Customer Reviews

Europe 72

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

There are three seminal, essential live Grateful Dead albums, each a bit different, but each containing all the elements orf improvisation, multiple musical styles, and ensemble tightness that made the Dead so unique. These are Live Dead, Grateful Dead (Skull and Roses) and Europe 72. It is impossible to pick one over the other as *the best* of the officially released live Dead albums, and if I had to, I could live with no Dead albums other than these three, but I could not give up any one of them.

Europe 72 contains both some of the tightest compact versions of several Dead tunes, as well as some of the most ethereal extended jams. For those interested in the magic of what used to happen when everything just jelled exactly right, listen to Weir's unique idiosyncratic rhythm-lead solo between China Cat and I know you rider (yup - That's Bobby playing the lead). There are lots of examples of this jam on other live Dead recordings, but nowhere does the playing of all band members synergize in the segue as well as on this cut. Trucking-Prologue-Epilogue Morning Dew is basically one long piece of music. Epilogue gets really nice and jazzy and stretches things out like only the Dead could. Prologue merges into a Morning Dew that has a Bobby-Keith rhythm guitar/piano section that is so tight that even after listening to it for more than 30 years there are still parts where I can't tell if I am hearing Bobby or Keith. Jerry's vocals and lead are are stronger and more emotional on this than on any other Morning Dew available anywere. Europe 72 also features a wider range of styles from Jerry and the boys than either Live Dead or Skull and Roses, ranging from very countrified on Cumberland Blues to rock on One More Saturday Night to good old trademark Greatful Dead style everything but the kitchen sink on the long jams.
This is a great album. The new tracks are a nice feature, but not one of them is as strong as any of the originals (But Jerry's pedal steel on Looks' Like Rain is a nice touch). Still, this is one (of 3) Dead albums that is an absolute must for DeadHeads of all ages.

I've been faithful fan of the Dead for over 30 years, since high school. "Europe '72", "American Beauty" and "Skull & Roses" (not its real title, but that's what most people call it) were the first GD albums that I bought, and they remain my three favorites to this day. Europe '72 is one of my "desert-island discs"-- one of those albums I never want to be without a copy of. It not only contains several of my favorite Dead songs, but also my favorite versions of those songs. "He's Gone", "Jack Straw", "Brown-Eyed Women", "China Cat Sunflower/I Know You Rider"... all are outstanding, and even though other excellent performances of these songs have been recorded over the years, to me these are the essential versions. "Truckin'/Epilogue" is one of the best long jams ever set to vinyl (or tape, or CD, or whathaveyou) and absolutely essential for those long drives up the coast. For me, only The Allmans' "Mountain Jam" comes close. The sound quality isn't great by today's standards, but it never was, and the new remaster is the best yet available. But even if it is a little muddy at times, the quality of the music transcends. If you're a dead freak, this album is simply a necessity.

I have to say that I agree with absolutely EVERY word in EVERY other review, bad and good. Europe 72 was the end of the beginning. Arguably, it was produced to fulfill the Dead's contract with Warner Bros. Records at a time when the band was launching its own record label. Its proponent revere it for capturing the band at a zenith of its middle "Americana" period. And they're right.

To hear it in context, don't compare E72 to Dick's Picks (some of which *do* indeed offer better performances of the same material). Rather listen to it with the two releases that preceded it and the two that followed it.

Although most discographies show "Skull & Roses" and "American Beauty" coming before, there were two studio LPs released earlier in 1972; they were Bob Weir's "Ace" and Jerry Garcia's "Garcia" (released in Feb). Some of the songs heard here on "Europe 72" (released in Nov) appear on those two LPs.

"Wake of the Flood" and "Mars Hotel" came after.

The two earlier albums updated the Dead's exploration of American Roots music with a then-contemporary treatment with what was to that point the band's most successful studio recordings. The next two albums reveal a startlingly new direction for the band.

Perhaps by releasing Europe 72 as a three-LP set, the band bought the time they needed to move beyond country-rock formulas into new directions with more musical discipline including extended suites (on Wake) and songwriting structure (on Mars). It all came to a head on 1975's Blues for Allah. And then it came to an end.

The late 70s transition from Keith and Donna to Brent marked the next era in the Dead's long strange trip. So, Europe 72 can be seen as a fulfilling end to one Dead era, or as the transitional beginning of another.

I first heard Europe '72 in 1974, walking into a friend's dorm room, Truckin' was playing, and I thought "Oh, Jesus, this is it!" Thirty-two years later, as I play it in my car, I feel exactly the same way. I've got hundreds of shows, and saw my share as well, and it takes nothing away from any of them to say that the Truckin'/Epilogue jam is as good as anything they ever did. It's pure poetry, with all of them at the peak of their form moving with precision through four or five motifs before absolutely ecstatic interplay towards the end. Unbelievable. Please play it at my funeral, so those in attendance will know why we were put here. And, oh yeah, Weir on China Cat, Jerry on Mr. Charlie, the vocals on Jack Straw ("sun so hot, the clouds so low"), the chorus on Brown Eyed Women . . . . To paraphrase Kabir: "You want to know the truth? I will tell you the truth. I listened to this and it made me a believer for life."

This album literally changed my life. I was about sixteen, I think. A friend of mine got me good and high for the first time in my life, then sat me down in a chair, put the headphones on, and left, coming back about half an hour later. By then, I truly believe that my brain chemistry had been permanently altered.

I had no idea music could sound like this. I had never heard ideas spilling out of someone like they came out of Garcia's guitar. Just endlessly inventive, on and on. I also love this album because, compared with some later ones, it's pretty spare. They're not afraid to be quiet. Not a bad moment in this, and an awful lot of transcendent ones.

If you listen to "Jack Straw" you can almost see the two men walking together in Texas, the heat, the tension, the potential for violence that's finally realized, and the realization that the only thing to do is go on.

It's beautiful, and perfectly realized.

I'd seen this on lots of "worst records of all time" lists growing up too and naively believed them. Then I got a chance to hear the "Morning Dew"-hello! Amazing. I've never gotten even remotely tired of it after at least a hundred listens. "Saturday Night", "It Hurts Me Too" and "Sugar Magnolia" are right up there too, among others and the bonus tracks are great. Note: Rolling Stone magazine voted the "Raw Power" album by the Stooges worst album of 1973, speaking of worst album lists, and believe me they wish they could have that one back.

Rolling Stone magazine produced a list several years ago of the ten worst albums of all time. "Europe '72" was among the ten.

?????????? So much for Rolling Stone, where by the way, Courtney Love is adored. ??????????

"Europe '72" is on my list of the top ten best albums of all time.

There are several terrific reviews on this site that have already said what I have long known about this terrific band and this great album. So I'll keep my comments short.

As live concerts by real musicians turned into lip-synching performances by airheaded glamour queens, the Grateful Dead continued what it did best right up to its end, giving its audience the same show night after night, performance after performance, but always just a little different. The band had a synergy that was virtually unparalled. Each show was essentially the same in how much different it was. Same play list presented in a different way.

"Europe '72" is how the Grateful Dead presented itself in a particular snapshot of time.

Recommend: Buy!

All best: Lee

beacuse you are either interested in the music and were told that this was a good starting place, or you lost your original copy and forgot how well put together these albums were.

A lot of the officially released Grateful Dead music doens't really do justice to the band (no looooong jams where Jerry tries to find the craziest notes, missing the breaks and the band warming up and rapping with the crowd, etc.).

Europe '72 does a good job though. It's a very clear recording, good song selection, a time where the Dead were playing well and had a lot of energy, etc. It was all working.

This gets a 5 because it's the best officially released album. It's great for a road trip, playing in the back yard, playing in the car, playing on the weekend, drinking a beer to, etc.

Beware though, if you like Europe '72 and want more, collecting Dead shows may be addictive.

Originally a triple vinyl album (!!), Europe 72 was considered a very good album when it was released, late in 1972. Most bands both then and now go into studio, recording their new songs and then go touring to promote them. Grateful Dead did just the opposite thing. They were constantly touring, and usually played their new songs live long before they were to be found on any album. Instead of going into a studio, they recorded their songs LIVE, while touring, and released their new material as LIVE-VERSIONS. Europe 72 is the best example of this. Of the 17 songs from the original release, only five songs had been released on any Grateful Dead album before: Sugar Magnolia and Truckin (American Beauty), Cumberland blues (Workingman's dead), China-cat sunflower (Aoxomoxoa) and Morning dew (Grateful Dead). The rest of the material are new songs presented here for the very first time, in live versions! Well, that's not entirely correct, since Bob Weir's One more Saturday night had been released on his debut studio album Ace in May 1972, while the band was still touring in Europe.

Europe 72 was the document of Grateful Dead's first European tour. Grateful Dead brought their wives, friends, children and the whole crew with them, and the tour was a combination of a vacation and a tour. During two months, they played 22 shows in England, Denmark, West Germany, France, The Netherlands and Luxembourg. All the shows were recorded, and this CD is what came out of it. With this album, Grateful Dead wanted to present the rest of their new material that still hadn't been issued. The Dead were extremely creative between 1970 and 1972: The band released two studio albums in 1970, a double vinyl live album in 1971, plus both Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir had released their debut albums in 1972. Still, there were more songs left, and ready to be released. New songs, written by The Dead, included He's gone, One more Saturday night, Jack straw, Brown-eyed women, Ramble on rose, Mr. Charlie and Tenesse jed. This re-mastered CD also includes another two then-new songs; Looks like rain and the more obscure Pig Pen-number, commonly known as Two souls in communion (aka. The stranger). The song, a soul ballad, is one of the few songs Pig Pen wrote for The Dead, and this was actually the first official version of the song released. This song was only performed 12 times live, and of the three I've heard, this is the best version.

So, to the QUESTION: SHOULD I BUY THIS CD OR NOT?

Whether you're into Grateful Dead or you're not familiar with the band, my answer would be YES! Grateful Dead was, by 1972, on top of their career. They'd never been more popular, and due to an extreme creativity over the last 3-4 years, they had an enormous repertoire of songs to choose from. Musically, they now combined catchy blues, country, folk and rock 'n' roll songs with longer psychedelic and jazz-like jams. This was Pig Pen's last tour with The Dead, and backing singer Donna Godchaux' first. Moreover, the album was to be their last live album until 1981. Go figure!?

Highlights from this CD are definitely the version of the classic combination of China-cat sunflower and I know you rider, the version of Truckin' that leads into the jam (called Epilogue), Sugar Magnolia and Brown-eyed women. This re-mastered edition also gives you a real good version of Pig Pen's Two souls in communion. There are also fine versions of Hurts me too, Cumberland blues, Mr. Charlie, Morning dew and the bonus track, Looks like rain. If Pig Pen wasn't given a respectable place in the original edition, singing only on two numbers, this issue have tried to mend that, by putting almost half an hour of Pig Pen stuff at the end of the second CD, including live favourites like Good lovin' and Caution.

If you're not into Grateful Dead, you should by this CD, plus the new compilation, The Very Best of Grateful Dead. That will assure you a good start into the world of Grateful Dead. More stuff from the Europe 72 tour could be found on Stepping Out, England 72, a 4-CD from the Europe 72 Tour, released in 2002.

I finally got around to purchasing this disc and I'm so glad I did. I've owned the vinyl for over 25 years but haven't been able to listen to it for lack of a turntable. The trend toward the Dick's Pick's and other live Dead releases has come to obscure the traditional live recordings such as this and "Skull and Roses." While many of them are exceptionally good and do provide the intact set feel, I still gravitate back to these old stand-bys. Just personal preference I guess, or nostalgia for those initial discoveries of what the Dead could do when I turned the volume knob up and tuned in so to speak.
This is just a great compilation of live tunes and at the friendly price at which I obtained it through Amazon, I won't spend $30.00 + to hear the same cuts done specifically in England or Germany. If this makes me less the Head, so be it- I left all that silliness in the parking lots of another era. (No, sorry dude, I wasn't at Red Rocks- and you can't have a dollar, either!)
Europe '72 continues to rank up there with Allman Brothers at the Fillmore East as amongst my favorite records of all time. (throw in Santana's "Lotus" as well) It is classic Dead. I need not review the songs here. Not a great fan of what folks seem to call the "Primal" Dead phase, I enjoy the multiple keyboards, bluesiness, and Country swing feel of the recordings here. This is my favorite period of Dead sound (followed closely by the Terrapin era stuff). You can't miss with this record, and if you are new to the Dead's music- its just a great place to start without spending a fortune.
Best,
Rick D
P.S. It's New Years' Eve- and it has not been exciting for a long time without the Dead's New Year's Eve broadcasts to look forward to.