Our Deadcast season finale explores how the Grateful Dead crafted 73 hours of tape into the sparkling triple-LP Europe ‘72, commissioned iconic cover art, spawned several new businesses, created a global impact, & eventually built a groundbreaking box set four decades later.
Europe ‘72: Epilogue supplementary notes
by Jesse Jarnow
Though Jerry Garcia was back onstage with Merl Saunders and friends in San Francisco by June 3rd, 1972, the Grateful Dead had six weeks off from performing following their return from two months in Europe, give or take a high-profile gig at the Hollywood Bowl. Garcia, at least, caught one the first shows of the Rolling Stones’ U.S. ‘72 tour, at Winterland on the afternoon of June 6th.
Over the next few months, the band would turn some 73 hours of tape into a triple-LP set, to be released in the fall. First, they bounced tour highlights down to a set of sub-reels, to determine which performances would be polished for album inclusion. A complete list of sub-reels is below. Listen to a playlist of the album semi-finalists here. In July and August, the band spent time overdubbing vocals and a few selected other parts, with the dates assembled below.
Oteil Burbridge is, of course, the bassist in Dead & Co. With Mike Finoia, he co-hosts the Comes A Time podcast, who recently had Rich & Jesse as guests.
Guest Bill Giles is the keyboardist in the Grateful Dudes, who will be staging their Playing on the Farm mini-festival this July.
Erik Davis is the author of High Weirdness: Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies, and publishes the Burning Shore newsletter.
TOUR-END MIXES
* - used on Europe ‘72
SUB REEL #1
Cumberland Blues
8 April - Empire Pool*
Mr. Charlie
17 April - Tivolis Koncertsal
23 May - Lyceum Ballroom*
26 May - Lyceum Ballroom
One More Saturday Night
17 April - Tivolis Koncertsal
18 May - Kongresssaal
26 May - Lyceum Ballroom*
SUB REEL #2
Yellow Dog Joke
8 April - Empire Pool
Brown Eyed Women
8 April - Empire Pool
14 April - Tivolis Koncertsal*
Tennessee Jed
8 April - Empire Pool
3 May - L’Olympia*
10 May - Concertgebouw
Next Time You See Me
4 May - L’Olympia
SUB REEL #3
Beat It On Down the Line
3 May - L’Olympia
16 May - Concert Hall, Villa Louvigny
18 May - Kongresssaal
He’s Gone
10 May - Concertgebouw*
23 May - Lyceum Ballroom
Chinatown Shuffle
24 May - Lyceum Ballroom
26 May - Lyceum Ballroom
The Stranger (Two Souls in Communion)
26 May - Lyceum Ballroom
SUB REEL #4
China Cat Sunflower/I Know You Rider
17 April - Tivolis Koncertsal
29 April - Musikhalle
3 May - L’Olympia*
SUB REEL #5
China Cat Sunflower/I Know You Rider
16 May - Concert Hall, Villa Louvigny
23 May - Lyceum Ballroom
26 May - Lyceum Ballroom
SUB REEL #6
It Hurts Me Too
17 April - Tivolis Koncertsal
3 May - L’Olympia
24 May - Lyceum Ballroom*
El Paso
11 May - Grote Zaal De Doelen
26 May - Lyceum Ballroom
You Win Again
24 May - Lyceum Ballroom*
SUB REEL #7
Ramble On Rose
14 April - Tivolis Koncertsal
4 May - L’Olympia
10 May - Concertgebouw
18 May - Kongresssaal
26 May - Lyceum Ballroom*
SUB REEL #8
Jack Straw
26 April - Jahrhunderthalle
3 May - L’Olympia*
11 May - Grote Zaal De Doelen
23 May - Lyceum Ballroom
Comes A Time
26 April - Jahrhunderthalle
23 May - Lyceum Ballroom
SUB REEL #9
Sing Me Back Home
4 May - L’Olympia
18 May - Kongresssaal
26 May - Lyceum Ballroom
SUB REEL #10
Sugar Magnolia
4 May - L’Olympia*
11 May - Grote Zaal De Doelen
18 May - Kongresssaal
Truckin’
3 May - L’Olympia
Europe ‘72 overdub session dates
July 3rd
“Cumberland Blues” - Garcia, vocals.
July 5th
“Ramble On Rose” - Garcia, Lesh, Weir vocals
July 6th
“He’s Gone” - Garcia, Lesh, Weir, D. Godchaux vocals.
July 7th
“He’s Gone” - K. Godchaux, piano.
“Ramble On Rose” - K. Godchaux, piano.
“Jack Straw” - Weir, guitar.
July 10th
“Beat It On Down the Line” - Garcia, Weir, Lesh vocals.
“He’s Gone” - Garcia, Lesh, Weir, D. Godchaux vocals; Weir, guitar.
“Jack Straw” - Weir, guitar
July 11th
“Brown-Eyed Women” - Garcia, Lesh vocals.
“Tennessee Jed” - Garcia, Weir, Lesh vocals.
“El Paso” - Garcia, Weir, Lesh vocals.
July 12th
“Ramble On Rose” - Garcia, Lesh, Weir, D. Godchaux vocals.
“Jack Straw” - Garcia, Lesh, Weir vocals.
“El Paso” - Garcia, Weir, Lesh vocals.
July 13th
“China Cat Sunflower/I Know You Rider” - Garcia, Weir, Lesh vocals.
July 31st
“Cumberland Blues” - Garcia, Weir, Lesh vocals.
“Truckin” - Garcia, Weir, Lesh vocals.
August 1st
“One More Saturday Night” - Weir, vocals.
“El Paso” - Weir, vocals.
August 2nd
“He’s Gone” - Garcia, Lesh, Weir, D. Godchaux vocals.
“El Paso” - K. Godchaux, piano.
August 3rd
“One More Saturday Night” - Garcia, Lesh, D. Godchaux vocals.
“El Paso” - K. Godchaux, piano.
August 4th
“Sugar Magnolia” - Garcia, Weir, Lesh vocals; Weir, guitar.
August 7th
“Sugar Magnolia” - Garcia, Weir, Lesh vocals.
“Jack Straw” - Garcia, Weir, Lesh vocals
August 8th
“Sugar Magnolia” - Weir, D. Godchaux vocals; unknown, maracas/scratcher.
“One More Saturday Night” - K. Godchaux, piano.
“China Cat Sunflower” - Garcia, vocals.
August 14th
“Mr. Charlie” - mixing only
August 30th
“It Hurts Me Too” - K. Godchaux, piano.
September 1st
“Morning Dew” - Garcia, vocals.
Comment
Thanks
Thank you so much for putting out this season on Europe '72. The quality of the production and the information was excellent. It was really fun to listen to and relate to my experience of the record when it came out in the fall of my freshman year in college. I had been playing guitar for 10 years by that time, and my friends and I learned many of those songs and played them a lot in various configurations (still do). We used to get up close at concert to figure out what Jerry and Bob were doing- because there was no YouTube- Bob's playing in particular was a mystery- because he played so unconventionally for a rhythm player. But we picked up a lot.
I am among those who feel this was the band's peak, which was expressed by people on the podcast (like Oteil in this last episode). Really for me it's 1970-74, but everyone has their favorite time. I just like the energy they played with then- they rocked and they swung. The new songs and covers were great- I don't think Jerry and Hunter ever had a more fruitful time- nor did the band- in just a few year period they produced Workingman's, American Beauty, Skull and Roses, Garcia, Ace and Europe '72. Not to mention (and this is worthy of its own podcast) what Jerry was doing as a musician at the time: Full-time mega output with the Dead, learns pedal steel (!!!) and co-founds the New Riders, starts the Garcia Band with Merle Saunders, and starts Old and In The Way, playing banjo. Oh, and he played every instrument on 'Garcia' except drums. I think the podcast does a good job of talking about some of this- but really, with all the other interesting things to talk about with Garcia, as well as all the 60's cultural icon noise, his sheer musical genius is overlooked. This is definitely true in the music scene, where some people can't get past the Dead Head hippie cliche and really see what the band was doing. And what Jerry was doing.
Another thank you for documenting the development of Alembic and all the other sound and light innovations the band was responsible for, again for which they get almost no credit. And thanks for the part which featured Rick Turner talking about his development as a luthier and his work on the Alligator Strat guitar. (So I guess when you play one of the most killer steel guitar parts ever recorded for a friend's record, you get a very cool guitar!)
My only (slight) criticism of the season would be I think one play-by-play on Dark Star was enough. There wasn't much new insight after awhile.
Again thanks so much you guys for putting this out there- I really appreciate it and turned a lot of people on to it.
Varispeed?
Fantastic season—truly amazing from top to bottom. The Bickershaw episode, in particular, had a Studs Terkel vibe to it. Good shit.
One question I had about the studio-sweetened elements of the released album wasn't addressed in the Epilogue episode and I'm hoping someone could clue me in—what was the rationale behind using varispeed to raise the pitch on certain cuts (Cumberland is a conspicuous example)?
Cheers! Looking forward to the next season.
Fantastic season—truly amazing from top to bottom. The Bickershaw episode, in particular, had a Studs Terkel vibe to it. Good shit.
One question I had about the studio-sweetened elements of the released album wasn't addressed in the Epilogue episode and I'm hoping someone could clue me in—what was the rationale behind using varispeed to raise the pitch on certain cuts (Cumberland is a conspicuous example)?
Cheers! Looking forward to the next season.
Thank you so much for putting out this season on Europe '72. The quality of the production and the information was excellent. It was really fun to listen to and relate to my experience of the record when it came out in the fall of my freshman year in college. I had been playing guitar for 10 years by that time, and my friends and I learned many of those songs and played them a lot in various configurations (still do). We used to get up close at concert to figure out what Jerry and Bob were doing- because there was no YouTube- Bob's playing in particular was a mystery- because he played so unconventionally for a rhythm player. But we picked up a lot.
I am among those who feel this was the band's peak, which was expressed by people on the podcast (like Oteil in this last episode). Really for me it's 1970-74, but everyone has their favorite time. I just like the energy they played with then- they rocked and they swung. The new songs and covers were great- I don't think Jerry and Hunter ever had a more fruitful time- nor did the band- in just a few year period they produced Workingman's, American Beauty, Skull and Roses, Garcia, Ace and Europe '72. Not to mention (and this is worthy of its own podcast) what Jerry was doing as a musician at the time: Full-time mega output with the Dead, learns pedal steel (!!!) and co-founds the New Riders, starts the Garcia Band with Merle Saunders, and starts Old and In The Way, playing banjo. Oh, and he played every instrument on 'Garcia' except drums. I think the podcast does a good job of talking about some of this- but really, with all the other interesting things to talk about with Garcia, as well as all the 60's cultural icon noise, his sheer musical genius is overlooked. This is definitely true in the music scene, where some people can't get past the Dead Head hippie cliche and really see what the band was doing. And what Jerry was doing.
Another thank you for documenting the development of Alembic and all the other sound and light innovations the band was responsible for, again for which they get almost no credit. And thanks for the part which featured Rick Turner talking about his development as a luthier and his work on the Alligator Strat guitar. (So I guess when you play one of the most killer steel guitar parts ever recorded for a friend's record, you get a very cool guitar!)
My only (slight) criticism of the season would be I think one play-by-play on Dark Star was enough. There wasn't much new insight after awhile.
Again thanks so much you guys for putting this out there- I really appreciate it and turned a lot of people on to it.