Terrapin Station

++++++++++++++ The first DeaD LP to use an outside producer (Keith Olsen). It's the first ARISTA album, released in august 1977. The actual recording went smoothly, but when the DeaD left to tour, Olsen hired outside musicians to augment the Dead's line-up. TERRAPIN FLYER, an extended rhythm orientated piece is butchered by Olsen. He saps the melody op its power by havin' it played on flute and strings, and at the end he reprises the the main TERRAPIN theme with an orchestra. Weir wrote ESTIMATED PROPHET from the perspective of a crazy, messianic zealot. PASSENGER is a song of Phil Lesh and lyricist Peter Monk and has vocals of Weir and Donna. SUNRISE, written by Donna, is about the death of long-time roadie Rex Jackson. DANCING IN THE STEETS was re-arranged and released as a single. All 'n all a voiceless cd. Olsen tried to get a standard FM Radio rockalbum out of the DeaD, and indeed, the album became gold after a few months.

nr. 1 Ineens moet alles kloppen. Het gezellige moment ontbreekt volledig. De DeaD toont geen eigen gezicht meer, maar maakt anoniem klinkende muziek. ROCK SCENE, JULI 1978

nr. 2 Er is nooit een band geweest die zo lang zonder relevante reden is doorgegaan met in leven blijven als deze dankbare doden. Wat kan bijboorbeeld de diepere betekenis zijn van het voor deze plaat geadopteerde DANCIN' IN THE STREET, dat geheel volgens het boekje uitgevoerd wordt. Of van PASSENGER dat klinkt als een Jefferson Airplane nummer uit 1968. Kun je je voorstellen dat de DeaD op kant 1 funky klinkt? Kant 2 is beter. De 7 songs klinken stuk voor stuk avontuurlijker dan kant 1. PETER van BRUGGEN, OOR, JANUARI 1977

nr. 3 De DeaD muziek is geevoleerd in de richting van funky diskotheek muziek. Op kant 1 worden de tradities niet geheel en al over boord gegooid, maar het gebruik van koor en orkest op kant twee is zo onverwacht dat je met de oren zit te klapperen. * * * MUZIEK EXPRES

nr. 4 Side two remains one of the band's finesty studio moments, despite the over-production the whole album suffers from. GOLDMINE, 9/87

nr. 5 This album was their fastest seller since EUROPE '72, thanks in large part to a massive "A New Dead Era Is Upon Us" promotional campaign. The album itself is full of contrasts, with the opening side's poppy "hits" backed by the ambitious, side-long title suite, the lyrics of which came as close to self-explanation as Grateful Dead ever have on vinyl. But, to both the band and their fans, it was far from an unqualified success. Fleetwood Mac producer Keith Olsen added lush orchestrations, string quartets, even what sounds like the Morman Tabernacle Choir, to make the DeaD sound like he thought they should. JAMIE JENSEN, BUILT TO LAST

nr. 6 The side-long TERRAPIN STATION is among the most adventurous pieces the DeaD have ever recorded, and though it's not entirely successful (thanks to the heavy handed meddling of Keith Olsen) it is a rich, multi layered work with lots to offer the careful listener. Side one is a selection of shorter songs, the best of which Weir and Barlow's moody reggae tune, ESTIMATED PROPHET, perhaps their strongest collaboration up to that point. PASSENGER rocks hard and features a good tandem vocal by Weir and Donna. The versions of SAMSON AND DELILAH and DANCIN' IN THE STREETS pale in comparison to live renditions of those tunes, and SUNRISE, though affecting is ultimately limp. * * * BLAIR JACKSON, THE MUSIC NEVER STOPPED

nr. 7 The DeaD essential fulfill the same purpose as do the current Beach Boys: offering facile reminiscense to an audience with no memory of its own. This would be a tragic end, if there had been any genuine glory involved to begin with. * (Oh boy, must DAVE MARSH hate the DeaD. Happily to say this was his last contribution -es-) taken from the R.S. RECORD GUIDE

nr. 8 Although this may be the Dead's best studio album since AMERICAN BEAUTY, it runs a distant second, just nosing out the likes of WAKE OF THE FLOOD, and will convert no one. In fact, it's a good thing Weir/Barlow's ESTIMATED PROPHET and Lesh/Monk's PASSENGER are the band's best originals in years, because Donna Godchaux's singer-songwriting debut is a disgrace; similarly, it takes a terse, jumping arrangement of SAMSON AND DELILAH to cancel out (and then some) a questionable DANCIN' IN THE STREETS. A confusion of quality also pervades the Garcia/Hunter title suite on side two. It works pretty well musically; for a while, I was ready to turn in the kazoo on ALLIGATOR for Paul Buckmaster. Then I listened to the lyric, a fable so polite it sent me hustling back to the verbal, vocal, and musical crudities of ANTHEM OF THE SUN, which TERRAPIN recalls formally. Amazing how all the hard-won professionalism of a decade disintigrates in the face of the sporadic, irresistable inspiration of their lysergic youth. rating: B ROBERT CRISTGAU, ROCK ALBUMS OF THE 70'S, 1982

nr. 9 The album stars off with an inspired ESTIMATED PROPHET, followed by a monstruous DANCIN' IN THE STREET, also available as 12-inch single. PASSENGER is another un-Dead song one better could skip. SAMSON AND DELILAH can't please me either. SUNRISE is acceptable, in fact it is a really nice song on a Keith and Donna album. TERRAPIN STATION can be an exciting live song, but in this version one can't help but fall asleep. * (for the cover art) ERIK SCHOTHANS, July 1992

nr. 10 ARISTA heeft met de Grateful Dead een van de belangrijkste uitbreidingen in haar nog maar korte bestaan. Clive Davis heeft zes jaar lang gewacht op dit contract. Door toedoen van "outside" producer Keith Olsen ontstond een tamelijk nieuw DeaD geluid, wat volgens Bob Weir gewoon het resultaat is van een band zonder foute nootjes en nu eens niet een "overdone" produktie. Olsen stroomlijnde de boel danig; de drums kregen meer power (zoals bij Led Zeppelin) waardoor lead-gitarist Jerry Garcia meer melodie lijnen kon spelen in plaats van altijd maar de gaatjes opvullen. De vocalen werden aangepast (meer Beatles-achtig) en de muziek is dansbaarder geworden (Disco-DeaD). OOR, 25 Juni 1977