157119 MSG 24:28 (I. 12:19; II. 12:09)
Main theme at :06
First verse at 3:38.
Verse melody at 10:48.
Second verse at II. :51.
Goes into I Need a Miracle.
They come in kind of raggedy here; they begin with the theme, with the drums staying out and Weir cutting against the beat. Branford is assertive from the jump, again playing the soprano sax. They get some momentum going after about a minute, and there’s a kind of lush soundscape with the sax swirling around. Garcia kicks on the flute effect after another minute, and Hornsby tinkles away, but Welnick is more textural at first. At 3:26 Lesh kicks in with the theme, and they go right to the verse.
Now it’s time to get down to business. Vince runs the theme while Garcia and Marsalis trip around. Vince has some cool sounds going, mostly organ-like but with some ominous swells. From around 6:30 Garcia plays some melodic stuff that hints at a minor tonality and shifts the mood. It is pared down to mostly Jerry, Phil and Vince now. Weir comes back at 7:40 with some volume swells, and Branford follows him back in. There’s no sign of Hornsby yet, but the music is starting to build again.
I think I can hear Bruce at 8:53, he is just playing quietly, I think. There’s a lot of sound going on, though, as they wax and wane a few times without coming to a peak. Hornsby is back in evidence at 9:45, and this leads to another gradual crescendo. There is a minor peak at 10:35 or so, and they start to tail off. They run through the verse melody a full three times, and then almost play the chorus, but instead they get a galloping beat going that is soon taken over by the drummers.
Space tonight is a really cohesive and engaging ambient jam, although it doesn’t have much evident connection to the first half of Dark Star. It gradually comes around to a Dark Star jam, and the main theme leads into the second verse very soon after. They choose to keep going, and it gets hairy pretty fast after the verse, heading right into a space jam. Garcia puts on the bassoon sound, and Marsalis is now on tenor.
This is some really free jamming, now. The drummers duck out not long after the verse ends, but the jam is still pretty intense. Just about everyone is walking all over, with Weir providing a more textural commentary on the side. It continues to build in intensity, reaching meltdown status from about II. 6:40. This (along with Space tonight and in Nassau) is probably the most “out” stuff Marsalis ever played on!
There’s a bit of a lull at II. 8:45; Garcia is back sounding like a guitar, and the music loses some of its cohesion. It was “out” before, but it had an intense core that is now unravelling. At II. 10:15 Garcia is playing some sweet melodic stuff, and Marsalis latches on to it, but in a more frenetic mode. Finally, Jerry switches to the sound he’ll use on Miracle, and there’s some preliminary marshaling of forces well into the next track before they kick it off.
The first half of this is just OK, but the second half is a monster. Space is also excellent, although it seems a bit disconnected from the rest. The jamming after the second verse is definitely the highlight.
What was said:
JSegel:
The intro lick comes out of a jam following Estimated Prophet, Branford is already in, and he picks up on it, soprano sax. They play with the riff, passing it around the band for a bit before it makes it to a groove and it takes a good minute before anybody even ventures from the riff. Jerry starts pulling short licks out and they all eventually settle into a more groove-like area, though Bobby’s “rhythm” guitar playing isn’t exactly rhythmic. Jerry goes for flute for a sec, opts back to guitar. It’s sort of swirly on all parts, a swirl of timbres. Sounds sort of like only Bill K is playing drums. A verse comes in from the theme riff at 3:35, raspy-voiced Jerry softly gasping it out. Some holes are left on the third line and then into the refrain, though it’s sort of sloppy. To the outro, then Jerry picks it up with some lead guitar, but he brings it down quickly and it moves back into the soup. Even with the soprano sax moving around on top, it doesn’t sound like anybody is really playing melodically.
At about 6 minutes the mode starts to move sideways and Jerry softly picks out some lead lines, the band mellows back, though Phil is still sort of plugging away. By 7 minutes it’s mostly guitar noodles and organ and bass slowly walking. Some odd little whammy-swells from Bob. Sax come back as Phil tries to rally it to a pulse. Drums sort of fade in and out.
At 8:45 it sounds like they are going to try to build it to some wave, and then Jerry moves to midi-bassoon for a bit, and they start to build intensity a bit, though Phil goes rhythmically awry. It’s becoming more collage-like, short bits of overlapping things. Bill and Mickey start to pick up the intensity, and Bobby almost starts playing rhythmically on his chords. It makes it over the crest and oddly at 11 minutes moves to a song-form jam area, with a planing harmonized melody on the piano, though it seems to only go through two lines and then falls apart. This leads to the drummers stepping up and the band giving way to them.
Drums track is only 5 minutes, starting with medium tempo rolling around, building up over the first couple minutes with an almost-Bo Diddley back beat idea. Echoes start before 2 minutes in., but they still keep pounding. They bring it to mostly snare rolls and down before the real e-drum and echoes thing starts, with panning, starting low and bringing it up to a sci-fi space battle in the 4th minute. From this, we move to the “Space” track, as a midi flute with echoes comes in and more synth sounds. Various synth sounds, slap bass, flute, saxophone, all with echoes freaking out and panning around. The drums, however, are continuing under this. Bells now, even. They all cede to a ticky drum rhythm after a couple minutes and it gets low.
Weird sounds start to come in, the garage door springs I think. This part of the track is much more like the second half of previous “Drums” tracks.
Odd bird-like flute sounds come in with echoes as the noises fade out, but they get caught up in the echo unit as well. More springs or bowed cymbals come in, this stuff all flies around the echo unit. A buzzy guitar comes in as it fades, swelling into notes. Some pitch-bending keys back it up and other keyboard-like sounds tinkle away slowly in the swirl.
At 6:30 into this track, more instruments come in, sounds like Jerry is playing a guitar sound at first, but perhaps Phil with midi-follower crushes it and the atonal soup gets deep. Guitar lines start to emerge, with echoes, it remains arhythmic and atonal as it becomes Dark Star again with an allusion to the theme riff, Jerry starting it and keys picking it up, drums and bass fall in and we’re back!
Nice, right back and right to verse 2 immediately, Jerry still raspy but sounding a bit stronger. A big hit on "Lady in Velvet", with held chords from the keys where they had been riffing. To the refrain with bending keys, and the sax is in there again. The outro riff is sort of together as it starts and fall apart as it continues and the band cascades to chromaticism.
Not sure where this is going, in the lull Jerry steps on the midi bassoon, sax follows and then keys, into a new arhythmic atonal area, everybody trading phrases. It’s modern music time, fairly chaotic but not super intense. By 5 minutes into this track, the lead guitar has just an octave patch, so it’s more guitar-like, and Bob starts playing random chords. Sax still warbles up and down. Bobby tries to build it with a rhythm, but nobody really picks up on it and they stay outside. Finally people start getting faster and more intense, building it up. Bob goes for some loud midi-follower sound for a bit. At 7:20 Hornsby is playing really odd atonal versions of the Dark Star riff and harmony, surrounded by stabs from the guitars. Jerry has some massive echoey sound, sax is blowing over it all, it comes to a lull at 8:30 and jazz chords emerge, Brandon is still blowing over it all, keys following him.
Over this wave, at 9:50 the guitar starts some jazzy lead playing and the keys get more chordal. It sounds like it’s winding down but it’s gonna take a few ups and downs to get there, and goes into a more bluesy section toward the end. Eventually Bob is fed up and starts “I Need a Miracle” out of this.
Really soupy and swirly version, must have been very odd to experience in the large Madison Square Garden. That’s a long time to spend in the soup with a ton of people and sound bouncing around. I generally like the soprano sax sound, sort of more hollow than an alto, and his playing is fine as a color ingredient in there. Hornsby’s grasp of atonal chromaticism sounds very 20th century art music and less free-jazz, which is quite amazing and helps Jerry channel the atonality in a different way, Hornsby’s odd harmonizations of the theme riff have been really cool. Bobby’s sound these days is that weird compressed distortion which isn’t great for his position in the band. Jerry is still futzing around with the bassoon and flute stuff, but I don’t think his playing is very spectacular at all in this version. Overall, not my favorite, though I really like bits and pieces of it.
adamos:
As Estimated Prophet winds down they swirl into a transitional zone and they glide briefly before launching into Dark Star. Branford comes in right from the start, mirroring the theme and then spreading out. Vince works the riff and Branford dances around it. Jerry slowly comes in with his own pretty line and Phil starts subtly working underneath. There's a nice gooeyness early on as they interweave in pretty fashion. After 2:00 Jerry switches to MIDI flute and Bruce comes in with some gentle piano. It's a lovely swirl. At 3:26 they lock back on to the theme and then quickly move into the first verse. Jerry's vocal is fairly gentle which fits with what preceded it.
After the verse they reset and resume gliding along. Vince goes back to the riff while Jerry, Branford and Phil wind and weave and Bob blends in his rhythm textures. Bruce adds some intermittent color but mostly stays back. Vince spreads out more with organ sounds. The patient, gentle vibe continues but it is forward moving as well. There's a brief, pretty swell starting around 5:50 and then they continue to float along in the ether. Things ebb briefly with Phil coming forward more and then Jerry heads lower. The momentum slows in a good way and they continue to float along. They find a gentle, quiet place with Jerry playing subtle notes.
After 7:30 it starts to slowly build again with Phil coming forward and Bob blending in some stretchy sounds. They take their time but slowly start spinning something up. They bounce and bubble, still fairly mellow, and interweave nicely. Jerry goes back to MIDI around 8:45 and the intensity begins to increase. They bring it up but opt not to ascend to a full peak; instead there's some ebb and flow and take it back up a bit again. Jerry and Branford continue to wind and weave and Bruce brings in more piano as well. The momentum builds and they pick up the pace while still draped in loveliness. They rise up again nicely but once again there's a limit to the ascent. Soon after they start downshifting and then collectively shift into the verse melody for a spell before slowly giving way to Drums.
Drums does its thing and then smoothly transitions into some tribal-ish electronica giving Space a more cohesive feel. They slowly find their way into subtle territory that is deep outer void while also being a little jungle-y. The start to bring it up in the last couple of minutes, getting freakier and slowly finding their way back to Dark Star territory.
As the second Dark Star track begins Jerry hints at the theme and there's some nice ambient float going on. Slowly things begin to coalesce with Vince back on the riff and everyone comes back to the theme but then right away they head into the second verse. Jerry's vocal delivery is still gentle but there's a little more pep overall.
After the verse they briefly reset again and then start winding and swirling their way into another dimension. Jerry plays some low, heavy, repeating MIDI notes that add a more ominous feel while Weir brings in low-key squealing sounds and other textures. Bruce and Branford get in on the action. The drummers are out leaving plenty of space for a freaky, floating swirl. They spin up a tapestry of sound with everyone interjecting at various points. Bob becomes more prominent and adds well to the mix.
After 6:50 they rise to an intense peak; I don't know if it's quite meltdown level but its in that direction. After it crests things stay weird and Bruce plays some theme adjacent piano and then they rise up again with various freakiness. It's short lived however and after 8:30 they find themselves in a new zone. It's still sort of spacey but also more jazzy and perhaps a little more haphazard. They work it to good effect however with everyone quite active. At times Jerry's guitar sounds kind of like he's playing in a jazz lounge.
By 9:50 or so things seem to be winding down but they keep weaving along. Jerry injects some nice melodic playing as noted by bzfgt while Bob keeps up his intermittent textures. Branford heads that direction as well and they continue to wind and weave. Things again seem to be winding down and they hover briefly before slowly ramping up for I Need A Miracle.
It's a good late era performance. Branford fits in well again and everyone seems pretty engaged while for the most part still leaving space for things to happen. The first half is fairly straightforward but I like the gooey feel and the gentle, patient loveliness is nice. And then the second half gets wilder and more compelling. Good stuff.
Mr. Rain:
Comes out of Estimated Prophet. The end jam of Prophet speeds up to an Eyes-like swirl; it sounds like they're about to break into Eyes or some Caribbean jam. But instead, the swirl subsides and they hover teasingly for a minute, before Jerry strikes up Dark Star.
Not everyone is quite in sync when Dark Star begins, which creates a pleasing overlap effect as they come in. Vince chooses a rather irritating thin organ tone to play the main riff in. The band's mood seems very relaxed, if not subdued, and with Branford's sax part of the mix, this is sounding like some kind of smooth-jazz elevator music. They stick close to the riff for some time, no one sounding very adventurous. Jerry switches to some flute sound at 2m, not for long. But he's definitely not playing a "lead," no one is; this is textural music, everyone adding their little bits to the soup. But it's also like a blurry aural backdrop, too laid-back to be very exciting. Finally Phil gets a little pushy and brings in the main theme again at 3:30, and Jerry promptly sings the verse, which sounds cluttered with all the instruments.
The jam becomes a little more stripped-down after the verse. Vince is doing some decent organ swells; Bruce is hanging back and not playing much piano. After a minute even the drummers take a break, and it's just the guitarists and Vince in a more quiet, intimate passage. It's nice to hear them playing so minimally, forsaking the usual grand sweep of sound. Branford returns at 7:50, duetting with Jerry who has regained some energy. As it gets busier, the jamming stays loose & free, not going anywhere in particular. By 9m Jerry's using his MIDI again; Bruce comes back and the music gets thicker, bass & drums more active. At 10:55 Jerry & Bruce play the instrumental verse melody (the first three lines anyway), which is nice and brings some focus. Rather than this leading up to anything, the drummers step up impatiently, and after some parting licks the jam evaporates for Drums.
As usual, Drums starts as a regular drum duet before switching to more digital drum effects. This is kept short tonight; the band's eager to come back for Space. Which initially sounds like they're doing some New York street scene with all the MIDI effects here. It's hard to tell how many people are actually playing, or if anyone actually is...might even be mostly Healy effects coming out of the speakers. It's basically ambient electronica for a few minutes, turning into a somewhat chilly digital landscape. After 5:30 more actual instrument sounds come in, for a kind of tropical jungle feel. The last minute of Space gets noisier and more chaotic after Phil stomps in and Jerry turns on the echo. But then Dark Star slowly creeps in, the theme solidifies, and the second verse arrives at :50 -- a nice example of formless matter crystallizing into a structure.
Then it's time for a second Space! This one's pretty wild -- Jerry sticks to his bassoon tone at first as the others drift aimlessly around him. It meanders at first, but Bruce & Branford are getting loose, Jerry starts tearing up the frets, and little by little the intensity creeps up in a mad funhouse confusion. After 7:30 Jerry then Phil switch to some wacky MIDI in a final freakout; but then at 8:30 they settle down incongruously to some light jazz-type stuff (Jerry pulling out some Wes Montgomery chords). After a minute this coheres into a nice if somewhat vague jazzy jam, almost a psychedelic parody of Branford's normal style of music. At 11:20 Jerry signals the end of the jam with some concluding notes (sounding like he's considering Stella Blue), then switches to his fuzzy I Need A Miracle tone in a nice transition that lasts half a minute before the actual song materializes. Not a fan of the song itself, but this transition was a standout.
This was a good Dark Star, not for especially "pretty" playing or memorable highlights but because it goes through quite a variety of moods with surprising changes in direction. I found the start very unpromising, but the musical feel keeps changing basically every few minutes and they cover quite a wide territory. Branford fits in and sounds more like a regular Dead member than an impromptu guest. They don't really highlight him here, he's just part of the mix, but he's expected to hold his own whatever they throw at him. (Bruce, after a slow start, also contributes quite a bit. Vince is best in the freeform parts.) The ending pseudo-jazz section isn't quite like anything they've done in Dark Star before; although no individual part of this Dark Star is really strong in itself, as a whole it adds up to an Alice in Wonderland-type trip to some strange dimensions.
There are at least five different audience tapes, of which the Brennecke/Young tape is the best (or Gidley a somewhat noisier alternative). Not any better than the SBD, but you get to hear the crowd reactions to various parts -- this SBD wasn't a matrix, so the audience is hidden, and it's nice to know they're there.
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