203. 1991-09-26

149553 22:10 (I. 15:28; II. 6:42)

First verse at 8:47.
Main theme at II. :25.
Second verse at II. :36.
Goes into Saint of Circumstance, then into Attics of My Life.


A broody tuning at the head of the second set coalesces into a little jam that turns into the second Dark Star of this six-night run. This starts out jaunty, almost bouncy even, with a tempo that feels a touch brisker than the 24th. The keyboardists really go to town here, and as usual Welnick hammers the main theme at the outset. Garcia’s line feels like it’s everywhere, weaving and bobbing through the keyboard soup.


At 5:30 Lesh starts in with the main theme, but no one seems to pay that any mind. There’s a little peak attendant on Garcia’s jabbing notes from around 6:05, and as it winds down Lesh tries the theme again, but again they keep rolling along. It’s a great wash of sound, fluent and full-bodied. Garcia gets jabbing again at 8:15 and takes them to another peak and, sure enough, this gets Phil running the theme, which finally takes them into the verse.


The jam after the verse isn’t much different than what preceded it, at first—no space, but not exactly straight either, just a massive sonic swirl. At 11:00 Garcia starts ascending, buoyed by Hornsby’s mirroring line, and they come to a peak at about 11:30 which quickly disperses. They wind down like water swirling down a drain, until Jerry gets a jaunty line going that they all hang on to. It’s been a subtle process, but things have gotten steadily weirder; Phil’s bass line is all the way away from Dark Star now, in particular. At 13:30 Garcia gets a Crazy Fingers-like pattern going, but that’s not where this is going; they jam a while longer, and after Jerry kicks on the distortion at 14:55, they start to edge their way into Saint of Circumstance.


The Other One comes out of Space tonight, so we get a classic combination here. They drop back into Dark Star and worry the theme for a short spell before going right to the second verse. They play it pretty straight off the back side, giving the outro a pretty placid and straight kick-off. At II. 3:15 there’s a wind-down that stretches and stretches. Instead of ending, a soft and peaceful segment emerges, with Lesh playing drawn out notes as Jerry and the keyboards produce languorous melody. They come to a stop at 6:14, after which they come back with a few seconds of sort-of Attics of My Life before kicking it off properly, so arguably this isn’t a segue but a full stop.


This is some really psychedelic music, and it seems to me to be an especially unique version, quite different even from the one two days prior. The keyboards are an essential ingredient now, rather than an uncertain accompaniment. The music surrounds you and takes over, a buoyant wash of sound.


What was said:

adamos:


There's a couple minutes of wind-up as they get ready to start the second set, slowly drifting their way into Dark Star. At 2:10 Jerry plays the notes and they lock in and they're off. Vince works the riff as usual while Bruce dances around it. Phil gets a bouncy line going and Jerry heads out on a pretty, winding line of his own. Bob is more present in the mix this time and adds some gentle textural accents. They move with some pace and there's a happy, bouncy feel to the proceedings.

Jerry's upward moving line after 3:00 has a pretty feel and is mirrored by Bruce. Vince keeps at the riff while Hornsby roams about sprightly. Jerry heads lower and then higher again and the collective interweaving is appealing. Bob keeps working some mellow figures. By 4:30 they've eased up a bit and then start building up again. Bruce continues to be very active. Jerry spirals upwards calling out into the sky. At 5:30 Phil introduces the theme as noted by bzfgt but the momentum is rolling and they keep cruising along.

Jerry gets into a repeating figure at 6:05 that starts to spin them into new territory but they keep the overall groove going. More theme from Phil underneath and Vince swirls and Bruce is energetically working the keys and the whole thing is a lively brew. By 7:25 the wave crests but they're still in forward motion and are soon heading up again. There's another repeating thing starting at 8:15 that is quite energetic. They pull back again after 8:30 and then briefly shift into the theme to set up the first verse. Jerry's vocal matches some of the preceding liveliness.

After the verse they reset and continue forth. Bruce plays some lower, stronger notes while Jerry percolates nicely. Phil is weaving underneath while Bob continues with relatively mellow accents. By 11:00 things are getting more swirly and driving and a little spacey. Jerry starts climbing strongly with Bruce following, reaching a peak around 11:30 and then letting it go. From there they hover and spin briefly and Jerry plays some pretty notes complemented by Bruce. They get into a mellow-ish descending swirl of sorts and it feels like things may head in a freakier direction.

By 12:30 the drummers have introduced a semi-tribal beat and the pace starts to pick up again as they bounce along. The overall feel is morphing and Jerry and Phil play off each other with quick moving notes and Bruce joins in and for a brief stretch there's almost a Latin touch to it. By 13:15 things are getting a little weirder again but they keep the forward momentum going with notes bouncing off of each other. The drummers start to pick up their intensity and there's some swirling ebb and flow as they keep it going for a bit longer. Slowly things start winding down and they hover briefly with Jerry bringing in some fuzz as they slowly move into Saint of Circumstance.

Eyes Of The World follows Saint and then Drums and Space into The Other One. At the very end of TOO it almost sounds like they could kick into the Cryptical Envelopment reprise but they smoothly pivot back into the land of Dark Star. They briefly glide along in thematic territory and then start up the second verse at 0:36.

After the verse they reset again and gently drift along. Vince is back at the riff while Bruce does a subtler version of his thing. Phil works a mellow but prominent line and Jerry takes his time weaving along, rising up a little around 2:50 but it's all rather subtle. They bring it down to a quiet place and then up once more starting around 3:20. By 3:50 they it go and ease into a calm, pretty, delicate stretch. It almost sounds like there is string accompaniment in a few places. They keep this going for a couple minutes or so and then at 6:14 they stop and pause to audience cheers before slowly easing into Attics Of My Life.

It's a good performance. The main portion is lively and bouncy with good swirling and interweaving and lots of keyboard action as noted by bzfgt. The freakiness never fully breaks through but they keep it interesting. The second part is brief but I like the gentle, pretty feel.


JSegel:


Big preamble at the top of the second set makes it pretty certain that Dark Star is happening, pianos all getting there in the tuning area. Laziest opening yet, of several downright tropical. It really gets going into a swirl of anticipation, when the opening riff comes 2 minutes in it’s great. Jerry continues his melody into the groove, pianos cascading after. He starts again low and builds another wave. Vince sounds like he’s just playing chords on synth organ while Hornsby cascades around on piano. I don’t hear much Bob in this mix, he’s got this sustained distortion sound that sets a bed for the sound. Nice puzzle at 5 minutes, deciphered and back to the task at hand, which is Dark Star, and Mr Garcia takes us for a ride all the way back to the theme at 7 minutes, but he’s still in his “say this once and then I’m gone” mode, and he skitters off into new solos. Hornsby is really on his accents. They bring it over the crest and to the verse at 8:40 and he’s pumped (relatively) to sing it. Sounds hoarse but intent. But they make it through the verse to refrain, which is mostly together.

The outro is very smooth, but clockwork, so they move into a groove that moves like gears intertwining. Jerry gets faster and they move out of mode and toward a jazz world but it sidesteps into cinematic atonal tension and tonal release. But everybody is piling on the modal runs. It moves into a jam but seems like there’s a difference of opinion on the beat, so the band splits allegiances and then waits for a drummer’s resolution, which sounds like it’s Mickey wanting to go into the drumming track. Last minute effort from the band brings it back to groove for a second. Bobby directs it to Saint of Circumstance and it dies off.

The next track on my recording sounds entirely different.. Anyway, from there into Eyes, to Drums and Space and into TOO before getting back to Dark Star. The end of Eyes gets super mellow, bongos and low guitars, then the rhythm goes into a different accent and the guitars fade to sparse drumming on big drums which goes to rolling tribal drumming on big drums. After a few minutes a bass instrument comes in, possibly a tuned electronic percussion thing. this goes off into much midi-synth sounds with echoes. Back to big rolling drums with echoed electronic sounds, this builds for a long time, lots of clapping and yelling and stomping in the audience. They bring it to a head and then a slow pulse which leads to garage door springs. Things get scary, mostly low volume but occasional bursts. It gets super weird and then guitars come in for the Space track. Lots of space echoing. It’s very cosmic opera setting, and the tenor (bassoon) comes in of course. Though he goes back to guitar sounds and at 4 minutes even a descending chromatic bluesy thing, but that goes into more descending chromatics and pitch following high octave sparkles. It eventually levels out into a pad, a early morning misty meadow. Um, with ghosts.

At some point Jerry decides to move on and they hop into a 6/8 which is apparently TOO. And they do get to verse 1! Cool harmony vocals on the third line. Into a jam, and to verse 2, where they end it and move back to Dark Star.

Jerry takes the melody out of the ashes of the last crash in TOO, does the first part and goes off, comes back to it and heads to Dark Star verse 2, a mellow reading, slow groove. Voice is similar to verse 1, nice version despite the ancient voice. To the refrain, with a delicate and slow reading, the outro has some odd notes, and then they move into another theme groove, very slow and low.

At 3 minutes they move into a downward spiral, which leads to a well of sparkles, slow ups and downs, down to a very low and slow area with a delicate guitar figure emulated by piano. Hornsby settles into planing chords and Jerry does short lead bits, Phil is holding a couple notes. Trying to figure out where to go, Jerry spaces out quietly and then moves into a stop that goes to Attics of My Life.


Again a really nice version for Boston, nice playing and intense weirdness in Space.

Mr. Rain:



Dark Star opens the second set, an unusual slot (one of the only times in the '90s). Just like on 8/16 and 9/24, they sidle into it with a little warm-up Dark Star pre-jam, this one going a whole two minutes before Jerry launches the starting riff at 2:09. It's a luscious, appealing opening -- they could have dispensed with the riff and just kept going!

The keyboards dominate the mix, Vince with a swirling organ sound (and as usual clinging onto the theme for over a minute). Bruce is very busy in this performance, often pairing up with Jerry, other times more ornamental. Phil's solid, Bob's not very conspicuous. (I hardly notice the drums anymore.) The odd thing is that Jerry has a pinched tone and seems kind of recessed, much more than on 9/24. He's not so much "leading," he's more part of the band texture; it's almost like he's playing acoustic jazz with Bruce, refusing to take electric flight.

Otherwise the opening jam is comparable to 9/24 but more assured, swelling in a surge at times. At 7:30 things get quieter and they build it up again in a heady swirl, Jerry chirping like a flock of birds. Phil tries starting the theme several times (5:30, 6:50, 8:35), but everyone else is happy to keep the jam going & not until the last time does it really take, quickly & smoothly leading to the verse. (Jerry's voice is a little stronger tonight.)

The jam carries on in the same vein after the verse; Jerry does more of his tinkly acoustic-style playing. He does a cute little climb with Bruce after 11:00, rolling off the peak at 11:35; then everybody swirls around in abstract pleasantries. After 12:30 Jerry picks up kind of a Caribbean-style lilt that helps solidify things -- but not too much, they're still aimlessly drifting without a theme. Actually things are sounding stuck; no one's taking them anywhere, though Jerry prods the jam into a vague Other One-style jabbing rhythm. Unusually, Jerry never seems to vary his tone very much. The ambience is nice, but lacking in much drive or excitement, and the playing never gets close to freaky. Finally after 14:40 he switches to a fuzzier tone just as Dark Star completely runs out of gas, coming to a full stop at 15:05. They embark on a new little transitional space, but it just serves as the intro to Saint of Circumstance.

Picking up later on, Space has a creepy vibe, like being stuck in a haunted house. The Other One emerges like a threatening carnival ride; the mood onstage has gotten dark & surly. But when the Other One ends, they shift right away into Dark Star. This was the first time these two songs had been paired since 1/20/79, a historic moment of sorts.

Dark Star comes at a slower pace than before. Jerry wastes no time singing the second verse at :35. It sounds a little more haunted than comforting, coming after the Space>Other One. There's a feeling of uncertainty as the theme repeats afterwards: are they going to go for it? Where is the jam heading? They tread water for a while; Jerry brings out his prettiest notes. After 2:50 Jerry brings up a little Other One reprise, which fades. Then the music calms down into a tranquil nighttime sea, all starlight twinkles & meditative quietness. Bruce overplays here, but the rest of the band is very gentle & ambient. The music fades and Dark Star comes to an end at 6:10. It takes them another half-minute to noodle into Attics of My Life, so this definitely isn't a segue. I can't remember the last Dark Star that just stopped without a segue -- 7/13/84? -- making this another rarity!

I wouldn't call this a very strong Dark Star; pleasant enough, but it has some unusual qualities. The most remarkable thing: no one uses MIDI at all! Also, Jerry's extremely subdued which makes for a very laid-back Dark Star without any kind of freakout. The jam itself is kind of disappointing -- lately in 1991 I feel like Dark Star has been dissolving, that they're losing interest in creating new forms or wild trips within Dark Star, and this one's particularly bereft of ideas. On the other hand, the quiet ending is very nice & unusual. And the whole format of the Dark Star sandwich with other songs played inside, something they did all the time with Playing in the Band, was hardly ever done with Dark Star. (I think the previous one was 10/16/89, and this would be the last.)
Looks like there are over a dozen audience tapes, more than I can count! I've stopped checking those anyway....