not to wax nostalgic, but...

...ah what the hell, it's my blog.  I was digging around in the one box of cassette tapes that has survived the decades (snicker if you want, but when you've been carting around a thousands LP's and CD's for half of your life, a box of tapes is easy to throw on the pile and forget about), and this is all that is left of my Dead tape collection:

There were more.  But for reasons both known and unknown, these are what have survived a quarter century, give or take.  At the time (the mid/late 1990's), I was more interested in getting as many Phish tapes as I could, so I never had a particularly enviable Dead collection.  There were, of course, a lot of crummy aud tapes and super hissy incomplete sbds that were given away or taped over, but I did try to save the cream of the crop... and I know that Veneta, Cornell, Freedom Hall, NYE 78 were all complete at one point, but c'est la vie.  10/14/94 was my last Dead show (and a really great Scarlet>Fire, thank you very much).  I have no clue how Garcia/Saunders 6/4/74 found its way to me, since I can't imagine it was a common tape in the pre-shn age.  Note the misdated 10/8/68 Hartbeats tape!  11/8/69 has the irritating clicking noise that Jim Wise painstakingly repaired, manually, click by click, on a home digital workstation (the story), which was the first time I had heard of such a thing being done -- oh brave new world!

Also, let's have a moment of silence for the lost art of tape filler.  The tape formerly known as 5/5/82 had the huge Mystery Train jam from 12/31/75 on the b-side, which made for an incongruous yet inexplicably satisfying juxtaposition.  Ditto 10/16/89 which had just exactly the perfect amount of space to fit the Garcia solo track from Zabriskie Point as filler.  Good filler was always the perfect comedown.  

I wrote a while ago about the GD Hour broadcast of 1/22/78 that basically changed my life, and I am most pleased to find that that one has held on.  But of course all of these were very, very special in their own way.

That's it.  B&P welcome, or your list gets mine.

the Wildebeest connection

Joe and Corry tossed this around for a second back in 2016, so this is no great discovery, but the discographical nerd in me needs to mark this very marginal release with a post.  I had stumbled upon this record a a few months ago while looking around Discogs for recordings that John Kahn played on.  What really caught my attention was the presence of Jimmy Warren, who played electric piano alongside organist Melvin Seals in the JGB for 15 months in 1981-1982.  $2.11 later (plus shipping), and I present: Reckless Dreams by Wildebeest.

I am curious about John Kahn spent his downtime when the Dead were on the road, since it doesn't seem like he played regularly with anyone else (did he?), so it makes sense that he would get involved with producing a local Bay Area band.  The eyebrow-raiser is that the Dead organization was involved.  Kahn brought Palo Alto's own Wildebeest into Club Front from April 1-5, 1981 to record a 5-song EP using the studio's 24-track Studer @30ips and Neve 24-track console.  I know this because it says so prominently on the back cover, even before the names of the bandmembers are given.  Kahn was credited with co-writing one song, and also played synthesizer on every track (Kahn owned an Oberheim synthesizer, not a common household item, and encouraged keyboardist Ozzie Ahlers to play the same model in the 1980 edition of the JGB).  Jimmy Warren was involved enough in the project to get a co-producer credit, and also adds a few synth parts of his own.  Betty Cantor-Jackson and John Cutler were working the boards -- and, notably, Betty is also credited along with Kahn on the record label itself.  That's a really unusual thing for any engineer, so I am inferring from this that her name had significant cachet with Deadheads even back then (remember, this was still years before anyone had heard of a Bettyboard).  Even Sue Stevens of GDP is credited on the sleeve with "logistics and planning."  So I am assuming that Kahn was calling in a favor here.  He had certainly logged plenty of hours at Club Front with Garcia, but given that this project had no direct connection to the JGB or Dead, one might assume that this happened only because Garcia must have given it the okay.

engineered by Betty Cantor-Jackson, in case you were wondering.

pardon the unintentional selfie

This may be unrelated, but I can't help noticing that Kahn also performed onstage with the Dead twice in this same time period, the only time such a thing happened: two acoustic sets at benefit shows (4/25/81 and 5/22/81), although neither was actually billed as the Grateful Dead.  The story goes that Lesh claims nobody told him about it.  That may have absolutely nothing to do with Kahn bringing a small local band into Club Front for a week, but I wonder.

This also prompts some speculation (on my part, anyway) about Club Front's function as a recording studio outside of the Dead's immediate orbit.  I don't have any sense that it was used that way.  But it certainly could have been -- and it certainly could have brought in some additional income, but the Dead's/Garcia's cashflow problems is not my area of expertise.  Placeholder for that one for now.

Oh, right: and how's the music?  It's okay for what it is.  The cover could suggest either metal or loopy psychedelia, but it's more middle-of-the-road than either: some tunes have a Heart/Pat Benetar kind of vibe, others have a more rootsy blues-rock boogie with slide guitar.  The beat goes on.  But to be fair, I am sure they sounded much better in a bar like the Keystone than at home on the record player (this less-than-rave review in the Sanford Daily appears to agree).

Ah well.  One more piece of the puzzle.  For two bucks, it was a worthy purchase.

postscript: a few words about Jimmy Warren

pic from Jake Feinberg's page, presumably a screenshot from the JGB 6/24/82 video

Until Jake Feinberg aired an interview with Jimmy Warren in 2018, practically nothing was known about him in the deadhead world besides the strong implication that he was a drug buddy of Kahn's and Garcia's.  In his fine interview, Feinberg understandably goes easy on the question of drugs.  Warren explains, in short, that he moved to Mill Valley in the late 70's with his then-girlfriend Liz Stires, met and became friends with Kahn, and would hang out at his home 8-track studio and help record demos (Warren recalls playing on the demo of the Kahn/Hunter tune "Leave the Little Girl Alone," later recorded for Run for the Roses; Liz Stires also apparently recorded several demos with Kahn and Warren).  Eventually, he was finally invited to audition for the JGB -- and Stires, as you probably know, also became one of the backup singers.  Others have implied that he was there more for the procurement of the drugs that most interested Kahn, Garcia, and Rock Scully.  No one seems to have spoken explicitly about it on the record one way or the other, and I am sure that the situation involves several stories that are both contradictory and true.  But regardless, Kahn and Warren seem to have been close for a time.  Warren also tells a nice story about how, after leaving the JGB and moving to Annapolis, John Kahn sat in at Warren's gig after a JGB show (which must have been in the wee hours of 11/6/82).  I have a hunch that Warren's role in this Wildebeest record was a mitzvah from Kahn.  But, as always, this is conjecture, and I would love to know more.

Europe 72: the jams, pt 6

lighting by Candace! nice touch.

 

PART 6: LONDON (THE END)

5/23 London, Dark Star #10

Okay, so they make up for the double Other Ones (5/13-16) with double Dark Stars (5/18-23).  All is in balance as we head into the final stretch.

This Dark Star starts off unusually tentatively, with Jerry playing the initial riff alone. But there's a nice floaty start to this opening jam and all is well. @1:45 Jerry and Bob twine around each other like ivy and spin out wonderfully for about 20 seconds. By 3 min, they're starting to leave the ground, generally calm and peaceful feelings abound. Jerry brings 'em back down to earth @5:30, but rather than drop off the cliff into open space as per usual, they instead do a slow black hole taffy-pull... there's a moment of near silence at 7:10, then Jerry starts sending out long feedbacked notes into the darkness and Phil scuttles away down below. Sparse.  Just Jerry and Phil for a moment in here.  This is the most far out they've gone before the verse so far (4/29 also got dark and spacey early on, but not for as long as this, iirc?).  From 10:30 it's basically just Billy, joined by Phil and some minimal Bobby... though setlists historically don't seem to notate this as "Drums," that's what it feels like [edit: whoops, Jerrybase does]  @13:13 Jerry quietly reenters, and by 14 they're back in flight, in a darker minor mode, but by 14:50 we get another bi-modal tug of war between Jerry/Bob and Phil. @15:25-40ish some Feelin' Groovy hints go unheeded, @15:50 Pigpen makes an appearance on organ, and it fits in well! and @17 min they pull up and move it into Dark Star for real. Wow, that was nice.

@17:43 Jerry sings first verse. @19 they stand at the edge of the cliff and peer over. Bob, Phil, and Jerry all quietly but melodically contemplate the void. by 21 min this has become unexpectedly pretty -- not atonal or weird at all.  Some lovely unison lines @21:35 and I even something a bit like "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring" from Jerry in there (no, not an explicit quote).  But inevitably @22 min he turns left into something darker, and by 23 min Jer and Phil are getting spookier, then into the Tiger as everyone else piles on. It peaks by 24, then by mid-25 they drop down and splash around in the wake... but then they build back up again! Rather than another peak, @26:40 Jer turns off the wahwah and slowly they all change directions -- okay, this is a super cool and unexpected move -- pretty intense, and it finally resolves @28:30 into a cool jazzy groove (swingin' drums, walking bassline). A tasty digression indeed. @29:20 they're moving down back into the 2nd verse, but Jerry changes direction and plays the Morning Dew riff to get everyone's attention, then again for real as they make the segue. Wow! That was so good! And Morning Dew is a great one, just exactly perfectly good from top to bottom. 42 minutes well spent with the Grateful Dead, folks.

Well, this one I didn't remember being as interesting or involving as it was. But this was a powerful sleeper Dark Star for sure.

The penultimate Good Lovin' (#12) has no Pigpen rap at all. Yeesh. Jerry is way more in command here than the last one, and I suspect that it was clear from the start that Pigpen wasn't coming out for the jam tonight (whereas on 5/18 it feels like everyone isn't sure whether Pig's going to make it or not).  Solid but pretty uneventful jam.  Pig sounds a little off on the final vocals as well.  11:30 total.


5/24 London, Other One #11

I must confess that I haven't been playing very close attention to the Truckin's from this tour until the jams begin in earnest. But I noticed that the first jam here (before the reprise) has lots of Other One teasing in there. Hmm. Then there are <2 min of jamming after the last vocals with nothing much to report; there's one final Other One hint before easing off into Drums.

The Other One's opening jam felt a little more muted or relaxed than usual, and by 1:30 they're floating in open space... and they stay there for a while. There are some suggestions of other directions and/or moments of turbulence (Phil attempts his jazz riff at one point), and also of some real beauty: @4:50ish there's a beautiful cloud formation by Jerry, Keith, and Bob. But for the most part, this is a longer than usual passage of drifty airy space. The clouds roll in and @6:30 Billy is pushing things along and everyone gets on the same track -- a lot is happening in here, multi-modal shenanigans and generally a very cool jam from 6:30-9:00, then Jerry reasserts the Other One, then slows the tempo down after a minute. First verse @11:23, and then they fall back off the cliff into open space again. Jerry chisels away, Phil plonks along, it al gets progressively stranger but stays relatively calm for this sort of thing. @17:20ish Billy kicks in a quiet but driving groove, just as Jerry starts getting weirder... but after a minute of this, Phil sides (surprisingly?) with Billy and they pull Jerry into the orbit of a more linear, jazzy jam -- also I appreciate that Bob leaves his tremelo on. Keith reenters the scene, but it doesn't much catch fire, even when Jerry turns on his wahwah. They're groovin' along in 2nd gear. I again hear Keith using a volume pedal (?) on his piano around 21 min. By 21:40 or so, Jerry is quietly spinning towards the outer regions. But no deep delving yet! Again, they are taking their sweet time in the outer reaches. Finally @23 they all tumble into a Tiger and hit peak shreddage not long after, but then keep it going along the same lines, just with a lesser intensity (as opposed to collapsing and kicking around in the ashes) @25:08 Jerry very abruptly yanks it all back into the Other One, and Phil takes a minute to reorient himself. @25:55 it's back into the O1 for real, @28:47 2nd verse (nice organ fills from Pig!), and they end it and move into Sing Me Back Home. Which is beautiful! A really nice version.

So this is ultimately another second-tier Other One, mostly because they spend a lot of time free-floating without ever really digging in to any sustained inspiration. The 2 1/2 min jam before the first verse was the most exciting thing to me here.

The final Turn On Your Lovelight (#3 of the tour) follows Sugar Magnolia, and while Pigpen isn't quite spitting fire, this one is the best of this tour and certainly an improvement over the last two Good Lovin's.  There's a nice dovetail into the finale, and then a surprise move into Two Souls in Communion, which Pigpen gives his all and really delivers. Good combination! And this was the last time that Pigpen ended a Dead show in the spotlight -- god speed, Mr. Pen.


5/25/72 London, Dark Star #11

I will confess upfront that this jam has a special place in my heart. I have listened to it many times over the years, ever since it soundtracked a particularly golden afternoon many years ago.  The jam sequence is completely unique, which also adds that extra sparkle.  This Uncle John's Band is an all-timer for me. @7:20 they drift away from the 7/8 riff into a looser kinda pre-Dark Star mode, until Jerry finds some definition after a few minutes and moves 'em into Wharf Rat. Pretty masterful transition there! They jam a bit after the last vocal and the trickle down into Dark Star is absolutely perfect. So at this point, they've been in flight for 19 minutes, so I am not in the same headspace as I have been for the rest of these Dark Stars... this one feels more like a "kaleidoscopic" jam at first, with all of them spinning in different directions but linked to the same grounding point, rather than a linear trip of everyone moving in the same direction. I dig it. @2:45ish I hear them coming together more, and I hear Bob & Keith really driving things while Billy lays back with more of a gentle pulse. Builds in intensity, then @6:45 they all find themselves floating in open air, and Billy lays out. @7:50ish Jerry and Phil start scrubbing their way into a pre-Tiger-ish vibe, then the groupmind seems to want to pull away from the hubbub, but they turn another corner back towards the unavoidable darkness. Feedback and wahwah from Jerry, nasty chords from Phil, Jerry starts showing his claws, but then just as Phil seems really rarin' to go, Jerry turns the tables and brings them back to Dark Star after 15 min. Okay! I thought that was all pretty wonderful. First verse @16:44. They scrabble around spacily, then congeal @18:30ish into a Phil-led groove, trio with Keith and Billy. Bob adds some tremolo-ed guitar quietly. While I grant you that he's no star soloist, I do like these moments when Keith gets to be out front. @21:20 Phil takes them into Feelin' Groovy and Jerry reppears -- this is pretty, but not as skin-poppingly gorgeous as other prior iterations of this theme. By 25ish min they've mostly moved out of Feelin Groovy, not quite, eventually Phil shifts things up and Jerry slips in and out of a different, minor key, and by 26:36 he's back into a pre-Tiger zone again. Everyone rallies around him and starts to climb that mountain. Things get more buggy, they're getting closer, they reach a small climax, but then Jerry begins yet another climb for the top and then they finally unleash the dogs of war. Yeeow! Nice Tiger! During the comedown, I hear Pigpen's organ and Bob immediately tries for Sugar Mags, but Jerry holds off and splashes in the ether for a bit, before giving in.

I can't put this at the level of the best E72 Dark Stars, but it's a powerful second-stringer. But I also don't ever hear this one separate from the UJB>Wharf Rat, and there aren't many pre-hiatus Dark Stars that I associate so strongly with its preceding songs, so this one does also stand apart from the rest somewhat. It's still a special one in my book.

The final Good Lovin (#13) has Jerry again on organ during the tune (Jerrybase has a picture! Proof that it happened!). But Pigpen doesn't rap on this one at all (same as 5/23). Around 6 min into the jam, they find some different waters to explore, and there's some fun cat & mouse between Jerry and Phil as they find their way back to Good Lovin, but this isn't one for the books.



5/26/72 London, Other One #12

Sheesh, how to review this one? No one will argue it's one of the greatest things they ever played, so how does narrating my way through it add anything? Many of us heard it in portions on the original Europe 72 album, and even hearing engineer Dennis Leonard's wonderful story in the Long Strange Trip documentary about being spellbound during Morning Dew adds yet another level of context that I will never be able shed. But here goes!

Truckin' is the first one this tour with no vocal reprise (they didn't quite drop it, though; it's there again in July). Jerry is looking ahead to the Other One at 8 min, and by 9:20ish he's spinning outwards with Bob and Keith in his wake, as Billy maintains the shuffle. Pigpen is hanging in there. No words for this: high level magic happening here, simple and spacious. Slow-down at 13:30 into a more introspective space, but it's a brief oasis as Billy starts a low-key bubbling groove, super tasty. By 17 min this feels almost Dark Starry, but @17:20 Jerry turns again clearly to the Other One. Phil hears him, Billy doesn't quite. @18 min it's a near full stop, Jerry quietly clinking away, Phil doodling, @18:38 it sounds like Bob shows his hand by playing the big D chord for Dew, but not yet: the track ends at 18:58 and Phil does the roll into the Other One for real.

This Other One groove feels more relaxed to me than most others? Billy seems more like he's jazzily doodling back there rather than really driving this. Things thin out, @2:15 Jerry puts on some wahwah, everyone hanging in the air tentatively, and finally everyone but Billy backs down -- nearly a Drums in here, but Jerry then Phil come back in quietly. They trio and slowly build up the volume and energy. This is great! they sound totally dialed into each other, high level communication and love happening here. wowww. Keith then Bob reenter, keeping it cool. @8:27 I like Jerry's cool descending melody. But nothing really clicks and @9:10 Billy takes a solo for real.

(new track) Back into the Other One with another Phil roll, and now they're into it as usual: big organ, everyone in full attack mode now, although the energy still seems more serene than frenetic. @:49 Bob sings 1st verse. They burble, then @2:15ish the tent collapses. No drums: the other four float in open space. @3:10 they synch together for a beautiful moment of perfection: how did that happen? amazing! Billy comes creeping back in. That was brief but perfect. They stay in this enchanted space, not as much melodic beauty, but the spell holds... wowwww. @5:28 Keith starts playing a figure that Jerry and Bob click into. Cool! They keep it going, but Jerry starts drifting away, clicks on wahwah @6:02 (mid line, love it when that happens) and slowly starts getting hairy as everyone else keeps in the groove... but it slowly distorts like a house of mirrors. Great climb to the Tiger here -- I really like how the form comes apart in this one. @7:44 Jerry's in full Tiger mode; Pigpen's organ pops in for a sec, doing that police siren thing, but it doesn't upset the vibe. @8:45ish Billy is nudging it along with a steady pulse, and Jerry seems to back down a bit, then starts building up again (hear how @9:10-40ish his guitar wanders around the stereo field) - but then @9:36 he unexpectedly flips back into a major mode as everyone else churns and reorients around him. @10 min they chill and ease down. No meltdown! or... Jerry is stirring the pot now, threatening feedback, but @11:20 he pulls back into a bright Other One spiral and the universe calms itself: they eddy around each other in the stream... that was a breathtaking little display there... and just perfectly he leads them right into Morning Dew! How did any of that happen?? This whole 'second' Other One is Grateful Dead Groupmind at its absolute best. Dew is pin-drop perfection, some nice fanning at the climax, and generally just exactly perfect. I am out of things to say about anything this amazing. Back into the Other One, and I appreciate how they let this breathe for a minute rather than just hustling right into the final verse.


There you have it, folks.

Europe 72: the jams, pt 5

5/13: Pig incognito, with tie-dyed carpet, photo by Michel Wannenmacher

Sigh.  Motivation slid away, then I was out of town for a bit, and I am now wrapping this project up without any grand sense of occasion and with my tail between my legs.  Sorry, folks!

PART 5: BACK TO THE CONTINENT


5/10/72 Amsterdam, Other One #8

Truckin' is, I believe, the shortest one of the tour so far, with less than 90 seconds of jamming after the final verse.  This is a little surprising, given the odyssey that is to come, but so it goes.

As the Other One rolls off, it feels to me like they are using a gentler touch than many of the preceding versions. Pig's organ is swirling around in there. I am digging the little call & response thing Jerry plays with himself @2:15. @3:40 they rather abruptly fall off the cliff and free-float for a minute. Billy starts a slow 12/8 swing under this and it gets bluesy. Very nice, though it doesn't last long, and by 6 min they're back in free-float space. Keith starts getting assertive, Billy seems to be looking for a groove to hook into, and by 7:45ish Jerry finds an Other One variant and pulls everyone into that orbit; this is kinda skewed, kinda jazzy, kinda messy, three different things happening at once, but all super cool. @9:30ish they transition back into the Other One proper, perhaps a bit awkwardly, but all are fully back in it by 10 min. Bob sings the first verse @11:30, and then almost immediately Jerry nudges them into atonal weirdness.

By the mid 14's they're getting into dinosaur territory: Jerry yawping away, Bob peeling off feedback, Phil scuttering around below. They're doing the full insect crawl by 15:30, but this doesn't feel overwhelming or all that evil: curious prehistoric cockroaches, not chaotic agents of destruction.  @17 min Keith reappears, then @17:35 Pigpen's organ makes a brief cameo (he's usually not too interested in these heavy space jams) @18:25 Jerry is now scaling to a Tiger peak with some monster Phil power chords and feedback below.  Very intense! but it never reaches the climax, and when Billy reenters @20ish min, they take off flying.  Whoa...okay?  but then Jerry & Bob both suddenly disappear for nearly a minute and let Keith take the lead. Unexpected left turn there, fellas. When Jerry returns, nothing catches fire right away and it sounds like they're all wondering about the Other One.  Billy eases back in, Bob and Jerry do-se-do in the open air for a bit. Then back into the Other One @24 but don't really settle into it, and a few digressions happen (I really like the bit @27 min when Billy swings into a 6/8 feel still with the Other One happening above). On paper this sounds unfocused, but jeez, it sounds really sweet to me.  Back into the Other One yet again.  Heads up @29:05, cuz I love that figure Jerry plays a few times here.  @30 min everyone drops out yet again as Jerry keeps going with Bob in support, then Phil -- they're still clearly playing the Other One, not "space," even as it all drifts apart. This whole segment from 30-34 min is amazing. @32ish, Bob takes things in a really pretty direction, not quite a "theme" jam, but he and Phil are on the same page and Jer is cruising over it in a minor key. Even compared to the other E72 moments like this, this feels uniquely beautiful.

@34:20 they transition as perfectly as can be into Bobby McGee.  I am aware that not everyone agrees whether or not Bob's cowboy songs are too intrusive in the middle of a huge jam like this, but I can't think of a sweeter thing that could have happened right at this moment.  They wrap it, and back into two more minutes of Other One, then the second verse, and on into Wharf Rat.

The 20 minutes (!) between the first verse and Bobby McGee is all-timer stuff for this tour. I can see how someone might not appreciate how they never all coalesce into one sustained thematic jam, but I think that their powers of ultragroupmind chaotic spontaneity are occurring at their highest levels here. It's a very different manifestation of this than on 5/3, which of course is also another high point, and I can't say that I like one more than the other -- but it's amazing that within a week they played two versions that are so powerful yet so different.


5/11 Rotterdam, Dark Star #8

An unusually long 1 hour 22 minute jam, at the end of an unusual show (Playing opened the 1st set, and the first Morning Dew of the Godchaux era opened the 2nd)... but I have felt ambiguous about this one ever since the cassette era.  Dark Star's pre-verse jams are beautiful, but it has always felt to me (and still does) like they're all moving in the same direction but not entirely locked in. @4:15ish things tighten up a bit; I hear Pigpen on maracas and a more forward-driving jam takes shape.  But by 5:25 Jerry seems distracted enough to start tuning up, the temperature drops a bit, they drift a bit, then @7:30 they find it again and change direction into a breezy, minor-keyed jam (a bit like Phil's 'jazz jam' in feel, although the bassline isn't explicit).  It breezes along, flying close to the ground, quiets down and it seems like they're ready for a triumphant return to Dark Star (@13:38 Phil even cues it up), but... Billy takes a drum solo.  for almost four minutes!  whut?

@0:00 (next track) Phil returns and duets with Bill for two more minutes, until Jerry emerges. Ok, this is pretty. It's just the three of them for a while, then @4:40 Jerry plays a repeated note like a fanfare to get everyone in line (Bob appears @5) and then back into Dark Star for real. @5:30 he sings the first verse. They head for the dark side, then @8:15 Jerry lets out the butterflies and tries to draw everyone back into the light (Pigpen also joins in on organ). But no one is much committing to anything here, which seems to the tone of this Dark Star in general... eventually they slide down into a sparse spacey place; verrry slowly it gets weird enough for Jerry to get Tigerish by 15 min, Phil finally starts dropping some bombs, and @17:30 Billy makes a grand reentrance like a thunder cloud - very nice effect indeed. Build and build, but no real climax. @19:20 they telepathically shift gears into a brisk country-ish jam (Pig back on organ), which is short lived. Phil lets off a crystal clear Bird Song tease (!?) at 20:30, they turn off into an uptempo, minor, mellow Playin-ish jam, and @22 Jerry disappears and leaves Phil to solo.  Um, okay.  Jer returns, they keep going in this direction, it builds to a head around 25:35. The final minutes of this are a lot of indecision... Jerry strums Caution, Phil teases Truckin', then Bird Song again a few times, Jerry doodles over it all, and finally @30:30 Bob nudges them into Sugar Magnolia.

Jerry gets his Caution (#5) after Sugar Mags ends -- the last Caution ever! -- a very nice 16 1/2 min of rumble. Not a lot stood out to me, but it's got a pleasing bustle to the whole jam and, like Good Lovin (see below) this features some extra verbal dexterity from Pigpen.  There's a nice moment @9:20 they all drop out for Billy and egg him on as Pigpen returns to the mic.  Pig is also jamming away on organ when not singing, and in the last minute he also throws in the first verse of Who Do You Love (see also 4/14).  They simmer down for a minute, then move into Truckin', which feels less energetic coming at the tail end of a long jam. There's a minute of jamming after the final vocal and then down to a stop.

Some beautiful moments, but nothing really transcendent and with way too much casting around for something to happen. It's still a mighty fine Dark Star in contrast with, well, nearly everything else -- but by E72 standards, it ain't hitting the mark for me.  And why the heck was Phil teasing Bird Song multiple times?  I can't think of any other occasion of Phil playing the guitar riff to a song, let alone one they weren't playing at the time (Bird Song, as you may recall, had been put in storage from Aug 71 to July 72).  But really, this is maybe the only jam of the whole tour that I would call overrated.

Anyway, Good Lovin' #10 is only 12 minutes tonight, and the band never turns up the heat too much, but this is worth a listen since Pigpen is in extra witty form tonight. The rap is an expansion of the "take your time, drive slow, use extra grease" sermon he's been working at over the past couple versions (the guy really missed his calling as a life coach), and there are some great one-liners in here: the standard bit about his lady calling from down the hall with her leg up against the wall is spiced up a bit when Pig fixes himself a drink in the kitchen and offers this astute assessment: "I helped investigate the situation -- planned my strategem -- and proceeded to go into action.  I ain't going to go into no details.  But there was a long, sweet, sweet lovin' confrontation."  Oh yeah. Also, this appears to be the first time that Jerry took it upon himself to play Pigpen's organ during the song itself!?  Well, hey now.  Do we know what that was about?


5/13/72 Lille, Other One #9

This was a free outdoor show to make up for a sabotaged theater gig (lots of info here, or read the whole story in comic book form!).  Given that, you (or at least I) might assume that this Other One wouldn't be particularly heavy duty, but you (I) would be incorrect.  Like Rotterdam, this Truckin' has no real jam (90 seconds) before it collapses into Drums. The Other One surges along, strongly but nothing unusual at first. @4:30 they fall off the cliff and float in a bright, hazy space for a few minutes -- I hear Keith playing some unusually pretty harmonies behind Jerry here. @7:50ish Billy returns and establishes an uptempo groove and things take off. Jerry is spiraling away into the skies with everyone buzzing away in his wake. He ignores a blatant push from Phil to get 'em back to the Other One, then leads the transition himself a minute later @10:15. Bob sings the first verse, then they keep jamming the O1 groove -- Jerry vanishes and Keith and Phil both take the lead for a minute.  When Jerry trickles back in @12:30, it seems to be the catalyst for the rhythm to drop out.  Spaciness ensues. I didn't make a note exactly when, but Pigpen has been repeatedly playing a 2-note figure that sounds like a police siren and a bit irritating.  @13:45-14:45 there is a weird shift in the stereo mix [thanks to Light Into Ashes for pointing out that this must be a patch from an alt source, since the prior circulating source has a reel flip here -- weird that Jeffrey Norman wouldn't fix the stereo image, though].  Anyway, rather than fully spacing out, they instead find a driving jazzy groove that is nevertheless pulling towards atonality, with all of them straining hard at the leash. This is pretty sweet!

@15:20, Jerry cuts the lines and they're pulled into atonal weirdness -- I do like these stretches of slow-burn transition to total chaos. @16 Phil drops in something like his jazz theme bassline, but it's too late: Jerry's on wahwah and you know what that means. All of a sudden we're on the side of the mountain in the middle of a storm. By 17:40, Phil's dropping bombs and Jerry's in Tiger mode (@18 min an echo effect is added which is pretty cool). Full meltdown Tiger shred by 18:40. Oh yeah. They're all in! Bob feedback, Phil bombs, Billy free jazz. And they keep at it (Pig's doing that damn police siren thing again at 20ish min). There's not a single climax, but @20:40 they ease off and splash around as Jer delivers a regal oration over the smoldering ruins, then starts arpeggiating as the troops begin fall back in line. @22 min they have found another direction, with Billy driving the groove with his toms and everyone tentatively finding their place. Phil is clearly thinking about the Other One again, but nope, not yet.  This is a cool jam!  Jerry takes off and they're all pushing hard behind him during 23-25 min.  Great!  @25:40 Jer abruptly pulls back to the Other One (I approve of those those Phil chords!), @26 he hits the wahwah for an extra dose of amazing sound. @27:50 Bob sings the 2nd verse, and the ending crashes nicely into He's Gone.  Okay!  First time for that segue, I believe.

Whoa.  I had heard this ages ago, but had no memory of how hot this was.  Maybe it's surprising that an outdoor gig in a lovely town park (some pics) inspired such a sustained shredding Tiger jam. But wowzers, they've got some fire under them in the second half of this one. I look forward to taking that ride again.


5/16 Luxembourg, Other One #10

This was a late night show (12-3am) in a tiny theater for an international radio broadcast (hence the doofy Top of the Pops guy). Truckin has 3:25 of jamming after the final vocal: they drift off into a spacious vista that gets airier and airier and drifts away into just Drums.

The Other One begins as usual.  Jerry peaks around 2 1/2 min and they press onwards, slowly easing back.  Following the established pattern of the last few, things eventually get pretty spacious, but tonight Jerry stays in full-blown Other One mode and presses forward, rarely letting himself be swept off course. Everyone else seems happy to float contentedly off track, but Jer stays the course, and by 7 min they're fully back in the O1 groove and Bob sings the 1st verse. They carry on, Jerry still refusing to be nudged elsewhere, but the groove slowly dissolves and @9:13 Jerry relents with with a sudden loud feedbacky yowl that lets everyone fully space out.  @10 I hear Pigpen doing that irritating 2-note siren thing again.  Some Big Phil chords, however, make this feel pretty nice!  After another Other One hint @10:40ish, Jerry gives in to the pre-Tiger skronk.  He builds to a fast Tiger that peaks at 11:40 then simmers down, but Phil's not letting him off that easy and starts slamming big chords at 12:40.  Well played, Phil.  And yet @13:50 Jerry is sneakily trying to bring them back into the Other One again! They don't all take the bait right away, and there's some nice tug of war for a couple minutes, but at 17:45 they all cleanly jump back into the Other One for real.  Second verse, outro, and then they stop to tune up. A paltry 19 minutes!

Well, that was probably the most "inside" Other One of the tour, even with a (quick) Tiger meltdown.  Jerry just won't let go of the Other One groove!  Not surprising given the circumstances, I suppose, but this sounded relatively constrained even compared with the 4/16 TV broadcast.  Ah well.  That's what they get for breaking the sequence and skipping Dark Star. 

 

5/18 Munich, Dark Star #9

This has an unusually long prelude/intro tonight (including some guitar tuning) and on the box set, Dark Star proper begins @1:47. Pigpen is adding maracas again. The pre-verse jam stays very close to the DS theme: very beautiful and peaceful, but not very exploratory.  @4 min Jerry sends a wonderful searing note trailing feedback out into the cosmos.  @5:30 there are some big reverb tank bangs from Garcia's amp.  Keith is present but a pretty minimal presence in all of this, not doing much.  The only really notable thing happens @9 min when Bob initiates a brisk uptempo jam, very happy and very pretty - not a 'thematic' jam, but some really lovely stuff nevertheless.  @12:45 it tumbles right back down into the DS theme.  They make a fairly dramatic/triumphant statement here before getting to the first verse @14:40.  @16 min some intense Phil chords begin the space jam.  Phil sounds really fired up here, actually; Jerry is content to chip away at some fragmented & feedbacked notes, but Phil is really throwing down some serious chord action. Everyone else watches them from the sidelines.  Go Phil!  He backs off around 20:15 and Jerry keeps picking atonally ahead, with Bob tracing around the edges.  Really sparse stuff.  @21:30 Jerry clicks on the wahwah mid-line (I am always a sucker for when he does this) and @22 min starts messing with his volume knob; @22:25 Keith appears also doing some volume swells on piano... come to think of it, I'm not sure how he's doing this, since I thought he didn't have a pickup on his grand piano until that summer (when Bear rejoined the crew).  Anyway, this sounds awesome, very trippy.  @24ish it finally starts boiling over and into Tiger territory.  It gets nasty, peaks, eases off by 27:20ish, and they all come together for the transition into Morning Dew at 28:20.  Dew!!  This is the first ever Dark Star > Dew (out of of nine total in 1972-74).  It ends, then Billy quietly takes a drum solo for a minute and a half (!?) with Phil noodling along at the end, and then into Sugar Magnolia.

This Dark Star isn't a special one in the big picture, but again, it's incredible that a jam this tasty can be considered "lower level."  The brisk jam before the first verse and Phil's flamboyant chording at the start of the space jam were memorable moments.  Plus, y'know, Morning Dew was back.

Good Lovin' #11, sadly, marks the beginning of a hard falling off for Pigpen on this song.  He is MIA for the first 3:45 of the jam, which begins unusually with Bob taking a 1970-71 style "solo" before Jerry tentatively takes the lead.  It seems like he's staying out of the spotlight, waiting to see what Pigpen's going to do... and when Pig finally appears, he does a little jog through his "4 day creep" bit for a couple minutes, then they bring the Good Lovin' riff up underneath him and usher him out.  Jerry plays the organ on the final reprise of the song itself.  12 min total: a similar length as 5/11, but a far cry from that version's wit and creativity.

One more to go, folks!