"double drop d" treatment of the traditional folk/blues classic "i know you rider" on my new taylor 414ce tuned to double dropt D (dadgbd) i do this in my own style with a bit of the Grateful Dead "Europe '72" feel to it
This was the third live double or triple album in the Dead's past five releases, revealing how the group's reputation rested on their live performances. Indeed, the liner notes simply stated "THERE IS NOTHING LIKE A GRATEFUL DEAD CONCERT." The album contained considerable new material in addition to versions of tracks found on previous studio albums.
Despite the band being out of the country, Europe '72 showcased the Dead's mixture of American bluegrass, folk, and country influences, and provided the culmination to the band's early 1970s sound. Archetypal American images abounded on "Jack Straw", while "Cumberland Blues" and "Tennessee Jed" were firmly rooted in their regional feeling. "Truckin'", which had recently become the band's first hit song, catalogued its own troubled-but-resilient pathway through American life. The Dead's start-stop-restart segue of "China Cat Sunflower" into "I Know You Rider" also linked their psychedelic past into a more traditional context. Reviews specially praised track "(Walk Me Out in the) Morning Dew", a ten-minute rendition of the melancholy folk standard that features guitar crescendoes from Jerry Garcia.
Europe '72's packaging was designed by Alton Kelly and Stanley Mouse under their Kelly/Mouse Studios name (they also did other Dead albums) and set against mostly white, empty foldouts. The front cover shows a large Truckin' boot crossing the Atlantic, while the back cover depicts the corresponding Truckin' fool smashing an ice cream cone against his forehead. (Some of the ice cream flying through the air spells out the word "LIVE".) The inside cover credits are in a reserved type font, but do not forget to list "Family", including Mountain Girl. The included color booklet contains photos of European sites and the concerts, a quote from Revelations, and a long account of how the tour split into two factions, the Bozos and the Bolos, with references to St. Dilbert and the Feast of Fools.
The tour represented by this album was Ron "Pigpen" McKernan's last hurrah with the Dead before he died in 1973, and the last album he would feature on as an active member. It was the first album to feature Keith Godchaux and his wife Donna Jean Godchaux.
Originally a triple album on vinyl, Europe '72 was later reissued as a 2-disc CD in 1995 and again in 2001 with bonus tracks as part of the band's box set, The Golden Road (1965-1973).
Europe '72 has been the Dead's best-selling live album, and one of their best-selling albums overall, achieving double platinum status in the U.S.
Although Europe '72 is billed as a live album, the songs featured on the release were subject to significant overdubs after the fact, specifically with respect to the lush harmony vocals. Unadulterated professional multitrack recordings of the specific songs used for the album are no longer available (because they were simply snipped from the multitrack concert tapes and overdubbed onto directly, destroying the originals) but, for example, the available 2-track soundboard recording of the 5/10/72 Concertgebouw show indicates the band had not yet figured out the vocal arrangements for "He's Gone" that would later be overdubbed in America.
Track listing
Side one
"Cumberland Blues" (Garcia, Lesh, Hunter)
"He's Gone" (Garcia, Hunter)
"One More Saturday Night" (Weir)
Side two
"Jack Straw" (Weir, Hunter)
"You Win Again" (Hank Williams)
"China Cat Sunflower" (Garcia, Hunter) →
"I Know You Rider" (trad., arr. The Grateful Dead)
Side three
"Brown-Eyed Women" (Garcia, Hunter)
"Hurts Me Too" (Elmore James)
"Ramble On Rose" (Garcia, Hunter)
Side four
"Sugar Magnolia" (Weir, Hunter)
"Mr. Charlie" (McKernan, Hunter)
"Tennessee Jed" (Garcia, Hunter)
Side five
"Truckin'" (Garcia, Lesh, Weir, Hunter) →
"Epilogue" (The Grateful Dead)
Side six
"Prelude" (The Grateful Dead) →
"(Walk Me Out In The) Morning Dew" (Bonnie Dobson, Tim Rose)
Personnel
Jerry Garcia - lead guitar, vocals
Bob Weir - rhythm guitar, vocals
Phil Lesh - electric bass, vocals
Ron "Pigpen" McKernan - organ, harmonica, vocals
Keith Godchaux - piano
Donna Godchaux - vocals
Bill Kreutzmann - drums
Robert Hunter - songwriter
Tags: the grateful dead know you rider acoustic guitar taylor 414ce double dropped jorma 4:20
![Moonset at theerion's [He's Gone - Grateful Dead Europe 72]](http://s3.ytimg.com/vi/nu1h8YQ9aCw/default.jpg)
