It's a real shame that Pig's contribution to the GD was prematurely curtailed, not least because, as an instrumentalist, he had seemed to have found his feet a little towards the end of his performing career and, IMHO, the Dead missed his simple but soulful organ work after that. with the arrival of Keith in late '71, Pig perhaps feel a certain level of comfort in playing Hammond on most tracks, knowing that he has an accomplished colleague covering complex parts on the piano most songs through the end of the Europe '72 tour feature his playing in some small part, even including more complex songs, such as Looks Like Rain. tracks like Truckin', Me & My Uncle etc.) more playing in '71, though still mostly focussing in the "easy" stuff (eg. TC left in early 1970, but Pig still doesn't play on all but the most simple of material (a dent in confidence, perhaps?) on Live/Dead, but you'd struggle to find evidence of his playing on most other '69 shows) with only one organ on stage at most gigs in any event, there's literally no instrument for him to play, bar congas with TC's arrival in '69, Pig stopped playing keyboards almost completely (he's credited with playing on Death Don't. a switch to Hammond in '68 and still a strong presence (listen to Two From The Vaults for proof) Pig's keyboard career with the Dead has a very obvious trajectory: The Other One and Dark Star) where he notably sat out those and the China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider medley, which I don't think he ever played on, from its birth in late 1969. A listen to any of the raw two-track tapes from this tour show him to be adding simple but effective Hammond B3 work behind most of the material - really, it was only the lengthy jam songs (ie. Click to expand.The Europe '72 tour represents a high-water mark for the Dead on many counts but, for me, it also reveals a really strong period for Pigpen on a number of levels, not least his keyboard playing.
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