Published on Oct 27, 2003
There is no doubt that the European tour the Grateful Dead
undertook in 1972 was a magical one. If anyone has ever listened to
any of the full shows from this period, you do have to admit there
was a feeling that something special was happening.
Yet one has to wonder how many times Deadheads have to be
reminded of this. After all, two previous releases –
Europe ’72 and
Hundred Year Hall – both were released to serve as audio
keepsakes. Now, just in case you haven’t figured it out yet, the
powers that be have issued
Steppin’ Out With The Grateful Dead, a four-CD set covering
a series of shows recorded in England on this same tour.
It’s the most comprehensive set to capture this period of the
Dead’s history. Unfortunately, it’s also the most bloated.
During what was essentially the final tour for founding
keyboardist Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, this set turns quite a bit of
attention to times when McKernan stepped into the limelight and led
the band through blues-soaked jams. At times, the moments captured
are something special, as heard on “Chinatown Shuffle” and “The
Stranger (Two Souls In Communion)” – but when McKernan is given
free reign and the jams stretch longer and longer, the weaker the
performances tend to be. Granted, I’ve never considered myself to
be in the “Pigpen” camp when it comes to favoring a specific
keyboardist in the Dead’s history, but I can’t justify 20 minutes
of “Good Lovin’,” when over half of that is sheer ad-lib
padding.
To be fair, though, not every one of the jams in general
succeeds either. The version of “Dark Star” captured on this set
isn’t one of the best I’ve heard, veering too far into the left
lane of improvisation and moving completely away from the core of
the song. This isn’t to say the Dead couldn’t do this successfully
– listen to the version on
Live/Dead to hear how it could be done right – but this one
is particularly tough to sit through.
If anything, the first two discs of
Steppin’ Out With The Grateful Dead are the ones which make
you wonder what the purpose of releasing these was. With the
exception of a rare live version of “Sitting On Top Of The World”
and “Comes A Time,” the bulk of this material has already been
nailed down successfully on albums like
Europe ’72 and
Grateful Dead (noting the latter wasn’t from the Europe
tour).
The third disc is where things make a major turn for the better,
capturing some solid kinetic energy on the pastiche of songs kicked
off with “Truckin'”. Had the set started here (or at least had a
good amount of the first two discs pruned away), this set would be
nearly flawless.
Yet no matter how good some of these performances are – one
tends to forget just how good of a guitarist Jerry Garcia really
was, or how McKernan and his replacement Keith Godcheaux could gel
together in performance – this set finds itself in the shadow of
Europe ’72. Maybe that’s an unfair comparison, looking 30
years between releases, but it is one whose head keeps popping up.
For the newcomer to the Dead, this set may overwhelm them,
especially if they’re not schooled in the spacey jams the Dead
became known for. I regrettably find myself filing this as one for
the diehards only – and even there, it might not see much action
off of the shelves.