Europe 72

Expanded & remastered in HDCD, this reissue of 1972 live album includes seven bonus tracks, 'The Stranger (Two Souls In Communion)', 'Looks Like Rain', 'Good Lovin', 'Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks)', 'Who Do You Love?', 'Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks)' & 'Good Lovin'. Featuring some of Jerry Garcia's last-ever pedal steel guitar playing with the Grateful Dead. Includes expanded booklet as well with rare photos & all-new liner notes, packaged in double gatefold Digipak. Warner/Rhino. 2003.

This sprawling three-records-on-two-CDs set offers a healthy cross-section of material and finds the band honing even further its blend of musical languages. There are country-inflected boogies, blues rave-ups, passionate ballads, and, of course, the extended, adventurous jams that made them famous. Many of the Dead's best-loved tunes made their initial vinyl appearances here, including "He's Gone," "Jack Straw," "Brown-Eyed Women," "Ramble on Rose," and "Tennessee Jed"--most of which reveal a heavy country influence, especially in Robert Hunter's lyrics. In addition to introducing these new songs, Europe '72 also showcases brilliantly fine-tuned versions of "Truckin'" (complete with a lengthy "Epilogue") and "China Cat Sunflower/I Know You Rider," which became the first of the band's many magical song combinations. --Marc Greilsamer