141629 Landover 11:03
Main theme at :05 and 1:29.
First verse at 2:40.
Goes into Drums.
Garcia and Phil get kind of sideways on the intro lick, after a Corrina end jam that likewise gets a bit sideways while hinting at Dark Star. They head right into the main theme. Bruce Hornsby is still hanging in with the band, and he joins Vince in hammering out the theme licks. When they come apart Bruce is rather busy, while Vince spreads some textural chords around. Jerry’s gotten back to playing the theme, and he sprinkles it in a few times, keeping the opening jam close to home.
The verse arrives early, leaving some room for maneuvering afterward, particularly if they forgo the second. Vince goes right back to the theme; he has a pretty pleasing organ sound going tonight, although Hornsby has a tinkly vibe, probably playing an electric piano, albeit with a straight piano sound. Jerry and Phil wind around in the usual way, and Weir is very active with his inscrutable interjections. A very promising bubbly and jazzy jam emerges, lurching along drunkenly but not aimlessly.
This is starting to disperse by 6:40. It still lurches, but it loosens and quietens into an almost pointillist scene. At 7:35 Garcia kicks on a MIDI trumpet, and the jam is still hanging together—loose, but in a confident way. It seems to be heading to space, but taking its time getting there. Jerry has a few bluesy thoughts that are like clouds scudding across the sky, neither changing the jam nor particularly clashing with it. By the ten minute mark they seem to be letting it all slip away. At 10:30, Jerry starts a strumming riff that the others latch on to, but after a few seconds they abandon the whole thing and pass it on to the drummers.
This is really enjoyable music—in fact, it’s been a surprise how much I have enjoyed these latest versions. On the other hand, this really doesn’t add up to much—they don’t seem to have enough commitment left to Dark Star to make a whole lot out of it, anymore.
What was said:
adamos:
The Corrina jam winds down to a quiet place and starts to pick back up again and touches of Dark Star emerge. Bruce in particular latches on and it continues to move in that direction for a couple of minutes until they bring it to a stop and then launch into Dark Star proper.
Jerry, Phil and Bruce all play the opening notes. Vince works the riff with some extra organ flare. They move along in the theme with Bruce playing fairly emphatically. Bob's textures start to surface more as well. They cruise along in thematic territory at a decent clip. Bruce is rather active and emphatic. They slow up a bit and then keep rolling, bouncing their way to the first verse at 2:40. Jerry's vocal is strained and weary in spots but on par for the era.
After the verse the reset and bounce along again. Vince heads back to the riff and Bruce remains active. They slow down a bit and kind of hover along with Jerry and Phil winding and weaving relatively gently. The start to build some momentum again with Vince's organ washing over the proceedings. It's a nice enough groove with some ebb and flow.
After 5:10 or so the feel starts to change; Jerry heads lower and there's sort of a downward spiral going on. Phil gets kind of a jazz swing going accented by Vince and Bruce. The energy picks up again and they work this section pretty well with just a hint of spaciness at the edges. By 6:40 it seems to be running its course but they hover briefly and then keep it going at a slower pace. It opens up more while still hanging on to the overall feel and more spaciness starts to seep in.
At 7:34 Jerry shifts into MIDI trumpet and takes it low and mellow and Phil keeps gently working his line. Vince steps forward with some swirling organ and Bob adds some MIDI-fied rhythm as well. They keep things rolling along on low heat, interweaving and getting just a little freakier, relatively speaking. After 8:45 or so it feels like they might change course. Jerry injects some other thoughts back on regular guitar and Bob asserts his own flavor. But a new direction doesn't fully materialize and they keep on in mellow fashion.
By 9:40 or so they're kind of hovering in this space perhaps deciding whether they have more to say or not. The feel starts to pivot around 9:58 getting a little more melodic. They dance around this gently with just a touch of spaciness. Then at 10:30 Jerry gets something new going that the others join in on and there's an opening for another jam but they quickly let it go and give way to Drums.
It turns out to be a fairly nice version overall. The first half is pleasant enough and some of the players are rather energetic but it is relatively uneventful. The second half gets more interesting as they essentially conjure up a semi-chill, jazz club-ish kind of thing. I agree that they don't seem particularly interested in deep exploration but what they spin up is enjoyable.
JSegel:
Sort of a rolling jam sans Jerry after Corrina, the keys insinuate the Dark Star opening theme already, but it spins out, Jerry joins in and they actually make the thematic statement and start Dark Star for real. Mr Garcia joins for a light lead, sounds like his mind is elsewhere. The band is sorta bopping along, it’s a mellow groove with light lead lines and lots of organ, lots of relying on the riff. Verse 1 comes in fairly easily, a little falter between guitar and voice on line 2, classic ascending bass line on line 3, sort of crashing into the refrain and through it. To the outro, it drives right into riff theme jam. Organ is pretty stagnant riffing, and it slowly dissipates a bit and Jerry comes in with a delicate lead, following closely by piano. Piano and bass build up a set of circles, keys start to get swirly and chromatic.
Keyboard solo, both of them going mildly feral for a while. It dives off into a cyclic rhythmic thing, and the drums lower intensity to a quieter shuffle, pseudo-walking bass. We enter the jazz club, there’s a midi trumpet jamming back there. Jazz organ. When it’s back to guitar sounds it’s like low blues licks picked out underneath and then Bobby on quiet distortion wailing. This Dark Star is not cohering together, and is spacing out into the Drums track.
It takes a while to let go, swirling away instrument by instrument. Weirdly it goes into a quick keyboard shuffle for a second and then it all fades away and leave the drums. Pounding a low rhythm latent with power on big toms. They play this into drum solo land, but only for a couple minutes, then they bring it down. Oops e-drum thing was too loud for those first couple hits, that was a shock! Now we’re in in echoland with a quiet slow beat. Synth melody in there now, the power of a major pentatonic. It eventually slows down as if to stop and moves into a darker spring-laden space. More synth sounds too. This goes into a crashing mess with flanging. And dramatically down again to milk it and they crash it back up to a swirling flange droning synth.
This lasts for a while and move to Space track (featuring Shenandoah!) Hard to tell, possibly guitars are coming in under the droney flange thing, at least a bass sound is moving around a bit.
A scary caught echo loop and guitars are making themselves known, lotsa echoes there in space, the droney synth is still there like a forcefield that they slowly pass. Now we can hear the pitchfollowing system that Jerry has is with some octave freaked out sound, and Phil’s is multiple octaves up and down. This is some intense sound as they navigate notes in the aural environment. Sounds like some high amount of feedback on somebody’s short delay is jumping in occasionally.
Jerry switches to midi orchestra sounds while Phil snaps out notes to a shadow echo. Sounds like a keyboard doing a slow slightly tonal melody, Jerry feels like it’s safe to play actual guitar sounds again, lightly along with the melodies. Lots of swirly sounds joining in as they go to major key and Shenandoah emerges… ok guys. That must have scared some people.
Though I do hear some of the Dark Star intro lick on keys as it moves away… though they never really go back to Dark Star this evening, but they do make it back to Shenandoah for the finale. But it’s sort of a spin out for several minutes (separate track on the recording I listened to.) Even midi trumpet came back.
So anyway, Dark Star happened, Jerry did not seem all there, he was fading off a lot. The keys did a lot of sound, and the Shenandoah bit really took over the whole thing there. Eventually they move into I Need a Miracle.
Mr. Rain writes:
ReplyDelete"1992-03-09. Jerry's solo out of Corrina is quite touching; Bruce's piano work is very reminiscent of 'Moonlight Mile.' The band doesn't seem to want to end the moment, so they carry on with a loose jam for three more minutes -- without Jerry, who might have wandered offstage. Bruce starts hinting at Dark Star at 11:30; the jam all but ends but then revives after 12:30; it's like they're encouraging Jerry to come back. At last he does, says "hello" with a few notes, and they jump into Dark Star. (A little unsynchronized at first.)
Bruce sticks to the theme for the first minute, and Jerry keeps coming back to it a few times in the opening jam. The jam seems a little stodgy & cautious, Jerry's playing is sleepy -- this is an old man's Dark Star. Vince has a decent organ sound which makes for a good combination with Bruce; the two of them are working well together by now. The verse arrives uneventfully at 2:40.
Then the jam carries on as before; it almost sounds like they're still winding up Corrina. Jerry seems very tentative or adrift or something, like he's mentally zoned-out or trying to hide behind the band. Vince & Bruce start carrying the jam more as Jerry basically retreats into himself and quietly plucks little nothings. By 6m it's getting very lounge-jazzy, especially with Vince's B3-type sound, and over the next minute they keep getting quieter like they're fading out. Jerry switches to MIDI trumpet at 7:35 and keeps it another minute, but this doesn't really help. It sounds like the jam's unraveling into abstract space, getting more atonal; after 9m Jerry's just strumming randomly. Bruce is following him gamely but there's not much to cling onto here. By 10m they're clearly winding down; Jerry feints with a fast strum like they're going to carry on with Let It Grow or something, but nope, it's suddenly time for Drums.
Later on, Space gets into a lengthy exploration of Shenandoah, but with chilly digital overtones. It's a bit like the flowers of folk memories budding in a robotic wasteland. Dark Star doesn't return; Bruce nudges them into I Need A Miracle. (Dark Star hadn't straddled both sides of Drums>Space very often, just a few times; and I think only once in the two years to come would there be a two-part Dark Star in a show.)
This was a lame Dark Star -- the song's at a low ebb here. Maybe they just did it at Bruce's prodding. It sounds like Jerry wants to be somewhere else, and the jam's basically a few minutes of nothing. The end of Corrina was much better, a real emotional statement. So I'll chalk it up to an off-night for Jerry. As far as the band, Vince & Bruce have come into their own as a good combo; the Dead have a very keyboard-driven sound now which Jerry can retreat behind when he feels like it. Also, through 1991 the trend was that they gradually used MIDI much less in Dark Star, and here it only shows up half-heartedly for a minute. The irony is that Dark Star is becoming more "natural"-sounding just as it shrinks & withers away."
pbuzby on the post-Corrina jam:
ReplyDelete"At one point in the three minute jam it sounds to me like Mickey thinks it's time to start Drums, so it's possible we might not have had a Dark Star without Bruce's persistence."