Stories of fledgling artists surrendering creative control to their labels are hardly apocryphal narratives, but the backstory of Terrapin Station (released 7/27/77) begs the question of the Dead’s ambition as well as their relationship with Davis’ mercenary enterprise.
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It’s one of the greatest ironies in Grateful Dead History that the group’s partnership with Arista began with one of the greatest travesties of their studio-recording career.
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What resulted, unfortunately, was an abysmal mismatch of cross-purposes.
GRATEFUL DEAD BEAR MAC
But first, the iconic West Coast group had to endure the simultaneously rigid and arbitrary working conditions under label-designated producer Keith Olsen, whose cachet at the time was based on recent forays in the studio with then mega-successful Fleetwood Mac early in their Buckingham-Nicks era. And they didn’t as, a decade later, “Touch of Grey” delivered the Dead their sole mainstream hit, MTV-video friendly and all. Perhaps also it was Patti Smith and Lou Reed’s residence under former Columbia Records czar Clive Davis that convinced them their efforts would not go for naught.
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Granted, their eponymous imprimatur was in operation at about the same time as another massive creative/business effort, the legendary ‘Wall of Sound, but it wasn’t only the financial drain but the psychic drag that compelled these psychedelic warriors to opt for collaboration with the early hit-making home of Air Supply and Alan Parsons (and later on Whitney Houston). By the time the Grateful Dead signed with Arista Records, their foray into independent record-making had left them almost as frustrated as their dealings with their initial major label Warner Bros.