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.