Seven long years passed between Grateful Dead’s Bee Gees-looking, unsatisfying rock sound on Go to Heaven and the equally underwhelming In the Dark. These are the end times for Jerry Garcia and the band. Their relevancy had slipped further and further since the early 1970s, though they remained a remarkable touring unit. You need only listen to one or two bootlegs to consider the might of The Dead on stage. But what they had on stage, they could not replicate in the studio, with anything post-Blues for Allah a complete waste of time. Moments of inspiration, yes, but far from the high bar of American Beauty. Every artist goes through change. To play the same is a mighty sin. In the Dark has the band conform to the modern-day standards, the 1980s appeal of rock and roll. They do as well as can be expected of musicians never quite comfortable in the sound booth.
Grateful Dead trades out their instrumental charm for some catchy, listener-friendly music. Did The Dead sell out after all? In the Dark has them sounding closer to Electric Light Orchestra than trailblazing studio wreckers who toured until their debts caught up to them. Opener Touch of Grey has the band prove they can still write a cool riff. But it also shows they were unsure of how to use them responsibly. What to do with the music of the past, which had developed far beyond the confines of a studio after years on stage. As popular In the Dark may be, it is through a defanging process which removes the very core appeal of Grateful Dead’s best songs that it happens. Commercial success is culture’s loss, as it always is. Does it matter? Hell in a Bucket hears the band insist they are enjoying the ride, though it does not sound all that convincing. Light thrills and nothing unlikeable, certainly not, but Grateful Dead here sounds a tad hollow.
But let the easy-going listen take you for a ride. Not every song from Grateful Dead must be a psychedelic dumping ground or an excess-riddled thrill ride. When Push Comes to Shove shows they can deal with stereotypically simple sounds, ragtime piano efforts which back the phantom-filled closets, rather well. A short-lived thrill, but a reminder of In the Dark as a loose bit of fun. Grateful Dead are no longer aiming for the high bar they set a decade before this release; they sound as though they couldn’t care less. But that is a powerful spot to be in, especially given the quality of their live tours to come when Bob Dylan would collaborate with the band. The official collaborative live album release is a nightmare, but there are plenty of bootleg performances highlighting the brilliance of The Dead around this time.
Through some Herculean effort, Grateful Dead manages to turn it around towards the end. Their easy-going rock is a Trojan horse for darker messages, from dispersed ashes to funky drum beats not at all common of mid-80s rock. In the Dark is still a step behind the quality expected of the group, but it is hard not to fall in love with the stylishness of it all, the sense that The Dead were better experienced elsewhere. In the Dark, then, is good enough to listen to, but is more for tickling the audience into heading to a live show. Impossible now, but it did get the job done on release. Album closer Black Muddy River brings Grateful Dead and their listeners back down to earth, though, a song which does sound stuck in the bog, unable to change like the band who made it.
