• https://www.dead.net/features/europe-72/holy-s-it%E2%80%99s-complete-europe-%E2%80%9972-box-over-60-discs
    Holy S#%*! It’s the COMPLETE Europe ’72 Box! On Over 60 Discs!

    $450.00
    Europe '72:
    The Complete Recordings


    Hey now! Due to overwhelming demand, surprising even those of us with huge faith in the Europe '72 project, the entire limited edition run of 7,200 boxed sets has sold out in less than 4 days. We thank you beyond words for your support and belief in this unprecedented and wonderful release.

    After lengthy discussions, we've decided we don't want to deprive anyone of this music, some of the finest the Grateful Dead ever performed. Of course, we're keeping to our promise that the boxed set and all of its accouterments will not be made available beyond these 7,200 boxed sets (and wait until you see the case in which the music is housed, the hard-bound coffee-table book, plus all of the other cool surprises we've been unearthing!). But, we're going to offer just the music, all 22 shows, more than 60 CDs, more than 70 hours of music, each show housed in its own packaging, for the same price as the boxed set, $450 including domestic shipping. Although perhaps not as cool as the boxed set, the bottom line is that the most important aspect of Europe '72: The Complete Recordings is going to be made available to all, the music.


    - David Lemieux


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    Because you dared dream this might happen one day… Because you went down to the Gypsy Woman and offered up your first-born to try to make it happen… Because there are enough passionate Dead Heads at Rhino/GD who thought it might be cool for this to happen… It’s happening! Coming in September is a gargantuan, beautifully designed EUROPE ’72 MEGA-BOX SET containing ALL 22 SHOWS of what is arguably the greatest tour the Grateful Dead ever played, on a whopping 60+ DISCS (over 70 hours of music!). Bet you didn’t see that comin’!

    Really, at this point we probably don’t need to lay on too much hype about how wonderful the music is: Chances are, if you’re even considering buying a copy of this stunning box, you already know how amazing the Dead’s tour of Europe in April and May of 1972 was. To review briefly, though, the Dead’s first tour outside of North America took them to all sorts of historic and unusual venues in England, Denmark, West Germany, France, Holland and even tiny Luxembourg. Many members of the Dead “family” came along on what was really an extended working vacation that was designed to both expose the Dead to new audiences and also reward the band for their unlikely conquest of America during the preceding two years. As a hedge against the costs of the nearly two-month trip, the Dead’s label, Warner Bros., paid for the band to lug around a 16-track recorder to capture the entire tour… and we’re glad they did!

    This was a band at the top of its game, still ascending in the wake of three straight hit albums — Workingman’s Dead, American Beauty and the live Grateful Dead (“Skull & Roses”). It had been a year since the lineup had gone to its single-drummer configuration, six months since Keith Godchaux had been broken in as the group’s exceptional pianist, and this marked the first tour to feature Donna Godchaux as a member of the touring band. There was a ton on new, unreleased material that came into the repertoire in the fall of ’71 (after “Skull & Roses” was out) and during the spring of ’72, including “Tennessee Jed,” “Jack Straw,” “Mexicali Blues,” “He’s Gone,” “Comes A Time,” “Ramble on Rose,” “One More Saturday Night,” “Black-Throated Wind,” “Looks Like Rain” and Pigpen’s “Chinatown Shuffle,” “The Stranger (Two Souls in Communion)” and “Mr. Charlie.” (Sadly, this was Pigpen’s final tour.) All those future classics were interspersed with songs from the aforementioned “hit” albums—such as “Uncle John’s Band,” “Brokedown Palace,” “Cumberland Blues,” “Casey Jones,” “Sugar Magnolia,” “Bertha,” “Not Fade Away,” et al — and then were topped off by loads of big jamming numbers — the Europe ’72 tour produced spectacular versions of “Dark Star,” “The Other One” “Playing in the Band,” “Truckin’,” “China Cat Sunflower” > “I Know You Rider,” “Good Lovin’,” “Lovelight” and even the early Pig chestnut “Caution.” And that’s leaving out a truckload of other tunes, too! There wasn’t a clunker show in the bunch, and many are acknowledged today as classics. No doubt you already have some favorites.

    Through the years, there have been a few releases of material from the Europe tour—starting with the 3-album Europe ’72 which knocked our socks off in the fall of that year, and followed many years later by material from a pair of German shows and the fantastic 4-CD Stepping Out, culled from the group’s eight shows in England. Incredibly, though, only one full show from the tour has come out previously: the excellent 4/24 concert in Dusseldorf, Germany, released as Rockin’ the Rhein in 2004.

    Until now, that is. Jeffrey Norman, who has been the primary mixer of Dead archival multi-track material for the past 15 years (Fillmore West ’69, Ladies and Gentlemen…, Rockin’ the Rhein, Nightfall of Diamonds, etc.) has spent many months toiling over the 16-track masters from the tour, and will continue working on the mixes through the Winter and Spring, employing the high-tech Plangent Processes transfer and restoration tools, trying to get every show to sound “just exactly perfect” (as Bob Weir says) for this release. You might think you’ve heard that intense “Dark Star” > “Sugar Mag” > “Caution” from Copenhagen, but I guarantee you’ve never heard it sound this alive! Mastering to HDCD specs is two-time Grammy-winning engineer David Glasser of Airshow Mastering. Needless to say, all the songs that turned up on previous Europe compilations will be appear in their proper show contexts, and in the case of songs from the Europe ’72 album, without overdubs that were added later (where possible).

    The packaging is, as you might expect, first rate. Each show is its own Digipak, with its own liner notes by top Dead scholars (including David Gans, Steve Silberman, and Nicholas Meriwether) and attendees of some of the concerts, and many never-before-seen photos. Additionally, there is an enormous book worthy of coffee table treatment featuring hundreds more photos and a comprehensive essay by yours truly (Blair Jackson). The box will also contain other memorabilia and ephemera from the tour.

    A rough sketch of the potential packaging.
    Check back soon for more product images.

    At $450, this clearly will not be a box for everyone. In fact, this individually numbered boxed set will be limited to orders placed with a maximum of 7,200 boxes produced. As a special bonus, the first 3,000 orders will receive a personalized copy. Due to the huge manufacturing costs (wait 'til you see it! We're doing something unlike any other boxed set release ever! It's exceptional!!), we need to hit 3,000 sales before we even go into production. If we don't reach 3,000 by April 1st, the boxed set won't be able to happen. This isn't a gun-to-your-head sales pitch. Rather, we want to be open with you about the realities of this release's massive scope and ambition.

    -->

    So dig deep, raid the penny jar, take a weekend job at Jack-in-the-Box, beg your kindly ol’ grandma for some of your inheritance early… Yes, it’s an extravagance, but jeez, you (or your loved one) deserve it! This is way cool.

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    borncrosseyed56
    13 years 1 month ago
    I got my box set!
    "This is way cool!" Indeed it is.My box was on the doorstep when I got home late Wednesday afternoon. Right now I'm going thru some of the noted "problem discs" and I find no problems with these discs, so far. I really like this new hardback essay book and the reprint of "The Book Of The Dead" is neat, too. The case is good, but could have been better. The disc sleeves are a bit if a problem, they just seem a bit too small. The discs fit in, OK, but pulling them out is not that easy, I already ripped 3 sleeves at the folds, but only minor tears. There is a trick to extracting discs from the sleeves - just be careful & hold the sleeves facing up or down, depending if you want to remove or re-insert the discs. The audio mixes are great with the 5/11 show being the best & cleanest sounding show and 5/7 show being the roughest and "dirtiest" sounding show. Overall, the mixes are very good, but are not quite refined as they really could be. But, it was clearly stated that the overall sound would have this live roughness to it, and each show would be sounding a bit different. And I like it A GREAT BIG THANK YOU TO JEFF NORMAN! And to all who contributed their talents to this project, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
  • Default Avatar
    Younger_than_Y…
    13 years 1 month ago
    Still no word :(
    Hi everyone. I got this email on the 14/9 "Your order is preparing to ship. Please allow extra time seeing as this is an international order, and you should receive an email with a tracking number once it leaves the warehouse. Thank you for your patience." Does this mean they have taken my money? I realise I live in Australia, but the wait has been ridiculous.
  • scott1129
    13 years 1 month ago
    Europe '72 : The Way The Weird & The What the #&@%
    So, as we continue our European adventure, many issues arise.1) Sound quality and disc errors - none so far 2) Box Numbers - received an e-mail on 9/7 (today is 10/6) that it would be in the mail but still no sign and the CSline is full of "Europe '72 order" calls 3) Europe '72 awarded Gold Record Status - Presentation at Greek Theatre in LA on 10/5/11 - absent Mickey and Billy and Donna Still I dig the music especially the Pigpen tunes Chubba Chubba
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15 years 8 months

$450.00
Europe '72:
The Complete Recordings


Hey now! Due to overwhelming demand, surprising even those of us with huge faith in the Europe '72 project, the entire limited edition run of 7,200 boxed sets has sold out in less than 4 days. We thank you beyond words for your support and belief in this unprecedented and wonderful release.

After lengthy discussions, we've decided we don't want to deprive anyone of this music, some of the finest the Grateful Dead ever performed. Of course, we're keeping to our promise that the boxed set and all of its accouterments will not be made available beyond these 7,200 boxed sets (and wait until you see the case in which the music is housed, the hard-bound coffee-table book, plus all of the other cool surprises we've been unearthing!). But, we're going to offer just the music, all 22 shows, more than 60 CDs, more than 70 hours of music, each show housed in its own packaging, for the same price as the boxed set, $450 including domestic shipping. Although perhaps not as cool as the boxed set, the bottom line is that the most important aspect of Europe '72: The Complete Recordings is going to be made available to all, the music.


- David Lemieux


Because you dared dream this might happen one day… Because you went down to the Gypsy Woman and offered up your first-born to try to make it happen… Because there are enough passionate Dead Heads at Rhino/GD who thought it might be cool for this to happen… It’s happening! Coming in September is a gargantuan, beautifully designed EUROPE ’72 MEGA-BOX SET containing ALL 22 SHOWS of what is arguably the greatest tour the Grateful Dead ever played, on a whopping 60+ DISCS (over 70 hours of music!). Bet you didn’t see that comin’!

Really, at this point we probably don’t need to lay on too much hype about how wonderful the music is: Chances are, if you’re even considering buying a copy of this stunning box, you already know how amazing the Dead’s tour of Europe in April and May of 1972 was. To review briefly, though, the Dead’s first tour outside of North America took them to all sorts of historic and unusual venues in England, Denmark, West Germany, France, Holland and even tiny Luxembourg. Many members of the Dead “family” came along on what was really an extended working vacation that was designed to both expose the Dead to new audiences and also reward the band for their unlikely conquest of America during the preceding two years. As a hedge against the costs of the nearly two-month trip, the Dead’s label, Warner Bros., paid for the band to lug around a 16-track recorder to capture the entire tour… and we’re glad they did!

This was a band at the top of its game, still ascending in the wake of three straight hit albums — Workingman’s Dead, American Beauty and the live Grateful Dead (“Skull & Roses”). It had been a year since the lineup had gone to its single-drummer configuration, six months since Keith Godchaux had been broken in as the group’s exceptional pianist, and this marked the first tour to feature Donna Godchaux as a member of the touring band. There was a ton on new, unreleased material that came into the repertoire in the fall of ’71 (after “Skull & Roses” was out) and during the spring of ’72, including “Tennessee Jed,” “Jack Straw,” “Mexicali Blues,” “He’s Gone,” “Comes A Time,” “Ramble on Rose,” “One More Saturday Night,” “Black-Throated Wind,” “Looks Like Rain” and Pigpen’s “Chinatown Shuffle,” “The Stranger (Two Souls in Communion)” and “Mr. Charlie.” (Sadly, this was Pigpen’s final tour.) All those future classics were interspersed with songs from the aforementioned “hit” albums—such as “Uncle John’s Band,” “Brokedown Palace,” “Cumberland Blues,” “Casey Jones,” “Sugar Magnolia,” “Bertha,” “Not Fade Away,” et al — and then were topped off by loads of big jamming numbers — the Europe ’72 tour produced spectacular versions of “Dark Star,” “The Other One” “Playing in the Band,” “Truckin’,” “China Cat Sunflower” > “I Know You Rider,” “Good Lovin’,” “Lovelight” and even the early Pig chestnut “Caution.” And that’s leaving out a truckload of other tunes, too! There wasn’t a clunker show in the bunch, and many are acknowledged today as classics. No doubt you already have some favorites.

Through the years, there have been a few releases of material from the Europe tour—starting with the 3-album Europe ’72 which knocked our socks off in the fall of that year, and followed many years later by material from a pair of German shows and the fantastic 4-CD Stepping Out, culled from the group’s eight shows in England. Incredibly, though, only one full show from the tour has come out previously: the excellent 4/24 concert in Dusseldorf, Germany, released as Rockin’ the Rhein in 2004.

Until now, that is. Jeffrey Norman, who has been the primary mixer of Dead archival multi-track material for the past 15 years (Fillmore West ’69, Ladies and Gentlemen…, Rockin’ the Rhein, Nightfall of Diamonds, etc.) has spent many months toiling over the 16-track masters from the tour, and will continue working on the mixes through the Winter and Spring, employing the high-tech Plangent Processes transfer and restoration tools, trying to get every show to sound “just exactly perfect” (as Bob Weir says) for this release. You might think you’ve heard that intense “Dark Star” > “Sugar Mag” > “Caution” from Copenhagen, but I guarantee you’ve never heard it sound this alive! Mastering to HDCD specs is two-time Grammy-winning engineer David Glasser of Airshow Mastering. Needless to say, all the songs that turned up on previous Europe compilations will be appear in their proper show contexts, and in the case of songs from the Europe ’72 album, without overdubs that were added later (where possible).

So dig deep, raid the penny jar, take a weekend job at Jack-in-the-Box, beg your kindly ol’ grandma for some of your inheritance early… Yes, it’s an extravagance, but jeez, you (or your loved one) deserve it! This is way cool.

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14 years 1 month
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It's quite the coincidence! Make sure you get that lottery ticket with "7" and "2" as two of your numbers :)
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15 years 2 months
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My story is also a long road but with a happy ending! I like many out there waited too long when the box began to sell waiting to see what would happen. So soon after i kicked myself i purchased the all music edition which i figured thats all i need just to listen to it. So all this time went by for all of us and the boxes started shipping , then the all music editions were going out and i got nothing so i was wondering why. Then a pal of mine said he ordered his 1 week before they started shipping and received his all music edition and mine still nothing and i ordered mine early i was pissed!! I called for 2 weeks and was told each time that there was delays i told them about my friend they said he got lucky. So finally i called 1 last time and spoke with a great guy who told me my box had shipped out I thanked him and said finally!! So 4 days later ups shows up at the door with a huge box all taped up i was like what kind of box is this? I opened it up to find a brand new steamer trunk! I was blown away i called dead.net back and talked to the same great person again and he told me that i was 1 of 100 people who were upgraded for ordering early for orders that fell through!! After all the waiting,wondering the dead.net came through big time and i got lucky! So to all that have been taking a beating from the dead family for issues I thank you !!!!
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16 years 3 months
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One of my current favorite songs is from 5/7 Bickershaw: Good Lovin'. Pigpen was great here, I love this rap he gives. I love this whole show, China> Rider, Good Lovin', Dark Star> drums> The Other One> Sing Me Back Home, Sugar Magnolia, Turn On Your Lovelight. This whole tour was amazing. Thanks to "The Powers That Be" for getting this whole tour released.
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14 years 9 months
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Lets not forget Paris x2 and all 4 London shows. P.S. Happy New Year !
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16 years 3 months
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Dead.net started taking pre-orders for "Europe '72: The Complete Recordings"As bad luck would have it, GWS (GlobalWare Solutions), dead.net's commerce vendor & merchant of record, had some fowl-ups with their systems. It was very hard to place an order. Things eventually cleared up and the original deluxe edition sold out in less than four days...
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17 years 5 months
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It took me a while - probably longer than it should have done - but I have finally listened to this monster in its entirety. I can happily report 73 fully functioning, unscratched discs and 22 intact, untorn sleeves. In my opinion the whole thing was really well put together. The steamer trunk is great, the hardback book is superb and it is nice to have a copy of "The book of the Dead" at last. My only possible complaints concern the cardboard sleeves which are undoubtedly less than ideal, borne out by the evidence that the more ham-fisted among us have torn many of them, and the lack of additional goodies such as maps etc. That said, it is obvious that if the shows had come in "Digipaks" which are at least twice as thick as the card sleeves then the trunk would also have been twice the size which in turn would have increased the manufacturing and shipping costs. When this thing was first announced it was said to contain more than 60 discs whereas it finally contained 73 which again should have upped the price. As it was too late to do anything about the price, I guess they cut back on the extras to keep it within budget. Personally I find it preferable that the shows have been spread over extra discs to avoid ill-timed disc changes rather than including, say, a map of Europe.As regards the music itself (the whole point of the exercise) it is wondrous. There are no bad shows included merely for the purpose of completeness. Of course some shows are better than others, but there are no shows here that are not worthy of release. It could be said (and indeed it has been said) that there is not a whole lot of variation in the setlists, but that is probably the case in any run of 22 shows. I do not have a problem with 15 excellent versions of a fine song, and when it comes to epics such as "Dark star" the variation in the different renditions is astonishing. That I am fortunate enough to have this box and its wonderful contents makes me one happy man and I congratulate all those responsible for getting it to us. Having said all that, I am aware that some folks had major problems with ordering and receiving their boxes. This is not the first time that such problems have reared their ugly heads, but I hope that Rhino and Globalware have learned from their mistakes this time. As regards the best shows, I would place Rotterdam top of the list, with Amsterdam, Bickershaw, Paris (x2) and The Lyceum (x4) also being superb performances.
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Echoing Dedicated and Mike Edwards.... There's the steamer trunk full of CD's.....Spring is coming......40 years later....maybe this was the whole idea after all. Take your trunk on a road trip/river cruise/couch tour.....whatever. Paris in the Spring!
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I can't believe that Europe 72 wasn't even nominated for this category: "Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package." Bummer, I wonder why.
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12 years 9 months
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Not surprised. That music is 40 years old. Isn't the Emmy supposed to be for new music? I don't know. The GD is such a niche market that not gaining popular acclaim is hardly surprising. Digipaks for the masses.
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13 years 6 months
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Seeing as Emmy is for TV, um, no. But a Grammy would have been nice. Seriously, what limited edition package or box set could beat this? There's been a lot of griping, but I love toting my steamer trunk around the house by the handle. Feels like I'm going on a trip, and I am! In fact, I think I'll grab that thing right now and delve into Show #20 (the second of four Lyceum shows). It has taken me since September to reach this point on the tour. Maybe I have been savoring the box a little. Each show has so many moments of sublime musical goodness that I don't want to rush it. I'm still burned about the audio quality of the first 10 shows, but that doesn't mean I won't return to those over and over again.
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i'm very happy to know that somebody is enjoying to listen to the Europe 1972 Box. i'm not so lucky, because i'm still waiting for my box to arrive. i hope i didn't lose my money.
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13 years 4 months
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Is it just me or dose anybody else notice a high pitched screeching sound during El Paso? On the last show of the tour at the Lyceum????
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HazlenutsI do hear a slightly more pronounced hiss during El Paso, but it's not all that much. There is a guitar string breaking (Jerry?) and feedback after the song, before Dire Wolf ( at about 4:42 on the El Paso track.
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No it's not the string breaking it starts at the beginning of the song it sounds kinda like a high pitch ringing in the background . I've listened to many bootlegs with a lot of his and this dosen't sound like that maybe it's feedback from the microphone?
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No it's not the string breaking it starts at the beginning of the song it sounds kinda like a high pitch ringing in the background . I've listened to many bootlegs with a lot of his and this dosen't sound like that maybe it's feedback from the microphone?
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after more than 13 months of anxiety, dissapointment, rage, sorrow, pity, the whole gambit of emotions, my 10 replacement discs and 4 sleeves I requested back in Sep. of 11 have finally arrived. I didn't think that it would ever happen and I had given up hope that it ever would but Mr. Dunlop came thru and did what he said he would. Thank you. Am I happy, yes, am I sorry for all the ranting and bitching, no, because if it wasn't for that, I don't think this would ever have happened. Thanks to all who helped get these replacement discs to me. Now, lets check them to make sure they don't skip also. ps...does this get rhino off the hook in my book? no, but instead of definately won't buy it's now proubly won't buy, it's gonna have to be the holly grail of recordings, done the best way it can be done, using the best tapes and packaging and be a reasonable price, like Europe 72 per disc was about 6.50. And then, I'll still have to think about it hard. Love the Grateful Dead, rhino, not so much.
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Is there available for purchase? $450.00 edition?
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17 years 6 months
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these were all snapped up years ago, though you may find someone willing to part with theirs.
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I've been neck deep in this box for a month and its awesome. I'm pretty close to hearing the whole tour but have lost track to be honest. If I wanted to dig this deep into another batch of Dead that would represent the band's next step in their development after the 72 tour what would it be?