Completely Conspicuous 518: Terrapin Station

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's 1977 album Terrapin Station.

Show notes:

- Recorded at CompCon world HQ

- The Dead's 9th studio album

- Band had signed with Clive Davis and Arista

- Album was produced by Keith Olsen, later known for slick AOR albums by Eddie Money, Rick Springfield, REO Speedwagon, Heart

- Phil: Would get a tattoo of the Terrapin cover

- Cover of "Dancing in the Streets" is pretty lame

- Live, the cover turns into a long jam (duh)

- Donna Godchaux was featured a lot on this record

- Side 2 is an side-long suite written by Hunter and Garcia

- Band didn't tour for this album after Mickey Hart got in a car accident

- The tour before this album was legendary for Dead fans

- Tried songs out live before they made it to studio recordings

- Side 1 closes out with a Donna G. song that sounds nothing like anything else the Dead has done

- The Godchaux marriage was splitting up while they were in the band

- Olsen erased Hart's drums on one song and replaced them with strings

- Lyrics on Terrapin Station are pretty dense

- Relatively short album for the Dead at 35 minutes

- Phil: These songs got better in the live setting

- Jay: A lot of filler on side 2

- Album feels like a contractual obligation

- Dead & Co. plays part of the title suite now

- Phil: Not a John Mayer fan, but he's a good guitarist

- Jay: Not a fan of this album

- Next: Cornell 5/8/77

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The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.