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Europe 72

Grateful Dead - Europe 72 Audio CD

A fair review of the Grateful Dead "Europe 72" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Grateful Dead reviews here, or go back to the Grateful Dead tabs.

Band: Grateful Dead
Title: Europe 72
Rating:

Release Date: 2003-03-25
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Cumberland Blues 2: He's Gone 3: One More Saturday Night 4: Jack Straw 5: You Win Again 6: China Cat Sunflower 7: I Know You Rider 8: Brown-Eyed Woman 9: Hurts Me Too 10: Ramble On Rose 11: Sugar Magnolia 12: Mr. Charlie 13: Tennessee Jed 14: The Stranger (Two Souls In Communion) 15: Truckin' 16: Epilogue 17: Prelude 18: Morning Dew 19: Looks Like Rain 20: Good Lovin' 21: Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks) 22: Who Do You Love? 23: Caution (Do Not Stop On The Tracks) 24: Good Lovin' 25: Bonus Track 1

This remastered version is actually a step backwards in sound quality!
CD release. What a big dissapointment this Rhino remaster was! As soon as I played it I noticed that it sounded worst than my original copy of the Warner Bors.

This remaster is about 5-6 dbs louder than the original release but it is compressed, muffled and clipped. There is a lot less clarity and separation between the voices and instruments (the drums are a mess). It seems the engineers jut compressed the hell out of the original master tape. I did an AB comparasion with my two players (one of them a HDCD machine) and the results were not what I expected.

This applies to the original Europe 72 material. The extra tracks are better, but apart from an excellent "Looks Like Rain", it is all Pigpen howling, and that is my least favorite GD music.

I bought the "Live Dead" remaster at the same time and it has the same problem.

Stick with your Warner versions if you still have them!.

Country Cheese
I was more into the Allman Brothers and the Doobie Brothers (pre and post Michael McDonald that is). Before we get into this too far, I have to say: I knew all about the Grateful Dead from friends but I had never bought an LP (or ripped a bootleg) so from say - 1972 - to today (2009) I had none of their stuff. That was where my head was at. SO - I finally got my first GD album - Europe 72,just a couple of weeks ago, on a recommendation - and to me, it is just this side of mediocre. What is the big deal? They sound like any number of C&W bands that roll into my town for the annual C&W Festival. I'm serious, this album is boring. It is the kind of stuff that we used to play in our sheds to warm up. Maybe Europe in 1972 wan't ready for the GD, but for me it is a snoozeathon. Sorry, but it bites the big one.

Classic live album
I'd heard that this was thier best live effort, and while I have little basis for comparison, I can understand the sentiment. I've been a fan of the Dead for some time, but had only a few albums by them: all studio, none live. It is a marvelous live album, up there with James Brown at the Apollo, BB King at the Regal, and other now-classic live performances. The dual CD package includes some great bonus tracks, with a wonderful cover of 'Good Love', which is as good as the original cuts to make the album.

Changed my life
I was about sixteen, I think. This album literally changed my life. 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.

Definitive Live Dead.

Most Deadheads I know prefer Live Dead shows over Studio Dead recordings. "There is nothing like a Grateful Dead concert"--album liner notes. Europe '72 (1972) is a collection of classic Live Dead performances recorded during the band's tour of Western Europe in early 1972. (If you could only own one live Dead album, this is The One to own. It is not only the Dead's best-selling live album, it is one of their best-selling albums to date. ) It is a landmark fusion of rock, folk, blues, bluegrass, country, and improvisational jam. Although it is considered a live album, many of the songs were subjected to later vocal overdubbing. This album represents Ron "Pigpen" McKernan's last tour with the Dead before he died from a stomach hemorrhage in 1973, and this was the last album featuring him as an active member of the band. It was also the first album to feature Keith Godchaux and his wife Donna Jean Godchaux. The album includes the impossible-to-escape-in-the-70's radio single, "Truckin'" (the song that first introduced me to the Dead). The album features Garcia on vocals and guitar, Weir on vocals and guitar, Lesh on bass and vocals, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan on harmonica and vocals, Keith Godchaux on piano, Donna Godchaux on vocals, and Kreutzmann on percussion. I first experienced this album on vinyl. The remastered CD is worth the upgrade from vinyl, featuring the following setlist:

Disc: 1
1. Cumberland Blues (live at Wembley, London, 4/8/72))
2. He's Gone (live at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, 5/10/72)
3. One More Saturday Night (live at the Strand, London, 5/24/72)
4. Jack Straw (live at L'Olympia, Paris, France 5/3/72)
5. You Win Again (live at the Strand, London, 5/24/72)
6. China Cat Sunflower (live at L'Olympia, Paris, France 5/3/72)
7. I Know You Rider (live at L'Olympia, Paris, France 5/3/72)
8. Brown-Eyed Woman (live at Tivoli, Copenhagen, Denmark 4/14/72)
9. Hurts Me Too (live at the Strand, London, 5/24/72)
10. Ramble On Rose (live at the Strand, London, 5/26/72)
11. Sugar Magnolia (live at L'Olympia, Paris, France 5/4/72)
12. Mr. Charlie (live at the Strand, London, 5/26/72)
13. Tennessee Jed (live at L'Olympia, Paris, France 5/3/72)
14. The Stranger (Two Souls In Communion)(live in Frankfurt, 4/26/72)

Disc: 2
1. Truckin' (live at the Strand, London, 5/26/72)
2. Epilogue (live at the Strand, London, 5/26/72)
3. Prelude (live at the Strand, London, 5/26/72)
4. Morning Dew (live at the Strand, London, 5/26/72)
5. Looks Like Rain (live at Wembley, London, 4/8/72))
6. Good Lovin' (live at Tivoli, Copenhagen, Denmark 4/14/72)
7. Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks) (live at Tivoli, Copenhagen, 4/14/72)
8. Who Do You Love? (live at Tivoli, Copenhagen, Denmark 4/14/72)
9. Caution (Do Not Stop On The Tracks) (live at Tivoli, Copenhagen, 4/14/72)
10. Good Lovin' (live at Tivoli, Copenhagen, Denmark 4/14/72)
11. The Yellow Dog Story (live in London, 4/8/72)

G. Merritt
.

You can see a complete list of all Grateful Dead discography, or go back to the Grateful Dead tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.