Grateful Dead-Europe ’72

The first live record I bought by the Grateful Dead. I purchased this sometime in 1987 and bought every live cassette or CD that came out after that. At one point I owned all 36 Dicks Picks CDs plus about 15 more releases “from the vault”. They were all sold in 2013. Europe ’72 is a three record set that came out late that year. The songs are taken from different dates on their European tour that spring. The last tour with Pigpen who died the following year and the first with his replacement Keith Godchaux. I listened to sides 2,3,and 4. Side two is my favorite starting with “Jack Straw”,a new song at the time,then a Hank Williams song “You Win Again”. The pairing of “China Cat Sunflower” and “I Know You Rider” is one of the best renditions of that they have done with some tasty guitar by Jerry Garcia. Sides three and four have some of their slower songs “Brown Eyed Women”,”Ramble On Rose”, and “Tennessee Jed” that I don’t really like and a slow blues “Hurts Me Too” sung by Pigpen. Also on this second record of the set is “Mr Charlie”, a new song by Pigpen, and “Sugar Magnolia” released as a single. There is some jamming on “Truckin'” and “Morning Dew” but none of the long jams that I love about this band. In 2011 all 22 shows were released from the tour as a 73 Cd box set that I downloaded as MP3’s. I have digital copies of everything they have released.

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