5/8/82: four ways of looking at a Keystone show

the Keystone faithful, 8/20/81 by Bob Minkin

 

I have riffed on sound quality and terroir and all that before, but man, what a difference a good aud tape make.  It can make enough of a difference that sometimes listening to multiple recordings of the same performance will give it a Rashomon-like quality.  Case in point: 5/8/82 is a show that is right in the armpit of a JGB era that I can usually take or leave.  This particular lineup was well settled in its drug-fuzzed routine, reliable and occasionally scorching hot but not often all that inspired.  This show is on the short side.  It has a Don't Let Go, so I am sure that I'd given it a listen at some point and was evidently left unmoved, since I couldn't remember anything about it.  But I was tempted to listen to this newly circulating recording (note: I wrote this last May and forgot to post it) made by John Anzaldo with a Walkman "three feet from the stage in the center," and I am glad that I did.

#1: the board tape 
To paraphrase JGMF, there are some serious damp, cheap motel towel vibes happening here.  To my ears, most post-Bettyboard 1980's JGB sbd tapes are disappointing listening experiences; this tape is essentially the X-Ray version of the Anzaldo aud that I really came here to talk about.  I think Harry Popick was running sound for the JGB at this time (his gig with the Dead was mixing their onstage monitors, not the front-of-house sound).  Judging from the auds, Popick's house sound was great, whereas the board tape is a straight PA feed (i.e. what wasn't loud enough in the onstage amps and would need to be reinforced in the PA): that means not much guitar, plenty of vocals, plenty of keyboard, plenty of kickdrum, zero room ambience.  So go figure, listening to this tape didn't make much of an impression on me.  No thanks.  Maybe not bad raw material for a new matrix source, though.

#2: Jeff Knudsen's tape
Jeff Knudsen taped a grip of Keystone shows around this time, and I don't think it's unfair to say he was a more casual taper than some of the other regulars.  Most of his recordings circulate with a personal reminiscence of the show, which give a lot of fun color and context to his recordings.  Some of them are surprisingly good, given the circumstances: he found a spot, surreptitiously set up his mics (stuffed in a sock and held in his armpit), and proceeded to have a good time.  This one is decent but sounds a little muffled.  But everyone clearly was having a pretty good time.  Disclaimer: we owe Jeff Knudsen -- and anyone who made the effort and spent the money to run tape at all these taper-unfriendly JGB shows -- a huge debt of gratitude. Thank you, Jeff Knudsen!

#3: Ohr Weinberg's tape 
This one sounds pretty good.  But it's only the second set, because, as Weinberg relates, "we were at a Robert Hunter show in SF and Hunter made a crack about why we weren't at the Jerry show in Berkeley... so we drove down to Berkeley just in time for the second JGB set."  Fortunately the complete source (below) sounds even better.  And, fwiw, the Hunter show does circulate: presumably this is also Weinberg's tape, from Jeff Knudsen's collection.  Double duty!  Thank you, Ohr Weinberg!

#4: John Anzaldo's tape
Back to our man on the front lines, who I imagine was standing right in front of Jerry like one of those dudes in the picture up top, trusty Sony Walkman at the ready (don't be skeptical; there are some Walkman aud tapes from the fall 82 tour that are surprisingly good).  The vocals are low, as is usually the case with tapes recorded this close to the stage.  But that Tiger sounds as rich as can be, and everything else is a little more gentle in the mix, but still well-balanced: drums, bass, Hammond organ, and small but unobtrusive touches of electric piano.  You are right there, shoulder to shoulder with the few, the proud, the yahoos who've been partying since they got on line at 4:00 that afternoon.  I confess that perhaps the recording quality is swaying my opinion, but this show has now come to life for me.  Don't Let Go, unsurprisingly, is one highlight, powered along by Kreutzmann finding new angles throughout the jam while never leaving the waist-deep groove.  I also submit the first chorus of his penultimate solo in Tangled Up in Blue (@5:15, after the "I lived with them on Montague St" verse) as a small shining jewel of Pure Jerry Perfection -- it's not a speaker-shredder like 2/4/81, but more like the epitome of butterflies being let out of a basket.  I am also really feeling his hard dig into Tore Up Over You, although, this being 1982, he loses the thread for his final solo after too much wait-time for the keyboardists to do something interesting (spoiler: nope).  Elsewhere, he's hot to trot and jumps from song to song with very little lag time, including an unusual hustle from Simple Twist into The Harder They Come into Midnight Moonlight to end the night.  Not quite one for the books, but one more Saturday night where everything (mostly) clicks into place.  I would never have known it, though, were it not for this fine aud tape.  Thank you John Anzaldo!

Lonesome & a Long Way From Home, 1978

3/17/78, by James Anderson

 

My last post had the preamble about this song, which I won't repeat.  I will, however, reiterate that these jams are like nothing the JGB played before or after and, in most cases, are comparable to the Dead at their wildest in 1977-79.  More folks need to hear these.

 

2/15/78 Keystone, Berkeley, CA (date uncertain per text file)

There is one decent aud recording of this remarkable jam: at 29:15, it's the longest of all the known versions and also the longest single non-Dead Garcia improvisation, besides a very small handful of Garcia/Saunders jams in 1971-72.  Even though some of the jams in the Dead's Jan 78 tour were unusually long for the time, I think this also outpaces anything else he played that year.

Like in the Dec 77 performances, Kahn is the first to pull away from the I-VII vamp that begins the jam and push more aggressively towards an atonal/arythmic space.  Buchanan follows Kahn's lead, while Godchaux either holds tight to the vamp or sticks close to Garcia.  Other listeners might not hear it this way, but I think these two complementary but still somewhat oppositional approaches make for an unusual tension, often very effective and engaging, and never less than interesting.  I won't map out the landscape of this long jam step by step, but there are many twists and turns.  After 3ish minutes of grooving around the vamp, they drop off into a pretty, more minor-keyed space. A couple moments stand out here: starting around 12 min, Garcia and Kahn play a 5-note theme that's repeated and varied for a while; Godchaux takes a brief trip to the foreground at 15:30, playing an almost classical-sounding thing over the slow, churning groove; things follow their own twisty path until, at about 20 minutes, Buchanan leans in with a more assertive groove. Everyone else stays committed to weirdness, but Buchanan's push gets them them all moving in mostly the same direction and the intensity starts ramping up. This final stretch is tremendous! Garcia starts wrapping up around 25:15 with some cool variations on the "I have never been so lonesome" melody, while Godchaux appears to be the one who really corals everyone back into the song itself.  An amazing ride.


2/17/78 - Keystone, Palo Alto, CA - as per Jerrybase, but no tape in circulation


2/18/78 Marin Veterans Auditorium, San Rafael, CA
Official release on Pure Jerry: Bay Area '78; the circulating tape has a splice in it.

This jam has a more discernible structure to it (spontaneously conceived, I assume), moving back and forth between an established groove and freer playing.  As the jam begins, it feels like they're anticipating something rather than just easing in. Garcia & Godchaux play some lovely stuff right off the bat, and Buchanan plays it loose while Kahn is punchy but a little less forward than prior versions. The bottom falls out for a minute before they find some forward momentum and take off, with Garcia staying closer to the normal tonality of the song. This feels pretty good! Just before 11 minutes, the bottom falls out again. Another groove is established, more minor-keyed and less intense; then again things veer back into free territory again, splashing around like the comedown after a big Dead space jam. At 17 minutes they find another groove, this time vaguely funky but sparse.  This one isn't as compelling to my ears, but it's interesting to hear, since since the JGB never did this kind off thing.  It winds down into near silence, then Garcia strums them back into the song.  Structurally, this was quite different from 2/15 and has the most "quiet" spacey playing of any version yet.  23:30 total.


3/9/78 Cleveland Music Hall, Cleveland, OH
The one sbd source runs a little fast, though not too bad. Currently there are no auds, but I would love to hear one. Like a few other sbds from this March tour, Kahn is pretty hot in the mix.

The band returned for their second east coast tour in less than 6 months, playing with a noticeably higher level of energy and more aggressive attack than the fall 77 shows. The jam here starts as usual with everyone slowly pulling away from the vamp.  After a minute and a half, Buchanan drops the bottom out, then snaps back into a steady beat after half a minute, but it's too late: Garcia's going for it.  The jam follows a freer logic, eventually slowing down into a prettier space.  Around 8:45, Buchanan kicks into a brisk groove, pulling everyone else into orbit.  Everything stays pretty loose but with forward momentum, until Garcia whips up a big (and long!) fanning climax at 13:35.  Wow!  This jam is plenty spacey, but with more of a souped-up feel and a linear path than the prior walks in the woods.  True to form, Garcia even goofs once they're back in the song itself and repeats the whole final verse as Buchanan is cueing them up to end it.  Whoops!  Nice little scorcher here, though.  17:41 total on this tape, but longer with speed correction.


3/11/78 Leroy Concert Theatre, Pawtucket, RI
This show has a few recordings: another bass-heavy sbd, two solid aud tapes (I prefer 14931 taped by Tom Dalti), and a fine matrix that will probably be the winner for most people.

The band sure sounds enthusiastic tonight!  Again, they jump ship from the vamp to a quieter groove very quickly, but this time they wait a few minutes to get fully into free space.  At 5:30, Kahn starts playing a clear bassline, something he hasn't done in any of these jams, and everyone else locks in.  This lasts for a minute until Garcia throws out a big trill and everyone immediately follows his lead and starts building the spacey intensity.  Garcia starts to fan up a big one, then backs off, and they splash around. Buchanan lays down a beat again at 10:20, but Garcia and Kahn seem too far gone. Things start coalescing, but the energy remains pretty hairy. Wild! Garcia tries getting them all back to homebase around 11:50, but it takes a little while to circle the wagons and they finally get there at 12:30.  This one was a comparative shorty at under 15 minutes, but they're not skimping on the energy here!  A very satisfying blast of weirdness.

Both 3/9 and 3/11 are pretty amped up versions -- less patient or "exploratory" and more fiery, although still very spacey (maybe not surprising, given the apparent recreational stimulant of choice for this tour). It seems like Jerry is the one driving the ship here, with Kahn sounding totally zonked (um, in a good way) and Buchanan holding for for dear life. In both jams, Buchanan reestablishes a beat after the spacey midsection, although this doesn't really guide anyone back to the song itself.  Godchaux is present in both, but harder to hear because of the bass-heavy sbd mix.


3/18/78 Warner Theatre, Washington, DC 

Given the wide circulation of the original tape (an FM broadcast) over the years and it's official release in the Pure Jerry series, this may be the most well-known of these jams. Inevitable contrarian that I am, it's also my least favorite.

Again, they drop into space pretty abruptly after starting the vamp, more immediately than in any earlier version.  But the general feeling is more hesitant, as if everyone is waiting to see who will get crazy first. It seems like they're having a harder time settling on what to do with this; Kahn suggests a couple ideas, and Garcia plays that impatient "chording" figure a couple of times (around 7:15 and 7:30) that usually indicates that he's ready to move onto something new. But nothing seems to stick, and no one seems willing to just push the boat out of the harbor. Kahn in particular seems less emboldened than he was in earlier versions, while Garcia doesn't seem particularly interested (or able) to find a direction for this to go in. Finally Buchanan throws down a groove at 12:15, and things fall in line for a couple of minutes. But even as Garcia is clearly heading back to the song, they left-turn into some more free interplay before Garcia finally gets them back to the song for real.  At over 19 minutes, this is much longer than the prior two versions, but I preferred both of those shorter jams.  Still, this is all nearly unprecedented stuff for a JGB jam, and still more exploratory and experimental than most Dead jams from 77-78, so it is well worth hearing.

6/10/78 - Keystone, Berkeley, CA - per Jerrybase, but no tape in circulation


10/26/78 - Paramount Theatre, Portland, OR

A well-mixed sbd (Bettyboard?) fragment exists of the end of the show, which thankfully includes this entire jam.  This is a pleasure to listen to.  A few auds also circulate.

Unlike earlier versions, everyone stays grooving on the vamp for a while.  There's no funny business from Kahn and, unusually, Buchanan is the one who seems to first pull away from the groove. Still, there's no abrupt shifting gears at all, just a very gradual move into more open playing. Before 6 minutes, Garcia finds a vein of weirdness that he works, and everyone else reorients to wherever he's going. A minute later, Garcia has found a little rhythmic groove, Kahn begins a walking bassline, and things start to achieve lift off. Godchaux doesn't want to let go of the 2-chord vamp, but everyone else is in fairly jazzy territory, rhythmically speaking. Garcia is eventually pulled back into Godchaux's tight orbit, but Kahn and Buchanan are throwing down, shifting back and forth between jazz and a more driving rock beat. This is really sweet. They jam this for a while until it falls into freer space around 12 1/2 minutes. No tempo here, and it feels like Garcia is slowly turning up the heat, a la older GD space jams. After 3 minutes of this, they start peaking with Garcia trilling away and everyone else crashing around. At 16 1/2 min, they ease off the intensity and downshift into a quieter, pretty, almost melodic space.  Garcia slickly threads in the "lonesome and a long way from home" melody line and brings them right back into the song itself. Great transition! He slips up and repeats the final verse a second time like 3/9/78, and they wrap up at a hair over 22 minutes.  Holy smokies, that was excellent.



10/28/78 - Paramount Northwest Theatre, Seattle, WA

A well-renowned show (this is the best aud recording) and often praised as one of Keith Godchaux's best 11th hour performances. I think the early show deserves all the praise it's been given. The late show is bit more of a mixed bag, and this final performance of Lonesome by this band doesn't reach the same heights as 10/26. But it ain't bad!

Garcia starts doing his late-78/79 superfast 16th note runs right at the start of the jam, and Kahn starts getting pushy after not too long.  This one jumps around much more at first: there's an abrupt drop in intensity at 4:30, and Garcia seems to stick more to the background as Kahn and Godchaux move more to the fore.  Things veer into space at about 6 minutes, things amp up, things ease back, Garcia seems mainly to zip around without finding much of a direction.  They reach a fanning climax around 10:20, but the overall vibe of this has felt pretty tweaky and bug-eyed to me.  The wave crests, they splash around for a minute, and Garcia strums them back into the song.  This one felt solid enough, but it flew by without getting much traction; the feel is similar to 3/18's jam, but more compact at 13:30 total.

 

And that, unfortunately, was that.  A week later this lineup played its final shows, and no other iteration of the JGB ever delved this deep again.  When Don't Let Go returned to the repertoire in 1988, that band delivered a few versions that broke the mold of its general structure and wandered into spacier areas.  But they never sustained this kind of creative group improvisation at such length, making these few version of Lonesome and a Long Way From Home nearly unique in Garcia's side career.

In the summer of 1981, Garcia brought Lonesome back -- only twice.  On 7/26/81 the jam stays in the vamp: not the C-B (I-VII) vamp of the 70's versions, but the same C-F (I-V) vamp that begins the song, and then eventually shifts into basically just jamming on a C chord.  Garcia solos while everyone else bubbles away beneath him.  On 7/26/81, the more exciting of the two, Garcia never returns to the song itself and transitions out of the jam right into Dear Prudence.  On 8/20/81 the energy feels a bit more sluggish, but he does return to song to reprise the verse, then segues into Dear Prudence on the final note.  Both of these are about 10 minutes long.  Eight years later, on the JGB's Sept 1989 tour, Lonesome reappeared as an even briefer show-closer: a nice (if short-lived) alternative to Midnight Moonlight, but nothing that was sustained for more than a few minutes.

 

Dec 1977: a long way from home

12/11/77?  credit unknown

 

The 1976-78 JGB had two "jamming" tunes, Don't Let Go and Lonesome and a Long Way From Home, that were both introduced on the road in March 1976.  Despite periods of hibernation, Don't Let Go remains the standard JGB "jam tune" for most folks.  Of course I love the song and have plenty to say about it, but I can't pretend that the jams in many Don't Let Go's don't follow a really simple formula: everyone lays down a steady one-chord groove while Garcia solos for a very long time.  Lonesome had a much more limited shelf-life: the first half of 1976, periodically throughout Buchanan's tenure in fall 1977 and 1978 (notably, they stopped playing Don't Let Go midway through this lineup's lifespan), then two out-of-the-blue performances in 1981 and a handful of shorter set-closers in 1989.  But a few versions of Lonesome featured improvisations that took far more chances and went to a greater variety of places than the usual Don't Let Go.  Beginning with the last three shows of the Nov-Dec 1977 east coast tour, Lonesome became a launchpad for some very interesting and very extended improvisations that dwarf nearly every other extended jam Garcia played in 1977-78, yet seem to remain relatively unheralded.

One earlier extended version of Lonesome, and likely the most well-known of all of them, is the 22 minute performance from 4/3/76 (you know, the one that ends in a magical burst of energy and furious fanning like a hundred birds bursting into the air all at once).  As great as that one is (and trust me, it's great), it still follows the same form as many of the shorter ones: the song ends, the band eases into a I-VII vamp (think Fire On the Mountain), and Garcia slowly cooks it up over a tasty but still fairly repetitive groove held down by Keith Godchaux, John Kahn, and Ron Tutt.  The approach didn't change when Buzz Buchanan took over for Tutt in Nov 1977.  They played it throughout the first week of that tour, then set it aside for a few shows.  Who knows what the catalyst was, but something serious happened when they decided to bring it back.


12/9/77  SUNY Stony Brook
(there are a few aud masters; imho Kathy Sublette's is the best)

Less than a minute into the jam, Kahn seems like he's trying to stir things up, throwing around some big notes that cut against the groove.  Garcia & Godchaux both keep on grooving as usual, and Buzz Buchanan seems to be audibly deciding whether to stick with Garcia & Godchaux or to follow Kahn's lead.  Kahn wins out, the groove begins to fall apar,t and no one seems real invested in keeping it together.  by 6:40ish they've all surrendered to whatever is going to happen.  At 7:07 Kahn and Godchaux play a little bit in the "Spanish" tonality that JGMF detects, another signpost towards someplace new.  Garcia still occasionally circles back to playing figures from his usual Lonesome vamp; but by 8 minutes in, freedom has won out.  Everyone is listening and responding to each other, but this is following a logic that is changing moment by moment with no predetermined direction or groove.  I hear Buchanan trying to reestablish a groove around 10:45, but the winds keep blowing this way and that.  By 16 minutes, things appear to have coalesced into a single train of thought and Garcia soon reasserts a clear tonality and is heading back in the direction of the song.  The second half of this jam is basically a long swim back to the song: they sure do take their time and build up a good head of steam on the way.  Around 22 minutes, Garcia starts playing the "and a long way from home" melody, tying everything together.  The final few minutes take it down low and quiet, and they groove in this zone for a while; at 23:40 Garcia brings it back into the song itself, but enters a couple beats too early.  Everyone covers for the fumble and no harm done.  Folks, that was just a hair under 27 minutes: by far the longest extended improv/jam on a single tune that Garcia played all year, either with the JGB or that other band.  You'd think just for that reason alone, this would be more widely heralded as a big one, but so it goes in the hinterlands of the JGB.  Tell your friends!  The aud tapes reveal that some of the Long Islanders in attendance tonight were audibly unimpressed with the band's laid back approach to time, and there are a few shouts during this jam for them to get it together and get on with things, but thankfully no one onstage was fazed.  I find more and more to appreciate about this jam with every new listen.

12/10/77  Warner Theater, Washington, DC
(imho Gerry Moskal's aud tape is the best - no etree entry??)

A telling moment in this pleasant but imho not very interesting show is Kahn's solo feature in Russian Lullaby.  Say what you will about those bass solos, but the crowds usually cheered and hollered encouragement whenever Kahn went for it.  This particular solo, however, is five and a half minutes long, and Kahn bails on the chord changes after a couple go-rounds and wanders into the woods, with Buchanan right behind him.  It gets pretty spacey for Russian Lullaby!  Garcia's not interested and gets things back on track upon his return, although Kahn gets points for trying to nudge the boss off course a couple of times.  So it's not surprising that whatever mojo blessed last night's Lonesome jam is still plentiful tonight.  This one is a shorter trip at 19 minutes, but is a completely different excursion.  Godchaux was hanging with them every step of the way in last night's jam, exhibiting a side of his playing that rarely came out in his final years.  Tonight, though, he is nowhere to be found.  The jam begins with Garcia gently cruising through the usual 2-chord vamp, but when Kahn gets more assertive and suggests another course, Godchaux disappears and stays silent for almost the entire jam.  And to be honest, it doesn't sound like Kahn, Buchanan, or Garcia are missing him at all: the three of them are as locked in as they were the night before, but now with more space to try something that (onstage at least) they had never done before.  Donna Godchaux adds some wordless vocalization in a few spots.  In general, Kahn seems like the real driving force here; he really cranks it up and lets loose a couple volleys of buzzing, distorted notes, and more often than not it sounds to me like Garcia is following Kahn's lead, rather than vice versa.  The communication here is more like a jazz trio, inventive and intimate.  Like the night before, the latter portion of the jam is an extended swim back to the song itself, but is still just as compelling as the looser stuff that precedes it.  Around 13:50, Garcia starts playing arpeggios (much like in older Playin' or Dark Star jams when he was signaling a change in direction), then just after 15 minutes he starts playing a melodic figure that Kahn picks up and joins.  Around 16 minutes the pair lock into a descending scale that lands them precisely in the outro of the song.  Godchaux reappears immediately as they land back on solid ground.  Unlike last night's crowd, the audience tonight appears to be with them every step of the way; there's a nice touch at 9:12 when someone yells "beautiful!"


12/11/77 Penn State University
(a hissy sbd has been in circulation for a while; I listened to SirMICK's remaster)

This final show of the tour sounds, to my ears, a little punchier and a bit more inspired than the average.  Remarkably, for this third Lonesome jam in a row, they find yet another approach.  Godchaux sticks around for a little bit longer, but again vanishes as things get unusual.  Kahn isn't as assertive tonight, and Garcia seems to be the one who is taking the boat where he wants it to go.  They abandon the vamp for murkier waters, but this time the majority of the jam feels more like a Grateful Dead 'Space' ca. 1977-78 to me (particularly the May 77 varieties), with Garcia leading the charge and everyone following closely in his wake.  Around 10 minutes, Kahn and Buchanan kick into gear and start getting a bit pushier; Garcia returns the Lonesome vamp (prompting a brief cameo from Godchaux) but then playfully veers off again, as they pull in and out the groove.  They find their way back again, and Garcia drops a perfectly timed theme from Close Encounters into the ending as a little bow to tie everything up, then sails them back into the song.  Oh yes.  This is the shortest of the three at around 18:20.


I'd like to do a deep dive into the rest of the 1978 versions as well, but figured I would get the ball rolling with these three back-to-back jams that started it off.  Most of the Lonesome jams in 1978 keep this same freer, more conversational approach.  Stay tuned for more, hopefully.  But for now I encourage everyone to listen to these three in succession and marvel at what got into them at the end of (imho) a solid but not very adventurous tour -- and maybe give a little extra thanks to John Kahn for stepping out of bounds a bit and throwing a few elbows around.

1/26/72 setlist (outer space regions)

Howard Wales in Buffalo, 1/29/72, by Phil Simon (GDAO)

For the anniversary of this show, and in belated memoriam for Howard Wales, it is time to clean up my listening notes and correct some longstanding setlist confusion.  For background, context, and commentary about all things Jerry Garcia & Howard Wales, I direct you to:

http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2010/12/hwjg-quick-question-on-january-72-east.html
http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/01/hooteroll-when-was-it-recorded.html
http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2011/01/response-to-llds-hooteroll-when-was-it.html
https://archive.org/post/357084/jerrys-jazz-style-howard-wales-tour-pitb-march-72

I am not going to comment much on the quality of the music itself, but I have to emphasize up front that this set is hot.  Hot hot hot.  Garcia is playing out of his skin, in prime 1972 flight for almost all of it.  Wales, of course, is a mad genius, and this is likely the closest we'll ever get to hearing what it might have sounded like if he had actually joined the Dead instead of Keith Godchaux.  Jim Vincent (guitar), Roger Jellyroll Troy (bass/vocals), and Jerry Love (drums) more than hold up their end of the bargain.  They had been together as Wales regular gigging quartet for over a year at this point, and while Garcia and Wales understandably attract the most attention, everyone else does a top-drawer job.

My goal is to propose a more accurate setlist than the one that has been around at least since the Deadbase days, and that still lives on in Jerrybase, jerrygarcia.com, and the latest digital fileset (the earlier one is better, fwiw).  My guess is that either the taper himself or some well-meaning goober somewhere down the line did his best to cobble together an impressionistic semblance of what he was hearing, with nary a thought for any future obsessive nerdherders like me who might be fretting over it almost 50 years (!) later. 

Observation/theory #1: This tour was over a year removed from the recording of Hooteroll? and the general vibe of the music here actually reminds me less of Hooteroll? itself and more of the music from Roger Troy's own Jellyroll album (released in 1971, albeit with none of these musicians).  I'm not sure to what extent the performances on Hooteroll? were arranged in advance, but -- as loose as they are -- the music on that album sounds a little more planned out than most of the music here, a lot of which sounds like jams on a one chord groove.  That's not to say it's not exciting and compelling music!  But I don't think it's a stretch to think that a fair portion of this show is totally improvised.  By all accounts, Wales' MO was jamming without a net, and Jim (James) Vincent recalls in his memoir Space Traveler that the group rehearsed with Garcia exactly once prior to this tour.  

So here goes.  If anyone is hearing anything else or can identify some piece of music, please let me know!

d1t01. South Side Strut - the tape starts off with everyone getting the noodles out, a weather report (doesn't sound too awful for Boston in January), and the MC welcoming the group.  "South Side Strut" was the only single from Hooteroll? and is played here in a more stripped down arrangement (Wales plays the horn melody).  So far, so good.

d1t02. unknown mellow groove (Dm) (mislabeled "Up From The Desert").  This is not "Up From the Desert" from Hooteroll?, which has a distinct chord progression and is in a different key.  What they play here is mostly a D minor vamp with a mellow "Riders on the Storm"-ish kind of jazzy feel.

d1t03. One AM Approach - basically the same as the Hooteroll? performance, a meditative cosmic duet between Wales on Fender Rhodes piano and Garcia.  Sublime.  Of course this is when the DJ takes the opportunity to do his station ID (insert eyeroll emoji).

d1t04. unknown blues-rock (Em) ("Come On Baby > Jam > Outer Space Regions")  Observation/theory #2: I suspect that most of Troy's lyrics are mostly improvised, kind of like what Sarah Fulcher would later do with Garcia/Saunders.  Troy does have a song called "Come On Baby" on his Jellyroll album, but this isn't it.  The "chorus" of what Troy sings in this jam is "come on back child, come on back girl," but that's the chief similarity with the album cut. 

This is where the tape labeling gets a little squiggly.  The track begins with Wales playing simple E blues riff, and Troy starts playing a bassline.  They cruise on an E minor blues-rock groove.  Troy starts singing over this -> Wales solos -> more vocals -> Jerry solos, and things slide into A major and then get spacey -> more Troy vocals.  @6ish min the beat doubles up; Troy sings "get on down to the railroad tracks..." and the guitarists take solo breaks over the drums (still playing the blues in E minor) -- this is pretty uptempo, and pretty shredding.  Towards the end it kiiind of wanders back to Troy's initial groove, but not really.  This segues into...

d1t05. Troy plays a short bass solo.

d1t06. funk instrumental (G) (labeled "Get Funky Brother") - After Troy's brief solo, there's a quick drum break, then Troy announces “We’re gonna do something extraordinary - ha ha! - get funky, drummer, get funky!” which leads into a funky instrumental in G.   It follows the basic James Brown template, i.e. a complex drum pattern, a simple bassline, and the two guitarists playing call & response figures, while Wales solos over all of this.  It's not much of an arrangement, but I don't think it's being totally improvised on the fly.  After 5 minutes it dissolves into spaciness for about a minute; Vincent takes the wheel from Jerry briefly, then everything gets quiet...

d1t07. Wales solo (mislabeled "A Trip to What Next") - ...and this track starts with 30 seconds of full-band space, then drops out into a mostly a Wales unaccompanied solo on Hammond B3.  This is wild, ranging from from Sun Ra to Sunday morning gospel and everything in between.  I'm not sure how this got labeled "A Trip to What Next" (another Hooteroll? tune) but I'm not hearing any connection to this wild solo.

d1t8. My Blues (mislabeled "Would You Leave Me") -> blues in G ("Wales' Boogie")
Two songs here on this track.  The first is actually a Wales original called "My Blues," the b-side to Wales' "Huxley’s Howl" single (see below) and also on his later Rendezvous with the Sun lp.  It's a nice, slow, soulful instrumental.  This segues into a brisk blues instrumental in G with a pretty simple riff and the usual blues changes.  I don't know what this is (if it's anything), so "Wales' Boogie" might as well do for now.  In the last few seconds they move into E minor (?), which sounds like it could be a bridge, but instead the tune just ends somewhat abruptly.

d1t09. Garcia announces, “thank you very much, I’m gonna sit out for a while and let these guys play for you for a while.  This is Howard Wales playing the organ here.  And Jim Vincent playing guitar.  Jerry Love playing drums.  And Jellyroll playing bass.”  The tape cuts--

d2t01.  --and the DJ welcomes us back: "Howard Wales is just beginning a solo set."  The broadcast fades into

d2t02. "Get Down Mama" - a blues-rock shuffle in progress, with most of the song missing.  It fades in on Troy's vocal, then Vincent solos, then more vocals.  I don't know if "Get Down Mama" if really the name of this, but based on Troy's lyrics, it's a good guess.  Anyone recognize it?  When they finish, Troy addresses all the deadheads: “Thank you.  Jerry’ll be back in a few minutes, he wanted to get off and fix his guitar, all right?”

d2t03. Huxley's Howl (mislabeled "DC 502") -- The track begins with a minute and a half of spacey noodling by Wales on Fender Rhodes, before the tune begins.  "Huxley's Howl" is a Wales original released on a pre-Hooteroll 45rpm single.  There's no relation to "DC 502" (a song from Hooteroll?) that I can hear.  Vincent’s solo here is pretty angular, advanced jazzy stuff. 

d2t04. drum solo -> 

d2t05 - Huxley's Howl, cont ("DC 502") - they jam the tune some more, never returning to the head, but it's still basically the same song.  If I were retracking this, I'd just lump these last three tracks together.

d2t06-07 - They tune up, and Troy says, “Since we’re being way up north and east, uh -- do you like the blues?  Them people down south, they don’t know.”  Yeah, I bet.
Blues medley: over a slow blues, Troy sings a verse of "Sweet Little Angel" (BB King), a verse of "Sweet Cocaine" (not sure), and then a third verse that I don't recognize (labeled here "Shine On Love").  Labeling these as three separate songs seems like it's missing the point.  I'm sure Troy is either just singing whatever comes to mind, or it's a blues medley that he sang before.  I'm not sure what variant of "Sweet Cocaine" he's singing, or if he's just riffing on his own thing.  Wales and Vincent both take solos in here.

d2t08 - Garcia returns and Troy introduces everyone.  Then they start a one-chord groove in G, pensive, with a kind of an early electric Miles Davis feel.  It dissolves into spacier arrhythmic playing (i.e. more like a GD "space") ->

d2t09 - starts off in space still (again, I wouldn't track this as anything separate).  Garcia’s off on his own spacey jag when Troy starts a bassline (about 1:20 in) that everyone else locks into and things groove along still in G.  Jerry is wailing over this with some heavy wahwah.  This groove provides the loose backbone for the jam, all while Garcia takes the lead in playing over the top.  The groove pulls up and stops, as Jim Vincent comes to the fore with a big countryish/wahwah trill

Someone labeled some part of this "Fighting for Madge," presumably after the Fleetwood Mac track from Then Play On.  That track was an except from a one-chord blues jam (in B), a pretty fiery duel between Peter Green and Danny Kirwin.  I can see why someone might hear a similarity -- but it's not what they're playing here.

d2t10 - The drums double up the beat, and this leads into a new groove, but it's still basically just a one-note thing in G.  Wales takes the lead.  The beat shifts into a Bo Diddley kind of syncopation (think Not Fade Away), and at 3 minutes Troy starts singing an assortment of Bo Biddley lyrics, but mostly "You Can't Judge a Book" (note that the band follows the changes of the tune).  This jams until the end.  Troy introduces everyone again. 

d2t11.  blues-rock in E ("Gypsy Woman")  The audience calls for an encore.  I hear someone holler for Sugaree.  Troy starts a hard-driving blues rock tune in E with Troy vocals - again, this sounds more like free associated lyrics than an actual composed song.  It lasts under two minutes, then Troy breaks for an audience clap-along, and then the groove breaks apart into something more Walesian and fusion-y.  Everyone gets a solo break, then they land on a big sustained ending chord.  

So, what's the setlist already?

How's this?

1/26/72 Symphony Hall, Boston, MA

South Side Strut >
unknown jazzy (Dm) >
One AM Approach
unknown blues-rock (Em) >
bass solo >
unknown funk (G) >
organ solo >
My Blues >
blues instrumental (G)
- (Garcia out)
"Get Down Mama"
Huxley's Howl
Blues Medley
- (Garcia in)
unknown jazz/space/rock (G) >
You Can't Judge a Book
e: "Gypsy Woman"
 

Not terribly satisfying, perhaps.  But at least you can fix some errors.

1/29/72, by Phil Simon (GDAO)