Grateful Dead – Workingman’s Dead Review

Heartfelt Americana paved a new route through and away from psychedelic rock. Back-to-back recordings with the equally elegant commentaries on life in the United States found on American Beauty, Grateful Dead find themselves with a tighter idea of the band they wish to be. Workingman’s Dead is an intensely written piece from Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter, the two men keen to push on, developing their sound in half-hour chunks and seeing where it leads them. Their massive swerve away from psychedelic tones and into the lush and pleasant tones of folk may take some getting used to, but after a few listens it shines through as one of the very best pieces from The Dead. Workingman’s Dead has a lightness to it, a counterbalance to the horrors of warfare and strife which struck Garcia and Hunter so hard.  

This is another case of the band learning on the fly. Avoiding the financial pitfalls of their wonderful preceding album, Aoxomoxoa, The Dead sound stripped back, strikingly sharp and efficient. Truly far removed from the sluggishness, the zoned-out tones of their debut, as strong as they were. Opener Uncle John’s Band may sound off as the reason for this new image, the compact and relatively plain folk-rock adaptations a chance to involve a newcoming listener. Relatively favourable instrumentals find themselves offering a sly nod to the backgrounds of each member, from bluegrass to folk fundamentals. But the follow-up song, High Time, is where Workingman’s Dead finds its worth. A heart-sinking track which feels like an assessment of this new direction. Softer instrumentals but sharper lyrical points. A finer balance struck than on previous occasions and in its place, a sudden brutality which gives Workingman’s Dead a long-lasting appeal.  

Pushed into this songwriting style thanks to David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash, Grateful Dead find themselves detailing a series of marvellous blues-rock numbers. In the nick of time, too. Just five years later and their psychedelic showcase would return, but with this brief stop-off as champions of the finger-plucking acoustics and smooth, well-placed basslines as Dire Wolf receives, The Dead are at their best. Boogies and blues are part of the wonderful fabric that makes up Workingman’s Dead, an ode to the hard worker as much as it is a clinical new rise from The Dead. Stripped-back pieces like Black Peter are staggering not just because of the lyrical consistencies but the wild change in tone and instrumentals from Grateful Dead, who at this stage were in desperate need of a rapid change to how they worked.  

Workingman’s Dead brings exactly that. Jam tracks like Easy Wind hint at a return to those Aoxomoxoa charms, where the instrumental sections begin to take hold and the joy of being in the studio overtakes any reason to work, but Grateful Dead, by this point, knew how to wrap it up and move on. Just shy of phenomenal but Casey Jones gives The Dead a close enough shot of it. A bold change in direction is exactly what the band needed to get themselves out of the financial slump. Their creativity still blossoms under what sounds like strict circumstances, if anything, it benefits them greatly. Workingman’s Dead is proof of the hard work, the drugged-up stupor of Casey Jones a catchy final track, though never quite going anywhere with its tune. Still, it is hard not to fall in love with Workingman’s Dead and its fundamental folk rock charms.