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Grateful Dead
Steppin' Out with the Grateful
Dead: England '72
(Arista)
First Appeared at The Music Box,
November 2002, Volume 9, #11
Written by John Metzger
The Grateful Dead’s 1972 tour of Europe is legendary. The band’s
prior jaunts across the Atlantic had been quick ones, but this undertaking was a working vacation
that found the group taking a leisurely stroll across the continent, absorbing the sites, and
turning in a series of epic performances. It’s no wonder, then, that Steppin’ Out with the
Grateful Dead marks the third collection of material from this two-month affair. The first was
Europe ’72, a polished, but powerful album that many purists decry
for its studio overdubs. The second was the two-disc compilation Hundred Year Hall, which
these same purists argue is less than satisfactory simply because it doesn’t contain a complete
show. (For the record, both of these albums are exquisite representations of the Grateful Dead at
its finest, and passing them by most certainly would be an unfortunate decision).
Nevertheless, for the definitive Europe ’72 recording, one need look no further than
the recently released Steppin’ Out with the Grateful Dead. This four-disc package compiles
music from seven of the Grateful Dead’s eight concerts in England, fusing the fragments together to
form a rather cohesive collection of monumental proportions. No doubt, the purists are crying foul
once again, but either taken as a single mammoth show or four individual sets, Steppin’ Out
succeeds brilliantly. All one needs to do is sit back and listen.
Pigpen fans, in particular, will have a blast pouring through the music on
Steppin’ Out. Though he was thin and frail — this was his final tour — one wouldn’t have known
it from the power of his performances on this set of songs. Indeed, where
Bear’s Choice felt flat in its tribute to the Grateful Dead’s first keyboardist, Steppin’
Out radiantly shines. Good Lovin’, Turn on Your Lovelight, and Caution (Do Not
Stop on Tracks) all basked in the sparkly glow of Pigpen’s improvisational raps. And, his wordy
rants only served to egg on the band, pushing the group further outward into its own unique brand of
blissful space. If Pigpen’s passionate vocals were the jet fuel, Jerry Garcia’s guitar was the
rocket ship, blasting straight through the center of each song’s heart with inexorable
incandescence.
In early 1972, there was something different in the air as well. The Grateful Dead
had already shifted from jug music to blues to folksy Americana, but it was about to embark in a
new, jazzier direction. Part of this transformation was due to Pigpen’s failing health, which
prompted the addition of keyboardist Keith Godchaux and his vocalist wife Donna. Then again, this
broadening of style could hardly be called a surprise, given Garcia had long been infatuated with
the music of John Coltrane and later Miles Davis. As Dark Star began to take on a slower,
more deliberate, jazz-fusion pace — like the version reproduced on Steppin’ Out — it
blossomed with even more potential than the rapid-speed early renditions. Though this metamorphosis
would not be complete for another year, the seeds had been planted: Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’
Bad embraced a looser, freer groove, the pairing of China Cat Sunflower and I Know You
Rider swung mightily, and Playin’ in the Band thrived in a more open-ended setting.
In addition, the members of the Grateful Dead were in the midst of their most
prolific period of songwriting. Tunes such as One More Saturday Night, Jack Straw,
Ramble On Rose, and Comes a Time had all found their way into the band’s sets just a few
months earlier, but it was the tour of Europe in 1972 that put them in perspective and allowed them
to come into their own. And there were plenty of relatively old favorites, too. Songs such as
Truckin’, The Other One, Sugar Magnolia, and Uncle John’s Band had begun to
take on fresh shapes and sizes, moving into a myriad of new directions — sometimes all at once.
For this reason, the Grateful Dead’s concerts from 1972 through 1974 are what many
consider to be the band at its best. Though it delivered many outstanding performances both before
and after this period, the group was never so consistent, its sets never so diverse, its music never
so exploratory. The 1972 European tour may have only been the beginning of this new endeavor, but
while listening to Steppin’ Out with the Grateful Dead, it’s hard to imagine any collection
of material to be any better at encompassing what the band was all about.
Steppin' Out with the Grateful Dead is available
from Amazon.com. To order, Click Here!
For Canadian orders, please
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For UK orders, please
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Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2002
The Music Box
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