Europe '72
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''Europe '72'' is a
live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film * ''Live'' (2023 film), a Malayalam-language film *'' Live: Phát Trực Tiếp'', a Vietnamese-langua ...
triple album A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording i ...
by the
Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...
, released in November 1972. It is the band's third live album and their eighth album overall. It covers the band's tour of
Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...
in April and May that year, and showcases live favorites, extended improvisations and several new songs including "
Jack Straw John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British politician who served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretar ...
" and "Brown Eyed Women". The album was the first to include pianist
Keith Godchaux Keith Richard Godchaux (July 19, 1948 – July 23, 1980) was an American pianist best known for his tenure in the rock group the Grateful Dead from 1971 to 1979. Following their departure from the Dead, he and his wife Donna formed the H ...
and his wife, vocalist
Donna Jean Godchaux Donna Jean Thatcher Godchaux-MacKay (born August 22, 1947) is an American singer best known as a member of the rock band the Grateful Dead from 1972 to 1979. In addition to the Dead, she performed with the Jerry Garcia Band and the short-lived ...
, and the last to feature founding member
Ron "Pigpen" McKernan Ronald Charles McKernan (September 8, 1945 – March 8, 1973), known as Pigpen, was an American musician. He was a founding member of the San Francisco Sound, San Francisco band the Grateful Dead and played in the group from 1965 to 1972. ...
, who died shortly after its release. The European tour was expensive and logistically complicated, and the band's record company hoped that a live album would recoup its costs. Consequently, the entire tour was recorded, with highlights making it onto the final release. ''Europe '72'' is one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed albums by the Dead. It was one of the first triple-record rock albums to be
certified gold Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
by
RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
; the album has since been certified double platinum. A second volume was released in 2011, in conjunction with the release of the entire 22-date tour as '' Europe '72: The Complete Recordings''.


Tour

Prior to the Grateful Dead's 1972 tour of
Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...
, the band had undergone several changes in personnel. Drummer/percussionist
Mickey Hart Mickey Hart (born Michael Steven Hartman, September 11, 1943) is an American percussionist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 until February 19 ...
left the group in early 1971, making
Bill Kreutzmann William Kreutzmann Jr. ( ; born May 7, 1946) is an American drummer and founding member of the rock band Grateful Dead. He played with the band for its entire thirty-year career, usually alongside fellow drummer Mickey Hart, and has continued to ...
the group's sole drummer once again. Keyboardist
Keith Godchaux Keith Richard Godchaux (July 19, 1948 – July 23, 1980) was an American pianist best known for his tenure in the rock group the Grateful Dead from 1971 to 1979. Following their departure from the Dead, he and his wife Donna formed the H ...
was recruited, in September 1971, initially to augment founding member
Ron "Pigpen" McKernan Ronald Charles McKernan (September 8, 1945 – March 8, 1973), known as Pigpen, was an American musician. He was a founding member of the San Francisco Sound, San Francisco band the Grateful Dead and played in the group from 1965 to 1972. ...
, who had been hospitalized and was experiencing increasingly poor health. Additionally, Godchaux's wife Donna (a former
session singer A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a record ...
who had worked with
Percy Sledge Percy Tyrone Sledge (November 25, 1940 – April 14, 2015) was an American R&B, soul and gospel singer. He is best known for the song " When a Man Loves a Woman", a No. 1 hit on both the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and R&B singles charts in 19 ...
and
Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...
) officially joined the band as a backup vocalist in March, shortly before the tour commenced. As the band became more popular and they were booked into larger venues, the touring entourage encompassed extra road crew, administrative staff, friends and relatives, growing to 43 people who became known as the "Grateful Dead Family". The tour began with two nights at the Empire Pool, Wembley on April 7–8, 1972. It progressed through Denmark, Germany (including an appearance on the TV Show ''
Beat Club ''Beat-Club'' was a West German music programme that ran from September 1965 to December 1972. It was broadcast from Bremen, West Germany on ''Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen'', the national public TV channel of the ARD, and produced by one of its m ...
'') and France. The Dead returned to the UK to play the
Bickershaw Festival The Bickershaw Festival was a rock festival held in Bickershaw, Lancashire, England, between 5 and 7 May 1972. Except for the 1976–79 Deeply Vale Festivals, Bickershaw was the only major north-west multi-day festival with camping. The or ...
on May 7 (Kreutzmann's birthday), progressing through Continental Europe again (including a show recorded for
Radio Luxembourg Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg). The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earlies ...
) and ending with a four-night stand at the
Lyceum Theatre, London The Lyceum Theatre ( ) is a West End theatre located in the City of Westminster, on Wellington Street, just off the Strand in central London. It has a seating capacity of 2,100. The origins of the theatre date to 1765. Managed by Samuel Arno ...
on May 23–26. The final show was the last that featured McKernan as a lead vocalist; he performed at one more show the following month before retiring from music, dying in March 1973. By the time the tour started, lead guitarist
Jerry Garcia Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician who was the lead guitarist and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence during the counterculture of the 196 ...
had switched from using the
Gibson SG The Gibson SG is a solid-body electric guitar model introduced by Gibson in 1961, following on from the 1952 Gibson Les Paul. It remains in production today in many variations of the initial design. SG stands for "solid guitar". Origins The S ...
to a 1959
Fender Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of double- cutaway electric guitar designed between 1952 and 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corpora ...
. He had become increasingly influenced by country and traditional American music. Songs such as "Jack Straw" stemmed from these influences, while "Cumberland Blues" and "Tennessee Jed" had lyrics relating to American historical culture. "
Truckin' "Truckin" is a song by the Grateful Dead, which first appeared on their 1970 album '' American Beauty''. It was recognized by the United States Library of Congress in 1997 as a national treasure.''Grateful Dead: The Illustrated Trip'' . Jake W ...
", which was then the band's biggest hit single, talked about the band's experiences on the road. The Dead began performing "China Cat Sunflower" (from '' Aoxomoxoa'') as a medley with the traditional "I Know You Rider", linking their
psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips") and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also referred to as classic halluci ...
past with the group's new direction.


Recording

The band hoped that the expensive trip to Europe would be financially offset by the release of a live-album documentation of the tour. Consequently, the Dead’s record label, Warner Bros., paid for the band to travel with a professional 16-track recorder. ''Europe '72'' was the third live album by the Dead in as many years, showcasing how the group's reputation was based on live shows. The album contained mostly new material, in addition to live arrangements of tracks found on previous studio albums. Garcia continued his songwriting collaboration with lyricist Robert Hunter. Rhythm guitarist
Bob Weir Robert Hall Weir ( ; né Parber, born October 16, 1947) is an American musician and songwriter best known as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the group disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with the Other Ones, later known as the Dead ...
also collaborated with Hunter, though the pair subsequently fell out, leading Weir to collaborate with
John Perry Barlow John Perry Barlow (October 3, 1947February 7, 2018) was an American poet, essayist, cattle rancher, and cyberlibertarian political activist who had been associated with both the Democratic and Republican parties. He was also a lyricist for th ...
after ''Europe '72''. Pigpen made his third singing-songwriting contribution to a Dead album, writing "Mr. Charlie" with Hunter. The new songs were never officially released in studio form except "One More Saturday Night", which came out as a single to promote the tour and then appeared on Bob Weir's solo album, ''
Ace An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or a club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ...
''. Consequently, ''Europe '72'' was treated as a new-material release as much as a live retrospective, and the new songs on the album were considered definitive versions. Although ''Europe '72'' is billed as a live album, the songs were subject to various studio overdubs, particularly vocals. Several of the songs with Garcia on lead vocals were pitched sharp by as much as a half-step. Weir later said that the overdubbing was a mutual decision by the band and the record company, and both were happy to polish up the album for release.


Cover

''Europe '72'', like other Grateful Dead cover art, was designed by
Alton Kelley Alton Kelley (June 17, 1940 – June 1, 2008) was an American artist known for his psychedelic art, in particular his designs for 1960s rock concert posters and album covers. Along with artists Rick Griffin, Stanley Mouse, Victor Moscoso ...
and
Stanley Mouse Stanley George Miller (born October 10, 1940), better known as Mouse or Stanley Mouse, is an American artist who is notable for his 1960s psychedelic rock concert poster designs and album covers for the Grateful Dead, Journey, and other bands. ...
(known as Kelly/Mouse studios). The album was originally published as a triple-LP with an accompanying booklet. In contrast to the band's previous albums, the artwork is set against white, mostly-empty panels of (originally) a triple gatefold sleeve. The front cover shows a large "Truckin'" foot stepping across the
Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...
to Europe. The back cover depicts the corresponding "Truckin' Fool" smashing an ice cream cone against his forehead. Airborne drops of ice cream are drawn as a text
ambigram An ambigram is a calligraphic composition of glyphs (letters, numbers, symbols or other shapes) that can yield different meanings depending on the orientation of observation. Most ambigrams are visual palindromes that rely on some kind of symmetry ...
, indistinctly spelling the word "LIVE". The inside credits list all 43 members of the touring entourage such as Carolyn "Mountain Girl" Garcia. A color booklet contains photos of European sites and the concerts (including part of the entourage waiting to board a
DFDS DFDS is a Danish international shipping and logistics company. The company's name is an abbreviation of Det Forenede Dampskibs-Selskab (literally ''The United Steamship Company''). DFDS was founded in 1866, when Carl Frederik Tietgen, C.F. Tiet ...
ferry at
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...
), references to
Revelation Revelation, or divine revelation, is the disclosing of some form of Religious views on truth, truth or Knowledge#Religion, knowledge through communication with a deity (god) or other supernatural entity or entities in the view of religion and t ...
and the
Feast of Fools The Feast of Fools or Festival of Fools (Latin: ''festum fatuorum'', ''festum stultorum'') was a feast day on January 1 celebrated by the clergy in Europe during the Middle Ages, initially in Southern France, but later more widely. During the Fe ...
, and a long account of how the tour split into two factions, the "Bozos" and the "Bolos". The conclusion is the first appearance of the epithet "There is nothing like a Grateful Dead concert".


Release

''Europe '72'' was released on November 1, 1972, reaching No. 24 in the ''Billboard'' charts. The album was the first to feature Keith and Donna Jean Godchaux. It was also the last to feature McKernan. Several songs on which he sang lead were retired after the tour's finale at the Lyceum. An edited version of the album's "Sugar Magnolia" was released as a 7" single, with "Mr. Charlie" as the B-side.


Reissues

''Europe '72'' was reissued as a two-disc CD in 1990 and again in 2001, with bonus tracks, as part of '' The Golden Road (1965–1973)'' box set. This version was subsequently released independently in 2003, which also has the covers reversed, with "The Fool" on the front. A sequel, '' Europe '72 Volume 2'', was released in 2011. It contains songs that were played on the tour but not included on the original album, including a lengthy jam of " Dark Star" and "The Other One". Fans have rated the album highly, and there was demand to hear recordings of the entire tour. In September 2011, all 22 shows were released as '' Europe '72: The Complete Recordings'', a 73-CD box set. Due to higher than expected demand, the 7,200 numbered copies of the box set sold out as a pre-order in less than four days. The first three thousand copies ordered had an option for custom personalization. A music-only version (without the box set's steamer trunk and accoutrements) was also given a limited release. A 50th Anniversary Edition of ''Europe '72'' was released on July 29, 2022. The album was remastered and reissued as a two-disc CD and as a three-disc LP, as well as a digital download. A limited-edition three-disc LP on rainbow-colored vinyl was released on June 3, 2022.


Reception

''Europe 72'' was a commercial success, remaining in the US album charts for 24 weeks. It has since become one of the most successful Grateful Dead albums in terms of sales, and has been certified
Double Platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music Sound recording and reproduction, recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video ...
, selling over 1,000,000 copies. The album was well received by music critics. Tom Dupree's contemporary review in ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' praised the sound fidelity and musicianship, especially Garcia's lead guitar playing: "He displays more sheer savvy of the guitar fretboard and its incorporation — but not sublimation — into the rock milieu than anyone I can think of". He also said "there are riffs of all kinds liberally scattered throughout". In 2015, the journal listed the album as number 19 in their top 50 live albums of all time. A retrospective
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
review praised Pigpen's contributions, ranking them as some of the best in his career, and noted the triple-LP format allowed the group's extended concert jams to be presented faithfully on record. A retrospective in ''Modern Drummer'' said ''Europe '72'' was "a snapshot of the Dead at what many believe was its musical peak, before fatal drugs took hold, tight and hungry to explore spiritual spaces within music."


Track listing

Recording dates *April 8 – "Cumberland Blues" *April 14 – "Brown-Eyed Women" *May 3 – "Jack Straw", "China Cat Sunflower", "I Know You Rider", "Tennessee Jed" *May 4 – "Sugar Magnolia" *May 10 – "He's Gone" *May 23 – "Mr. Charlie" *May 24 – "You Win Again", "Hurts Me Too" *May 26 – "One More Saturday Night", "Ramble on Rose", "Truckin'", "", "Prelude", "Morning Dew"


2003 reissue bonus tracks


Personnel

Taken from the sleeve notes: Grateful Dead *
Jerry Garcia Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician who was the lead guitarist and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence during the counterculture of the 196 ...
 –
lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...
guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
,
vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...
*
Bob Weir Robert Hall Weir ( ; né Parber, born October 16, 1947) is an American musician and songwriter best known as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the group disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with the Other Ones, later known as the Dead ...
 –
rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...
, vocals *
Phil Lesh Philip Chapman Lesh (March 15, 1940 – October 25, 2024) was an American musician and a founding member of the Grateful Dead, with whom he developed a unique style of improvised six-string bass guitar. He was their bassist throughout their 30 ...
 –
bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...
, vocals *
Ron "Pigpen" McKernan Ronald Charles McKernan (September 8, 1945 – March 8, 1973), known as Pigpen, was an American musician. He was a founding member of the San Francisco Sound, San Francisco band the Grateful Dead and played in the group from 1965 to 1972. ...
 –
organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...
,
harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...
, vocals *
Keith Godchaux Keith Richard Godchaux (July 19, 1948 – July 23, 1980) was an American pianist best known for his tenure in the rock group the Grateful Dead from 1971 to 1979. Following their departure from the Dead, he and his wife Donna formed the H ...
 –
piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
*
Bill Kreutzmann William Kreutzmann Jr. ( ; born May 7, 1946) is an American drummer and founding member of the rock band Grateful Dead. He played with the band for its entire thirty-year career, usually alongside fellow drummer Mickey Hart, and has continued to ...
 –
drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
*
Donna Godchaux Donna may refer to the short form of the honorific ''nobildonna'', the female form of Don (honorific) in Italian. People * Donna (given name); includes name origin and list of people and characters with the name Places * Donna, Texas, USA * Døn ...
 –
backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...
* Robert Hunter – songwriter Production * Heard, Jackson, Kid, Parrish, Ramrod, Razine, Winslow, Barry, Rudzo – equipment * Dan Healy – technical assistance *
Candace Brightman Candace Brightman (born 1944) is an American lighting engineer, known for her longtime association with the Grateful Dead. She is the sister of author Carol Brightman. Brightman grew up in Illinois and studied set design at St John's College, Ann ...
, Ben Haller – stage lighting * Betty Cantor, Janet Furman, Bob Matthews, Rosie, Wizard – recording * Betty Cantor, Bob Matthews – mixing * Kelley / Mouse Studios – cover art


Charts

;"Sugar Magnolia"


Certifications


References

Citations Sources * * * * * * * {{Authority control 1972 live albums Grateful Dead live albums Warner Records live albums