Europe '72 is a live triple album by the Grateful Dead, released in November 1972. It is the band's third live album and their eighth album overall. It covers the band's tour of Western Europe in April and May that year, and showcases live favourites, extended improvisations and several new songs including "Jack Straw" and "Brown Eyed Women". The album was the first to include pianist Keith Godchaux and his wife, vocalist Donna Jean Godchaux, and the last to feature founding member Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, who died shortly after its release.
The European tour was expensive and logistically complicated, and the band's record company hoped that a live album would recoup its costs. Consequently, the entire tour was recorded, with highlights making it onto the final release. Europe '72 is one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed albums by the Dead. It was one of the first triple-record rock albums to be certified gold by RIAA; the album has since been certified double platinum. A second volume was released in 2011, in conjunction with the release of the entire 22-date tour as Europe '72: The Complete Recordings. (Full article...)