Ideal Dark Star shoots
from Dead’s music vault
By J. Daniel Pearaon
FffMADOe
Imagine the second set of •
Grateful Dead show consisting
of nothing but “Dark Star "
The throe- note intro hits, the
crowd roars its approval, ami
there you are right in the middle
of The Zone.
"Dark Star" weaves through
the air landing on your mind's
middle ear like a butterfly —
hovering, breathing — before
taking flight with everyone's
vision into the night sky
The song begins to grow and
pulsate, fed by the 16,000 balls
of energy dancing around the
room, spinning, flowing, weav
ing, and suddenly exploding in
a dripping sea of color arid light,
melting all it touches, watering
the roots of the spirit
And now the river is flowing
— flowing and growing
down to the sea, with no end in
sight and nothing familiar to
grasp. Cartoons dance about
your vision, sounds take on
color, chaos tosses reason alxiiit
like a rag-doll, before the waters
settle in a crystalline pond, mix
ing with the new channel with
out a ripple in sight.
Cray folded is very much
capable of presenting such
visions as these, because "Dark
Star" is sin h a long, spacey
pita e, and it really takes the lis
tener on a trip through the
mind’s eye.
The CD's producer, John
Oswald, with the help of Crate
ful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, has
employed the use of a sound
engineering technique called
plunderphonics to manipulate
more than 25 years of Dark Stars
and mix them down into two.
one-hour discs.
The result is a recording that
very much produces the ideal
"Dark Star.” or "Dark Stars" —
the one you always hoped they
would play
I he two discs, though ulti
mately only one song, are radi
CO REVIEW
Gravfotdrd
cully differ
ent in make
up Dim
one, titled
"Transitive
Axis" uses
<t variety of
editing
tec hmques
to cut and
fold the 40
ptus hours
of music
1) s w a i d
compiled from the Dead'' tape
vault
But outside of folding and the
straight ahead editing of rnateri
at. the disc has only a few
instances of manipulation
For instance, when (..trcca
starts singing the first verse, the
opening syllable of the word
dark is stretched for more than a
minute, with several older and
younger Garcias from a number
of different performances over
laid, creating something of a
jerry Garcia choir.
Disi two. "Mirror Ashes" uses
much more manipulation tech
tuques such as speed alteration,
repeats of material, and bat k
wards sounds
One section titled "73rd Star
Bridge Sonata." which ended up
being left untouc bed because
Oswald decided it worked fine
by itself, might sound familiar to
those well acquainted with the
Dead's music
That's because it's the "Feel
in' Groovy fam” from Feb. 13.
1970 at the Fillmore Fast in New
York — considered by many to
be the finest "Dark Star" ever
played.
The CD ends with the band
members suggesting various
places to go. Traces of “The
Other One." "St Stephen." and
"Eyes of the World” c an he
heard.
Deadheads often say the host
part about the Dead is there is
always new music to hear. Gray
folded should keep ya'il happy
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