I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead album Shakedown Street.
Show notes:
- Recorded at CompCon world HQ
- First ep of the new decade
- Shakedown Street came out in '78
- Lots of musical stuff happening: Disco, punk, new wave, hard rock
- Disco wasn't as bad as everyone made it out to be
- Jay: No guilty pleasures: If you like it, you like it
- The Dead were coming off a triumphant '77
- This was a contractually obligated studio album
- Lots of influences thrown in: Funk, disco, African jazz, rock
- Met with savage reviews
- The version of "Good Lovin'" here pales in comparison to the live version, especially when Pigpen sang it
- The last album with Donna and Keith Godchaux
- Title track gets slagged as bad disco, but we dig it
- Shakedown Street is now the name of the merch area at Dead & Co. shows
- Pressure was on from Clive Davis for them to have hits
- This album was produced by Lowell George of Little Feat
- Seen as a disco album, but it's pretty diverse musically
- The Dead weren't a great studio band
- Mickey Hart stepped up with three songs
- Phil: "I Need a Miracle" might be the best song on the album
- "Stagger Lee" has an interesting history; versions were covered by many different artists
- Jay: The Nick Cave version is the best, and the most profane
- Album was scattered because of different influences plus substances
- "All New Minglewood Blues" is a pretty rockin' cover
- Dead appeared on SNL that year
- Ends with a Garcia-Hunter love ballad that works
- Jay: Liked about half the songs on the album
- Next: 1980's Go to Heaven
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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.
