Grateful Dead - Europe 72'

                I decided to review an album, and the album would be chosen by the result of my music player’s shuffle feature.

                Today, it just so happened to land on Europe ’72 by Grateful Dead.

Europe 72'

Grateful Dead

November 5, 1972

Europe 72’ is a lot of things for Grateful Dead fans. It’s regularly placed on the top, or near the top, of the best live albums from the Grateful Dead (something that I have to debate later). On the other side, it’s a door opening and closing: this was the last album with Pigpen before his death and the first with Keith and Donna Godchaux, both representing different eras of the Dead.

The only problem with Europe 72’ is the use of overdubs, which is probably only a problem for me. Yes, this album uses overdubs, mostly noticeable on the harmony vocals (for which some songs had none live at the time.) Some people may see this as a good thing, polishing an album and making it everything it should be. I just see it as wrong, especially for the Dead. Live albums should be what is advertised, as is. Live albums that combine several songs from different performances seem to do this more often than regular live albums. The worst culprit of this I’ve heard was The Rolling Stones’ “Got Live if You Want It!” (available on both EP and album, both receive overdubs on live tracks and, even worse, audience overdubs on studio tracks.)

The album contains 3 records (2 discs) of live performances during the Dead’s Europe tour between April 7^th and May 26^th, 1972 (although the tracks on the album actually stem from the 8^th onward, but not like that really matters.). The album was included on the “The Golden Roads (1965 – 1973)” box set with 8 bonus tracks. The Dead played a total of 22 shows, with Europe 72’ taking content from 8 of those shows. The performances are not in chronological order, but that doesn’t matter either. For more information, check Setlist.fm’s stats on this tour found here. One of my favorite sites.

A sequel was also released, 40 years later, containing different tracks. Good on them for not overlapping, because that’s the worst thing you can do with a live sequel. And if you so happen to want EVERY CONCERT DURING THE EUROPE ’72 TOUR, they (they being Rhino) so happened to release, just for you, “Europe 72’: The Complete Recordings”. This contains EACH AND EVERY of the 22 concerts, complete. These have no overdubs (of course), so you can even get the original songs from Europe 72’ and put them together to make the true live album we all want.

There’s not many surprises in terms of track listing.  If anything, you get a cover of You Win Again, which was only played between 1971 and 1972, as well as It Hurts Me Too and Mr. Charlie which were never played again past 1972. If you get the bonus tracks, you get The Stranger (Two Souls in Communion), which was only played 12 times in 1972, and the extremely rare cover of Who Do You Love, only played twice in 1972.

Performance wise, every songs sounds amazing (overdubs don’t hurt.) The early 70s were a very good year for Dead: mature, yet fun. You get a 13-minute version of Truckin’, and a 12-minute version of Morning Dew, both of which are amazing, Dew more than Truckin’. There's enough material to last you a nice afternoon, so dig in.

                Basically, if you don’t have any live Dead, get this. Everyone knows the best Dead is live* (quoted from 1971 Radio ad for Grateful Dead [the self-titled live album]). *Not 100% live There is no need for the Europe 72’ complete set, but I’d say there is a need to get the “The Golden Roads” box set. It has everything you need. You can even take a step forward and get the second box set with the material after that.