"Europe 72" - Volume Two - Review

I have had this set for about a week and I go back and forth on it. I loved "Europe 72" ,it turned me on to the Dead, back in the day. I have the '03 Rhino remastering of it, as I have gone from 2 sets of LPs in the Seventies, to a Cassette version, then to 2 versions on Compact Disc, the original in '91 and also the remaster by Rhino (which is done in HDCD),which I love , both CD versions are very good, but Rhinos' really opens it up and you can just hear everything in the recording,also,it is tonally exquisite.

  This Volume Two was a great idea, but I find the sound quality a bit disappointing at times, especially for Rhino, but most people who are used to mp3s will not notice anything, Digital recording has set new standards for what and how folk listen to stuff. There is some distortion in places, I find listening to it on a regular CD Deck as opposed to a HDCD deck makes it sound better. There are some very good performances on here, a great version of "Greatest Story Ever Told", an inspiring "Sing Me Back Home" (Haggard) with some pretty harmonies on it, even Donna Jean sounds good on this song. I find that Disc Two has a deeper tonal quality to it. Also it ends with a very good rendering of "Not Fade Away- Going Down the Road Feeling Bad". This is a good companion for the original Europe 72, no songs repeated. It is culled from the 73 disc remix/remaster of the whole Spring Grateful Dead Tour, which covers 22 shows, in 73 Discs. I have not heard any of those, so hopefully there are no sound problems with that box set which you can still get from dead.net for $450.  

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