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Poster: light into ashes Date: Jun 26, 2007 8:47pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: 7-25-72 - a jam you've never heard?

7-25-72 is not a show that gets mentioned much....on the whole it's one of those shows from that summer West Coast run that's just too mellow & subdued to catch fire, so it will always hide in the shadow of the shows from the end of August.
But....it has one of THOSE moments....hidden inside the second set.
Truckin' is a standard '72 version, not as supercharged as it could be; Garcia's playing is wiry, but they don't take it out much, instead winding down to the Other One drums....
And yet, when the Other One starts, nobody really feels like playing it, they tease the riff a little and then wander off into a different zone. Garcia plays some mysterious repeating phrases, and you can feel them about to discover something....
There's a brief cut in the tape, and we come back to Garcia and Lesh playing stately contrapuntal lines like classical violinists. All of a sudden the waters calm and the universe opens.....it sounds a lot like the end of Lesh's bass solo in 2-15-73 when Garcia joins him....yes, it's that gorgeous.
But here Weir joins them, and they start taking it somewhere else - chords materialize, a thematic jam that's something like a cross between the Spanish Jam and Goin' Down the Road.... It builds, they start playing harder, and then Garcia starts playing slide and whips out some Allman-like lines. It only lasts about six minutes, but as far as I know it's unique; I don't recall hearing this theme in other shows. Yet it's one of those things everyone should hear, like the "Beautiful Jam" from 2-18-71.
All things end, though....they return to the Other One, and of course Weir instantly forgets the words! They hurry through the rest of it without much jamming, although there is one of the gnarly Lesh solos that he was doing in late '72.
They recover themselves in Wharf Rat, a strong and well-sung version. Garcia's solo at the end is magnificent, climbing the desperate heights before softening down to end on notes of quiet resignation.

Check it out -

http://www.archive.org/details/gd72-07-25.sbd.cotsman.7046.sbeok.shnf

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Poster: tree-ap Date: Jun 27, 2007 6:17am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: 7-25-72 - a jam you've never heard?

Those moments you speak about during the jam are what I think we listen to the GD for---where straw is spun into gold. I'll defintely check this out, as it sounds like what I'm looking for today.