Grateful Dead - Terrapin Station

This is an incredibly slick album, from a production standpoint, compared to most Dead fare.

Garcia is not present on side A at all from a vocal standpoint.

Estimated Prophet is one of my favorite Dead songs. It' an uptempo rocker who's bass lines seem somewhere between funk and reggae.

The Martha and the Vandellas cover "Dancin in the Street", they've covered many times in the past in live shows, but this rendition gives it a bit of spit and polish. Like most of their covers, they're typically well placed and used skillfully to brighten up the surrounding works. Either way, their old psychedelic take on this track is better than this disco-ish take. It's well placed, and upbeat, but overall the style doesn't really fit them.

Passenger is a fantastic track and I love the country/southern-rock guitar lick that punctuates each stanza of each verse. The harmonized vocals between Weir and Donna Godchaux work better here than on the Dancing in the Street cover. Apparently the song was inspired by Fleetwood Mac's Station Man and the lyrics were written by an ordianed Buddhist Monk. The song was a Lesh song, from a writing standpoint but his voice was blown and Weir/Godchaux took over vocal duties, to great effect.

Next is a Samson/Delilah cover. A traditional song of unknown origin. Some funky. guitar and gospel like story telling and hooks work surprisingly well. Garcia's bridge solo is simple but fun,

Sunrise ends Side A with a slower, folksier track with Donna at the lead. It's a good endcap for a fun, quick, 5 track side.

Side B is a doozy. A single 16minute track, with 7 sections, from which the album derives its title. It's a total 70 prog rock track that changes pace, throws instruments at you that you don't see coming. While I don't have a ton to say about it, it's probably my favorite Dead track.