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Thread: Grateful Dead Europe 72 (LP 3) Modal Galore

  1. #1

    Grateful Dead Europe 72 (LP 3) Modal Galore

    I am a decent Dead Head , but haven't listened in a while to one of their records and while listening recently to Europe 72 and was really surprised by the 3rd record which is a brilliant exercise in modal improvisation. While the first two LPs are more song based the last one starts with Truckin as a foil and moves into uncharted territory until coming back at the end into Morning Dew. This twenty minute long improvisation is one of the best in the realm of rock improvisation I've heard for a long time ( and among the Dead records I know) It's rhythmically and harmonically really challenging with a "real" direction in opposition to a lot of unnecessary noodling. I would be interested in recommendations of Modal Dead. (one of my favorite ones is 'Blues For Allah' )
    Dieter Moebius : "Art people like things they don’t understand!"

  2. #2
    Member chalkpie's Avatar
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    I love this record, and agree with the improv aspect.

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by alucard View Post
    I am a decent Dead Head , but haven't listened in a while to one of their records and while listening recently to Europe 72 and was really surprised by the 3rd record which is a brilliant exercise in modal improvisation. While the first two LPs are more song based the last one starts with Truckin as a foil and moves into uncharted territory until coming back at the end into Morning Dew. This twenty minute long improvisation is one of the best in the realm of rock improvisation I've heard for a long time ( and among the Dead records I know)
    Actually, there's a long stretch of music between the end of side five and the beginning of side six that got edited out. If I remember correctly, the full suite was actually something like Truckin'/The Other One/Morning Dew/The Other One/Sing Me Back Home. I guess they cut The Other One segments because they had used a version of The Other One on Skullfuck, which was the album that immediately preceded this one, with it probably being decided that Morning Dew was a good song to end the album on.


    I would be interested in recommendations of Modal Dead. (one of my favorite ones is 'Blues For Allah' )
    Well, I'm still I"m not sure what "modal" means, in the context of improvisation, but if you run a search on Grateful Dead threads (usually posted in the Off Topic forum), you'll see my very long winded lists of what I think are the best Dead shows. In short, pretty much every show from the Europe '72 tour through to the end of 74 had great examples of the Dead's improvising skills (as do many shows from 68-70).

    If you're looking for official releases, here's a few that I like best:
    The Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack
    Dick's Picks Vol. 4, 7, 11, 12, 14, 16, 19, 22, 24, 26, 28, 31, 36
    Road Trips Vol. 2 No. 4
    Hundred Year Hall (there's a CD release of the full show, but if you can find this title, it has the big improv)
    Steppin' Out With The Grateful Dead
    Sunshine Daydream (concert film shot in August of 1972, but only released on DVD just a few years ago)

    There's probably a bunch of official releases recently, I've kind of lost track of what they were putting out a decade ago, when this whole limited edition business started, but I imagine anything they've put out from the April 72-October 74 time frame rocks.

    Be also on the look out for the following shows, the improv bits of which were inexplicably left off the official releases:
    2/15/73
    9/11/74
    10/16/74
    10/18/74 (a sizeable chunk of the second set from this show appears on the Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack, and the Morning Dew is in the movie proper, but they've still never released the opening portion of the set, with Phil Lesh and Ned Lagin doing their nightly Seastones performance, which then segued into a full band performance.

    And if you like Blues For Allah you should seek the 3/23/75 SNACK benefit performance at Kezar Stadium. This was a big multi band benefit concert, broadcast on the radio. The Dead's set consists of a 30 minute instrumental, comprising musical themes that would eventually surface in the form of Blues For Allah itself and King Solomon's Marbles. At this stage, though, it's just one big instrumental, with lots of improvisations, and no vocals (which means no Donna, in case you're considered about such things), and with the addition of both Merl Saunders and Ned Lagin on keyboards (unfortunately, Lagin only plays Fender Rhodes, so no spacey synth playing like he did on the Sumer and October 74 shows).

  4. #4
    Thanx for your suggestions. I'll try out. As for the modal impros. You can improvise over chord changes, which was/is the standard in jazz and rock but you are bound to the scale material of the chords linked to the theme, standards etc. Miles Davis was one of the first who started improving using scales (modes) as basic material. Flamenco Sketches is one of the famous compositions without a theme and only scales. This allows much more freedom in terms of impro material even so you are still bound to traditional harmonie. As for GDI think the influence of Phil Lesh was quite strong, as he was a classical trained musician and could guide theoretically the others. Quite fascinating when they are coming closer and drift apart again.

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