Sep 18, 2014

April 26, 1972: Jahrhunderthalle, Frankfurt

HOUSE MUSIC 

The "Grateful Dead" in the Jahrhunderthalle

This concert of the "Grateful Dead" should be an experiment of total communication. This group, their first European tour completed, endeavors to be affected as little as possible by commercial wear and tear and instead operates by the realization and internalization of the postulates of the adolescent underground movement, in private life as on stage. So they live in an approximately 50-member commune, which took the trip across the Atlantic together to make the performances of the six musical communards a common group experience. Taking this background into account, it becomes clear that what is probably best described as "Folk Rock" in classifying the music of the Grateful Dead carries a mainly programmatic character. It is part of privacy, the everyday life of the community, and at the same time, letting the public participate in this life style.
The Grateful Dead dispensed with an opening act. For them the concert hall is substituted for the domestic hearth, where the music is part of a common experience and any artificial stylizations renounced. Here the music transmits certain content not by its own means, but essentially by the context in which it takes place. So their resources are limited and restricted to a stereotyped, formal structure leaving little scope. Simple, catchy melodies, a country & western impact in the voicing of the three guitars, plus a Leon Russell sound on the piano - this physiognomy could, depending, support the new "folk songs." Phrased bluntly, this music, which excels by nothing original nor by technical complexity, must be described simply as bad, as there is absolutely nothing in it to describe or explain, if you are not absorbing the communicative effect an intrinsic value attaches to.
The overflowing Jahrhunderthalle at any rate was attuned from the beginning, thunderous applause everywhere, but it is well to remember that by far the largest percentage of visitors were Americans, for whom it’s been well-known for many years living in large communes has become a matter of course. One European lacked understanding and empathy with the commune-style, hence discomfort arose when after several hours there was still the same house music on stage in front of him. The advantages of the Grateful Dead are without doubt on non-musical territory, their music is for only one medium among many.
CSR

(unknown newspaper, May 5, 1972) 

Thanks to Uli Teute.

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This has been translated from German. Here is the original German article. 


HAUSMUSIK
Die "Grateful Dead" in der Jahrhunderthalle

FRANKFURT-HOCHST. Ein Experiment der totalen Kommunikation sollte dieses Konzert der "Grateful Dead" sein. Diese Gruppe, die ihre erste Europatournee absolviert, bemueht sich, vom kommerziellen Verschleiss so wenig wie moeglich betroffen zu werden und statt dessen die Verwirklichung und Verinnerlichung der Postulate der jugendlichen Untergrunt-Bewegung im Privatleben wie auf der Buehne zu betreiben. So lebt sie in einer etwa 50 Mitglieder [??] Kommune, die geschlossen die Reise ueber den Atlantik antrat, um die Auftritte der sechs musikalischen Kommunarden ein gemeinsames Gruppenerlebnis werden zu lassen. Beruecksichtigt man diesen Hintergrund, wird es einsichtig, dass die wohl am besten als "Folk Rock" zu klassifizierende Musik der Grateful Dead ueberwiegend programmatischen Charakter traegt. Sie ist ein Bestandteil der Privatsphaere, des alltaeglichen Lebens der Kommune, und zugleich dazu da, die Allgemeinheit an diesem Leben stil teilhaben zu lassen.
Grateful Dead verzichtet auf eine Vorgruppe. Die Konzerthalle wird fuer sie zum Stellvertreter des heimischen Herdes, an dem das Musizieren Teil einer Gemeinsamkeitserfahrung ist und jeglichen artifiziellen Stilisierungen entsagt. Hier uebermittelt die Musik bestimmte Inhalte nicht durch eigene Mittel, sondern im wesentlichen durch den Rahmen, in dem sie stattfindet. Also sind ihre Mittel begrenzt und beschraenken sich auf ein stereotypes, wenig Spielraum lassendes Formalgeruest. Einfache, eingaengige Melodien, Country & Western Einschlag in der Stimmfuehrung der drei Gitarren, dazu einheimelnder Leon Russell-Sound am Klavier - diese Physiognomie koennte, sollte es je welche geben, die neuen "Volkslieder" tragen. Ueberspitzt formuliert, musste diese Musik, die sich durch nichts Originelles noch durch technische Kompliziertheit hervortut, schlichtweg als schlecht bezeichnet werden, es gibt an ihr auch gar nichts zu beschreiben oder zu erklaeren, wenn man nicht dem absorbierenden kommunikativen Effekt einen Eigenwert beimisst.
Die uebervolle Jahrhunderthalle jedenfalls war von Anfang an eingestimmt, tosender Applaus allenthalben, nur gilt es wohl zu bedenken, dass weitaus der groesste Prozentsatz der Besucher Amerikaner waren, fuer die bekanntlich bereits seit Jahren das Leben in Grosskommunen zu einer gewissen Selbstverstaendlichkeit geworden ist. Einem Europaer fehlt auch das Verstaendnis und das Sich Einfuehlen in den Kommune-Stil, daher entstand auch Unbehaglichkeit, als nach mehreren Stunden immer noch dieselbe Hausmusik auf der Buehne vor sich ging. Die Vorteile der Grateful Dead liegen ohne Zweifel auf aussermusikalischem Gebiet, ihre Musik ist fuer sie nur ein Medium unter vielen.
CSR

2 comments:

  1. Pardon the poor translation - since I don't know German, this was done with the questionable aid of a google translation. The grammar is no doubt mangled in some sentences, and some words mistaken. This awkward, clumsy effort probably bears only a dim resemblance to the original - though I suspect the original may sound pretty pretentious as well.

    Umlauts were omitted from the German transcription. The copy was hard to read; there was a word or two I couldn't make out, and there may be some typos.
    Corrections are welcome!

    There isn't a whole lot of insight into the show - though I don't know what kind of music "CSR" usually reviewed, he reminds me of a snooty classical-music reviewer deigning to notice trivial pop music, or in this case, 'American folk music of the communes.' From what I can gather, he sees the Dead's music as being born of "the adolescent underground movement" and meant to be heard as "part of a common experience" - no stagecraft or quality to the music, just a kind of environmental soundtrack that "communicates" mainly to American hippies. Though recognizing that the impact of the Dead's music depends partly on the context in which it's played, he insists that it's merely simple folk music and the band's "resources are limited" to a basic, generic sound and song structures - no originality, no "technical complexity," it's simply bad music, with "absolutely nothing in it to describe or explain."
    Thus alienated, it's no surprise that he felt dismayed when the show went on for hours, getting increasingly uncomfortable (or "embarrassed" might be another translation). He noticed that the rest of the overflowing audience was more "attuned...thunderous applause everywhere," but decided that was just because most of them were Americans, used to "the commune-style." So he concludes that the Dead are a "non-musical" band whose only skill is in communicating to their own kind.

    An interesting point of view, though - he admits his lack of understanding or "empathy," and perceives the connection between the band and their audience. He might misinterpret it - but where other reviewers might say that "it's drug music," note that he doesn't mention that at all, but makes more of a sociological point that it's 'communal' music in which the public can participate: "the concert hall is substituted for the domestic hearth, where the music is part of a common experience and any artificial stylizations renounced."

    I assume by the time that long Other One rolled around, he'd already totally tuned out from boredom!

    "Jahrhunderthalle" was released as "Hundred Year Hall" of course, though perhaps a better translation might be "Centennial Hall."

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  2. Nice!

    I hear this as (in stilted British accent) "Welcome to another episode of 'Bad Popular Musical Communal Experiences'. I'm your host, Leonard Plinth-Garnell, Tonight we will experience some truly BAD music by the communal American hippie band, the Grateful Dead..."

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