Customer Reviews

Terrapin Station

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ok, it's hold my hands up time.
I've had an absolute field day on these reviews pages at the expense of the Dead (and others!) in general, and 'hippy types' in particular.
I've penned reams about faded loons, floral shirts, 10 minute mellotron solos, and, my particular favourite, the enjoyably ubiquitous centre-parting.

I suppose it's my inadequate way of coming to terms with the fact that I've been immersed in an art form that's completely alien to me. I've sneered, scoffed and chortled my way round some strange, intoxicating music, which I've usually grudgingly acknowledged, while at the same time, sarcastically pointing out every fallibility I can find. In short, I've stretched a point to breaking, with no other justification than narky inexperience.
Well that ends here.

My latest stop is 'Terrapin Station' and it's MAGNIFICENT on every level. A devastating mix of funk, rock and reggae, from the steely opening chords of 'Estimated Prophet' to the jumping climax of the 16 minute 'Terrapin Station pt1,' we're on a winner in a big way.
There's lyrical and melodic strength that's joyous and delightful, there's serious cohesion (my favourite rock term), clarity, and huge swathes of justified confidence. Justified because The Dead are on some kind of creative summit here-and don't they know it. The swagger is unmistakable. Each exquisitely crafted hook, each spray of feisty brass, every huge orchestral sweep is definite indication of a group on fire.

Despite the dodgy labeling, this is almost pure pop. It has a funny kind of sisterhood with Captain Sensible's album 'Revolution Now', in that its surface sheen and pomp is (incredibly!) just the bait that draws you in, ultimately to discover the width and depth of what lies beneath. A clear sign of inner richness.

The scope and aspiration of 'Terrapin Station' is breathtaking and immense. It has subtleties and intricacies that other lesser, workmanlike musics can only dream of - and it's sustained. It applies pressure in the first 5 seconds and never let's up; relentless, whirling rock music which is appealing well beyond a delirious few listens, and has a resonance and resolve which is unshakeable.

As with all truly great music, it's profoundly influential, good and bad. The obvious offspring are the likes of Chic and the stomping Brothers Johnson. Unfortunately the lineage ends somewhere around those mortifying uglies, Level 42, but it does illustrate that even the most hopeless cruds can't be ALL bad, if they're trying to emulate 'Terrapin Station'.

A truer album you won't hear. It's full, across the board solid. Alert, soulful and downright FUN.
I'm not even gonna whine about the awful (again!) cover art (I can still smell nappies when I think of 'Blues for Allah'), because for once, the ludicrous details which I normally cheekily celebrate, are unimportant.
And I've even jettisoned a slew of train jokes in favour of breathless positivism, such is the chill-inducing, magical beauty of 'Terrapin Station'.
I'm glad I'm alive.

Speaking strictly as a recent person recently introduced to the Grateful Dead,hearing their post 1972 studio albums (especially as I am by way of Grateful Dead: Beyond Description (1973-1989)) really brings to the forefront how there ended up being a whole lot more to the bands sound then a mere San Fransisco psychedelic jam band from the 60's.The 70's offered up a number of new musical forms for rock to draw from in general,everything from fusion to reggae to funk and soul.On a series of albums on the own self titled label all of these styles worked their way around the bands overall sound culminating in a masterpiece called Blues for Allah in 1975. A year or two later the Dead took their label to Arista and created an all new masterpiece.As if they were expected to they easily equalled (if not topped) the previous album in terms of innovation.Again the main thrust of the is funk,and hard funk for that."Estimated Prophet" has a hefty,kicking groove that for this point really knows where it's going.A similarly high octane "Dancin' In The Streets" has the same effect;it cannot beat the orginal of course (NO ONE can) but they create their own excellent interpretation."Passenger" and "Samson & Delilah) find a harder rock and lightly reggae/caribbean influence on a traditional arrangement.Donna Godchaux gets her own song here in the etheral,folksy "Sunrise",the one thing on this albums that assures the music's deep San Francisco "hippie" backround. The 16+ minute title suite is a masterpiece of itself,not so much a jam but a series of flowing compositions (not quite a rock opera) that include the Martyn Ford Orchestra and the English Choral adding a surreal kind of backround to the songs which explore this heavy funk/rock/fusion kind of groove all the way through. The bonus tracks,again a series of groove oriented outtakes are very good but all pale in comparasin to the superb album you get here in the first place. For all their accomplishments musically throughout their career the Greatful Dead got little more then a musical write off for their trouble:that being they become the poster children for the stoner jam band. But much as with bands like the Dave Matthews Band today (whose new CD Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King owes an awful lot to albums like this one) they have created a unique musical legacy all their own and despite the assersion of Dead Heads that they are better live their studio recordings should (and now probably do) stand in a much higher place in the relm of popular music.

This album has always presented certain problems for Deadheads and the band alike. It was the first in a decade to be produced by an outside producer Keith Olson. In fact, this was recorded at his studio in Van Nuys, California. He had just produced the album Fleetwood Mac which was that band's first big hit album. This was the Dead's first for new label Arista and it was clear everyone wanted a hit. The band had interviewed a number of outside producers before Keith Olsen. Keith produced audiophile albums unlike most of what had been put out by the Dead up to this point. The original recording sessions ran rather smooth. Unfortunatly, when the band went out on tour in the early part of 1977, Keith decided to take matters in his own hands. Recording orchestras and singers without the band's involvement and actually erasing band member's parts from the recording sessions. What ended up happening was that the band ended up with a radio friendly album. Even alot of the critics seemed to like it. One even referred to it as the Dead's Dark Side Of The Moon. Unfortunatly it had the opposite effect on the band. Robet Hunter hated the way it turned out and said he would never write another involved song project for the band. As for fans themselves, is is the way it usually works - listen to Estimated Prophet and Terrapin Station and bypass the rest. I think that is a little harsh most of this album actually comes across pretty well. An interesting thing about the cd versions is that the studio Dancin' on here with horns is actually the single version. The original lp version didn't have horns. The new bonus tracks are REALLY good. Peggy-O while not having a vocal track is about the prettiest I've ever heard it. The Ascent is a short instrumental run thru that sound nice. Catfish John comes across better than any of the Jerry Garcia version I've heard. Equinox is a Phil Lesh tune that has been circulating for many years and it's great to have a great sounding copy. Fire On The Mountain has slightly different lyrics than later versions and is much more enjoyable the the Shakedown Street version. The live Dancin' is from 5-8-77 which is a favorite among many, but not me.

Terrapin Station represents the Dead in their declining years. That doesn't mean there aren't some interesting and truly enjoyable moments here. It mearly says that the halcyon days of Sugar Magnolia, Uncle John's Band, China Cat Sunflower, Playing In The Band, Truckin' and so many many others were indeed behind them. So where does that leave Terrapin.? Well for me I love the driving percussion of Samson & Daliha. And Bob Weir really tears into the lyric "If I had my way" with pure joy and reckless abandonment. Passenger is also one of Terrapin's highlights allowing the band an opportunity to play behind the synth/keyboard wizardry of Keith Godchaux. The balance of the album is sort of run-of-the-mill Dead. There are moments, but as I stated up top, This is by no means the Dead at their peak. What is noteworthy are the bonus tracks Catfish John, Fire On The Mountain and the live extended version of Dancin' In The Street. Here the Dead rework an old Motown staple, give it their signature jug band rhythm and segue into a classic Grateful-Jam. It's hard to find too many more moments of pure Dead magic in any of their subsaquant studio albums after Terrapin. Savor this one as one of their last truly great studio efforts.

This review concerns 3 bonus tracks only.
While the opening instrumental "Peggy O" is (only) under five minutes long, it's so beautiful it's (to use a cliche) worth the price of admission alone. Pure soaring beauty---Jerry soloing to the melodic ballad Peggy O! The second track is also short, but also excellent. It reminds me of the climactic building secion of the Otis Redding classic, "Try Some Tenderness." The final bonus track, "Dancing In The Streets," is super excellent... though you have to sit through about 4 minutes of vocals...it then launches into a long and fantastic Jerry solo that is close to ecstatic perfection...perhaps equaling the monumental version of this song which appears on Dick's Picks #8.

This is more funk than folk, more "modern" and less sixties than the Dead I love. If that is what you are looking for, go for it. But for fans of American Beauty, Reckoning or the other early records this will be more miss than hit.

I used to have this LP, but when it disappeared years ago I didn't really miss it. With the digital remastering, the sound is incredible and I can actually hear for the first time what marvelous works these songs are. The Terrapin Station suite has beautifully thought out and produced orchestral sections that I remember as muddy and annoying on vinyl, but now they really enhance the songs. I've always liked "Estimated Prophet," but it's stronger and clearer now. The disco remake of "Dancing In The Street" sounds much better with the clean highs of digital remastering, and Bob Weir's rethinking of the Rev. Gary Davis's "Samson & Delilah" lets us look at an old masterpiece from one of the blues greats with new reasons to appreciate it.

This LP was a major step in a new direction for the Dead, and now you can hear that it was a good choice.

If you are new to the Dead I would not recommendthat you buy this album(go for Workingmans Dead or American Beauty or Skull and Roses) but if your a huge Deadhead I highly recommend this album. This album has some of their best like Estimated Prophet and the hugh sixteen minute Terapin Station Suite. The bonus materials are only okay though. Sure it has Phils extremly rare song Equinox, but through out the whole song there is alot of static. The bonus track Fire on the Mountain is the standout bonus track because the lyrics are different from the one on Shakedown St., but sadly Jerrys voice at somepoints is unaudible. Buy this album for the original album not for the bonus tracks.

This album is a mixed bag of the worst sort as far as Dead studio efforts go. Some good, some horrible, and now thanks to the re-release, some great.
First off, the bad: Some of the Dead's worst studio efforts grace this '77 release. "Dancing in the Streets" is a horrible cover and when performed live, it is redeemed only by a stellar Garcia solo which turns this disco travesty into a swaggering beast. No such solo in the studio track. "Sunrise" is a Donna Godchaux song that contains the lyric "I remember breezes from winds inside your body", which may be the worst Dead lyric ever. And two Dead songs which would become live classics- "Estimated Prophet" and "Samson and Delilah"- sound weak and anemic here.
The good: Phil Lesh's "Passenger" sounds good. The Dead never did much with this live other than rock it harder than it is here, but that doesn't detract from this version. And the centerpiece of this album, "Terrapin Station" in its full multi-part incarnation, is great. What us live fans know as "Terrapin Station" comprises just over half of what we have here and thanks to a clear, full production, these parts sound great. Jerry's guitar sounds particularly sweet. After the epic jam that closes out the live version, several more parts to the suite, including some creepy lyrics and a percussion based segment complete with production noises, add several more layers to the epic song. All in all, a heavily produced- strings, studio flourishes- number that sounds like nothing else the Dead officially released.
The great: again, as with the other re-releases, the bonus tracks help make the purchase of the album a little more tempting. The instrumental outtakes won't change your life, but they are sweet and well-played. "Catfish John" and "Equinox" are two tracks that never made it in the band's live sets (though the former found a home with the JGB), but both are worth a listen. "Equinox", in particular, sounds like it had the potential to be a live powerhouse. Finally, the highlight of the whole album, "Dancing in the Street" ends things with a live version that includes an aforementioned Jerry solo that takes this horrible cover to a whole other level.
Not a great album, and at times, really not a good album. But thanks to a couple great treats- "Terrapin", "Dancing" live, a handful of bonus tracks- it is an album worth hearing. There are much better efforts in the Dead canon, but if you can afford it, this is worth owning. If your money is limited, pass this up for a more consistent Dead release.

There's a reason which is enough to buy this album: "Terrapin Station Pt.1". Definitely one of the best Garcia-Hunter compositions. The lyrics are simply beautiful and the music surely does it justice. Garcia came with a magnificent melody and charming chord progressions. The strings and choir don't fit the Dead quite well, but it doesn't matter much, The "Lady With A Fan" section is just marvelous. As for the rest of the record, it is not the Dead at their best, but thankfully this remastered version includes really interesting bonus tracks such as a wonderful live version of "Dancin' In The Streets" with a remarkable synth-like guitar solo by Mr. Garcia.
For moments, as beautiful as the front cover.