From: Victor Szalvay
Greetings friends.... Hi everyone, let’s talk about Antelope. OK, so I plan to do the following: Charlie has suggested some of the benefit of going in chronological order and that is ideal for those of us with 70 billion hours on tape, but the rest of us would be out in the dark when a totally obscure show is discussed. *SO* what I will do is review, in chronological order, certain shows which are in heavy circulation and the majority of people are bound to have. I won’t limit it too much, but I will skip some of the really strange ones. An interesting thing occurs with RLAA, they start playing it at the end of 1985 and then it is just not played *at all* in 1986... hmmm... and then it returns in 1987 for like 3 shows... and then it erupts in 88 with several on through 89 to today. So, we know that they withdraw and introduce songs only when they dislike and like songs (respectively) so they must have not been too happy with the 85 and 87 versions and revised it for 88 and on. Let’s take a look: Well, according to the HPB, Antelope was first played live in 85-- 10/17/85 to be exact. So, let’s start there (I have seen it on a couple of lists, Thanks David!). From the tapes and the HPB we know: 10/17/85 Finbar's, Burlington, VT Star Trek Jam, Alumni Blues, Mike's Song*, Dave's Energy Guide, Revolution, Anarchy, Camel Walk, Run Like An Antelope, McGrupp * Introduced as “Microdot.” Antelope -- Intro: Really upbeat and pushing fast. None of the usual chord progressions. The feel is almost like elevator music, but a little weirder... My copy comes in about a 1:00 into the into, oh well... Opening theme: Comes in with Trey using similar lines to now, but the tone of his guitar is Trill!: :45 Pretty good, they must have worked out this transition in rehearsal for the White Album demo or something. Key Change to Em: Trey dives to the darkness and he starts putting out this Black Sabbath type of theme that builds very rapidly. There are no boards audible on my copy at this point but the bass is very noticeable and Mike’s playing is as solid as usual. Trey is getting this Garcia type tone and they are developing the theme in a linear manner, pretty primitive, I guess. Trey flubs what would be a sweet trilling section but then recovers and tries and push the jam.... They calm out a bit and Mike steps in with a solo of sorts while Trey screws around with some effects and starts heading off in another Garcia-esque direction. They are working the groove out, and now it seems like there is some sort of board work with a very cheesy tone. I am noticing that the groove appears to be the pre-marco but we never get a break or any of the climaxes of the gearshifts! (I hear all kinds of people talking in the back ground. You know, I see all this discussion on the good old days in Burlington, when everyone was hardcore and there were no newbies... well, every old tape I have has people talking through songs and just chatting away in the middle of Harpua and McGrupp... I don’t know what people are talking about! Ry, Ry, Rocco... very relaxed. MARCO ESQUANDOLAS: 5:05 happen to have any sleep, man? (those of you who doubt what they say here, take a listen to this version, it is pretty clearly ‘Happen you...” High Gear Theme: 6:02 Finally, the Runs are totally slurred and not in key, whoops! This definitely needs some work. Trey:- Set the Gear shift: 6:20 yes, he goes through this and sounds nice and relaxed doing it. End: 7:01 Well, I can’t say that I liked it, but it was interesting to hear such an ancient version. You can definitely hear the heavy GD influence here, the jam sounds almost entirely 60’s GD based to me. You know, this was 1985 and I wonder what people were bringing to record these shows, like Fischer-Price kiddie decks or something? Wow, I don’t know, there are plenty of nice sounding GD from even the 60’s, what happened here?? Anyhow, next time will be 11/23/85 to close out the year and then I will try to jump to 87 (since 86 has no Antelopes). Thanks everyone, and let me know what you think. BTW, I am starting an AIR mailing list, so if you want to be on it, send my an email with your address in it and I will put you on. That way you get the newest AIRs right as I post them. Also, the AIR web site is up and running: http://weber.u.washington.edu/~vlaszlo/AIR/AIR.html Take it easy everyone,