182. 1979-01-20

100025 Buffalo 9:23 (“Dark Star” 10:15 -:52)

Main theme at 4:20.
First verse at 4:50.
Goes into Not Fade Away.


The listener may want to start two tracks back with “Jam,” which is lovely, if a bit slight, or else back at the beginning of The Other One, which precedes Drums. After the short jam, Weir gives us the second verse of Other One, and to wrap it up they play a little wind-down jam followed by the intro lick to Dark Star, which comes at :52 into the track we have here.


The first thought I had about this is that these few late-70s Dark Stars, where the piece is somewhat conservative with a stiffer beat and a more coordinated attack, are really beautiful in their way. Playing Dark Star as a (relatively) more scripted piece of music takes some of the excitement out of it, but when it appears one can be struck by how downright pretty and haunting the music is. I remember how magical the first moments of Dark Star felt the times I saw them do it (in 1989-1991). Garcia doesn’t play lines quite like this on anything else, and it’s wonderful to hear them.


Lesh is more prominent in the mix here than he was at Nassau, for which we must be thankful. It has been remarked that he is mostly holding the bottom end down now, but I don’t think this is entirely accurate all the time; however, passages like 3:05—3:15 are almost shocking in comparison to the early 70s, as here we find Phil laying down a one-note bass line while Jerry flutters around. Weir and Godchaux, in turn, seem content with supporting roles, although the piano gets loud and busy here more than in our previous post-hiatus run-throughs.


At 4:20 they are all starting to kick up a fuss, finally, but it is just here that Garcia starts up the theme. This takes us pretty directly to the verse. Jerry does sound markedly older here, although he can still hit the notes more easily than he could a decade later. The backing vocals are kind of hard to discern this time, and I can’t make out Donna at all this time.


Oddly, they return to the intro lick after the verse, as they did on New Year’s Eve, and as they did not on the previous version at Nassau. They plug right away as though they’re starting again. Garcia’s guitar tone is really beautiful here—I am a big fan of the sound he got from 1968 to 1974, and particularly of the early days of the Wolf, but the latter sounds great here. In general, his sound changes can be tracked at least as well (if not better) by era rather than by guitar, and he’s already starting to get the soulfully pellucid sound he’d get out of the Tiger, and that he’d lean into more and more throughout the 80s.


At around 7:55 Garcia starts playing some off notes that clash nicely with the other instruments, and the band responds—now we’re getting some weirdness! The drummers and Lesh open up a bit here, although Godchaux and Weir keep a groove going. There’s a satisfying peak at about 9:30, and they start to break apart more; Garcia’s peak at 10:00 is followed by some rousing up-the-neck action by Phil, and this gets the crowd going. Alas, they divert to Not Fade Away rather than continue. Listen to the melody Jerry plays starting at :15 of the latter—what is that? Maybe it’s just a random melody, but it sounds like he’s quoting another song I can’t put my finger on. In any case, it doesn’t last long, as they start singing immediately after.


I really love this one. As with 1973-02-22, the only demerit is for brevity, but there is some excellent playing here, even if they don’t pursue it as far as one would like. Oddly (and lamentably), after three consecutive Dark Stars, they put it to bed for another three years after this, making this the final Dark Star with Keith Godchaux.


What was said:

adamos:


The jam out of Space is pretty and sprightly with some nice percussion accents. It slowly becomes more The Other One-like before transitioning into a brief reprise of said song including its second verse. After that the track changes to Dark Star and they hover briefly in a more TOO-esque zone. Around :50 they pause for just a moment and then kick off Dark Star.

Dark Star feels gentle and pretty as they get started, gliding along to enthusiastic crowd applause. Jerry works a happy sounding line that changes a little in tone after 1:30. Bob’s jangly accompaniment fits in well and Phil is more present in the mix although still relatively mellow. Keith adds color as well. The drummers aren’t as hard charging thanks to the mellower vibe the ensemble seems to be going for.

They glide along nicely for a spell with Jerry spinning up notes in a pretty collective groove. After three minutes or so the pace and feel start to shift slightly and it seems like things could potentially open up a little. They continue to work the groove with a little more oomph and it feels like something is building. This turns out to be a minor, rising launch pad to transition into the theme at 4:20 however it does sound good when they do it.

Shortly after they gently bring it down and move on to the verse. I agree that Jerry’s voice is starting to sound more like his older self although there’s still some softness there as well.

After the verse they circle back to the starting notes and then spin up the groove again. Jerry plays lots of quick notes and Keith is prominent. The feel is still somewhat mellow and pretty and then the energy starts to build. Jerry reaches upwards and keeps winding and it feels like something is being conjured up. He then goes lower and gets into a repeating thing and a bit of freakiness starts creeping in. The mood has shifted while still keeping some touches of what came before. They ascend to a small but engaging peak that crests around 9:35 but then they keep going and bring it up again more strongly. Things start to get frenetic and it feels like something could burst forth but then right at that peak they decide to pivot into Not Fade Away instead.

I really wanted this one to keep going but what they gave us is good. The first half is gentle and lovely with a nice mini peak that leads into the theme and verse. And then the second half starts to get more intense and possibilities for more were presenting themselves. But it seems they were satisfied with the Dark Star portion of the sequence and were ready to move on. It’s a good version nonetheless.


JSegel:


Last Dark Star with Keith, last one with Wolf guitar.

Ten days later (it’s an every-10-days thing!) they are in Buffalo and from Estimated Prophet jamming comes The Other One. Jerry is still in the mind-boggling speed world, with his now-well used custom-made guitar, which he will be replacing with Tiger later in the year. The shots of him playing in the films show that he really knows Wolf well. The Other One moves into a drum jam which heads from trap sets to hand drums for a good ten minutes, to “Space” for a few minutes, the band joining in with the tuned percussion (Jerry again hits his auto-wah for a second, then he plays up and down tonal melodies in 6/8), bringing it back to the Other One’s second verse, a little low jam for a couple minutes and then off to Dark Star, already hinting at it before the end of The Other One track, though they pause and start with the intro riff.

Immediate clapping in time and they head into the groove. Jerry skips around in the mode, he’s got some sort of octave pedal or something widening his lines. Again, Phil is holding it down, the drums are solid. They keep it mellow for a while, in the groove, while Jerry plays falling arpeggios.

At about 2 minutes into this track, the vibe goes sort of soft jazz. Jerry is jazz-rocking around, quickly, Bobby holding arpeggiated chords, Keith also playing chords and holding them into arpeggios. It takes a while to build this vibe to a theme statement at 3:30, and they fall in and move to the verse at 4’, funny stretch from Jerry on guitar and vocal melody in crash-uh-es. They chug through the line two again without fermata, slight build into line three. Jerry playing funny stuff in the melody double on guitar again. Drums play right through the refrain which seems to add a few beats to it. They finally almost allow a pause in the outro, but don’t really, and it just heads right back into groove with Jerry speeding all over the melodic lead lines as the band chugs onward.

In minute 6, Keith starts heading upwards as Jerry gets caught up in a little whirlpool before continuing in the quick lead lines. Bass and drums are still in foursquare world, though a few chromatic excursions are happening. In the 7th minute, Jerry takes the mode sideways with some whole tone action, then back to quick little atonal runs, the band starts making odd notes happen more. The drums start rolling around more. Keith sounds like he’s just playing chords, they build it up to 8:30 and plateau a bit though the four-beat drums are still there and it sounds like they are just playing through. Keith starts a 6/8 riff which Jerry joins in and they build it up to start Not Fade Away at 9:20 into this Dark Star.

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Sort of short but sweet, not the most incredible but fairly good. Drums are getting sort of boring just playing a square beat the whole time—it does really ground the song, but they do it the entire time (even the verse and refrain.) So it’s sort of a heavy Dark Star from the band, while Jerry skitters quickly over the top with fast running lines.


Mr. Rain:


I listened to Jerry Moore's tape which I thought was the best-sounding, in Miller's 99385 transfer, so my times are 50 seconds off from bzfgt's and Dark Star is a mere 9:22. Eddie Claridge's tape (in the Wise transfer) is very good too, with very similar sound & mix. (Eywood's transfer is very bass-heavy, if you want lots of thumpy low end.)

A nice delicate gamelan-type space comes out of Drums, and over a few minutes it nicely winds its way into the second verse of the Other One. After that's done, Jerry & Phil take some steps downward to transition to Dark Star -- it sounds like Jerry's aiming for the main theme which would be a smooth fit, but instead he stops awkwardly to do the intro lick with Phil.

But after that, I think Jerry & Phil's playing in the opening jam is a step up from the previous versions, lighter and looser. This is actually a nice Dark Star jam, with a floaty casual feel. The drummers don't get in the way; Bob and particularly Keith are more in the background, but hold down the chords without standing out much. (Keith seems to be building a wall of chords for the others to climb.) Jerry hits the theme at 3:30, and right away they settle down for the verse at 3:55. This time Jerry sings the whole verse by himself (messing up the timing of the last line).

And then they're off, resuming the jam where they left off, as has been the routine lately: there's no distinction between the pre- and post-verse jams. Jerry gets fluttery while the others keep a steady groove. But soon the music seems to be dissolving a little, getting more gooey; by 7 minutes it's getting kind of weird, and Phil's playing more like his old detached style. It almost sounds like a meltdown's on the way as a somewhat atonal feel creeps in; but they hold it at bay, not scattering fully but pushing the jam to a swirling peak around 9:20. This jam could be going places! But then -- Bob immediately starts strumming Not Fade Away, and that's all for the jam, time for some rock & roll. What the hell, Bob? No Jerry ballad tonight!

Mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand, the '79 brand of Dark Star is getting better; now that they've done it a few times their playing is becoming more Dark Star-appropriate, the jamming's more nimble & limber. Phil & Jerry's interaction is pretty good, a lot like the old days -- Phil sounds revived here, compared to the feeble 1/10. On the other hand, they don't tackle it until after Drums and it seems their mind is on the end of the show, so they zip through Dark Star and drop it at the first exit. So this Dark Star is equal parts promise and disappointment.