Shakedown Street is a Grateful Dead album that fans sometimes derisively call "Disco Dead." It's understandable why, but I've never quite understood why it was considered a bad thing. The title track has a wonderful vibe, and the album features some fantastic songs. I've always been a fan of songs with Donna Godchaux on vocals, and here she even gets to sing lead vocals on a few tracks. Although my favorite song in that category is Passenger, released a year earlier on Terrapin Station, you have a really great track with France among others. It's always a bit odd to hear Fire on the Mountain without its companion Scarlet Begonias (two songs they often blended together live, but Scarlet was already released on From the Mars Hotel in 1974), and it still holds up well here after all these years. Still, the somewhat low average rating is understandable. Songs like Stagger Lee and especially I Need a Miracle don't do much for me, and If I Had the World to Give is perhaps a bit too sweet. They performed it live three times, so I'm actually curious to hear what that would sound like. Live, the songs often sound a bit different than on record. I'm actually quite surprised that Dancin' in the Street is on Terrapin Station. If there's one song I associate with Shakedown Street (besides the title track, of course), it's Dancin' in the Street.
Tracklist:
- Good Lovin'
- France
- Shakedown Street
- Serengetti
- Fire on the Mountain
- I Need a Miracle
- From the Heart of Me
- Stagger Lee
- All New Minglewood Blues
- If I Had the World to Give
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