The Dark Star Document (Jim Powell, chimpowl@well.com) Dark Star 'matured' -- and doubled in length -- during the October 68 Matrix shows. The first full grown ripe Dark Stars were the Live Dead Dark Stars of the first half of '69. There are a good 30 versions circulating on tape; Boston Ark 4/22/69 30:42 is the best of them. The structure of this Dark Star (a "Live Dead", or "First Stage" Dark Star) is as follows DS theme & jam > 1st vocals > jam > DS theme jam & 2nd vocals > transition > another tune (e.g. St. Stephen) The Second Stage Dark Star evolved during the summer of '69 -- primarily by the moderate expansion of the jamming before 1st vocals and the addition of "space" after the 1st vocals. Its structure is as follows DS theme & jams > 1st vocals > space > additional jam > DS theme jam & 2nd vocals (or Tiger) > transition > Only about a dozen tapes circulate from August '69 through the end of the year, so our view of the further evolution of this first mature Dark Star is more limited. Winterland 10/25/69 22:05 is an excellent example of a '69 Second Stage Dark Star. Only one show in circulation from 1969 attracts immediate attention as a prototypical Third Stage Dark Star, namely Fillmore West 12/4/69 29:26. The circulating copy of Fillmore West 12/4/69 SBD the sound quality is B grade at best and becomes progressively worse starting around the 1st vocals. It would be cool if this could be fixed. Probably the entirely of Family Dog 8/30/69 would also qualify (the last 17:30 is circulating mislabeled "8/29/69", but Latvala played me the cassette; the circulating fragment is Side B of the cassette master and Side A contains another 15 or MORE minutes of Dark Star, so plainly this Dark Star is another proto - Third Stage -- and it sounded like it). As for 1970 Dark Stars, of what circulates I wince to concede to the truism that Fillmore East 2/13/70 is in fact the best. It is also another prototypical Third Stage Dark Star, as are Fillmore West 2/8/70 26:43 AUD (the AUD tape is complete, unlike the SBD) and Fillmore East 9/17/70 27:10 AUD. Mammoth Garden, Denver 4/24/70 24:39 AUD is another especially choice Dark Star from the year, plus it segues through the last great Eleven circulating. Capital Theater 6/24/70 is great, but (like Denver 11/21/73) its magnitude resides less in the Dark Star than in the dovetailing. Capital Theater 11/8/70 24:48 is part of probably the best show of the year in circulation, but it is not a Dark Star to compare with Boston Ark 4/22/69 or Fillmore West 12/4/69. 1971 was a tattered year for the band all around, and this shows in the Dark Stars. Yale Bowl 7/31/71 21:39 rises to a fine frenzy, and Austin 11/15/71 26:04 (including El Paso 4:46) and Felt Forum 12/5/71 23:56 (including Me & My Uncle 2:30) participate in the band's upswing after Keith's joins -- but 30-minute Dark Stars these aren't. After 11/8/70 they seem to have dropped the second vocals. They revive them at the Academy of Music 3/23/72 23:34 and once more at Portland 7/26/72 30:49, and then not again until the Dark Stars of '89 - '94. (I did not do a complete survey to check on all occurances of 2nd vocals & I may be missing something here -- it would be good to hear from another melanastrologer confirming or correcting these assertions. Also, can someone tell us exactly what the deal is with the 2nd vocals of the late Dark Stars -- i.e. '78 and after?) The climactic Third Stage Dark Star probably only appears full-formed in Europe '72. It's structure is DS theme & jam > additional jams > return to DS theme jam & 1st vocals > space > additional jams > Tiger > more jamming > transition > Note that after the appearance of the Second Stage Dark Star, all Dark Stars take this form, but after the appearance of the Third Stage Dark Star many Dark Stars are still Second Stage -- because they lack the additional jams (plural) both before and after the 1st vocals. The Tiger appears in many Second Stage Dark Stars as the climax of the post-space jamming. What distinguishes Third Stage Tigers is that here The Tiger consitutes just one episode in a series of jams following space -- sometimes it forms the climax & the transitional jamming into the next song follows shortly; other times further episodes of jamming follow it. Third Stage Dark Stars tend to be more than 30 minutes long. Obvious examples are Wembley London 4/8/72 31:30 Dusseldorf 4/24/72 42:58 (including 3:10 of Me & My Uncle) London 5/25/72 35:13 Hollywood Pavillion 9/10/72 34:59 Philadelphia 9/21/72 37:22 Waterbury 9/24/72 34:13 Kansas City 11/13/72 32:16 Houston 11/19/72 31:22 Winterland 12/11/72 32:43 Springfield 3/28/73 32:14 Oklahoma City 10/19/73 28:49 Winterland 11/11/73 35:12 Cleveland 12/6/73 42:27 The Europe '72 tour, besides the obvious Third Stage Dark Stars Wembley London 4/8/72 31:30 and Dusseldorf 4/24/72 42:58, includes also notably Rotterdam 5/11/72 48:38, the longest known Dark Star. Paris 5/4/72 40:03 and London 5/23/72 30:08 are somewhat disappointing. London 5/25/72 35:13 deserves a better fate than the raggedy thin AUD tape currently representing it in circulation. It is the other obvious Third Stage Dark Star of the first half of '72 (besides Wembley & Dusseldorf) -- and the circulating tape sucks. The circulating tape of Dusseldorf is also somewhat degraded (and only part of the show). We could use upgrades of both these tapes, but especially 5/25/72. Fall '72 is the true mother lode of Third Stage Dark Stars: Hollywood Pavillion 9/10/72 34:59 Philadelphia 9/21/72 37:22 Waterbury 9/24/72 34:13 Kansas City 11/13/72 32:16 Houston 11/19/72 31:22 Winterland 12/11/72 32:43 After several listenings through these shows I must certainly concur with Rob Eaton that Kansas City 11/13/72 32:16 is indeed the best of these Dark Stars, though all are amazing. Philadelphia 9/21/72 37:22 and Houston 11/19/72 31:22 in particular are the strongest competition here, but all six are in the same league -- and as far as structure all six are 'Third Stage Dark Stars.' In the first half of 1973 there is only one Third Stage Dark Star: Springfield 3/28/73 32:14 All circulating SBDs of 3/28/73 have an attrocious hum running throughout the Dark Star > Eyes > Playin. Fortunately, however, there are also at least a couple good AUD masters in circulation. The Fall of '73 hears the last of the classic Third Stage Dark Stars, Oklahoma City 10/19/73 28:49 Winterland 11/11/73 35:12 Cleveland 12/6/73 42:27 Winterland 10/18/74 31:34 represent the tune's dissolution into space. To my thinking if there are challengers to Kansas City 11/13/72 32:16 as the mightiest of Dark Stars, they are Winterland 11/11/73 35:12 and Cleveland 12/6/73 42:27. They are certainly more challenging, and further out -- prime attributes of Dark Star. In the end Winterland 11/11/73 35:12 in particular may actually triumph over Kansas City 11/13/72 32:16. Cleveland 12/6/73 42:27 is remarkable not only for its scale but for its structure, which turns the customary Third Stage structure inside-out, working in toward the Dark Star theme, rather than starting from it, and moving out into space after the 1st vocals rather than back from it. Note that the circulating copies of the Cleveland 12/6/73 SBD are missing the first 1:06 of the Dark Star (the FM-SBD copies are still more clipped) -- whereas the AUD tape includes the opening passage complete.. Besides this species of Dark Star Gigantea, the Third Stage Dark Star, there is another variety of outstanding Dark Star I would like to notice, briefly -- what I think of as the 'ferocity' Dark Star, so let's call it the Dark Star Ferox. These don't have quite the 30-minute plus dimensions of the Third Stage Dark Stars but they have a characteristic fierceness of attack & intensity that makes them stand out. Obvious examples are Austin 11/15/71: 26:04 (including 4:46 of El Paso) Hamburg 4/29/72 29:26 Madison 10/25/72 24:04 There are 235 live Dark Stars the Dead are known to have played, and tape circulating of 192 (including 15 fragmentary tapes). The fewer than 2 dozen mentioned here represent the obvious summits for the period '69 through '74. Happy listening.