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(More customer reviews)Apparently '72 was a mighty good year for the Dead. Not only did they follow the success of 1971's excellent Live album with this compilation of their European tour but they also produced the recent English tour collection. Although there have been accusations of too much cleaning up and editing, these are live recordings and personally I'm not sure what value there is in feedback and misdirection. These musicians usually planned such experiments. Be that as it may, this is among the best of the early Dead. Garcia and company are at the top of their game--a spectacular game it is. There's a lot of music here--blues, breakdowns, ballads. The disc begins with a fabulous rendition of "Cumberland Blues"--a real mountain breakdown with tight interplay between Garcia, Weir, and Lesh. Garcia's solo work is concise and accurate and it shows what he could do when he was focused and functional. "He's Gone" is a stately elegy, with good lyrics and a nice Garcia solo. "One More Saturday Night" the band recalls apprentice gigs at places like the National Guard Armory in Redwood City, California, where they played when they weren't supporting Kesey's Acid Tests. (With cardboard tombstones hand-painted with powdered tempura paints attached to their amplifiers, they played for folks to dance.) Listen to Hunter's lyrics on this song. He learned the narrative lyrical compression from Chuck Berry, and Jerry learned the chording and rock licks from the same place. This is a great song. "Jack Straw," a rambling, gambling, railroad traveling song could be the band's anthem: "We used to play for silver/Now we play for life." Nice Garcia leads driven by Kreutzmann's drums. Hank William's "You Win Again" showcases essential country roots, where Garcia exhibits his mastery of native guitar forms. The "China Cat Sunflower" on this album is among my favorites with fluid improvisational lines and coherent solos that showcase Garcia at his most articulate. "China Cat" segues into "I Know You Rider," a take on "Easy Rider" that extends Garcia's solo into a virtuoso performance of improvisational counterpoint. "Brown Eyed Women" continues Hunter's to the tradition of unfortunate rake songs--"Brown-eyed women and red grenadine/The bottle was dusty, but the liquor was clean." Again, the lead guitar provides lyrical interludes for the narrative of personal and social deterioration. "Hurts Me Too" shows that the Dead could play a real blues. "Ramble on Rose" is a slow shuffle with nice picking and enigmatic lyrics in which Hunter offers infinite possibilities for defining Rose. "Sugar Magnolia/Sunshine Daydream" is more descriptive of a relationship between musician and muse--a Southern belle incarnating southern music. Again Garcia's solos are logical and coherent and the band weaves its magic web of counterpoint. Pigpen follows with his "Mr. Charlie," based on Chicago blues. The theme for the balance of the album is rambling. The disc follows a great version of "Tennessee Jed" with an extended "Truckin'" (the real band anthem). In "Tennessee Jed" Keith Godchaux' piano and Lesh's bass underpin Garcia's lengthy solo to good effect. And this may be the definitive "Truckin'." At thirteen minutes, there's ample time to explore the possibilities of the song. Everything's playing as the long ensemble riffs evolve into a Dead improvisational jam. I suggest that this may be the definitive "Truckin'" because it is coherent, lucid, and harmonically inventive--the Garcia, Lesh, Godchaux, Kreutzmann quartet in particular. There are musical epiphanies here that extend into the track called "Epilogue." The "Prelude" experiments with sonic textures, harmonies, and intervals. The program concludes with a gentle "Morning Dew" a soulful vocal performance incorporating sensitive guitar and bass lines. Garcia's final solo is a fitting conclusion to an outstanding collection of music.
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