S. Silberman: Listening to Europe '72 again. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry.) You know, even after a million downloads, DPs, and archive.org streams, E72 still does the trick.
A. Brown: Epilogue! quite extraordinary, still
P. Catalfo: I really, really liked that album when it first came out. And/but one of my most distinctive memories of it was that a coworker (also a Deadhead), when I asked him how he liked it, said he thought it sucked. I never understood that.
R. Unterberger: This album quite possibly held the title of "record most likely to be blasted out of dorm windows while students played frisbee in the quadrangle" in my first year of college.
B. Minkin: The China>Rider (still) can't be beat.
S. Castle: Europe 72 and Skull and Roses were the first two Dead albums I ever listened to (with SYF being #3) Still my favorites all these years later
S. Silberman: [B. Minkin], you're so right. That Weir lead (!) might be his finest hour (along with his playing on the Dead Set version of Loser). What college was that, [R. Unterberger]? For what it's worth, my Completely Mind-Blowing Experience of hearing the Blues for Allah material for the first time was hearing that classic TMOQ bootleg of the Great American Music Hall '75 show wafting over a quad at Oberlin. Amazing how contemporary Help > Slip sounds to this day.
A. Carpenter: The Prelude>Morning Dew floats me away every time.
R. Florence: I love Europe '72, and 100 Year Hall as well. Those are two of my all time favorite Dead albums.
S. Silberman: [A. Brown], yes. Epilogue gives me chills every single time I listen to it. It's one of their loveliest spontaneous inventions. The little sequence that Garcia plays at 1:13 almost makes me weep -- it's like Earth transmitting its human signal to the galactic core.
A. Coder: Still my fave. They achieved the perfect sound that year, in my opinion. He's Gone is one of the finest things I've ever heard.
K. Lindner: I can't stop listening to the So Many Roads disk set. Awesome variety.
N. Boynton: My first GD experience...sitting with my older brother listening to E72 over and over again.
S. Silberman: [K. Lindner], so glad you like it! I was honored to be part of that project.
J. Dreves Jr.: Europe '72...first GD album I remember being around the house. It only had two of the three lps, which was the way my Dad rescued it from a neighbour's curbside refuse pile, one garbage day long ago. Years later, as I was discovering things for myself, I was quite pleased to discover that we weren't missing the sides with 'Ramble On Rose' and 'Sugar Magnolia'. And 'Brown Eyed Women' became a lifelong favourite at that same moment. I got a 'complete' copy not long thereafter.
And the first time hearing that GAMH 75 show is still fresh in my memory, too....via cassette on the stereo in the record store I was working at part-time during college. And yes, amamzed to this day how fresh Help-Slip-Frank still sounds!
D. Mitchell: I'm not the biggest Dead fan on the planet by a longshot, but that's still one of my favorite live albums of all time. I'm inspired to break it out later today.
A. Dorchak: This was my second GD album and it followed very quickly after I picked up Live Dead. Both were, as [R. Unterberger] surmised, blasted out of my dorm room windows and doors more frequently than anything else. I haven't listen to either in a long time since being so saturated with downloads, torrents, and other artists through the years. This post has motivated me to dig this one out of the closet. Thanks!
T. Ellenberg: Still love it...was the latest Dead album when I went to my first show 9/28/72 in Jersey City. But when it comes to that Europe tour -- certainly among the Dead's greatest -- my fave official release is the "Steppin' Out" CD set from those England shows.
D. Berger: Great versions of Jack Straw and Dew on that.
S. Patchett: i just picked up Dead Set. haven't listened to it yet, but i figure it must be good. were you there?
D. Dodd: China Cat. Perfection.
S. Silberman: [S. Patchett], Dead Set is like a great first set, but not like a great second set. Yes, I was at most of the SF shows. We were so spoiled, it was like "Hm, wanna head down to the Warfield and check out the Dead again tonight?" Plenty of tix were available at the door. The "Loser" is maybe the most perfect performance ever, and there's lots of other good stuff, but a jam-a-thon it isn't.
T. Ellenberg: Europe '72 -- and lots of other Dead -- was blasted in my dorm room and many other dorm rooms around my alma mater, SUNY-Binghamton (Harpur College). When I got there in '73, the memories of the classic '70 show in our men's gym were still fresh -- great stories! Dead Set -- I was at a couple of the Radio City shows -- highlighted by the acoustic sets and the sumptuous venue.
E. Evon: It was one of my first as well. I scored the pre-recorded cassette version of Europe '72 in high school, trading a Black Sabbath 8-track for it. Methinks I got the better deal :-) It took some time for me to absorb and appreciate it all . . . heck, I'm still absorbing and appreciating!
S. Silberman: [S. Patchett], what's funny is, I sort of got revenge for something left off of Dead Set when I worked on So Many Roads. We all knew the Dead were recording a live album during those '80 shows, and after the 10/14/80 Let It Grow > Wheel > Music Never Stopped (http://www.archive.org/details/gd80-10-14.sbd-aud.gardner.3828.sbeok.shnf), I said to myself, "Oh my God, I just heard one side of the live album! They've GOTTA use that, it was perfect!" But then when the album came out, no dice. I would have loved to put the whole sequence on So Many Roads, but space was tight and at least I got to use The Music Never Stopped, which is a jewel.
D. LaVange: [S. Silberman] I regularly go back and listen to Euro 72. 72 was about when I started listening to the dead, and this was the first live album I'd heard (after Live Dead). I loved it then, and love it now.
A. Mande: miracle is they all still do the trick...
C. Crumlish: A+++++++ would buy again
N. Hoey: OK, how's this? It's my considered opinion that the Europe '72 tour was THE single best tour they did.
The peak of the Pig Pen era sound. Extremely well
rehearsed, strong fresh material and tons of excellent "core" material, Both Pig and Keith involved. Vocal and harmony performances at their very best. Add to that
the energy and cohesion of the touring company
and general success the bands career was experiencing and it all comes together then.
The album is great, one possible quibble being that there are overdubs and on a good system they can be noticeable. They add polish, which is understandable for "commercial" purposes but kinda unnatural compared to what we're used to.
Don't forget Steppin' Out. More EXCELLENT performances from that tour, with no overdubs.
D. Trist: still one of the best. Stayin' power.
S. Silberman: I wouldn't argue, [N. Hoey].
B. Brassfield: It sure does.
C. Crumlish: in college we drew this graph with two lines on it. one was the declining vocal prowess of the band (pure voice, not "stylings") and the other was the increasing instrumental prowess (debatable, sure), with the lines crossing and thus maximizing the "sum" of the two in '72.
I do know some heavy-duty Dark Star heads from the '68-'70 era who didn't love the country/folk sounds as much and considered '72 to be a big disappointment (and got off the bus then). go figure!
N. Hoey: My favorite performances are from the 68-70 period.
There's sheer power and intensity then that isn't ever matched afterwards. I know exactly what they are talking about. But as a tour, I mean it the way your graph illustrates it. The apex of repertoire, refinement of instrumental and vocal skills, proficiency etc.
E. Greenspan: confirm, it was played out dorm windows while playing ultimate on the quad, Tufts 1978-79...
S. Goodman: It's kind of an ultimate album from the Dead IMHO.
The definitive version of Cumberland Blues!
When I listen to E72 Seven Strange Universes worth of memories (that's a lot of content!) are conjured up. Look... here's one now -
In the 70's I wore out my first vinyl copy of the album when I was a feshman in college and it was the soundtrack to some wonderful, unfathomably strange and unforgettable trips.
It just sends me reeling...
S. Patchett: awesome. well we've got a huge blizzard in iowa city today, so it sounds like the perfect time to relax and give a good hearty listen to Dead Set. when i get through it, i'll let you know what i think.
B. Brassfield: Definitive version of Jack Straw for me too.
J. Tamarkin: It's a classic for sure, but for me Live/Dead will always be their definitive live album. I don't think they ever played any of those tuns better than they did at those shows. It's everything there is to love about early Dead in one package, from the first bass notes of "Dark Star" to the last harmonious strains of "We Bid You Goodnight."
B. Bradt: alot of over dubbing- the 3cd set The Dead put out from Germany is far superior . But I still like E72
J. Jarnow: Picked this up on vinyl recently. Didn't realize it was possible to love E72 even more...
T. Ellenberg: I agree with [J. Tamarkin]: Live/Dead is my Grateful Dead desert island choice. But as one who loves the direction the Dead took instrumentally with the addition of Keith -- those to-the-edge, jazz-informed jams -- the '72-74 period can't be beat. And in 1972 they still had Pigpen around. Which makes the Europe tour the one that had it all...the psychedelia of killer Other Ones and Dark Stars...breakout new tunes like Jack Straw, One More Sat. Night, Ramblin' Rose, etc....and Pigpen R & B rave-ups. Although as a single album Live/Dead would best E72.
C. Andersen: Hey....first heard "Live/Dead" exactly 10 years and 2 weeks and a day ago! NO IDEA what to make of it.
E'72 ? Well....yes. (Heard this a ways earlier...thanks Mr.Smits!) That China>Rider! Hot damn!
But, for me, it was the Prelude>Dew. Too much! Just too much. All that power, the sense and mastery of dynamics, the clarity and craft of the playing. Dark, then pretty, then lost, then sunshine, then thunderbolts, then...
Yeah...I can still dig that triple platter of hot-hippiejazz-folksy-ooey-gooeyness even now! Really does stand the test.
Funny that it ended up being "Blues for Allah" that ended up sealing the deal for me, even after "American..." and "Workingman's...", two classic fall-winter albums, I might add.
[S. Silberman] (The "Erudite Dead Scribe" !=), you mentioned "Dead Set". Always thought that one was a touch underrated. The "Fire", "Loser" and "Greatest" are really, really nice. Say....everyone else hear someone dropping a drum stick at the beginning of "Brokedown"?
D. Pasewark: That was the first album I truly wore out.
C. Andersen: .....man oh man...they were KINGS on that tour! All powers aligned. I remember Phil saying that Bill played "Like a young god" on that tour. How true. Then, Pig AND Keith! Weirs exceptional playing. The breadth between the soul/r&b and the avant and the Bakersfield-25 stompers and the dancey-fire-rawk! Just brilliant.
Off to the archive!!!!! (Tivoli Koncerthus....)
T. Stalzer: Europe '72 is indeed a classic! I still remember seeing all the "older Kids" with the Ice cream kid and "steppin out artwork on their denim jackets when I was little..
K. Keyser: I was always a mid-70's fan, but recently have decided that the band had the most amount of energy and creativity in the early 70's. I still think the Blues for Allah stuff was some of the best music they put together, and that '75 Great American Music Hall show was one of the best ever, but the *energy* of the early 70's shows is the best. I wish I could somehow time warp and get them to play the Blues for Allah stuff, especially Help>Slipknot, in the early 70's.
D. Pasewark: My fav has always been '70-'71.
S. Cutler: exactly! the band were at their magesterial live best during that tour - I'm proud to have been the one that organized the whole bloody thing.My book comes out in April 2010 and tells ALL about it. one love x
S. Silberman: [S. Cutler], I can't wait to read it!
S. Lagor: wish i got this many hits when my status was dead related! Long time no talk man- how have you been? Been meaning to call.....lost all my #'s about 2 months ago! Catch up needed soon
K. Keyser: I love how Jerry's guitar sounds very raw and organic in the early 70's, and he plays all different styles. Later on he kind of got into a groove, which is fine, but in the late 60's and early 70's you would get this raw, powerful guitar work that was very unpredictable.
D. Frost: that's what I love about the late 60s dead they're just exploding all over the place all the time it's like a fantastic fireworks show but in music instead of lights and colors
K. Keyser: Definitely- and unpredictable. I think that's the best way to put it. Later on it was fantastic, and magic, but in the late 60's and early 70's it was unpredictable.
D. Frost: oh, and someone mentioned the rockin the rhein show earlier I believe and concerning that I'd just like to say that the sound made at 4:08/09 of I Know You Rider is one of THE coolest things I've ever heard
C. Crumlish: nice to have [S. Cutler] drop by!
personally, '73 is my favorite, for that jazz-inflected Kreutzmann as young god sound.
R. Henderson: Mr [S. Silberman]...all of that run is amazing.
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