Since
the Grateful Dead
were notorious for recording awkward studio albums, it always seemed that the answer to their problem was simply getting the right producer to coax magic out of the band -- and nobody would seem better suited for the position than
Little Feat
leader
Lowell George
, whose own band shared
the Dead
's tendency to wander and jam in a live setting, yet made almost nothing but good studio records. But 1978 was not a great year for either camp, as
were drifting in their attempts to score a crossover hit for
Clive Davis
'
Arista Records
, while
George
was pushing
toward disbandment as he was inching closer to his premature death in 1979. Add to that
's sudden, inexplicable fascination with
disco
, a desire to have
Donna Jean Godchaux
be an integral part of the record, plus no new songs ready to go at the beginning of the sessions, and it's little surprise that
Shakedown Street
wound up as a mess. It rambles and wanders all over the place, as
cover
the Rascals
"Good Lovin'"
before they revive
"New Minglewood Blues"
(which they originally cut for their debut), as
Jerry Garcia
and
Robert Hunter
write their own
"Stagger Lee"
while
Mickey Hart
Bill Kreutzmann
get a percussion workout on the brief instrumental
"Serengetti"
Bob Weir
affects a bluesy growl on
"I Need a Miracle."
In
's hands, this is all given a smooth gloss not all that far removed from such latter-day
Feat
LPs as
The Last Record Album
, but since
favor hazy, lazy grooves to
's laid-back but tight New Orleans
funk
-- and since
didn't produce so much as he created an appropriate atmosphere in the studio --
meanders mercilessly, and its indulgences wind up overwhelming the album as a whole. And there isn't just one kind of indulgence here; there's a plethora of them, ranging from the
pulse of the title track to the fuzziness of the two songs sung by
Donna Jean
. This can make
a bit of a difficult, dated listen, since even the good songs boast bad arrangements (
"Shakedown Street"
"Fire on the Mountain"
were later reworked and revitalized in concert), yet it falls short of flat-out disaster, partially because it's a fascinating listen due to the very things that make it a severely flawed record. The
flirtations, subdued
, misguided commercial concessions, and overarching Californian slickness do make
fascinating for at least one spin, even if they'll keep even hardcore Deadheads -- maybe especially hardcore Deadheads -- from coming back to the record more than once every decade or so. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine