190. 1990-07-12

149523 Washington, DC 24:46

First verse at 7:17.
Main theme at 17:00.
Second verse at 18:00.
Goes into Drums.


Here’s another one I attended; it wasn’t loud enough beyond the first several rows on the field, unfortunately, but it was a good performance. After a cursory Victim or the Crime, Foolish Heart gets jammy at the end and, although they play the introductory riff, there’s a seamless transition into Dark Star. Garcia’s playing had sounded a little bit stiff earlier in the set, but by now he’s limber, and his lines are flowing and beautiful.


At :45 he has become some kind of horn, but he quickly slips back in to a guitar sound, now with a MIDI halo; a little after the two minute mark, Jerry becomes a flute for a little while. This has been typical in Dark Star—MIDI effects often come and go rather quickly. The band is sticking with the basic Dark Star pattern, more or less, but they sound really good here; the playing is confident and fluid. It’s hard to analyze the parts and see how they add up to a coherent whole, at times; this has been the case at this point for decades, of course. Lesh is walking around slantwise; Weir unleashes little staccato bursts and partial chords that slide about obliquely; Mydland is busy, mellifluous; the drummers clop away, maintaining a typical groove. At seven minutes and seventeen seconds, this straightforward but quite beautiful segment is the longest introductory jam since January 10, 1979.


Garcia hits a low A at 6:50 that announces the arrival of the main theme (which I haven’t been marking up top, as it no longer includes the guitar melody I’ve used throughout to identify its position). This brings us quickly to the verse. No one attempts the chord reversal on the “Searchlight casting…” line anymore; this is for the best, as it sounds chaotic when only some of them do it.


We emerge from the verse in a similar place to where we came in from, save that the tempo may have slowed down a little bit. The jamming begins straightforwardly, but Brent seems to have loosened his tie just a little, and Weir is pushing a bit with some distorted squalls. Garcia gets some kind of wind instrument going; for some reason, I’m having a hard time naming the analogue this time. he shifts back to guitar at around 11:40, and things start getting a bit stranger.


Lesh has been helping the drummers maintain normalcy, more or less, but once he defects the jam starts getting weird. Mydland, surprisingly, is at the forefront of this shift, with some rather oddball piano runs pushing it all out of gear. Jerry throws on some distortion and his scales seem to shift into obscure modes. By 14:30 we’ve left terra firma behind, and the band just basically goes nuts until, at 16:50 Garcia emits an unmistakable A and the band falls into line; in case anyone missed it, he even plays the now-rare main theme a few times, and here comes the second verse.


The band isn’t done; rather than fall apart in the general direction of drums, they again pull the two-chord pattern together for a little while before everyone gets in some parting shots. Garcia plays some nice chordal melodies for a while, and then Lesh teases a return to the theme before, at around 22:00, they let it start to disperse; then Weir whips them to one last little peak, and then Garcia and Lesh do some Other One-adjacent wandering for the last minute until they finally let it drop and the drummers take over.


This is a really solid version; it’s not as weird as Miami or even Hampton, but it gets where its going. 22 years into its run, and Dark Star has yet to run out of gas. Not bad at all!


What was said:

JSegel:


Sort of a peppy intro, takes a bit to settle back into the groove, rolling keys tinkling lead Jerry in and he mostly keeps it to guitar type tone, though Bobby has a distortion sound he’s playing with, highly compressed. Jerry plays a nice lead and they head over the first crest by 2 minutes, into an area where the midi is preparing, sort of spacey reverbs, he comes back in with pan flutey sounds for a bit and they move into some chromatic chords and jazzy syncopations. Nice playing. Jamming gets more intense in short waves. Nice modal exploration as it rolls along. More jazz chording from Brent at 4:30, they move slightly sideways modally, though Phil is sort of grooving it on a root with the drums.

Moving into a continuous forward moving groove, bringing it slowly higher and louder over several minutes, they are in good form here, Jerry brings it back down to the A at 7 minutes, and the theme in variation, verse at 7:23, he sounds less top-end raspy, but the low end has a tear. They roll through the lines, but with a big downbeat on line three and no e minor, but with cool rising bell tones through it.

The make it through the refrain and in to the outro, to the next jam.

It starts as a normal groove, continuing from before. It starts to dissipate a bit in the 9th minute, but makes it back. Some weird mellotron like voice sounds come in during some little runs from Jerry. They back it off a bit then bring it back up and over a little hill, where Jerry goes for Midi Trumpet. Bob has some heavy distortion, aping it. Trumpet solo continues, changing timbres a couple times to other brass, then back to guitar and into heavily chromatic odd runs, moving atonally. Bob is squawking away. Phil starts a faster walking style bass thing while the drums fade out to use odd samples occasionally. Then it builds frenetically in minute 13 to arhythmic jumbles, when this fades, it’s a muted brass sound then to distortion, it remains frenetic, wild keyboard sweeps and hits, pounding drums, atonal guitars. Sustained until 16:40, with ups and downs, ceding to wild distorted guitar lead lines and then stretches from Bob, they finally bring it down and slower, and Jerry picks up the Dark Star theme, but moves to alternate harmonies a couple times before they settle into the groove again.

Verse 2 at 18 minutes, sort of surprisingly, voice is as before, but the verse is played lighter so it sounds more fitting. A little climbing funky thing from the bass on the lines. They, play the refrain all together, with tinkly keys. Outro and as with verse 1, back into the Dark Star groove. I was gonna say that if they had already played verse, I might agree that the following Drums and Space could stand on their own and not be part of it, but they are clearly moving forward with Dark Star into the groove.

It’s got interesting bendy lead stuff from Jerry, sometimes with country blue notes. He goes into a fairly mellow set of sixths melodically before playing more lead snippets, though it starts to fall apart rhythmically by minutes 22, and fades to just held notes. Phil tries to spur a 6/8 sort of rhythm, drums come rolling up underneath. It never gets far, though Jerry does some sputnik-y picking. They keep with it, the drums come back and fade out, bringing the intensity up and down, it fades to drums and occasional wah-guitar, then only drums.

Drums: They play a rolling rhythm together for a while, moving into the echoes and then resonance buildup, it’s pretty exciting. When it comes down in volumes it gets very cinematic with low tuned springs being bowed, a fifth apart. At the end it builds with rolling on the reverbed springs and adds goat toenails rattling and moves into the track Space.

Space starts with a low drone and then some atonal guitar wanderings. Everybody starts contributing odd sounds, including buzzy sliding synths and distorted guitars and phase woops. There’s wild fast panning of sounds in the mix. Bass comes in with some pithy comments. This starts a little warbly conversation. It all sounds like an alien dinner party. The pan modulating thing gets so fast it starts sounding like a ray gun. Atonal lines in different abstract timbres, blurring the line of agency: is that the guitar? Eventually Jerry seems to settle on an oboe like sound and goes for odd arpeggios. I guess in higher registers it’s more like soprano sax timbre. This goes on for a while. Then they start to play with the echoes by 10 minutes and it gets lighter for a bit. It’s a slow build to the end, staying abstract, but they move into All Along the Watchtower to get out of it.


The band sounds good here, I think, they are all playing relatively interesting things and doing it well. (Though it's the last one with Brent…)


pbuzby:


I listened to most of the 7/12/90 "Star" the other day from the C. Miller Ultramatrix SBD. Seemed to be largely a good monologue from Jerry with the other band members making various attempts at interaction - Brent being the most aggressive (rather often overdoing it, even if he seems to understand what Jerry has in mind), Bob interjecting here and there with a similar dissonant brass section style to what I remember of the 3/29/90 Star, and Phil as always having especially interesting contributions but with a bass sound that doesn't cut through the mix the way he did up through 1974.


adamos:


Foolish Heart slowly winds down and they make a smooth transition to the opening notes of Dark Star, generating big cheers from the crowd. The playing sounds enthusiastic like there is a bounce in their step. Jerry glides along as Phil works a buoyant line. Bob adds his textures and Brent is prominent in the mix and rather active. Before long Jerry adds a touch of MIDI horn but then shifts back to a more typical tone. The snappy interweaving is appealing and they roll along nicely.

Around 2:05 Jerry shifts back into MIDI and things get a little more open and slightly spacey. Jerry weaves about with a flute-like sound and things are getting a little weirder at the edges but they continue working the groove. Jerry heads back to a more typical tone and works up and down the fretboard. The pace ebbs and flows as they continue to roll along in waves of sound.

By 4:30 Jerry heads deeper and Brent adds some stronger block chords. It feels like they are tumbling down into a freakier zone but before too long they level out and carry forth in the groove again. More ebb and flow with Jerry exploring lower and higher regions. Around 6:10 he gets into a repeating ascending thing that they play off of nicely. At 6:50 there's a pivot back towards the main theme which they quickly touch on and then move into the verse. Jerry's voice sounds weary but not shot.

After the verse they reset and continue along in a slower, more deliberate fashion. They continue to work the groove but in a more open way. Brent is very active again and Bob brings in more raspy accents. Around 9:40 Jerry heads into MIDI mixing guitar and horn sounds. The momentum slows and then picks up again. It feels like they're ready to bust into the weird but they don't wander too far from the groove just yet. Then at 11:35 Jerry moves back to a guitar sound and they begin to pivot to stranger territory.

Things get weirder and more abstract with varying levels of intensity. Jerry weaves about while Bob fills in squeal-ish color. Brent continues to be very active as well. Phil is mixing it up as well. At 12:50 Jerry blasts through something intense and electronic sounding. He soon shifts to more typical MIDI variety but the freakiness has fully arrived. The players cast and weave about with various sounds and the intensity picks up. By 14:15 or so they start letting it rip. It's not exactly a meltdown but more a sustained burst of freaky sounds. It starts to ebb but they ratchet it right back up again. Then around 16:40 they ease up and soon after Jerry brings it back to the theme. They work it gently for a minute or so and then move into the second verse. Jerry's vocal matches the gentler vibe well.

After the verse they work the groove some more but with a different, more delicate feel. Jerry's guitar almost sounds like slide for a brief spell with a hint of twang too. It's a gentler, more subtle passage but there's still some rev at the edges. Phil and Jerry play off each other while Bob and Brent add color.

By 21:50 things start to quiet and the crowd cheers but they aren't quite finished yet. Bob comes forward and everyone ramps up and another jam is potentially coming together. They rise to a mini peak and it's a nice finish although before long they seem content to let it go and slowly give way to Drums.

It's a strong late era performance. The opening passage is enthusiastic and engaging while also opening up a little with a touch of spaciness. After the verse they change the pace and vibe a bit and then slowly work up a decent freakout. The final passage after the second verse is nice too although I wish they'd taken it further. Brent is overactive again but he accorded himself fairly well in his final version.


Mr. Rain:


The flurry of Dark Stars in late '89 might have made fans think this would continue in 1990. Nope! Other than the March show with Branford, Brent only got to play one more Dark Star with the Dead that year. He makes up for it with his loud up-front playing here, vying with Jerry for the lead.

Foolish Heart subsides into a short Crazy Fingers-type transitional jam. Brent's using a piano tone, and the band sounds fairly natural (for 1990). Dark Star emerges from the tinkles. (Crowd pandemonium!) Jerry takes about 45 seconds before he starts switching to MIDI sounds, Brent soon following him. As has been his custom lately, Jerry doesn't stick to a single tone for long, but keeps dipping into various MIDI effects from time to time, then returning to his regular guitar tone.

Nonetheless it flows pretty well. Phil's centered but laid-back, adding buoyancy but not urgency; Bob's playing his usual grungy chords; the drummers' patter doesn't get in the way. Brent returns to his piano tone before long, and after a few minutes Jerry forgets about the MIDI and they just jam normally on Dark Star for a while, free of effects, before sliding nicely into the theme at 6:55. Pretty decent for an opening jam these days. (First verse at 7:18; it isn't too painful.)

The jam continues after the verse, but soon loosens up. Brent gets a mini-solo around 9m, mercifully brief before Jerry takes over; but then Jerry wants to find the most ridiculous MIDI sound he can use, and a couple minutes of horn-like squonking follows before Jerry returns to a regular tone around 11:35. The music's starting to fly apart at this point, more like random free jazz than a meltdown. At 12:50 Jerry lets loose with a bizarre shriek, and they rapidly enter cartoon land with a succession of weird noises. It's like a collection of kid's toys left alone in a room has formed a secret demented orchestra. They get ever more noisy & crazed, piling on in a frenzy (Jerry turns into a chainsaw at 15m). A true freakout!

But after 16:40, Jerry switches tones and nudges them back to reality, and the main theme smoothly resurfaces. Dark Star has sweetly returned, like the madness never happened. (Second verse at 18:00, more haunted & sparse than the first verse.) And after the verse....the jam just keeps on going! They sound even more relaxed and natural by now, and this part is pretty sweet (aside from Brent's inane tinklings). At 22m it sounds like they're coming to a close with a natural stop; but then they press forward again, Jerry entering a quasi-Sputnik arpeggio and some vague percussive Other One rhythms. But it's starting to feel aimless by this point; finally by 24:40, Jerry & the others step aside for Drums.

Drums starts conventionally and becomes more digital (sounding more like spacey electronica midway through). Actual drumming doesn't last for long -- most of "Drums" seems to convey a UFO flying over the stadium. After the UFO lands, the guitarists come out with their best MIDI impressions of the invading aliens. (Kind of like the middle of Dark Star, but more impressionistic & less musical.) Some of this could make neat videogame effects. After a while it settles down into Jerry's usual space noodlings; the rest of the band just stands back while he lets fly. Finally after a long stretch of solo Jerry, around 12m the other guys return to color in the edges. After a few more minutes of MIDI tinkles, Watchtower solidifies from the morass.

It's rare for a show to have two separate wild spaces. That said, Drums>Space feels like its own thing here and not a continuation of Dark Star, which feels complete in itself. Dark Star is pretty wacky, almost comic as they let loose with the freaky noises in the middle. But otherwise it's also very laid-back: it isn't as aggressive as some of the fall '89 versions, and some stretches of jamming are quite mild, straightforward and MIDI-free. A relaxed outdoor summer version.
There are over a half-dozen audience tapes of varying quality; I think the best (in rough order of preference) are Hill, Brotman, Currier, and Boedicker. All good, though none rivaling the SBD, and I didn't get a different impression of the performance.