Dark Star Orchestra

[DenverEd]

You nailed it. More often than not, Mattson solos way to long.

[mgbills]

I certainly get that as well. A little too safe/sculpted with John K. A little too "brash" with Mattson. It would help if he'd ditch the Bryston power amp.

When I can play as well as either of those guys, I'll promise to be more particular. I will need to live a very long life indeed.

[wolftigerrosebud]

for sure, mattson's no jerry. he doesn't have the restraint, he doesn't have the variation. what i like about him is that it just sounds like him. the explosive climax every song is too much, i agree. kadlecik doesn't sound like himself when he plays... he sounds to me like what he thinks his audience and his bandmates want to hear and he sounds like all the recordings of jerry that he's heard except smoother.... that doesn't work for me at all. maybe i'm wrong about why he sounds the way he does. but regardless his playing bores me despite having tried really really hard to like him and get into him. mattson at least puts some of himself into it. as does the guy from cubensis, who i still think is like one of the most underappreciated guys who play lead guitar in dead cover bands.

[Phil Lesh101]

How can you say Jeff jams to long after hearing Jerry play an crisp version of Dark Star...

[The Stag]

i think jeff is exellent and his jams are mighty crisp. i have no complaints ive seen them with phil lesh101 afew times and i think we both agree jeff is the man haha.

[seamones]

How can you say Jeff jams to long after hearing Jerry play an crisp version of Dark Star...

Not be a jerk, but google 'non sequitur' - unless you are familiar with the term already.

Its kinda like getting hit by a car and then saying, that's strange my own car never hits me.

[Phil Lesh101]

All I ask is how can you complain about jamming?

[Rusty the Scoob]

Not all jamming is of equal quality.

[Dwarf Rat]

I have seen DSO just twice. It is a Dead like spectacle to be sure.
The band I prefer? Cubensis.
These OC rockers just groove so madly, and one can see them in a small venue, dance asses off, and share all the joy with everyone. If you live in the LA/OC/San Diego area, go see them.

[DenverEd]

Saw DSO last night at the Ogden in Denver. They killed as usual.

[wolftigerrosebud]

@dwarf rat:

hell yeah! me too man, cubensis is amazing. wish they had more of a following, they're so good. i'd totally see them if i had the chance, live on the other side of the continent though.

[Tennessee Jedi]

@dwarf rat:

hell yeah! me too man, cubensis is amazing. wish they had more of a following, they're so good. i'd totally see them if i had the chance, live on the other side of the continent though.

One of their guitarist's Nate has posted here before ... He did the Legendary Licks DVD - cool dude

[Octal]

All I ask is how can you complain about jamming?

Jamming can be fun, yes. Very much for the musicians, and also for an audience. It's its own valid style of music.

But there's a musical maturity in sometimes limiting yourself to only 8 bars because the music (which ought to be playing the band, as we all know) demands 8 bars.

"Fantastic to feel how my poem is growing
while I myself am shrinking.

It's getting bigger, it's taking my place,
it's pressing against me.
It has shoved me out of the nest.
The poem is finished."
-Tomas Transtromer, "Morning Bird Songs"

There's a lot else to say here. What jam music has to learn from classical music (and synthesizing into "classical compositions with improvisation"); how one shouldn't be very self-indulgent/decadent during jams, and how one must have a lot of chaos within oneself, but enough control to carefully articulate it; how not only individual solos, but entire shows, should have a beginning, middle, and end: the Dead worked this out well during the second sets with how they'd typically divide things up with a a few songs, drums/space, a Jerry ballad, and then the finale; etc.

At a certain point one matures beyond jamming for jamming's sake.

[Phil Lesh101]

That it called a SPACE

[dogfood1]

Saw DSO at the Park West in Chicago on Sat night, and damn did they put on a great show. Yes you can nit-pick, but for my $30 it was better than paying the $150+ to see Bobby, Phil (and the Phil-In band.) I saw the Dead a lot, and if I'm searching out replicants of that experience, the DSO delivered. Last time I saw them it was kind of an average 1987 Rex Benefit show, this time they tore this old building down with a scorching 5/13/77 show (originally played at our hometown Chicago Auditorium Theatre).

Being too young to have caught prime mid-70's Dead, and mostly seeing them in stadiums and arenas, this was amazing. There couldn't have been more than 1500 people there, good energy and great music. The band was accessible, hanging outside the venue after the show chatting with fans, and the vibe was nice and mellow.

I give it 4 stars for the perma-grin I had the entire show. If you get a chance to see these guys, chill on the exact-details, because not even Bobby can get things exactly perfect, but they came pretty damn close.