6/30/74 – Springfield, MA********** (“Billy's Big Break!”/”WORST EYES EVER”/”The WTF Factor”)
A very rare and unusual Don't Ease Me In opener. After a nice BT Wind, the most amazingly perfect country and western rendition of Peggy O follows. Wowzers. A great Jack Straw is next. The sound mix tonight makes this show seem more relaxed than it probably is. Lots of Keith and Phil and less so of Bobby and Billy. That being said, a soft mix doesn't mean a soft performance. However, in this case it does.
Tonight's performances are on the hot side of hazy. In a great way. Check out Jerry's pick-harmonic-laden Loser solo! Jerry is picking his leads tonight rather than throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. Billy's druming on GSET is rocking. There's a bit of a country theme tonight, what with the aforementioned Peggy O, a stomping Cumberland, and this rare Dire Wolf.
Up next is a massive 33 minute PITB>UJB>PITB Reprise. Check out Billy's frantic drumming at 3:30 when the jamming begins. Jerry is still slowly choosing his notes carefully rather than going noodle chef on us. Great stuff. 9 minutes in and this frantic jazz groove is still going strong. Keith does some cool background playing while Jerry takes some time off and Billy destroys his kit. JEEZ BILLY CALM DOWN!!!! :) Phil does a lot of almost-soloing as well.
This “background jamming” section continues until around 15 minutes in when Jerry discovers his wah and leads the band towards a space meltdown. But it's not to be. At 17 minutes, Phil starts throttling his bass strings like they owe him money – and we are officially into Space. The drums stop completely, Jerry is doing some psych-soloing, Phil is still smashing his strings – actually this sounds like Seastones! LOL. It all still has that calm air about the proceedings like they are considering dropping into a Wharf Rat or Stella.
But instead we jump into a WONDERFUL and upbeat UJB that completely washes away the darkness of the proceeding jams with warm, enveloping rays of sunshine! :D The crowd is going nuts! This whole segue section into UJB is truly a must-hear moment. Ughrffffffff.....this UJB is soooooo gooooddddd! (Rolls head and eyes in valley girl inflection to emphasize goodness). The jam portion of UJB has some fantastic playing from all involved. The boys are LOCKED-IN in the biggest way. So great.
Eventually the jam dies back down and we are back to Chill-Land. It almost sounds like the guys are lost for where to go when just in the nick of time Jerry pulls out the PITB Reprise and everyone follows back in line. Donna even gives us the werewolf howl she didn't do the first time around! Talk about another perfect segue!!! A very slow China>Rider is up next. It's groove-tastic.
Unfortunately, it's almost too slow, and there's a continual sense that they might fall apart at any moment. Thankfully that doesn't happen and Jerry goes on to deliver some downright fantastic soloing throughout. As the transition jam gets underway, the tempo increases organically back to the speed it should be. Jerry is really firing on all cylidners tonight! Although I'm sure you could tell that from the earlier portions of this novel. :)
Although this China>Rider started poorly, it sure hasn't evolved poorly! Or to quote The Boss, from small things, big things one day come! This transition jam has to be one of the best ever. After this continuous hour-long orgasm of music, we get a break of sorts in a stomping and smashing Big River. Killer. The momentum had to come to a stop at some point. Unfortunately, it happens with this 9 minute Scarlet Begonias that sees shades of the October Farewell Run versions but ultimately overstays it's welcome. There is some very nice Jerry soloing and Phil starts playing rather forcefully again which is enjoyable, but overall it's not that terriffic a version.
Thankfully, the following El Paso is terriffic. Back on board the steamroller! This continues straight on into a STORMING US Blues. One of the best renditions ever?! It has a disaster-recovery ending where everyone tries to end the song where they normally would, but Jerry says “Hey guys, keep it going, come on!” and just forces the band into Truckin', lol.
And thus begins an epic 46-minute Truckin>Eyes>Stella. What a '73 sequence, no? :) All three are of course excellent. Truckin' is very dynamic – lots of space to move around within the sound. Some of Jerry's best-ever blues soloing features prominently. Around 11:30, it sounds like they begin to slow down and toy around with He's Gone, but thankfully Billy and Phil lead us into Eyes instead. But first, before the song begins, something weird happens and the jam completely comes to an end!
Starting from scratch, Jerry leads us back into Eyes properly with Billy tempo-conscious. But this non-start of Eyes contines STILL for another few minutes. What is going on?! It's like they start the song, decide they don't want to play it, end it, start it back up again!
MAKE UP YOUR FRIGGIN MIND AND STOP TEASING ME, GUYS. GAH. It's really annoying. :/
Thankfully they DO decide to play it. :) Sounds like they actually might've been wanting to play it the whole time but Bobby was changing a string or doing something that made them have to wait. Sigh . Lol.
Unfortunately, as with Scarlet, this Eyes is very stilted. The usual free-flowing nature is missing and the playing is very forced-sounding. :( This persists until the 9 minute mark when Phil takes over with a bass solo. Not a great one, but it's better than Jerry's forced soloing. Immediately after, the “mood shift” happens (you know, the part in the song where it gets all dark and serious?) and everyone sounds like they are stepping all over each other, almost making the delicate house of cards that is a Dead jam collapse upon itself.
Thankfully this doesn't happen Jerry finally comes back out with his guns reloaded and jamming loosens up a little bit. This whole time it's felt like they were trying to squeeze the song into life rather than letting it organically develop, if that makes sense. Everyone's out of sync with each other.
Around 12:30, the guys get it back together again for a little bit. UGHGHGHGHGH :( TRAINWRECK AT 14 MINUTES!!! Oh my god, WORST EYES EVER?! :( Ugh, this derailment was so bad it made me physically cringe. The person sitting next to me actually asked if I was ok....
WHAT IS GOING ON GUYS?! ARE YOU PLAYING EYES OR NOT!!!!! STOP JERKING ME AROUND!!!! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS CRAP!!!! D:
I don't even know what to say anymore. It's that bad.....Jerry, I know you're trying to save this sunken ship, but that's the problem – IT'S SUNKEN! NO MATTER HOW MUCH PRETTY HARMONIC PICKING YOU DO!!! Guys, it's so bad I had to press skip at the 17 minute mark (the track is 23 minutes....).
Looks like it didn't do any damn good when Jerry begins Stella Blue with his vocals completely out of pitch. YUCK! Thankfully (word of the night?!) it eventually coalesces into a decent version. There's still no excuse for that absolutely horrid Eyes, but this at least helps take away some of the pain....Thank god this Stella Blue is actually pretty damn excellent! Check out Jerry's phenomenal soloing around the 6:10-6:40 mark. Absolutely sublime!
The upswing continues for the remainder of the show with red-hot readings of NFA, GDTRFB and OMSN to close. Overall, this show isn't the X Factor, it's the WTF Factor! The great parts are GREAT and the awful parts are AWFUL This is a show for the mentally unstable. Enter at your own dangerously curious risk. :)
REVIEW ADDENDUM: Upon further examination, my original review of Eyes is perhaps a bit overblown and ridiculous, but I felt it warranted it at the time. As of several months later listening in a different mood and environment, I can now find plenty to enjoy about this very abstract Eyes. Also, it should be noted the first 13 or so minutes of Eyes are excellent for the most part. Despite the awful trainwreckage to come, these minutes of joyful bliss should not be overlooked by any listener. Also, check out Billy's awesome drumming around 10 minutes. :)
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