I can’t believe how long it’s been between The Eleven selections. Now this is a song I kept considering, but there was always something else I wanted to get to that I hadn’t picked yet. Well I think I’m getting to the point where I’ve covered most of what interests me at least once so I’m less concerned about repeating song titles.
I read a number of different online Grateful Dead forums (a very good forum is on the Steve Hoffman site where there are always a few active Dead-related threads). I see posts all the time that remind me to check out a certain release. The other thing that I always like is when someone mentions an upcoming selection (for time considerations I do a rough draft of my picks days, weeks, or even months in advance). This was the genesis behind this selection, someone mentioned Dick’s Picks, Vol. 22 and I realized I hadn’t listened to it in a while. Plus I was jonesing for an Eleven, and there you go. More transparency in my selection process!
Even though the caveat emptor warns about the sound quality of this recording it still sounds great to my ears. The band launches in The Eleven. Pigpen plays some really chunky organ here, which I like much better than the Go-Go-ness of the Vox elsewhere. The vocals are a bit out of sync here, a little sloppy, but that doesn’t bother me much. Jerry winds around the 11/8 time signature like a snake scaling a tree in the jungle. Overall there’s not a lot of sustain here. It’s pretty choppy and therefore moves along quite nicely. You can hear the difference between the drummers very well here. I don’t know who is on the left side and who is on the right, but it’s fascinating to focus on them at various point and really piecing together how they complement each other. Jerry scales another tree in the forest. I don’t even know where to begin to describe his tone. It’s warm and fat in passing between notes, yet has a cutting clarity at the top of the note. In the seventh minute Jerry’s playing takes on a new ferocity and the dynamics build, but what should be a big climax never materializes and instead we get some sustained, screeching notes. Jerry lays back a bit and the rhythm section steers the ship as they head into Alligator.
Complete Setlist 2/23/68
Previous The Eleven DFAY Selections
Are we sure which “Eleven” is which here? This is the second of two on DP22, so is it 2/24? In any case, I chose the second one because LBX had it segue to “Alligator”.
The playing leading into this is sublime. Once the singing starts, the cosmic operetta vibe is turned on brightly, and a great version emerges. The jam after the short vocal segment runs hot and does not let up. Garcia especially reaches new heights here, as the band backs him up admirably. Eventually, the beat is deliberately turned around, and a drum-heavy breakdown jumps right back into a hot jam in common time that sounds like it could cook forever. It doesn’t, though, as someone begins tapping bones together, signaling a return to the middle portion of “Alligator”.
Steven, I’ll have to double check the audio file. I stream these from grooveshark, which I’ve noticed has a lot of trouble when a song appears twice on an album with the same title. That may have bent he case here and I over-looked it. Or, I may have simply erred.