rolling feel and they continue to flow along, varying the pace as they go.

Around 3:55 they ease up and Jerry plays delicate notes with Dark Star flavor. This leads into to a gentle, shimmering Sputnik-esque passage accented by Keith, Bob and Bill. Things get quiet and delicate and more sparse but they keep moving, flowing along with the gentle current. They wander in this zone for a bit and Keith's Rhodes adds some nice flavor. By 6:15 things are picking up again and there are touches of Dark Star as they bubble along. It sounds like something is taking shape but before long they let it go.

Starting around 7:00 they shift and swirl and the feel changes to something spacier with a touch of freakiness. Things slowly get more ominous and it sounds like a meltdown is about to come forth but they end up keeping it in check and there's sort of scattered groove happening. After 9:20 the intensity starts building again and they rise up with lots of tremolo but it doesn't fully burst through. Instead things kind of level out and they continue forth in semi-weirdness.

By 10:30 Billy is working a beat and Jerry and Bob are interweaving upwards with Phil doing his thing. Jerry briefly hits some Dark Star notes which are quickly absorbed back into the growing ooze. Things are pivoting to the weird again and there's a more pronounced Sputnik-like sound from Jerry. Things swirl and there are some buzzing and scraping sounds and the pace quickens and things spill into more of a fusion jam but still with some freakiness. Jerry has the wah going and they weave and swirl and build before pulling back from the edge a bit.

After 14:05 Phil comes forward more strongly and Keith gets something funkier going while Jerry continues to work his freaky line to good effect. There are some big bass notes from Phil starting around 14:45 and the intensity quickly rises and they start charging upwards powerfully. Jerry's guitar calls out into the night and they swirl and spin up a hot groove with driving energy. The intensity ebbs and flows, relatively speaking, but keeps charging forth. By 16:25 Jerry is revving the chords and Bob's guitar is squealing out and Phil is working it and they rise to a peak. As it crests Jerry slips in some Dark Star notes and it's sort of Bright Star-ish and then they wind down and create a nice transitional zone to smoothly shift into Spanish Jam. It's a rousing, crunchy version that eventually gives way to a rocking, extended U.S. Blues.

The sequence as a whole is powerful and well loved for good reason. And the Dark Star portion is very good too. It starts out laid back yet crisp and they slowly find their way to spacier, freaky territory. The meltdown adjacent passages are good and the scattered grooves and funkier sections are compelling too, particularly the intense finish at the end.


Mr. Rain:


(Going with the latest Tobin as the best Archive source, although the tracks are misfiled so Dark Star is labeled Around & Around....just in case you think you've found a 17-minute Around & Around....)

Jerry starts the opening riff with some sour notes, but recovers quickly! The beginning is light and bouncy, with a summery mood. Keith's on the Rhodes, tinkling away; meanwhile Bob's got a very percussive piano-type sound here. Phil bows out for a while around 1:30 -- maybe he had a beer to finish! -- but he sneaks back in by 2:15. He's in his own zone; his playing is kind of adjacent to the jam without really participating in a helpful way; so there's often no low end or groove here. There's a sudden drop to quietness around 4m, Jerry & Keith quietly noodling away over a soft drum patter. It stays softly spacey even after Bob & Phil delicately come back, like everyone's just floating in the clouds.

But after 6m the music starts picking up some drive & momentum as Bill insists on tapping out a beat, and they reach a concentrated swirl around 7m, kind of like they're being sucked into a whirlpool; but this breaks up at 7:30. For a while the music stays tense & disjointed, sounding like it's speeding up to a breakdown. At 8:15 Jerry hints at the Tiger; the jam's getting more frantic. There's a brief audience patch around 8:55 (only about 15 seconds, nothing significant). The Tigerish feel comes back after 9:30, but this is more of a light meltdown, some fast strumming then a retreat to calmer territory by 10m. They leave the discordancy behind and continue with some sunny upbeat jamming. But tendrils of weirdness still keep squirming in as the jam refuses to find a regular footing.

Jerry gets into some chicken-plucking at 11:30, then embarks on the Sputnik path, accompanied by Phil's string-wobbling at 12m. This seems to kick the jam into higher gear, and around 12:40 Bill & Keith have launched a fast groove. Jerry switches to wah and Phil gets more exuberant, participating more fully. At this point it's indistinguishable from a Playing in the Band jam. (Bob is low in the sbd mix, which hurts a bit since it creates a hole in the center where Bob's strumming away quietly & unobtrusively.)

Phil gets heavier at 14:45, and Bill starts laying down a heavier beat. By 15m the band's worked themselves up into a rollicking jam, funky & jaunty. This seems to spin off the wheels around 16m as Phil gets stuck on a wacky note for 30 seconds (not very helpful, Phil!), but they find the track again and the jam winds out a little further. Jerry quotes Dark Star at 17:05, and they go into hovering transitional mode like they're preparing for the theme, Jerry strumming jazzy chords along with Keith. But underneath it, Bill starts playing a familiar march, and around 30 seconds into the next track Jerry signals the Spanish Jam with his minor chords. Keith & Bob know what to do!

The Spanish jam starts off slow & heavy with Jerry laying on the stinging fuzztone (switching to his lighter regular tone around 3m). Very hard groove here. Phil & Keith dominate equally, Keith laying out the chords while Phil loudly pushes the jam along in "lead bass" mode. Phil musters up some extra-doomy distortion after 4m, spurring Jerry to some frantic trills. And with that, it climaxes at 4:30 and they shift to a friendlier rock shuffle that turns into US Blues. (They're so carried away, Jerry doesn't start singing for almost three minutes.)

As a Dark Star, this isn't much; it's more of a 17-minute free jam that serves as a prelude to the stormy Spanish Jam. It sounds like they didn't really want to play Dark Star at all! But like bzfgt said, it's the arc that works here, the loose drift coming together and building in excitement until it culminates in a fierce Spanish attack.

The audience tape by Jerry Moore is excellent, totally clear. The main difference from the sbd tape is that Bob is quite a bit louder, and Keith quieter -- with Bob more centered, the focus of the music changes. The quieter parts somehow become more suspenseful, and some parts sound really different when Bob's playing is highlighted. So I highly recommend hearing the aud tape for a better sound balance; I find Dark Star works even better on this source.