"Built to Last," the Grateful Dead's 13th and final studio album, is often placed near the bottom of their discography, and deservedly so for the most part.
By 1989, the Grateful Dead didn't need to be making studio albums. After their resurgence in 1987 with the hit single "Touch of Grey" and a rare solid studio effort with "In the Dark," they resumed their position as America's preeminent touring band, raking in millions of dollars and drawing new fans around the world to follow them around from show to show. They were set for life, no new material needed, no Top 10 singles or albums to cement their legacy. And yet, they had new songs that needed a home, so along came "Built to Last."
The problem with "Built to Last" is the problem with almost every Dead album, especially the ones post- "Terrapin Station": very good songs poorly executed, with little to none of the energy and creativity of their live shows. Take "Victim or the Crime," for example: this is one of the darkest and most interesting songs of the band's career, lyrically and musically. Live, this song was an absolute beast, a dark vortex of hellishly fierce guitar playing from Jerry and tribal drums, leading to some of the band's best latter year jams. On the record, the song is a boring cacophony of haunted house sounds and a disaffected Bob Weir vocal. The same can be said for the lovely ballad "Standing on the Moon," one of Garcia's last truly great accomplishments. In concert, Jerry sang this ballad with every ounce of soul in his body, belting out the 'rather be with you' refrain like his life depended on it. He drew every ounce of pain and emotion from the lyrics, as much as he ever did with something like "Stella Blue." On the record, it's just there. It has nothing dynamic or interesting to offer, which is a damn shame for a fine song. "Foolish Heart," the album's opener and a lovely Hunter-Garcia number, also grew into something much greater in concert.
Of course, there are some songs that are just, well, not good. "Picasso Moon" is a lame, watered down redux of the classic "Hell in a Bucket" with the same charging guitar lines and shouty Weir vocal, with none of that song's wittiness. Then there's Brent Mydland's four contributions, only one of which, the politically conscious "We Can Run," is really salvageable. "Just a Little Light" is forgettable MOR rock, while "Blow Away" is another of his misogynistic break-up rants in the same vein as "Far from Me." The album's closer (and the last Brent song released before he died in 1990), "I Will Take You Home," is actually a pretty touching lullabye to his daughter, but it has no business on a Grateful Dead album.
"Built to Last" is a disappointing end to the band's admittedly inconsistent studio career. It has potential at almost every turn, but a general lethargy creeps over almost every song, making you want to reach for any outstanding bootleg in your collection instead. The irony of the title is only compounded by how rapidly the band would decline in the following years, due to Garcia's resurging drug addiction and disdain for touring life.
