This mix attempts to find a good setting for the early ‘80s rarities “Dark Star,” “St. Stephen,” “That’s It for The Other One,” and “The Eleven” jam. I decided to flesh it out with other songs that featured in the band’s 1969 sets, with one outlier.
The earliest track is December 1981 and the latest November 1985. During this period, the band played “Dark Star” twice (’81 and ’84), “St. Stephen” three times (October ’83), “Cryptical Envelopment” five times (1985), and an “Eleven” jam once. Some performances were slipshod, and most are in shows that aren’t particularly great in whole.
Nonetheless, there is plenty to love in the music and in joining the audience as it responds to the sudden appearances of these rare, loved songs.
The mix combines soundboard, matrix, and audience tapes – whatever version of my pick I thought put the performance across. Sequencing does an okay job of gently shifting you among the various ambiances. Some parts of the sequence offered nice opportunities for fake segues. (In the song list, below, “>” indicates a real, as-performed segue.)
Many thanks to twitter Deadheads and Heady Versions users for providing great leads on some of the supporting songs. Several of these selections have been released or have appeared on previous SYF mixes.
The mp3 files are tagged with date and source tape info for each track.
But don’t worry about those details now. Just imagine that this was a legendary, early ‘80s second set, click download, and strap yourself in.
2-hour mp3 mixtape zipped up here
- Cold Rain and Snow
- Dancin’ in the Street
- Jam >
- Not Fade Away
- Dark Star
- The Eleven Jam
- That’s It for the Other One >
- Comes a Time >
- That’s It for the Other One
- Jam >
- St. Stephen
- Dark Star
- Space >
- Morning Dew
- It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
Artwork by L.B. Cole.