Europe 72: the jams, pt 4

courtesy Mark Princi (GDAO)

 

PART 4: PARIS, BICKERSHAW

5/3/72 Paris, Other One #6

They jam on the Truckin' shuffle for a bit after the final vocal, then ease down into the Other One @9:30, which the official release tracks separately. Jerry seems happy to get down into it, but then everyone detours into a magical oasis (nice touch with the organ sustain from Pigpen).  Clouds roll in: this isn't aggressive, but it's not pretty either. The ominous vibes simmer down and then @4:40 an amazing moment happens: just Bob and Phil alone for a minute, before Jerry trickles back in. It is the first of many such beautiful moments! Phil drops the roll @6:40, but no one else is ready to go there and Jerry seems to ignore it completely.  But Phil keeps trying a few more times and @8 min it finally sticks (still no buy-in from Jerry, though).  Another shining moment is @9:50 when Keith and Jerry both mindmeld and ride down a descending progression, and then Jer really comes pouring in. Wooowwww. But once again it burns off quickly and @11:40 it's just Phil and Bobby again. After a minute, Phil & Bob start building it back up, and one by one everyone rejoins, Jerry dramatically waiting until last.  After all that, this is some pretty raging Other One jamming!  Bob finally sings the first verse @17:20 and then it collapses into Drums.

Phil returns (new track here) and duets with Billy until @1:50 and then rolls 'em back into the Other One and they're back in full flight. @3:15 they shift into a brighter, major jam (Phil hints Feelin Groovy for a sec) but it quickly tilts back into the O1. The Other One/Feelin' Groovy seesaw tips back and forth, shifting modes with a really engaging and interesting flavor. The Other One reestablishes itself fully @6:20 or so, and then Jerry is off into space, with Bob and Phil quietly playing a rhythmic figure underneath. The vibe here is spacious and wide-open. By @9:30ish Jerry is steering Phil and Bob towards the edge of the abyss, but rather than plunging into madness things become starkly beautiful (12ish min now). This is amazing.  In what couldn't be a more ideal selection for this precise moment in time, Bobby strums them into Bobby McGee.  Afterwards, Jerry spirals 'em back into the Other One and at this point my powers of qualitative assessment have gone out the window. Unbelievably wonderful. 2nd verse and out. Wharf Rat. Then the Jack Straw from Europe '72. Oh yes.

This jam maintains its all-timer status for me. But it was interesting to notice that, for a lot of it, Phil and Jerry seem playfully at odds with each other. 4/24 and 4/26 both had a similar MO of both of them consistently tugging in different directions while still maintaining an incredibly high level of connection. This 5/3 jam also stands out to me, in hindsight, for having a number of moments where Jerry is letting the rest of the band establish a mood, holding back, then making a well-timed dramatic re-entry that seems fully intentional (as opposed to a technical glitch).

Good Lovin #7, at 16ish min, this one isn't one of the behemoths. They seem more eager to find some new sidepaths to explore, but are willing to come back to the main trail when called, and are pretty responsive to Pig's lead -- and Pig in turn seems fully comfortable calling all the shots.  I believe this is the first time he starts working out his "I will ride my woman, which requires both a fair amount grease and also the shifting of gears" motif (slightly more artfully, of course, but I'm sure you get the jist) as the band gets loose and spacey for a minute @10 min, then slowly amp it up as Pig eases his lady up into the higher gears.


5/4/72 Paris, Dark Star #6

Dark Star's opening jam is quite lovely, reminding me of a green canopy of trees with Jerry flying around underneath. After 5ish min, they drift lazily into an uptempo, minor-keyed jam driven by Billy's toms. None of this is really opening my third eye, but it's a perfect way to drift downstream on a warm day. The waters get a little bumpy and around 11 min and they hop off the boat and onto land right into Dark Star and the first verse @12:10. Jerry sounds husky. There's an immediate drop-off into a very quiet space afterwards (1970 style), just Phil and Bob at first. Jerry emerges after a few minutes, but this never builds up to anything intense -- I assume there's some equipment problem, since folks are yelling off mic and Billy winds up soloing for 2 1/2 minutes. They reenter into a similar space, very quiet at first, and finally Jerry threatens to get hairy, but doesn't. After maybe 6 min of this, they ease off and collectively opt for something prettier, sailing off into a bright, brisk jam: Jerry is operating within the Dark Star parameters, but Phil and Bob are thinking Feelin' Groovy, and the resulting uncertainty is a joyous thing to behold. Jerry appears to be actively resisting the Feelin' Groovy jam, then finally succumbs at 10:45... but it feels like the magical moment has passed. Nevertheless, they skip through the sun-kissed dewdrops for a bit, before Jerry again begins to assert Dark St (heads up @13:20 when he turns the wahwah back on, I love this bit). @15:25 he succeeds in bringing them back, and then actually sings the second verse! (first time this tour). They do the old-school ending and wind it down into Sugar Magnolia (the one from the E72 album, btw).  40 min total for this Dark Star, including the drum solo, but not one that stands with the greats from the era.

Good Lovin' #8 opens the 2nd set and has a more relaxed feel and slightly slower tempo than others.  At 22 1/2 min, the boys certainly take the scenic route, but actually never really wander too far off the road.  Pigpen never really hands the wheel over, and also seems like he's taking his sweet time with his lady tonight. I was getting lazy with my note-taking, but there's a distinctive descending chord progression at one point that the band jams on for a bit (not Mind Left Body) that I don't recognize from other Good Lovin's from this tour. The long roundabout digression at the end as they circle back to the finale is also pretty sweet. imho this is one of the better ones of the tour so far.



5/7/72 Bickershaw, Dark Star #7 > Other One #7

We probably all know that this festival was a rainy, cold, muddy mess, and I am probably succumbing to the power of suggestion, but this Dark Star does feel a little stormier right up front. I hear Pigpen thickening the stew with some maracas and maybe other percussion (it's low in the mix, but this is the first time I've noticed him doing this on this tour). The band interaction feels a little more kaleidoscopic tonight, rather than the more linear approach of the last two versions. 5 min of Dark Star jamming, then Jerry and Bob drift away while Billy and Phil rumble along below. This begets that jazzier, kind of Playin-ish, minor-keyed jam (not the Phil jazz theme) that rolls along briefly before Jerry comes soaring back into the major Dark Star modality. This is great. They land in another oasis and drop the rhythmic momentum, though it never gets too spacey or atonal -- I really like Bob's chord voicings in here. @12ish Jerry swims back to Dark Star, but then an amusing cat & mouse game begins as they pull back and forth between Dark Star and creepier space: Phil cues DS, Jerry defers for weirdness, Phil drops a big space bomb, Jerry sidesteps right back into DS. Ha!  @14:30 they're back for real and Jerry sings the 1st verse. They build to a big dramatic A chord, then ease down, splashing around, seemingly unsure whether to commit to a spacey meltdown or not. They do not. Billy takes a solo.

Unusally, the Other One comes out of Drums, and also has a more dense feel to it, now in part because Pigpen's organ is very present: louder in the mix and more active than usual.  Check how @3:25 he even prods Billy into a brisk 6/8 swing for a few bars. I hear you, Pig! Jerry brings 'em to a peak. @4:20 they all ease back, Jerry eventually maneuvers into a minor key, Billy lays back, they float, Jerry brings them back up to the O1 by 9 min and Bob sings the 1st verse @10:25. Pig even alternates fills with Jerry between the lyrics. @11:30 they pull the brakes and slow things down (Jer and Bob surreptitiously tune up), and set sail for a long Space. Just Jer, Phil, and Bob at first, Keith back by @16:35, Phil starts to get aggressive, Jerry comes and goes. This is all mostly atonal space, not a lot of drums, everyone doing a very slooow burn, but it never wanders down the Tiger path. By 23 min it's Phil and Jerry apparently revving up for a meltdown/throwdown duel, but it turns into more a playful joust instead.  @24 Bob locks into a repeated one-note groove and pulls everyone with him, and @25 they burst back into a full-band jam and that feels almost like a blissed-out Dark Star peak to me. Wowww. @27 they veer back to the O1, rage it for a bit, get to the second verse @29:40 and the outro folds into Sing Me Back Home.

Hugely satisfying to have these two played back to back like this, even though the boys don't sound like they're in a truly divine space. Both versions are 2nd tier for this tour. But what does that even mean anymore, man.

Good Lovin' #9 is a hair under 20 min. Pigpen is in great shape, directing things right at the top of the jam, easing back into a similar mellow groove as 5/4 around 11 min in (again with the "changing gears" motif). @13:30 Jerry climaxes the jam with a repeated single note that powers right back into the Good Lovin riff. Haven't heard him do that one yet! Nice move. But Pigpen ignores the cue and keeps his rap going. Yeah, Pig! He's going for it tonight (breakin' them rocks from dawn til doom). I also detect Jerry teasing "Tequila" a few times after 16 min (lol).  This Good Lovin' wasn't as powerful as 5/4 for me, but the unique climax to the jam and Pigpen's extra moxie gets the gold star.

And they also play Lovelight tonight. Like the one on 4/26, it's not at the level of the Good Lovin's from this tour -- but unlike 4/26, Pigpen at least takes a crack at delivering another rap, albeit less coherently than his spots in Good Lovin'. Jerry plays a little nasty slide guitar @9:35 and even teases Caution at the end... which would be too good to be true, so they wrap it up with GDTRFB>NFA instead.

Europe 72: the jams, pt 3

Gunther Kieser's deadhead

 

PART 3: GERMANY

4/21 Bremen, Other One #4
 

This was an in-studio performance for TV broadcast (you've probably seen the video with the, um, extreme blue screen effects; see Light Into Ashes for a fine analysis of the video).  Truckin' has a false start and grand collapse before restarting, then a shorter jam (no reprised last verse) and a minute of splashing around before a brief Drums.  Unsurprisingly, given the circumstances, Other One #4 stays pretty close to the surface: they start off playing too fast and Jerry has to step on the brakes about 2 minutes in; first verse comes at 5, then a few minutes of space, and back into the Other One for the second verse, and stop at 15:45.  Still a pretty good time, just nothing much to comment on.  But what's unsual is what happens next: Jerry feedbacks them into another spacey jam that takes shape when Billy lays down a gentle beat at 18:20.  It's a little reminscent of the pretty 3/22/72 post-Caution jam, lovely as a sping breeze.  They cruise for two minutes, Jerry whips up a little ending, and they're done.



4/24 Dusseldorf, Dark Star #4

Actually, starting with Good Lovin #5 makes more sense here, since it's a clear harbinger of the main event. This is by far the most "out" Good Lovin' jam so far, and it sounds like the band's improvisation here is less oriented around accompanying Pigpen's rap, which in turn seems more free-associative than usual (Jesse Jarnow has pointed out that Pig quotes James Carr's "Pouring Water on a Drowning Man" here, which I didn't catch).  The contrast between his vocal and the spacier music is pretty surreal: it hits peak weirdness @7ish minutes as Pig gets ready to see about his woman down the hall, while the band is trilling away at an atonal space jam.  Hey, whetever floats yer boat.  This version is 17 min total, long but not nearly as long as the titanic 4/14 version, but it's a great complement for being much, much stranger.

This Dark Star is (spoiler) one of my all-time favorites and remains a peak intense GD experience.  The feel is immediately quite different from the prior excursions: Phil sounds particularly raw and pushy at the start, and after a minute or so it seems to rub off on everyone else. @3 1/2 min they fall down a little hole and immediately start considering evil.  No looking back at this point: the rest of the pre-verse jams (between 5-11 minutes) feels like a back & forth between Jerry pulling them into the sun and Phil pulling them right back into the darkness -- this multi-mode tug-of-war makes for an extremely engaging pre-verse jam.  One moment that I particularly like is the jam at 8-10 minutes, which surges from a bright, major Dark Star tonality into a faster, driving jam that Phil tries to steer into minor with an early attempt at his King Solomon-ish "jazz theme," which Jerry rejects by pulling everyone back into a peaky Dark Star jam which climaxes and dovetails into him and Bob playing a harmonized DS riff down into the first verse.  Yowza.  And then!  And then afterwards, whooooo shit, after the verse... out come the knives. Everything sounds about 100 feet high, giant waves rising up, big Phil chords underneath Bobby feedback and eagle-high Jerry.  @15ish min Billy swings 'em out of the jurassic period and into a brisk 12/8, but darkness wins out again, and by 18 min it's a Jerry/Phil faceoff as everyone else eggs them on. Jer finally turns on the wahwah and a bloodbath ensures.  The Tiger jam here from 19-21 minutes has to be one of the most brutal meltdowns of their career.  The tsunami finally breaks, they splash around for a couple minutes in the wreckage, and then ta da! Me and My Uncle.  Well.  Afterwards, they blur back into space, bruised but beautiful, and things get even prettier once Keith joins back in after a few minutes. But once again it descends into darkness.  They pull out again into a 12/8 swing and move back towards the Dark Star theme -- this is amazing, people -- morphing into that "country-ish" kinda feel, then Jerry hints at a full return to Dark Star itself, playing the riff a few times but then sidestepping smoothly into Wharf Rat instead.  [sidenote: this Dark Star shares a few things with 12/6/73, including an ending with Jerry teasing the second verse then veering elsewhere] That was almost 44 min of Dark Star, including MAMU.  Sugar Magnolia segues naturally out of Wharf Rat and jams to a close. Bobby says danke shoen and Phil announces they're taking a break and playing some more.

iirc, Rock Scully's book says that Karlheinz Stockhausen was in attendance at this show. Take that with a grain of salt, but if the presence of one of the 20th century's leading avant-garde composers inspired this masterpiece, well, then that's pretty freakin' sweet (and Light Into Ashes has pointed out that Stockhausen had performed in Dusseldorf on 4/16). Other pretty freakin' sweet things are the fact that the band CAN was in the audience for this show (h/t to Jesse Jarnow), and that the venue was a planetarium.

Another small but notable thing that contributes to the weirdness of this particular DS is the mastering of the recording: there's an occasional but very noticeable delay on Jerry's guitar and Keith's piano (which also moves around the stereo field a few times), and also on Jerry's vocal.  It's inconsistent enough that it's really noticeable when it does happen -- check out about 40 secs into the DS track after MAMU where the delay is so extreme that it sounds like there are two Jerrys.  It's not on the older circulating sbd, and so far I haven't noticed this on any of the other E72 recordings.  Why would John Cutler do that?



4/26 Frankfurt, Other One #5

The Truckin' jam is nothing out of the ordinary tonight, but sounds high and wide-open: after the final vocal reprise, they jam a bit more of the Truckin' shuffle, pull apart for some pre-Other One noodling, then stop almost dead before Drums, although Keith tinkles by himself for a bit before Billy takes over. This Other One is a striking contrast with the Dark Star of 4/24: Evil Phil is nowhere to be found tonight.  Indeed, he seems almost chastened after his dance with the devil two nights ago: nearly every time Jerry seems to be pulling off towards darker weirdness, Phil tips them all right back towards something brighter.  The jam before the first verse veers between the Other One and some other mode(s), but mainly Billy is taking it easy, giving this a placid, way high-up, top-of-the-mountain kind of feel: it's not quite 'space' but very gentle and melodic and beautiful.  First verse comes @13:30, then they keep moving forward in this more spacious 'open' Other One feel. At 17 min it starts getting strange, Jerry hits the wahwah, the vibe gets prickly... so Phil pulls the other way and slides them into his 'jazz theme' at 18:20, which everyone picks up even though Jerry clearly has his sights set on some wahwah space fury. This is almost funny! But it sounds fantastic, of course. They ease off at 21 min and then things start getting ominous: slow and intense, no drums at first, but Banshee Jerry and Throwdown Phil start rustling up the feedback curtains. Things slowly build up to the point where Jerry starts revving up for a Tiger jam @26 min, but they no one else really builds up enough of a head of steam to go there with him (btw heads up for a quickie Spanish Jam suggestion from Bob around 27 min). By 30-31 minutes, Jerry is spiraling out arpeggios while everyone else regroups. imho it never quite comes together into anything coherent for this final stretch (Phil suggests Feelin' Groovy @31:25, but nope), though it is plenty cool nevertheless. They get back into the Other One, sing the second verse @35:35, and then they wrap it up and neatly move into Comes a Time.

Phil's 180 shift in attitude here came as a real surprise to me.  Also for your consideration is that the Hundred Year Hall CD (1995) was the first E72 music to be officially released after the original album, and evidently Phil was the one who made the call to release this show.

Good Lovin #6 is a compact 12 min tonight. It's very different from the last one, since Pigpen is leading the charge throughout and the boys seem happy to fall in line. They digress a bit from the usual jam for about 2 minutes at the end, but Pigpen reigns it in.

This show also has the first of three Lovelights of this tour -- but Pigpen doesn't do much with this at all, and the majority of it is instrumental jamming, nothing groundbreaking, just cruising along at a nice speed. Jerry hits a nice climax around 15 min which he threads into GDTRFB, though it takes them a while to recalibrate and finally get into it. Pretty nice, nevertheless.



4/29/72 Hamburg, Dark Star #5

Dark Star has a warm, pleasant feel to the starting jam, with a nice foggy digression around 5 min. @6:40 a Feelin' Groovy jam comes together, but Jerry seems less committed and derails it after a minute by sliding into a minor mode and leaving a small pile-up in his wake. @8:40 they land in spacey jam, which I quite liked this time around: austere, regal vibe to this, and more happening from Keith in particular - weird, but very beautiful. Eventually it gets into a creepier pre-Tiger space and Phil starts uneleasing some bombers at 13 min, but then they surprisingly move it back to Dark Star, a nice moment of group-mind ESP there. First verse @14:50, and then the following jam pulls apart and lava starts rising through the cracks, with things getting progressively heavier (wahwah Jerry, smashing Phil chords, freejazz Billy). But instead of finding a Tiger, they nearly stop dead after 20 min, start building back up, but then @22 min they shift direction again into a jazzier low-key jam, not Phil's "jazz theme" and a little more like a Playin' jam (debatable, but imho). Jerry will not be denied his Tiger jam, though, and pulls out of this after a few minutes, and finally whips things up to a frenzied peak at 28-29 minutes. Yeeowch. It gets there and crashes down, with Phil & Jer still taking jabs at each other, but Bob awkwardly pushes it into Sugar Magnolia. (I didn't hear any Pigpen organ at all in this DS, fwiw).

Caution #4 is a pretty straight-down-the-middle 20 minute stormer, not too dissimilar from the last Caution on 4/17. Pigpen gets on organ right at the beginning and seems to be soloing for a few minutes (hard to tell because of the mix), before spilling the beans about his lady problems.  At 7 min when his prescribed mojo hand begins to take effect, the boys shift gears into a slinky slower jam before kicking it back up a couple gears into Caution proper (nice touch!)  @8:15, Pig sings a bit from Lightnin' Hopkins' "Life I Used to Live" ("gonna change my way of living/join a church again").  Nothing else to report besides @10-13 min they slip into a spacier, pretty jam that could maybe be a doorway back to Dark Star? (dream on, nick) but Phil is intent on staying with Caution. Again, Jerry plays a little slide guitar around 15 1/2 min. @18ish min it hits a big climax, but then keeps going in a mellower vein, seemingly unclear if they're really done, so Phil finally ends it with a big chord at 20:10.