This two-hour mix features a particular zone of 1973-1974 jazz Dead. It’s comprised of some of the most diffuse and drifty “Dark Star” passages of the period, plus adjacent jams that took the same mood into additional territory.
Common denominators are complex, gentle beauty and Bill Kreutzmann’s amazing drumming.
Soaring-melodic-rock “Dark Star” moments occur very rarely. The first verse of “Dark Star” appears periodically to present the straight melody that solves the Rubic’s Cube happening everywhere else.
Each track is a continuous, as-played, Dead passage (with one exception that I forget). I’ve chosen start and end points based on the coherent zone I was seeking. I’ve created segues where opportunities presented themselves and faded elsewhere.
I figured two hours of this trip was enough. It’s the same length as this compendium of Europe ’72 “Dark Star” passages and adjacent jams. The two mixes offer an easy and interesting way to compare and enjoy the two extremes of the mature one-drummer period.
- Dark Star > (12/6/73)
- Jam After Dark Star (12/6/73)
- Dark Star (11/30/73)
- Dark Star (2/24/74)
- Dark Star (6/23/74)
- Dark Star (11/11/73)
- Jam After Dark Star (11/11/73)
- Dark Star > (10/18/74)
- Jam After Dark Star (10/18/73)
Errata: The two 12/6/73 tracks are mislabeled as 12/5/73 in the mp3 files.
Cover art: Detail manipulation of Leo Morey, 1934. Used as the cover of the August 1934 issue of the pulp magazine “Amazing Stories.” High resolution image of the original painting courtesy of Heritage Auctions.