Last Albums: Grateful Dead - Built To Last (1989)

I liked the Grateful Dead, but I was never a Deadhead. I wholeheartedly believe the sextet was better in the studio than they were live. To adherents of the late 20th-Century religion known as Deadism that statement is enough to send me to Hell for eternity.

The Dead's faithful do not believe in Purgatory because it's not possible to cleanse a sinner's soul in the Afterlife. Only total devotion to the band while earthbound can save a person from eternal damnation.

I know I'm one of the condemned because I believe The San Franciscans' sacrosanct triple LP/double CD, Europe '72, is boring. It's the album that never ends. I came to that conclusion after listening to it a few times back in my college days and again just a few weeks ago to see if my opinion had changed. It did not.

Garcia, Weir and company continued to release live material regularly, but they abandoned the studio completely after 1980's Go to Heaven because their later studio work wasn't nearly as compelling as their early 70s classic albums. The Dead didn't make another record until their very good comeback, In the Dark in 1987. It became their only top ten album that was helped along by their only top 40 hit single, "Touch of Grey" (#9).

I've got to assume that the success of that record encouraged the Dead to continue in the studio. Unfortunately, their follow-up and final record, Built to Last, was a disappointment. The Dead's musicianship was excellent as usual, but the songs never resonated with many listeners. It only reached #27 on the album chart - not a bad showing - but a disappointment after the success of its predecessor.

One of the problems was the Dead's late keyboard player, Brent Mydland. He did not own a good set of pipes, yet he was front and center on four of the nine songs that he co-wrote. In general, the tracks all lack memorable hooks, so nothing stuck in my head post-listening. It really wasn't a good way for the legends to end their recording career. Despite that, they continued to please their devoted fans with their live shows and a multitude of in-concert releases.

Instead of listening to this final set pull out your copy of In the Dark again, or - even better - enjoy your copies of vintage works like Workingman's Dead or the terrific American Beauty.
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Last Albums discusses music that was recorded as new material and intended to be released to the public as a complete album but not necessarily the last one. Live albums, greatest hits or "best of" collections and compilations do not count, nor do posthumous releases of leftover tracks cobbled together to make a final album.

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