Grateful Dead: Shakedown Street (1978)

 

In the late ’70s the Dead were a machine. Less than a year after Terrapin Station came out the band was back at it, this time with Lowell George at the helm. As he wasn’t really a producer, it’s still a bit of a head scratcher. 

One of the odd trends with the first three Arista albums was to resurrect some cover that they played in the beginning, and update it on record. The previous album saw “Dancin’ In The Streets” get a disco makeover while this album sees Bob Weir take on “Good Lovin” and he does a decent job but that was a Pigpen showstopper. This version is a bit limp in comparison, but was still strong enough to release as a single. 

“France” follows and holds the rare distinction of being the closest to yacht rock that the Dead ever got, and was one of the few Dead songs to never be performed live. Sung in tandem by Weir and Donna, this features some cool detours and is one of the band’s most underrated songs. 

Also underrated, and often misunderstood, the title track is not really “Disco Dead”, even if it has that kind of vibe (it perfectly suits Hunter’s killer lyric). It is, however, one of the Dead’s coolest live jams and this slick take is an instant mood lifter. 

“Serengeti” is a bit of percussion from the Rhythm Devils that leads into “Fire On The Mountain”. While often considered to be a classic, I have never gotten into it all that much (even though there are many amazing "Scarlet > Fires" out there). This version serves the song well. 

Weir offers up the propulsive “I Need A Miracle”, which went on to be a killer live number (and one that worked as a first set opener, or the return from Space). This ended up kinda backfiring when the title became a catchphrase for all the ticketless fans that would increasingly clog up the scene. 

Donna’s second solo offering, “From The Heart Of Me” is nowhere near as good as her earlier effort but that’s okay because we soon get “Stagger Lee”, which is Garcia & Hunter’s fantastic retelling of that old folk tale. 

A second early cover song gets revived with “All New Minglewood Blues” (30+ years on the bus and I am still on the fence as to which one is better). 

Closing it out is Jerry’s exquisite “If I Had The World To Give”, a deceptively complex, beautiful love song that owes quite a bit to the Beatles. Unfortunately, this song never translated on stage and it was abandoned after three airings. Which is just as well, this version could not be improved upon. 

So yeah, the Arista albums may have been a bit weird, and this may be light years away from American Beauty, but this is still the Grateful Dead, and it still has some pretty fantastic moments.