Grateful Dead's 'Dark Star' Gets New Life

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Friday, August 1, 2014 | D5 MUSIC LONG PLAYING: ‘DARK STAR’ Dead’s Hit Is Revived On Vinyl BY ANDY BATTAGLIA THE GRATEFUL DEAD spent decades trying to un- lock the many mysteries of “Dark Star,” the band’s best-known jam. The lore around the fa- mously elastic song—“Dark Star” could run anywhere from a few minutes to more than a half-hour— made it an anthem and enshrined its mystique. De- cades after it was first played, Canadian composer John Oswald was inspired to make a composite of Getty Images (above); John Oswald (below) live performances of “Dark Star” that reflected the song’s evolution over nearly 40 years. tended versions of the song with LONG STRANGE TRIP Oswald, left, listened to hours of Grateful Dead performances. His epic remix, first released in 1994 under the ti- various introductions and inter- tle “Grayfolded,” will be reissued Tuesday as a set of ludes, positioning them at differ- which the composer coined in Mr. Oswald had an “improviser’s ears to hear what three records. The initial release sold more than ent junctures in their sets. 1985, came to encompass his tin- was going on, and that’s one reason he was given the 80,000 copies on CD. Now, reverting to an older for- In 1993, Mr. Oswald traveled kering, as far back as the ’60s, keys to the vault,” Mr. Kaiser said. mat, Mr. Oswald’s handiwork—which clocks in at 110 from his home in Toronto to San with music on archival records The initial release of “Grayfolded” in 1994 didn’t minutes and draws from 105 live performances—is Rafael, Calif., where the band gave and tapes. In one effort, he radi- spark much reaction from members of the Grateful coming out on vinyl from Important Records of him unusual access to their vault cally reassembled a Beethoven Dead, who left the composer alone on his project. “I Groveland, Mass. of concert recordings. He sifted melody; in another, he slowed remember Phil saying it sounded kind of long,” Mr. The Grateful Dead improvised ceaselessly on “Dark through boxes of tapes, searching down a Dolly Parton recording un- Oswald says, “so I made a 1.5-second version for him Star,” hoping to uncover new dimensions. Over the for renditions of “Dark Star” with til her voice sounded like a man’s. as a sort of joke.” David Gans, a musician and author decades, it incited psychedelic fantasies and was con- Grateful Dead librarian Dick Latv- He released albums with collec- of “Conversations with the Dead: The Grateful Dead tinually requested at concerts. ala. For about a month, Mr. Os- tions of his works, later compiled Interview Book,” says “Dark Star” is “the Grateful Mr. Oswald, 61 years old, didn’t know much about wald listened to versions of the on the retrospective set “Plunder- Dead’s most important work.” the Dead when he came up with the idea for a “Dark song seven days a week, eight phonics 69/96,” and was at the “There really isn’t much to it, so it makes the case Star” master take more than two decades ago. hours a day. vanguard of today’s flourishing re- for the Dead as improvisers,” says Mr. Gans, who also “I was aware that they were the highest-grossing Mr. Oswald assembled his find- mix and mash-up culture. hosts the widely syndicated “Grateful Dead Hour” ra- touring band in North America, so there was some- ings on a computer into a sprawl- Mr. Oswald ran into resistance dio show. The original concert versions and especially thing happening there,” he says, “but I didn’t pay too ing master take, layering versions from the record companies whose the expanded “Grayfolded” form, he says, guide listen- much attention.” That let him approach the project, from decades of shows. Most artists’ work he appropriated. A ers “through all these different places: inner space which received the band’s blessing, “with fresh ears snippets that figure in his “Grayfolded” composition redo of Michael Jackson’s song “Bad” caused copies and outer space, delicate silences that last for several to the whole thing,” he says. are about 15 seconds long. Some are shorter; others of a 1989 plunderphonics album to be destroyed un- seconds between notes and then, minutes later, this The Grateful Dead released “Dark Star” in 1968 as run for 15 minutes. How many different parts make der threat of litigation. But his approach piqued the place that feels like a soundtrack to a war movie.” a short single with lyrics that could be interpreted as up the whole? He estimates: “Well over 10,000.” curiosity of the Dead’s bass player Phil Lesh, who poetic or opaque. (“Glass hand dissolving to ice petal Mr. Oswald made his reputation with an early re- met Mr. Oswald through the experimental guitarist ! Listen to an excerpt from the “Grayfolded” flowers revolving.”) At shows, the band offered up ex- mix technique he named “plunderphonics.” The term, Henry Kaiser. remix at WSJ.com/Art..

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