179. 1974-10-18

110771 Winterland Jam 11:47>Dark Star 23:51

Main theme at 5:42 and 7:21.
First verse at 7:45.
Goes into Morning Dew.


This is the final version from the golden age of Dark Star, played during the legendary run at Winterland which served as a tentative farewell for the band as they were going on indefinite hiatus, perhaps never to return (as it turned out, they played their next show five months later, although they were mostly inactive as a live unit until June, 1976). Lesh and Ned Lagin start this segment of the show with a 26-minute run through Seastones, a regular feature of late 1974 Dead shows which is quite variable in quality, but which generally deserves far more attention than many Deadheads seem to be willing to give it. I recommend starting with this track, particularly since Garcia and Weir pitch in well before the break, so the developmental arc of the improvisation that will become Dark Star begins here.


This is all rather spacey stuff, as one might expect. The track titled “Jam” begins as Kreutzmann enters with some cymbal work, and then some flourishes on the skins; everyone besides Godchaux is soon in evidence. They shift into a tentative funky bit after about a minute, with Lesh playing more recognizable bass sounds now. Kreutzmann works it hard, but mostly only Phil is coming along at first. Soon it’s pared down to just the drums, but not for long…the rest can’t decide whether they’re in or out at first, until about 3:45 when Garcia and at last (I think) Godchaux start to get something going.


This is a loose and ropy jam, but we trust that it’s headed somewhere. Weir is more hesitant than usual, darting into the spaces between the other guitar and the keyboards and fading out again; he vacillates a bit between getting something funky going and answering Garcia’s line. Slowly but surely, though, it’s congealing, with almost imperceptibly gathering momentum, into a groove. By about 7:30 this diffracts into something more melodic and again more tentative, at least at first, but also somehow more interesting—the Dead are cooking something up, now.


At 9:20 Jerry starts working a melodic idea that starts to sound convincing, but they’re still in no hurry to pull it together. They keep bouncing off one another at odd angles, which is not without its appeal, interspersed with moments of concord. At 11:30 Garcia’s line takes on a Dark Star-like cadence, and the track switches, somewhat arbitrarily. By :50 into the next track Weir is suggesting the theme, Kreutzmann drops into a familiar swing, and by 1:20 this is somehow recognizably Dark Star; although they still haven’t passed the point of no return, the tracking seems justified now, anyway.


Listen to Jerry’s slide at 3:32, which he repeats several times. He doesn’t play the theme, but he doesn’t have to—that’s what he’s alluding to now, and everyone knows it: we can now infer with a fair degree of confidence that the whole band is now consciously playing Dark Star (if such a thing matters). There’s a beautifully lazy peak that begins at 5:12 when Jerry climbs to the G and hangs us up there until we’re ready for the glorious ascent to A, the expected and familiar gift of the tonic lifting us finally into unequivocal Dark Star consciousness, a resounding “yes” whose echoes tumble us down joyously toward the theme, as if we are being rewarded for the past 42 minutes with a reminder that the return home is often the most transcendent stage of a journey. The point is punctuated and then hammered home; first there is a repeated walk-up to the tonic, followed by a more emphatic return to the theme at 7:21.


They come out of the verse in much the same mood, sliding directly back into a mellow but focused Dark Star jam. Weir is particularly assertive here, at times surmounting Jerry’s line, still equivocating between a second lead and soul guitar flourishes. The band is very soon in full flight, and for the first time in what seems like forever in the post-verse section there are no gestures toward a space jam or a meltdown. Lagin and Godchaux are both very active now, without crowding the soundstage; they buoy up an ebullient Garcia, who at 11:53 starts crashing into an A power chord to punctuate his line, 1969-style. They come over the top and float down into a glimmering keyboard bed; there are hints of a shift toward a minor tonality, and the jam begins to disperse a bit, relaxing into an almost post-coital atmosphere of satisfaction.


At 15:10 we’ve crossed into a new territory, a gorgeously unhurried minor-key jam. Lagin has receded quite a bit again; Godchaux, Weir and even Lesh lay down a springy base; at first Garcia softly bounces on it like a mattress before subsiding at 16:50. Now Weir is in the lead, and Keith and Phil are getting funkier. Jerry sees something there he can work with, and he comes back with some support. Syncopated sounds are popping up everywhere, and Garcia eases his way back into the lead. Lagin comes back into the picture now with an uncharacteristically loud and basic emphasis that underlines what’s already there.


At 20:00 it sounds like it’s starting to disperse a little, and they let it start slipping away, with a few last flares as Lesh briefly takes the reins. Now at 21:30 the jam has reached a point of exhaustion; it simmers on, like water on a burner that has just been switched off. At 22:18 Jerry initiates a tentative meltdown, but we’re still going off the boil; Jerry fritters around and then gently crashes into Morning Dew.


There is a temptation to emphasize extra-musical considerations here—a kind of victory lap for the band; a farewell to the audience, and/or to Dark Star; a bittersweet finale to a glorious era of music, etc. However tempting it may be to try to ignore all this in favor of a more “pure” consideration of the music, it nevertheless seems undeniable that there is a kind of valedictory mood communicated by the music, regardless of the occasion, although I can’t deny that extrinsic factors may be influencing my judgment. It is simply staggering to consider what the Dead achieved between 1968 and 1974 with Dark Star alone, and this is by any measure a worthy addition to the canon. The arc of this sequence is best considered when we begin with Seastones, since the band gets most of the weirdness out of its system before Dark Star even begins. In another sense, the arc that begins in 1968 seems to provide the appropriate vantage; the focused and melodic jamming of this Dark Star signs us off with a sense of justice and completion. Of course, this doesn’t mean that we will ever be satisfied; fortunately, there is more to come.


What was said:

178. 1974-09-10

135699 London 31:18

Bright Star at 20:15.
First verse at 22:29.
Goes into Morning Dew.


The intro riff takes us into a deliberately paced jam with Lesh very high in the mix. Everything is otherwise very balanced and clear. Weir plays a rolling triplet figure at 1:24 that I feel sure we’ve heard numerous times before, although I don’t know if we’ve ever discussed it. He uses this as a template and builds out from there, subtly pushing the jam along. Godchaux adds color on the Rhodes.


The jam gathers steam, moving along cohesively, with Garcia picking up the triplet theme. This gives the music a surging feel, with several small peaks occurring in the first five minutes. At around 5:20 they start to get restless though, and the edges start to fray. Lesh is hunting around for a lick, playing something sort of Footprints-like several times, but at a very slow pace. They seem to be hovering, waiting for a new direction. Garcia spins off some frenetic runs, and at 6:55 Lesh starts the Elastic Ping Pong lick, but he doesn’t stick with it.


Garcia launches into some high triplets at 6:13 and Lesh and Godchaux find something to work with here as the jam ascends to a new plateau. Phil brings the Elastic Ping Pong back at 8:42, which they take in stride—they seem disinclined to build a whole jam segment around this now. The jam gets kind of weird instead, with Phil edging them into adjacent tonalities. Various modular possibilities are hinted at, but they opt to keep it free. They are creeping toward more conventional territory, though, and at about 11:10 Lesh and Godchaux have converged on a basic groove in A.


At 12:14 Lesh slips in the King Solomon’s Marbles lick a few times. Godchaux has been building a head of steam, and at 12:50 he takes flight; he’s mostly grooving along, but he starts elaborating his part with some healthy flourishes. The jam has taken on a fusion flavor. It all seems to wind down at 14:45, and there’s an interlude with a minor cast to it, with Lesh pushing them in sort of a Spanish Jam direction before leaving the scene for a bit.


Kreutzmann subsides, and Lesh bows out again. At 16:35 we’re down to a duet between Jerry and Keith. Lesh and Weir come back pretty soon with some subtle additions, but Kreutzmann stays out until 17:30. There’s a melodic minor sort of Spanish Jam theme continuing throughout, although at a very relaxed pace. Kreutzmann gets a little backbeat going, with a similar feel to Death Don’t Have no Mercy. Keith duly brings in some ghostly organ tones, and it’s turning into a really beautiful jam, but at 19:20 Garcia declares that it’s all over and leads them back toward the Dark Star theme.


They pivot very smoothly, bringing the energy up and edging back into Dark Star territory, and as the jam swells Garcia breaks into Bright Star at 20:15. They take their time getting to the verse, though; Bright Star aside, it seems like it’s been awhile since we’ve had this kind of Dark Star jam. They draw it out, and eventually Garcia sings the verse without ever explicitly stating the Dark Star theme.

They enter what at first seems like a place of swirling indecision after the post-verse lick. Garcia sets the agenda with his rolling wah-wah line, and they let it build into the next thing. Garcia, Weir and Godchaux play triplets, and Jerry nudges them toward a meltdown. The band gains focus and cohesion on the way there, hitting a thunderous peak at 27:30; as soon as they hit it, Godchaux drops in a funky riff, endorsed by Lesh and Kreutzmann. Jerry is emitting otherworldly sounds, and Weir is of a similar mind. The band, then, is half grooving and half melting, until at 28:33 both camps suddenly subside. A space jam ensues. Godchaux still seems inclined to groove, but now everyone else has decided to melt. They hang around like this for a couple of minutes until Garcia starts Morning Dew, which (spoiler alert) will be the best one of the year.


This is a tremendous Dark Star.


What was said:

177. 1974-07-25

12656 24:00 (1. Dark Star 20:57; 2. Slipknot Jam 3:03)

Goes into Stella Blue.


This rendition feels a tad slower than other recent ones at the outset, although these things should of course be scientifically measured. Garcia is doing some outrageously great things in the first couple of minutes; otherwise, it feels like a holding pattern at first. Lesh is very active and assertive in the higher registers of his bass, which generates a little excitement. Overall the first five minutes of jamming has lots of pleasurable twists and turns, although it doesn’t have a lot of direction yet.


At about 4:50 the band threatens to break into a groove, with Lesh pumping an ostinato line, but then he drops out and things get more dispersed. At 5:40 Kreutzmann seems to be bucking for a drum solo, and everyone plays as if they’re just tossing in a few more ideas before subsiding. Lesh returns at some point between 6:00 and 7:00, but only to throw in a few scattered comments. At around 7:20 Garcia has thoughts about instigating a frenetic jam, and as Lesh cooperates this comes together for a little while. But Phil doesn’t really commit and it gets scattered again.


At 8:25 Garcia and Weir have a Sputnik-like idea, and they let this play out for a little while. Lesh is mostly absent again. At 9:23 Weir starts playing Let it Grow, or something very like it. This brings some cohesion, except that Lesh wants no part of it. By 10:45 they seem to have no ideas left, and the jam is sputtering to a halt. Lesh is nowhere to be found. At 11:12 it’s down to Godchaux and Kreutzmann.


Weir gamely starts comping at 11:29, but he can’t really get it going and he drops out again. Garcia and Lesh remain absent. At 12:05 Lesh tries to pick up on what Keith is doing. Weir invents a little descending part, and Garcia adds some chiming chops. It seems to be getting somewhere now, a kind of fusion jam that doesn’t quite take off but isn’t half bad either. By 14:15 it seems to have run it’s course, but they’re all still working together, and now a frenetic jam is layered over Kreutzmann’s heavy beat.


This runs down at 16:25, and Lesh lays out again. Jerry is tremolo picking, perhaps hinting at a Tiger although his tone is as yet relatively clean. At 17:45 Keith wants to get funky, and there is a desultory attempt to oblige him by the others (save Lesh, who seems to have left the building) but this doesn’t really take off, and we are left with a kind of aimless chaos. Garcia kicks on the wah pedal, perhaps thinking a meltdown can pull this one out of the fire. It seems like it’s about to get there, but the energy drops again, and at 2. :15 Jerry starts playing Slipknot! licks. This pulls them together a bit (just a bit), but there’s still no bass and no real center of gravity.


As always there are interesting moments, but overall this one is a mess. It’s too scattered to ever really hit, and it has to be regarded as one of the lesser versions of the era.


What was said:

SUPPLEMENTAL: 1974-06-28 (JAM)

139780 Boston ~31:07 (Weather Report Suite 47:02, from about 16:05 on; Dark Star-like segment begins at 26:00).


Mind Left Body jam at 20:40.
Dark Star chords at 26:00.
Tiger at 37:58 and 40:43.

Goes into US Blues.


A raging version of Let it Grow blazes along until about 16:05, when they switch gears and settle in for a long jam. Garcia and Weir start winding around each other, with Weir playing the kind of duelist role usually occupied by Lesh. The latter chimes in a bit at first, with everyone else laying out. Phil eventually drops out as well, and from 18:30 it becomes a lovely guitar duet. Jerry kicks on the wah at 19:15, and Bob accompanies him with chords, harmonics and arpeggios. Beautiful washes of melody roll across the hall—it’s a thrilling segment.


At 20:40 or so the guitarists start to slide into the Mind Left Body chord sequence. Kreutzmann strikes up the beat, but it otherwise stays a Weir and Garcia production until Lesh and Godchaux start to slide back in at around 22:35. Lesh is playing very softly at first. If you listen very closely, you can hear a small hiccup at 23:08 when he briefly takes it to the E chord, but the others aren’t ready for that yet. I’m not sure if they ever count this part, or how they keep track, but it doesn’t always line up! They somehow all agree on the E at 24:00 and the jam gets more insistent, with Lesh at last fully present again.


They ease back on the throttle again, leaning into it each time they reach the E. MLB starts to get less defined, and at 26:00 the Dark Star framework starts to poke through a little, but then it starts to disperse--even though they don’t keep the A/E minor change going long, now we’re in a place that could be part of the intro section of a Dark Star. By 29:30 this all starts to scatter, and one of the very loose jams that we’re now used to starts to spread itself out. A very loose exploration of minor chords leads to a repeating two-chord pattern in 6/8 by 30:15, and the band pulls together again.


At 31:18 Garcia takes off! and now everybody takes off. This segment is somewhat reminiscent of some of the jamming they did during Clementine circa 1968, only with a more forward beat. The band is playing with an intense focus, and this becomes an extended peak with Garcia leaning on the wah pedal. From around 34:00 Jerry’s it seems to me there are some oblique hints at Dark Star in Garcia’s lead, although these might be vague enough to be anything. It’s not so much that he plays a Dark Star melody as he seems to be winding up for something, and if this were a Dark Star it might be the main theme.


By 36:45 or so, however, we seem to be heading toward a meltdown instead, with Garcia’s wah effect becoming more pronounced amid Tiger-like expostulations. I pinpointed a Tiger at 37:58, which is somewhat arbitrary because Garcia actually pulls back a bit at this point; call it a quasi-Tiger if you must. The immediate sequel is weirdness, as for the second this remarkably focused jam scatters out and gets multi-directional. They veer back toward Tiger again, and this time they fully commit. Godchaux starts to play some very funky Rhodes to bring them back, and a fast and bubbly fusion jam starts percolating through the hall.


Who decides that they are now playing US Blues? Probably Lesh; in any case, it happens rather suddenly at 43:35, and no one is slow on the uptake, which makes the instigator difficult to identify for certain. They draw it out for a good 3:35 but eventually Garcia starts singing, and we are back in the realm of somewhat, relatively, more or less normal rock and roll, or whatever you want to call that other thing the Dead do.




Although this is probably not really a Dark Star—no main theme, no verse—it is, if anything, more Dark Star than Dark Star. Accordingly, I've written up the entire thing rather than zeroing in on the brief section with Dark Star chords. I haven’t given this its own number, but if anything is in the spirit of this project, this surely is. This is not just one of the high points of 1974—it’s one of the high points of Grateful Dead music, which is to say it’s one of the high points of human life on earth. If you don’t dig this—well, I was about to say that the Dead aren’t for you, but what I really want to say is, listen to it as many times as it takes until you do.




What was said:

176. 1974-06-23

122269 Miami 22:04 (1. Dark Star 17:21, 2. Spanish Jam 4:43)

Spanish jam at 2. :31.
Goes into US Blues.


This counts as a Dark Star, I say, particularly as it starts with the intro riff, although there’s no verse. The band sounds quite focused at the outset compared to some recent versions. Weir has gone harmonic crazy, and this works well here, providing a springy bed for Garcia and Godchaux (on Rhodes). Lesh drops in and out, and he gives us a particularly long break from about 1:25 to 2:13. The playing is still somewhat diffuse, as we often see in this era, but at the same time it has momentum and drive, although this can vary from minute to minute.


Between 3:00 and 5:00 the groove dawns falsely a few times before a mostly Garcia/Godchaux interlude spins us out into rather uncertain territory. Lesh seems disinclined to establish a groove, inserting sporadic commentary instead; Weir tries to get one going once or twice, but soon subsides. The music has become quite scattered as we pass into the seventh minute, but now Kreutzmann seems determined to get something going. At first there isn’t a concerted response, but at 6:23 Garcia gets a lightly prancing Latin thing going, and it comes together a little. This doesn’t last, though, and Bill moves on to something else.


The eight minute brings spacier thoughts of impending doom, and this seems to fire them up a bit; at about 8:10 Jerry decides this is going in the direction of a meltdown, and this gives them a sense of direction. There’s a crazily askew groove brewing now, but it peters out by 9:15 without ever having culminated in a meltdown or a groove…then suddenly, from around 9:30, it’s coming to a peak…not exactly a Tiger, but some kind of cataclysm. This calms down into flat-out weirdness, and again there are nascent grooves bubbling under, mostly instigated by the indefatigable Weir. Also again, none really catch on.


Between 11:00 and 12:00 there is a further unraveling; Garcia plays some chirpy stuff, then gets into one of his Sputnik-adjacent outpourings. Again, Lesh is in and out, contributing but staying on the sidelines, at times laying out. Some kind of crazy groove emerges, mostly driven by Jerry and Keith, and at 12:48 it’s ratified by Phil, and now things are popping off. Garcia is again threatening to take us to the Tiger. But Phil is not a driver of grooves tonight, even if he is participating; his role is more (than usual) that of another lead player.


This makes it more striking at 14:45 when he lays down a brooding undercurrent and then at 15:10 finally bursts into some funky riffing. Now the band really takes off! They hammer on it, regroup at 16:10, and then hammer some more. By 16:30 Garcia has some power chords going, then some chiming double stops higher up the neck, culminating in pellucid high tremolo bursts, and then at 17:08 there’s an allusion to Dark Star before they come down into a brief interlude that makes room for a soaring Spanish jam, kicked off by Garcia this time with a heavy minor chord.


If you listen to Phil’s musical declamations at 3:45, you may become enlightened. His playing is viciously heavy as at 4:19 he smashes out some power chords and Keith pedals along until at 4:30 a shuffle beat announces the next jam, an extended intro to US Blues that is now justly famous.


Those of us who have been a bit disgruntled by the more abstract and wandering nature of Dark Star jams lately will doubtless not be entirely convinced by this performance, but once again I cannot but endorse it. This is mostly very free jamming, and grooves are largely (but not entirely) shunned. But, as the Rolling Stones say, I like it. It should also be noted that this whole sequence must be considered, as there is an arc here from somewhat chaotic improvisation to the focused blast of Spanish jam and the driving US Blues intro section. Verdict: essential.


What was said:

175. 1974-05-14

163764 Missoula 26:40

Main theme at :00 and 12:14.
First verse at 12:56.
Tiger at 19:45.
Goes into China Doll.


A vigorous Let it Grow jam drops into a brief interstice and then they kick Dark Star off with the main theme, eschewing the opening riff. The jamming, typically for the era, is rather loose and multidirectional. Godchaux has a wah effect on the electric piano at times. At 3:05 everyone but Kreutzmann, Garcia and Weir drops out; this goes on until about the five minute mark, when Lesh and Godchaux come back.


At about the six minute mark, Kreutzmann drops back to the cymbals and the jamming gets more tentative and spacey, with Phil laying out again. The latter comes back at 6:45, and Jerry starts a Sputnik-like roll at 6:55. He stays with it, and at some point we lose Phil again. There’s a pretty long bassless jam up until 9:30. The ministrations of Weir and Godchaux on each side of the mix give this a kind of fusion feel.


Even with Phil back, the jam stays kind of diffuse; at 11:00 it starts to get heavier and at the same time spacier, but this quickly gives way to a kind of pointillist interlude until at 11:38 Jerry seems to be edging toward the theme and they pull together. The theme duly arrives about 45 seconds later, and Lesh leans into it, giving it a ponderous feel. They don’t linger over it, though, going right to the verse.


The exit from the verse is very heavy at first with loud, overdriven bass. Garcia jumps right in with some slightly distorted lead that sounds a bit different from his usual approach in this segment, and in general things take a somewhat different direction. It’s a kind of space jam with everyone playing drawn out notes, generating a dramatic, atonal, and somewhat anxious soundscape.


This shifts into a mellow variant on the Tiger by around 19:40, but by ten seconds later it is full-blown and vicious. They come down the other side, landing on a funky beat as Lesh comes out front. Jerry supplies some piercing leads as it becomes clear they’re committed, and as they come together they generate some excitement down the back stretch, getting extra weird and then coming to a rousing peak prior to the slide into China Doll.


This might be as scattered and diffuse as Dark Star gets, but it never fails to be gripping. The last few minutes are particularly stunning, and overall this is a great stretch of music.


What was said:

174. 1974-02-24

151723 Winterland 29:21 (29:00)

Main theme at 18:26.
First verse at 19:04.
Goes into Morning Dew.


The beginning seems slightly more sprightly than we are getting used to. The beauty the band is capable of is in full flower from the first note; the introductory jam doesn’t do anything really novel, but it unfolds with the inevitability of perfection. There are subtle shifts between major and minor modalities, without a definitive decision being made either way; the mutual sensitivity and communicative acumen of the instrumentalists lets them maintain the kind of cohesive flexibility that they have been honing for five years now.


At 4:45 Garcia settles into a rolling pattern that gathers the rest in and drives the jam forward. Kreutzmann pushes a little harder, and the beat lopes forward for a bit until they subside without peaking into a brooding minor soundscape at 6:30. Here tension builds, a gathering storm. Another sally is soon underway, but again they don’t push it too far. Listen from 8:35, as it starts to seem like everyone is echoing everyone else; a sort of fractal beauty is the anarchic result.


By 10:30 we’re spiraling down into a hole; although there’s a beat, it’s just one more element, not a foundation. A minute later the whole thing lifts; they drive toward a peak without ever narrowing their focus. They ease over the summit at 12:40, and now it starts coming together; they open a space for the theme, which they nevertheless withhold, although there are strong hints before they wander off into abstraction.


At 14:35 Lesh and Kreutzmann have something tribal and funky, yet still tentative, going on; the others calibrate their abstract caterwauling to the beat, and another peak is attained. Lesh starts jabbing at the Elastic Ping Pong riff, and at 15:45 he finally uncorks it. He soon wanders off, though; the band is chugging along, and that seems to satisfy him. He brings back a variant of it at 17:01, and this again pushes things along, and he again strays. It’s a brilliantly executed segment, and it’s hard to think of a better exemplar of Phil’s improvisational genius, as he manages to drive the band through the jam without ever locking into a pattern for more than 10 seconds.


The peak at 17:45 is more emphatic than anything previous, and now there is a big windup for the theme. They don’t linger long, but head right for the verse which Garcia enthusiastically brays, a bit out of tune at first. Little matter, he sounds like he’s really into it tonight.


They have so much momentum that they seem unable to pull back into space. Weir hits some nice a descending pattern, and then goes right on to take the lead. This he shares with Godchaux, as the others accompany them. Garcia seems ready to reclaim it at 21:40, and now there is a three-pronged melody with Lesh taking an uncharacteristically supporting role in this segment. At 22:30 they finally wind down, and the audience cheers as the band heads into space.


Bob is still feeling his oats, and he still seems to be leading things here. At 23:55 there seems to be a group decision to take it to a meltdown, but then Weir calls and audible at 24:15 and starts Spanish Jam. Kreutzmann can dig it, but nobody else seems too committed, and by 24:55 it starts going somewhere else. Jerry is playing some pellucid and otherworldly slide licks, and Keith seems to want to rock out, but they all congeal around Garcia, although it takes them a little while to determine what they’re going to do.


Jerry gives them another nudge at around 27:00, getting into a pattern they can rally around and a lovely two-chord jam pops out. Once it’s established, Garcia shoots for the skies, and the music that ensues is heavenly indeed. Another chord somehow gets into the mix—now there’s a B part, and somehow they’re all more or less together. The next time through they let it get away, slipping into a magnificent Morning Dew.


This is where it’s at. The post-verse stuff, in fact, is much better than I remembered it being—there is some indecision, and it is possible to regret that the final section doesn’t last longer, but only because it is so painfully beautiful, and yet so temporary and fragile—like life itself, I suppose. But the mystery and power of Dark Star never ceases—it’s always playing somewhere. Take heart!


What was said: