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Terrapin Station
Grateful Dead
Arista Records, 1977
REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 09/17/1998
Any time I really need a spiritual or emotional lift, I can
always count on the Grateful Dead. They always seem to be able to
life me out of any funk I am in, or they can make a smile that's on
my face that much wider.
Funny thing is, their 1977 release
Terrapin Station didn't always have that effect on me. The
first time I heard it, I had picked up an old beat-up record for 50
cents at the used record store I frequented. Listening to it, I
wondered, "What the hell did they do to 'Dancin' In The Street'?" I
filed the record away for a long time.
But then, something happened: I became a Deadhead, and found
myself updating everything to CD. I had also heard some tapes of
shows, with songs like "Estimated Prophet" ringing through loud and
clear. So, over to Best Buy I went, and picked up
Terrapin Station again. While I can understand how some
people don't like portions of this album (for it's not their best
work), it also contains some of the band's most beautiful work.
Surprisingly, Jerry Garcia is almost completely absent in the
vocal department on this album; he only steps up to the microphone
once as the lead vocalist, and that's on the title track. For the
most part, rhythm guitarist Bob Weir handles the vocals here, and
handles them well. (Donna Godchaux takes over control of the
microphone on "Sunrise", possibly the weakest song on the album.
I've just never warmed up to this track, even after all these
years.)
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