The liner notes for the 4/11 show describes City Hall in Newcastle as a dour, cement room with evenly space columns throughout. Certainly not an ideal performance environment. From the first few notes it's quite apparent that the band is struggling with the room - they are fighting the terrible acoustics - clearly the room is fighting back.
An interesting room - an even more interesting crowd. Newcastle, England is a port metropolis on the River Tyne, populated with folks affectionately referred to as "Geordies." A people with a rich history as hard working coal miners, dock hands, ship builders, heavy drinkers and brawlers with a unique, at times perplexing English dialect. The most excitement these blokes are accustomed to is rooting for their beloved Newcastle United footballers when they play the arch rivals Black Cats of Sunderland in the Tyne-Wearside Derby - or scrapping in the street after sucking down many a pint of the iconic brown ale that bears the city's name...
Enter this rag-tag band of hairy hippies from the west coast of the U.S. - with their long hair, tie-dyed amplifier covers and all the trappings of a gypsy caravan. In between the songs of the first set, if you pay close attention to the data collected by the single audience microphone, you will hear the Geordies slowly warm to the alien-music-invasion that has descended upon their fair city. In the same right, you will hear the band slowly warm to the environs (more about that in a moment)...
The show opens with a Greatest Story Ever Told that may be terribly out of tune but features an excellent extended jam at its close. A sluggish Deal follows and for a brief moment our prospects look dim that this afterthought of a gig, in a semi-hostile venue might let us down. Just in the nick of time, in swoops our unsuspecting hero Pigpen to revive the band with an energetic Mr. Charlie. With failing health and all, he lights a fire under his band mates...the boys flip the proverbial switch and we're off to the races.
There is some funny banter that precedes the Tennessee Jed - Bobby jokes that Jerry has telegraphed the next song by playing the signature Jed lick. But since the audience has never heard the song before - no harm, no foul.
The Big Boss Man that follows is a testament to the Grateful Dead's solidly planted roots as an R&B band. In particular, focus on the thick, rhythmic interplay between Keith, Bobby and Billy. Pigpen's lead vocal and harmonica work is dripping with blue-collared authenticity. The Nash Strat cuts through the groove with clarity and bite.
A laughable false start to Beat it on Down The Line brings a smile to my face, even after several listens. This band is tight, dialed-in and telepathically connected like nothing I've ever heard before - and yet they are able to maintain a looseness and uncanny sense of humor in their playing and on-stage demeanor.
Weir butchers the Jack Straw - we'll let him slide this time. He makes amends with a fantastic rendition later in the tour.
A fairly lack-luster first set turns on a dime with the China-Rider. The best way to describe this China-Rider is "workman-like." In fact, the entire show up to this point is gritty and workman-like...just like the venue, the town and its people. Check out Phil's mini-solo that starts in the later stages of minute 4:00 and climaxes at around the 5:15 mark of the China Cat - beyond excellent! Another fine example of Jerry's pedal steel feel and open banjo picking style can be heard during the 4th minute of the Rider.
...
As I listened to the first set of 4/11/72 I was struck by a personal analogy from my days chasing the boys around North America. The Dead's experience playing in the cold, damp, dour musical mausoleum of Newcastle's City Hall was much like driving my 1978 Buick Estate Wagon up the New York State Thruway in the frigid, overnight hours March 21, 1990. She was slow at start up and fought my ever-pressing right foot as each tenth-mile marker passed. But then - almost magically - after 40 minutes on the road, her 348 cubic inch V8 warmed up and she found her RPM sweet spot. Together we hit critical mass, blew out the carbon from journey's past and VROOM! We were off...
...and here we find ourselves back in time, cruising aloft on a soaring China-Rider that lands us at the outset of 4/11/72 - Disc 2.
** Side Note: my folks and my mechanics told me that the Buick wasn't suitable for a round trip to Manhattan. Meanwhile, she made the four-day, 1000 mile round trip from Setauket, NY to Hamilton, Ontario without incident. **
...
As is customary for my analysis of Playin' In The Band, I am drawn to Jerry's wonderfully sustained entrance into the jam section of the composition, which is far more subdued than the previous versions on the tour. At the outset, he positions his wah-wah pedal to achieve a low-pass filter effect on his tone. And so begins the deeper reaches of the 4/11 show...
There are fantastic examples of rhythmic teamwork in this Playin'. Keith is very present, filling in the holes left between Phil and Bobby's pops and accents. Dig Keith's cut-time right hand technique in the 4th minute, which Phil reintroduces in the 5th minute. Generally speaking, throughout the jam section Keith's right hand plays call-and-response with Jerry's lead; while his left hand remains in-step with Bobby's rhythm. More so than earlier in the set, the entire band is really feeling it - playing well within each other's spaces and movements.
All of this thematic interplay climaxes in the later stages of the 6th minute, from which they plateau and then gently glide back towards the introductory Playin' 10-figure. This soft landing is beautifully represented by a cascading waterfall of open-voiced sus2 arpeggios in Keith's right hand.
Just before the Playin' reprise, dig on Phil's D-Dom7 arpeggios - now that's power!
...
Here are a couple of "items" to check out during the subsequent handful of songs:
Next Time You See Me - I love the juxtaposition of this chunky, roots R&B tune immediately following an iconic psychedelic rock anthem. Jerry's neck-position pickup delivers a full-bodied, rounded, upper midrange tone for his solo.
Looks Like Rain - Focus on the last few measures of Jerry's pedal steel solo. The melodic and harmonic structures are simple and yet simply stunning. He reprises these harmonic ideas at the 6:20 mark of the outro section. Also, pay heed to the counter-melody of Phil's bass in the solo section.
** Side Note: I wonder if these Geordies have ever seen, let alone heard a pedal steel guitar before. **
Big Railroad Blues - Listen to Billy at 2:10 and beyond of the solo section, how he keeps turning over the beat. Fantastic use of the ride cymbal for accenting and syncopation.
Good Lovin' - I love the tasty little intro Billy offers on the snare rim and the bell of the ride cymbal. He gradually lures Phil into his powerful signature bass figure. After the Dom7-flat9 chord that drops us into the jam section (minutes 3:00 - 4:00), check out the syncopation between Jerry's guitar and Billy's snare/ride cymbal combo.
Jerry loosens up a lot during the jam and in the 7th minute he introduces some of those interesting triplet, suspended leads often featured in Dark Star and Playin'. We then get some more open banjo picking at the 9:35 mark.
Ramble on Rose - Keith's playing is playful and replete with whimsy. Check out the totality of his right-hand work that starts during the introductory measures and carries straight through the first bridge. In addition, pay attention to Keith's Über-honky-tonk chord melodies that support Jerry's bouncing, energy-filled first solo. Fantastic!
As I mentioned in my blog post after the AES Convention panel, a single transducer microphone was used to record Keith's piano. Even with this limiting factor working against him, Jeffrey Norman's superb mixing enables Keith to shine on the 4/11 production.
...
A charged Truckin’ opens Disc 3, with Jerry showcasing his phrasing skills with innovative intra-verse fills and licks. Interestingly, the band completely chunks the peak of the first iconic crescendo but they continue to maintain a high energy level even after the misstep. This example of musical persistence (which borders on stubbornness) highlights one aspect of the Dead's playing from this era that I find endearing. Namely, even when they miss a big hit (like they did with the climax in this Truckin'), they don't get discouraged. Instead, they keep fighting - seemingly motivated by the flub - as if offended by their own error.
Right after the reprise of the "Going Home" verse the band falls off the edge into an Other One'esque jam...and there's still 10 minutes to go in the song...very cool.
...
The jam out of Truckin', through the Drums and Other One is the apex of the 4/11 performance and deserves a closer look...
Minutes 12:00 - 14:00 of the Truckin' jam lays bare vintage Grateful Dead collective/individual improvisation. They're each doing their own thing - Keith is in his Cecil Taylor mode, Bobby's playing with fragments of his iconic two-note-bended-rhythmic figure (which you can still hear today at a Furthur show), while everyone else is cruising along unencumbered by the conventional constructs of group improvisation...
...and then in the 13th minute Billy and Phil marshal together a tasty motif that loosely resembles an amalgamation of a groove. It's not that the band grabs hold of the idea - it's more akin to an origami boat catching and moving with the subtle currents and eddies of a gently rolling rivulet. Check out the Winton Kelly styling offered up by Keith during this stretch of music - a la Kind of Blue.
Also, dig on the rhythmic illustration introduced by Phil at the 15:35 mark – a carry over from the "Morse code" concept offered by Jerry during the previous show's (4/8) Dark Star. It’s a structure of 12 beats – a 7 and a 5. In actuality it's an oddly accented 6/8 idea that has more of a 12 "feel," given how Billy and Phil are accenting the time signature.
The band toys with time, melody and harmony until all is melted down. Just before the Drums section begins, the Other One theme is briefly referenced. It's clear that Billy's Drums is merely a prelude to the massive The Other One which is just around the corner.
After a solid 4 minute introduction, Jerry unhinges the groove with a series of parallel octave phrases (a concept I usually associate with Bobby) and after a minute or so they are back into the customary 6/8 cadence. The potency of the music ebbs and flows in two-minute intervals until the band lands firmly in the Other One groove at the 7:00 mark.
From a sonic standpoint, it’s remarkable just how black the background is during the quiet sections of this performance. Clearly, there’s still evidence of the inherent mechanical distortion that Jamie Howarth described at the AES Convention (see my earlier blog post for more details). But for the most part, you can crank up the decibel level on playback - there's a clean, dynamic presentation of the soundstage, stereo image and a spatial dimensionality between the instruments. Kudos again to the entire crew who made this production a reality.
My favorite part of this jam - a non-descript, chromatic movement down the major scale first appears at the 10:00 mark and is picked up in earnest at 11:30 - this Uncle John's Band(ish) motif dominates the next several minutes of the performance.
** Music Theory Side Bar: My beloved guitar teacher Ron Parmentier (may he rest in peace) explained that this downward chromatic movement was actually a continuous ii-V-I-ii-V-I movement up the scale. At its essence, this is the basis for all popular western music – you will find it throughout the Jazz Real Book, as well as the Beach Boys and Beatles repertoires. **
There’s a hint of resolution to the chromatic theme at 12:43 – you can feel that the band wants to end the tension and "turn it over" but the ii-V-I maintains. Finally, a minor chord resolution arrives at 13:45 to relieve the tension and return us to the tonic (in this case E).
Listen to Bobby’s very subtle strike of the Sugar Magnolia A7 chord at 14:03 - foreshadowing for things to come later in the set.
As the 14th minute progresses, we move gently into a very quiet finger picking respite from Jerry, reminiscent of Simon & Garfunkel's Sound of Silence.
Much in the same way Bobby's idea at 14:03 hints at Sugar Magnolia – in these quiet moments, Jerry's melodic phrasing and idea creation is pointing us towards the Comes a Time, whose arrival is imminent in the next 10-12 minutes.
From out of this idyllic scene develops a total melt-down into atonal space – feedback and all – punctuated by Phil’s staccato accents and chord bombs. The band slips into a few minutes of free-form improvisation...Billy announces his return to the stage with some basic hi-hat work at 20:01...the maddening din builds to a full crescendo by the end of the 20th minute...two semi-psychotic breaks from reality manifest in the 21st minute...By the beginning of the 22nd minute, Phil introduces a loosely theorized walking bass line, which turns into a quasi-Caution jam by 22:30...On second thought, there is nothing "quasi" about it – by the 23:00 mark we’re in a full-on Caution Jam – whether it’s listened in the liner notes or not – which Jerry turns over at 23:22 into the traditional Other One theme...and we've landed in the second verse by 25:00.
...
After a quick resolution to The Other One, Jerry wastes no time and slides us right into the introductory chords of Comes a Time. Once again, I love the juxtaposition of the outrageously twisted, psychotic juggernaut of Other One, immediately followed by the beautiful, sorrowful, torch song ballad Comes a Time.
Without getting into too much theory, the chord progression and melody of Comes a Time speaks to Jerry’s intimate knowledge of the American Song Book (the collective works of composers such as Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, etc.). The beautiful lyric aside, Comes a Time offers us a primer in classic song-writing tension and resolution. In addition, it serves as a perfect example of a modified ii-V-I progression that I referenced earlier. The first verse is A – E – Bm – D – A (I-V-ii-iv-I).
The other thing I take away from Comes a Time – even in this early incarnation of the composition (it was first played 10/19/71) – is Jerry’s mastery of the three primary skills required of a guitar player. My beloved teacher Ron Parmentier (may he rest in peace) stressed that any player worth a damn should have the ability to play through the chord changes, play the melody and blow over the changes (i.e. improvise competently). Jerry nails all three facets in this Comes a Time. In particular, listen to how he evokes the gut-wrenching meaning of the lyric in his first pass over the melody.
The set closes with an energetic Sugar Magnolia that heats the Newcastle crowd to a rolling boil and one of only two versions of Brokedown Palace played on the tour. If you listen closely to the first verse of Brokedown you will hear "recognition applause." This is significant in that most of the show was comprised of songs foreign to the audience. Brokedown Palace on the other hand was featured on the celebrated studio album American Beauty, which was a hit in the U.K. The ubiquitous One More Saturday Night encore closes the evening's proceedings with a blast and we're off to catch the ferry to Denmark.
As always, thank you for reading. Stay cool, stay focused and by all means stay tuned...I'll see you in Copenhagen!
© Aaron Miller – 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment