Grateful Dead

In The Dark

Not a bad record; no American Beauty

Review Score:

(8/10)
"In the Dark" stands out from the vast array of Grateful Dead records for a few reasons: The first cut, "Touch of Grey" ("We Will Survive") is perhaps one of the most played (some will agree, over-played) radio songs of the Dead (I still like the song a lot despite this); I read once that it was the only song of theirs to become a number one hit in the U.S., though I can't back this up. "Throwing Stones" ("Ashes, ashes, all fall down...") also received a great deal of commercial recognition. Perhaps it is this aspect of "In the Dark" that causes me to less than love the record; the Dead were about as un-commercial and un-mainstream as an American band could be and still be widely recognized. It thus seems out of place how slick the mixing and production of this record are; there is something affected about the tone of the album; that's the reaction I had after listening to it for a few weeks. There is one s! ong, "Black Muddy River", that I thought was excellent. Though somewhat similar in tone and topic to "Brokedown Palace" from "American Beauty", "Black Muddy River" is a haunting, melancholy, beautiful cut that, on its own, deserves to be placed beside the band's greatest songs from earlier albums. This song was definitely responsible for at least one and maybe even two of the stars in the rating I submitted. Overall, "In the Dark" is not a bad record, but it is no "American Beauty".

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