Grateful Dead

In The Dark

Touch of Greatness

Review Score:

(6/10)
The best thing about this record is the song you're least likely to have heard on the radio.

The last track, "Black Muddy River," is Jerry Garcia's response (put to words by Robert Hunter) to recovering from a diabetic coma that nearly killed him in 1986. When Garcia revived, his coordination was fried and he literally had to re-learn how to play guitar. His joy in doing so successfully was evident in exuberant performances over the next few years. This song captures both that joy and its terrible cost, without ever referring directly to these events. The tune is plaintive and affirming at the same time and, sadly, was the last number Garcia sang lead on with the Grateful Dead. It's well worth many listens.

As to the rest of the record, the Amazon review correctly points out that many of the songs were concert staples from the mid-to-late 80s. In fact, with the exception of "Black Muddy River," the best numbers -- Garcia/Hunter's "Touch of Grey" and "West L.A. Fadeaway;" Mydland/Hunter's "Tons of Steel;" Weir/Barlow's "Throwin' Stones," and "Hell in a Bucket" -- were live favorites for years BEFORE they were recorded. Small wonder, then, that the album (and the ensuing hit status of "Touch of Grey") felt anticlimactic to longtime fans.

The album's use of electronic gimmickry (motorcycle sounds on "Hell in a Bucket;" guitar processing on "Touch of Grey," etc.) to "enhance" the songs only underscores the futility of trying to capture their live energy. Nevertheless, the songs ARE strong, and this album stands among the Dead's best studio efforts, excepting the magnificent "American Beauty" and "Workingman's Dead."

For my money, THOSE records are the best overall introduction to the music of the Dead.

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