179. 1974-10-18

110771 Winterland Jam 11:47>Dark Star 23:51

Main theme at 5:42 and 7:21.
First verse at 7:45.
Goes into Morning Dew.


This is the final version from the golden age of Dark Star, played during the legendary run at Winterland which served as a tentative farewell for the band as they were going on indefinite hiatus, perhaps never to return (as it turned out, they played their next show five months later, although they were mostly inactive as a live unit until June, 1976). Lesh and Ned Lagin start this segment of the show with a 26-minute run through Seastones, a regular feature of late 1974 Dead shows which is quite variable in quality, but which generally deserves far more attention than many Deadheads seem to be willing to give it. I recommend starting with this track, particularly since Garcia and Weir pitch in well before the break, so the developmental arc of the improvisation that will become Dark Star begins here.


This is all rather spacey stuff, as one might expect. The track titled “Jam” begins as Kreutzmann enters with some cymbal work, and then some flourishes on the skins; everyone besides Godchaux is soon in evidence. They shift into a tentative funky bit after about a minute, with Lesh playing more recognizable bass sounds now. Kreutzmann works it hard, but mostly only Phil is coming along at first. Soon it’s pared down to just the drums, but not for long…the rest can’t decide whether they’re in or out at first, until about 3:45 when Garcia and at last (I think) Godchaux start to get something going.


This is a loose and ropy jam, but we trust that it’s headed somewhere. Weir is more hesitant than usual, darting into the spaces between the other guitar and the keyboards and fading out again; he vacillates a bit between getting something funky going and answering Garcia’s line. Slowly but surely, though, it’s congealing, with almost imperceptibly gathering momentum, into a groove. By about 7:30 this diffracts into something more melodic and again more tentative, at least at first, but also somehow more interesting—the Dead are cooking something up, now.


At 9:20 Jerry starts working a melodic idea that starts to sound convincing, but they’re still in no hurry to pull it together. They keep bouncing off one another at odd angles, which is not without its appeal, interspersed with moments of concord. At 11:30 Garcia’s line takes on a Dark Star-like cadence, and the track switches, somewhat arbitrarily. By :50 into the next track Weir is suggesting the theme, Kreutzmann drops into a familiar swing, and by 1:20 this is somehow recognizably Dark Star; although they still haven’t passed the point of no return, the tracking seems justified now, anyway.


Listen to Jerry’s slide at 3:32, which he repeats several times. He doesn’t play the theme, but he doesn’t have to—that’s what he’s alluding to now, and everyone knows it: we can now infer with a fair degree of confidence that the whole band is now consciously playing Dark Star (if such a thing matters). There’s a beautifully lazy peak that begins at 5:12 when Jerry climbs to the G and hangs us up there until we’re ready for the glorious ascent to A, the expected and familiar gift of the tonic lifting us finally into unequivocal Dark Star consciousness, a resounding “yes” whose echoes tumble us down joyously toward the theme, as if we are being rewarded for the past 42 minutes with a reminder that the return home is often the most transcendent stage of a journey. The point is punctuated and then hammered home; first there is a repeated walk-up to the tonic, followed by a more emphatic return to the theme at 7:21.


They come out of the verse in much the same mood, sliding directly back into a mellow but focused Dark Star jam. Weir is particularly assertive here, at times surmounting Jerry’s line, still equivocating between a second lead and soul guitar flourishes. The band is very soon in full flight, and for the first time in what seems like forever in the post-verse section there are no gestures toward a space jam or a meltdown. Lagin and Godchaux are both very active now, without crowding the soundstage; they buoy up an ebullient Garcia, who at 11:53 starts crashing into an A power chord to punctuate his line, 1969-style. They come over the top and float down into a glimmering keyboard bed; there are hints of a shift toward a minor tonality, and the jam begins to disperse a bit, relaxing into an almost post-coital atmosphere of satisfaction.


At 15:10 we’ve crossed into a new territory, a gorgeously unhurried minor-key jam. Lagin has receded quite a bit again; Godchaux, Weir and even Lesh lay down a springy base; at first Garcia softly bounces on it like a mattress before subsiding at 16:50. Now Weir is in the lead, and Keith and Phil are getting funkier. Jerry sees something there he can work with, and he comes back with some support. Syncopated sounds are popping up everywhere, and Garcia eases his way back into the lead. Lagin comes back into the picture now with an uncharacteristically loud and basic emphasis that underlines what’s already there.


At 20:00 it sounds like it’s starting to disperse a little, and they let it start slipping away, with a few last flares as Lesh briefly takes the reins. Now at 21:30 the jam has reached a point of exhaustion; it simmers on, like water on a burner that has just been switched off. At 22:18 Jerry initiates a tentative meltdown, but we’re still going off the boil; Jerry fritters around and then gently crashes into Morning Dew.


There is a temptation to emphasize extra-musical considerations here—a kind of victory lap for the band; a farewell to the audience, and/or to Dark Star; a bittersweet finale to a glorious era of music, etc. However tempting it may be to try to ignore all this in favor of a more “pure” consideration of the music, it nevertheless seems undeniable that there is a kind of valedictory mood communicated by the music, regardless of the occasion, although I can’t deny that extrinsic factors may be influencing my judgment. It is simply staggering to consider what the Dead achieved between 1968 and 1974 with Dark Star alone, and this is by any measure a worthy addition to the canon. The arc of this sequence is best considered when we begin with Seastones, since the band gets most of the weirdness out of its system before Dark Star even begins. In another sense, the arc that begins in 1968 seems to provide the appropriate vantage; the focused and melodic jamming of this Dark Star signs us off with a sense of justice and completion. Of course, this doesn’t mean that we will ever be satisfied; fortunately, there is more to come.


What was said:

JSegel:


Middle of the five night run (!) filmed for the Grateful Dead Movie. Here the entire second set is jamming for the most part! It’s 24 minutes of Seastones (Ned and Phil, later Jerry starts toodling away in there), this evolves into a “jam” (called various things, Prelude, Jam, etc. I guess it’s a sectional change when the drums come in and then Phil starts riffing instead of noising, but it is just bass and drums for a while before guitars come back, and piano.) This is similar to various space sections of Dark Stars of the past, then into a jazzy full band jam that goes on for several minutes and then proceeds to Dark Star which heads into the intense Morning Dew.

Dark Star seems to be looming toward the end of the “jam” as Jerry makes some melodic feints to the Dark Star theme, though the tempo is much faster than Dark Star itself would be in this era. He goes into a quiet “it’s all the same” bit right at the (Soundtrack version) track division, then to some 9th chord holding pattern, as Bill rolls around and brings it down, and Jerry starts a line that winds its way toward the Dark Star theme, they seem to get the groove by a minute into the (24’) track.

It’s a very relaxed groove as it moves into this world with nice circling lead lines from Jerry and counter-melodies from both Bob and electric piano (Keith or Ned?). A little melodic up and down eddy at about 2’ in cedes to arpeggios and then the wah tone comes in and warbles it up a bit. Bob seems to be the one extending the mode today, for the most part it’s grooving along in the normal A Mixolydian. Jerry is alternating smooth melodic playing with fast runs, though at 4 minutes he starts doing the slide up to the A that used to go to the straight melody, here it’s a facet of the lead lines, which keep happening. A higher eddy around the bright star intro at 5:40, they crest the wave and bring it down to a light version of the Dark Star groove, interjections of fast little quiet runs take it slightly away again, and at 7 min Jerry does the fanfare lick that he alluded to toward the end of the preceding jam (~8 minutes into it), this time over and over very strongly, then quieter and back to the theme, the band falls in and they go to the verse at 8’.

People clap and yell. Nice vocal melody and guitar doubling, not much fermata on line 2, but very delicate vocals. Less band presence on line three with very small upwards wanderings. A beautiful refrain, and near perfect outro, coming into a still-solid groove for a few bars as it starts to melt only a little, Jerry continues with lead playing, Phil has been holding down a very low end this entire time, he’s in the pocket quite a lot this evening. The melodic nature starts to stretch a little as the intensity ratchets up a bit and they play on the threes of the swung groove. Some counter-lead playing from Bobby at 11’. (On the film, you can see that Jerry walks off stage for a bit, I think he broke a string.) They sound like they are winding up a spring, the eddies are tight and intense, Phil starts climbing to a big downbeat of the A at 12:14, most bright-star-like thing we’ve had in these sections recently, a strong bell tolling on each bar with leads in between, they ratchet the intensity up even further to a sudden change at 13 minutes to a minor modal area with a softer feel. The drums take it down and roll around as the band dissipates by 15 minutes.

We enter a new section with a quiet arpeggio (and secret tuning) and into a slow climbing melody from Jerry (with echoes! Is he using a delay pedal or is it the house sound?) They move into this new e minor modal groove with Phil on a cool little riff and chordal stabs from the piano, A D and em I think. More counter lead playing from Bobby with stretched strings and short melodic bits.

At 20 min Billy starts rolling around the drums again, Phil and Keith stick with him as the guitars fade out for a bit. Bob comes back with odd little licks, and to short tremolos answering Phil’s bass riffing. Jerry comes back in with a run and sounds like he’s bringing it somewhere else. The band allows a lull, low notes under short little runs, rolling drums, fairly quiet, the get sparser and sparser. String scratching starts replacing notes, odd little noises from all the guitars. Bill has a big tom tom sound at this show and he plays them as they fade out, and from underneath, Jerry starts a chord and a run that moves into Morning Dew.

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Fantastic version, love the fact that they held it in the Dark Star theme groove so much and where they went with that was great. Nice playing from Bobby countering the leads from Jerry. Phil was really holding it down with the low end and not running all over the place. They mostly stuck with the idea of groove and downbeat, way unlike the version at Winterland from the previous February! A really great end to the era of Dark Star as a set piece highlighting the improvisation arena (though oddly not much ‘space’ within this version, it had all happened during the Seastones and preceding jam.) This is the most together version of the year, and a very strong performance all around, probably my favorite of 1974. (Sad that it drops from the sets now for several years, but good to go out with a strong one.)

-->In a Youtube clip from GD movie footage, you can see Ned Lagin there between Bill and Jerry, but I can’t hear his playing. It’s cool to see them play it, with actual footage of their hands playing this music. It’s pretty intense to watch up close. Jerry is very adept (duh) at picking with his ring finger and pinky, for example, when doing arpeggiated things, to say nothing of the incredibly fast runs and things.


adamos:


Seastones gets weird and a little spooky, slowly evolving into a space jam punctuated by Jerry's guitar and some string scraping and other various sounds. Shortly after the "Jam" track begins Billy jumps in and gets pretty active. The spacey intensity rises but then quickly simmers down as Bill continues to work his kit. Phil joins him in low-key fashion for a spell before fading back.

The drum break keeps rolling until around 3:40 when Keith and Jerry come back in and a mellow, semi-funky jam slowly starts to materialize. Jerry works an intermittent line while Phil does thing underneath. Keith is prominent and adds well to the feel. By 6:00 the momentum is building and Jerry resumes a high, winding line. Bob's textures become more apparent and Phil works it while Keith continues to add prominently to the groove.

Things start to become more abstract and then at 7:30 Jerry gets into some upward repeating notes kind of like bells chiming and this prompts a change in the feel of the jam. It briefly ebbs but then heads forth in pretty fashion, kind of like flowing water. The jam blooms and they take it for a semi-mellow ride. Around 9:45 there's some pooling and they go lower and a bit more pronounced before again pulling back into the flow. After 10:20 Jerry spins up some building, repeating notes and the relative intensity ratchets up. They interweave nicely and then slowly ease up again, reaching a hover point from which Jerry introduces a Dark Star feel to his line starting at 11:29.

Shortly after this the track changes to "Dark Star" as Jerry continues to work his lovely, patient line. Bob blends in some accents and everyone slowly contributes to the gathering Dark Star feel. There's something majestic in the air, like we are witnessing Dark Star being birthed into existence. Beautiful. By a minute in it is taking greater shape and seems ready to run. However they're in no hurry and they ease back as if wanting to continue to enjoy the initial loveliness.

Jerry and Keith work some gentle repeating notes and then Jerry gets more Sputnik-ish before shifting into some watery wah. The whole thing is enchanting. The intensity rises and eases as they flow along. At 3:32 Jerry emphatically slides down the fretboard four times as pointed out by bzfgt, adding some punctuation to the preliminaries. They continue to work the groove and it's collectively lovely. The emotive peak starting around 5:10 just pulls at your heart strings; so beautiful.

Around 5:45 Jerry briefly visits the theme and then carries forth. They continue to spin up a lovely jam, climbing again with repeating notes and then easing back gently, spiraling down into a more pronounced visitation of the theme at 7:21. They bask in its glory briefly and then move into the verse, much to the audience's delight.

After the verse they reset and with a little flurry from Jerry head back into the groove but with a little more oomph. Bob is more prominent and there's stronger emphasis to everyone's playing. The pace and intensity increases and they swirl and spin and collectively rise up, punctuated by some raspy, revving chords from Jerry at 11:53. Glorious! Things eventually crest around 12:46, again to cheers from the crowd. From there they downshift a bit with both keyboardists adding to the tapestry.

They work in this post-peak zone for a bit, moving toward minor territory as noted by bzfgt and JSegel. They hover and swirl with Bill working it and then find a quiet place from which they pivot into a new jam after 15:00. Jerry works a subtle, repeating line and they patiently interweave with Keith making a significant contribution to the overall feel. It has a different vibe than the earlier passages but it's lovely in its own way. For a few brief moments it sounds a little like a slowed down Let It Grow outro.

They work the mellow groove for a good while and things get funkier particularly from Phil. They dig into this further and the rhythm bounces around like they are reflecting it off of each other. Around 19:40 Bill starts ramping up the drums and it feels like the jam may be running its course. Phil steps forward and Keith hangs in too and Bobby sprinkles in some squiggly notes. Jerry gets a subtle wandering line going but soon after they seem ready to let it go.

Things quiet down although Billy keeps at it as do Jerry and Keith intermittently. Then Jerry shifts toward meltdown mode and things briefly get freaky with various sounds from the players. However they've done what they came to do on this night and they soon ease up and create an on-ramp for Morning Dew.

A wonderful version and the sequence as whole serves well as the final pre-hiatus performance. There’s beauty and majesty and some glorious moments blended in along the way.


Mr. Rain:


The set begins with Phil & Ned's Seastones trip, which I highly recommend for those who like the weirder regions of Dark Star. (The whole thing's a continuous suite, with Dark Star just the second half.) It starts with synth ringing & feedback, ominous bass, a very grim horror-movie feel. It's like the darkest of Dark Star spaces from '73, stretched out in slow motion. But the audience isn't put off; there's a crowd cheer after a spooky part at 9m. Then the mood lightens a bit with wacky beeping & rumbling; Phil steps to the fore with thunderous noises while Ned keeps up a background burbling. By 14m it's receded to quietness; then for a while not much happens, just random Phil noodlings & Ned chiming in with some percussive beeps. But gradually it becomes apparent that Jerry has joined in, at first very quietly clucking around 15m (to some cheers), but after 17m getting louder, making Tiger-like wah patterns on his guitar. By 19m it's sounding just like the Dead, Phil scraping his strings while Jerry makes watery volume-swelled lines. For a while it's mainly a Jerry & Phil duet, without much heard from Ned, but by 21m he's adding some low synth chords to back up the freaky noises, and the spooky horror-movie feel comes back. For several minutes Jerry noodles pretty wah patterns while Phil freaks out on bass, a compelling combination. (The crowd applauds now & then.) Slowly & subtly, it becomes calmer and more Jerry-centered as Phil quiets down, kind of a Jerry Space or a '73-style Love Scene.

At 26m the track switches to "Jam," the change being that Bill tumbles in on drums, and the feeling quickly gets a lot more hectic. Bill soon dominates, sounding eager to take a drum solo; Jerry steps back & Phil starts negotiating with the drums. A kind of jungle jam ensues, percussive bass warbles making way for Bill's solo. Around 3:30, Keith appears on the Rhodes (far right); Jerry returns and now we're in a sort-of-funky Dead jam. Bob slides in unobtrusively by 5m -- he's pretty quiet in the mix, adding only little notes at first. (He's in the same spot in the mix as Ned, so it's hard to distinguish Bob & Ned but I think Ned's still playing quietly, actually sounding like a duplicate Keith on Rhodes.) They carry on in their odd oblique non-groove fusiony style. At 7:30 Jerry repeats a dramatic pretty arpeggio, perhaps a signal to change directions, and his playing becomes more melodic. The jam picks up momentum and starts sounding more centered. After 9:50 it sounds like they're building up to a change, but being the Dead it takes them a couple more minutes to actually make the change.

At 11:30 Jerry brings up the Dark Star theme (& the track changes), but he slides into it slowly & indirectly, the others not joining the theme right away but adding decorations on the side. So they're obviously playing a Dark Star jam without fully stating the theme first, circling around it carefully. Jerry has a delicious wah bit around 2m, vaguely teases the theme a little longer, then at 3:30 brings it up again with his typical "here we are" slide, but then keeps dancing around it. This whole part is an extended theme tease! They reach a little peak at 5:30, then finally they're all playing the theme after 5:50. But Jerry veers away and for a minute after 6:30 plays a sharp counter-melody against the theme before finally diving into it for good at 7:25. The verse comes at 7:45 (which brings big cheers from the crowd, like this is already a post-hiatus version!).

Instead of going to space after the verse, they resume the Dark Star jam. (This makes sense since the suite had already started with 25 minutes of space!) By now the playing's a lot more gooey and strident, there's a more intense mood. Phil takes on a nice fuzzy overdriven bass sound, everyone starts swirling together; Ned pokes up from the morass sometimes, fighting for a spot with Bob as the music climbs in intensity. At 11:50 Jerry hits a repeating drone note which pushes them into a frenzy; they're all playing hard & furious in a huge peak which recedes after a minute. (The mix changes at this point: Keith gets a lot louder, and Ned's piano gets moved to the left channel so it's easier to distinguish him. It sounds even more like two Keiths!)

Then by 13m the jam gets calmer, swampy with some bluesy hints like they're about to go into a blues jam. But at 14m Jerry spirals out to Bill's drumrolls & Keith's patter; and by 14:40 he's taking them down a gentle quiet path. They embark on a pretty melodic stretch with a melancholy feel; Ned sits this part out, then Jerry exits around 16:30. Then it's mainly Bob, Keith, Phil & Bill for a while, laying down a rhythm with some poky notes from Bob. Gradually the bluesy feel returns and a kind of funky sideways groove emerges. Ned & then Jerry come back in around 17m, and for a while there isn't really any "lead" playing, it's all a rhythmic fusion jam. Jerry lays out a sweet lead for a couple minutes, then exits again at 19m. The groove lumbers on a while then slowly starts dissolving; Phil starts pushing some big notes around 20:30. Then Jerry comes back in, and a Dark Star mood returns. Bill keeps pounding the drums, but the rest of the band gets quieter, all form trickles away, and their noodling turns to freaky scrapings & warblings. And they're back in Seastones again, like Dark Star was just a passing interlude! The chaotic void lurks. But at 23:30 Jerry comes in with an arpeggio, ushering in a pretty transition to Morning Dew.

Some unique things about this Dark Star. It's a lot more emotional than usual: there's a strong feeling of "the last one" here, they're playing it like they might never play it again, teasing out the theme at length. I think this is also the only Dark Star since '71 where Ned Lagin can be heard playing, although he's not too distinctive here since his tone & style are so similar to Keith, he sounds like Keith's echo! It's also unusual at this time for Dark Star to come out of a jam -- lately they've done it a few times out of the Weather Report Suite (11/30 & 12/18/73, 5/14/74), but this reminds me more of 3/24/73 when Dark Star ended a long jam, or even 12/6/73 when Dark Star gradually materializes from a jam. This one's really unique in coming out of Seastones, a move I wish they'd made more often. This Seastones is especially Dark Star-like, so this is like an inverted Dark Star that begins with space and moves to more conventional theme jamming. However the tradeoff is that they're left with fewer options after the verse: they've already done space, they don't want to do any of the regular themes they've done in the past (they already did a Spanish Jam and a Mind Left Body jam the previous night), nor are they in the mood for a Tiger meltdown. So for me, the final ten minutes are the weakest part, as they settle with a loose funky jam that inconclusively dissolves after a while, and that's it for Dark Star.

I listened to Miller's latest copy; there are a bunch of SBD copies on the Archive but they all have the same identical mix. (With one exception: "Bear's mix" is much the same except that the drums are a lot drier without the extra wet echo, and there's less echo in general; also, Ned Lagin stays centered in the mix throughout. So this is a good alternate...except that Dark Star's cut on this copy.) I haven't compared the Movie Soundtrack release which has a somewhat different mix. Unfortunately there's no audience tape available.

The video is a must-see -- check out the normally stoic Jerry after 5 minutes. I think Ned Lagin's presence is minimized (you only see him in long shots, and his keyboard has been mixed out).

JSegel said: ↑

Phil was really holding it down with the low end and not running all over the place. They mostly stuck with the idea of groove and downbeat, way unlike the version at Winterland from the previous February!

I noticed that too -- Phil's way more well-behaved than usual in this Dark Star! Lots of funky groovin' going on. I think maybe that's linked to why this Dark Star in itself is not very spacey at all -- all the space (and Phil's aggressive freakiness) had already been played out before Dark Star began. If you listen through the 25 minutes of Seastones, Phil's not "holding it down" at all, he's flying all over the place. By the time Dark Star begins he's gotten that out of his system and he's calmed down & cooperative.