Europe '72: Limitations in the Source Tapes....

On this day in 1972, the Grateful Dead were between shows (the Hamburg and Paris) on their European tour, the tour that would produce the Europe '72 album. The band had a lot of new Garcia-Hunter compositions to record. The plan was for the resulting live album to pay for the tour...at least that's what they told their record company.

It was my introduction to the band and remains my favorite Dead album because of the songs and the stories they tell rather than the jams. What does that make me? A fan? Certainly. A Deadhead? Who knows?

Most of the songs on the original were altered in some way. Some had the tempo altered. Others received vocal or instrumental overdubs to cover blown notes or stray harmonies. Steven Seachrist researched and documented the alterations and overdubs done to prepare it and its sequel, Europe '72 Vol. 2, and you can read about them here.

This week's concert is not really a concert. Rather, it is the source songs that make up the album. They are all available now: 22 shows on 73 discs.
Well...all but one.

One of the new compositions underwent a change during the tour. Before the May 10 show - the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam - the verses of "Jack Straw" were sung by Bob Weir. After that, Weir and Garcia trade vocals on the verses. The version on Europe '72 is from the first Paris show on May 3, yet the original vocal track has been lost. I put the performance from the May 4, Paris show in its place.

The other novelty I've introduced concerns the spaces between "Truckin'" and "Morning Dew" on sides 5 and 6 of the original release. The "Epilogue" following "Truckin'" and the "Prelude" that precedes "Morning Dew" are both part of "The Other One", which then concludes after "Morning Dew" ends. All three songs are from the same show and are reconstituted here, drum solo and all. Sorry.

That's a bit short for a dead show, though. When the complete tour was released, a second volume to Europe '72 was released. Together they cover most of the songs played on the tour - no "Wharf Rat", "Casey Jones", or "Love Light", although "Playin'" comes with a bit of a Tarzan yell that doesn't go too far into the red (if you don't appreciate her contribution, she sat out on Vol. 5). Here are the uncut versions with one more "One More Saturday Night" tacked onto the end because it gets introduced at the end of the previous song.
At over 5 hours that is long, even for the Dead...I'll leave it to you to time your dose.

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