Brent Mydland, the band's greatest and sorely missed keyboardist, takes a larger role on "Built to Last," writing four of the nine songs. The only one I don't care for is the pedantic "We can Run." His other songs are great. "Blow Away" soars with its majestic sounding keys and Garcia's incredible tonal solos. Garcia's "Foolish Heart" and "Standing on the Moon" are a couple of his best songs. Weir adds edge with "Victim or the Crime" and "Picasso Moon."

Instrumentally, Garcia is in great form on all the songs. Mydland's keyboards add color throughout--like the band seldom had before he joined.


A Pleasant Surprise!   March 15, 1999
chrisdaddy1@webtv.net (Houston, Texas)
5 out of 7 found this review helpful

Expecting this album to be a total dud, I bought it mainly out of of curiosity, figuring I couldn't go totally wrong since it contained a few songs the Dead had made into great live staples, particularly "Foolish Heart" and "Victim or the Crime." Boy, was I wrong! This album probably has a better overall feel than most of the Dead studio albums since "American Beauty." (Well, actually, the greatest studio moments since "American Beauty" were probably on "Terrapin Station" in the great side-long Terrapin suite and "Estimated Prophet." But I always felt the rest of that album left alot to be desired. Treated right, the album "Terrapin Station" could've been a complete masterpiece, and it should've been. But that's another story.) No, "Built to Last" doesn't capture the spirit or flavor of the Grateful Dead live, but then again, what studio album does? What is does do is present some great new Dead tunes with the band playing unusually well in the studio. Unexpectedly, Brent Mydland has come to life here as well. He writes and sings on about every other song here, and believe it or not, the product is good. This is a strange twist, considering he contributed only one song on the previous album, and it almost singlehandedly destroyed the fine mood that the rest of the album had created up to that point. (Remember "Tons of Steel"; yuk!) No, Brent has matured incredibly here, and all of his contributions are good. (Witness his "I Will Take You Home," a beautiful closer for this album.) There are gems by the rest of the band as well, especially Jerry's "Foolish Heart" and "Standing On the Moon" and Bobby's "Victim or the Crime" and "Picasso Moon." I already knew that "Foolish Heart " and "Victim or the Crime" were great songs, but I didn't expect the studio versions to be this good. (They are probably among the very finest of studio representations of great Dead live staples.) One thing I would especially like to note here though: although this album has a really nice feel overall, it doesn't have a completely Grateful Dead feel throughout. This is mainly because of the large amount of space given to Brent Mydland, as you may have already anticipated. Nonetheless, incredibly the mixture works well. Being more of a traditional Deadhead myself, normally I wouldn't have gone for something like this, seeing Mydland's work as an intrusion on the classic Dead sound, something I usually don't take lightly to. However, the combo is interestingly nice here though. You get a somewhat Dead sounding song followed by a Mydland sounding song, and so on and so forth throughout the album. The mixture is different, and the result is not a quite entirely Grateful Dead sounding album, but rather a newer Dead album kind of mixed with a Eagle-ish and maybe a Jackson Browne-ish kind of feeling added to it. I know it sounds crazy and like it probably wouldn't work, but the finished product is a nice pleasant feel overall that is very friendly to the ears (as a previous reviewer said.) Believe it! The greatest Dead material, however, is, and always be, the live stuff. Still, as far as the studio stuff goes, this is surprisingly one of their better efforts. Even if you're a traditional Deadhead like myself, I still think you'll like this one. Buy it! Even if you don't dig the different groove on this one, just the incredible studio versions of "Foolish Heart," "Victim or the Crime," and "Standing On the Moon" are alone worth the price of this album.


Where my journey began   August 30, 2001
Tom Andrews (West Chicago, IL United States)
4 out of 6 found this review helpful

When I first started investigating the Grateful Dead in Winter of 98, the first album I heard was Shakedown Street. Bad move. This was the second album of their's that I heard, and the first one I actually liked. It's a bit more poppish than the classic 60s and 70s albums, but still, its a good listen. Having heard So Many Roads, its a shame Garcia left off Believe It or Not. That being said, his three contributions are pretty good, the nod going to Standing on the Moon and Built to Last. Both have interesting changes, and are good songs. Bittersweet in a way too, considering this was the studio Dead swansong for both Brent and Jerry. Weir only had two songs available. Victim Or the Crime is an excellent piece of psychedelia, and wonderfully dark. They hail back to their origins, and explore alleys others normally wouldn't. Picasso Moon is pretty fun and somewhat goofy. I like the fact that you can hear Lesh's voice boom the bass harmonies on the chorus. That leaves Brent. At four songs, he seemed the most involved in this project. Blow Away is a great song, with very interesting jazz style changes. Garcia's guitar is pretty good here also. Just A Little Light is good too, a quick minor chord romp with nice little flashes of synth here and there. We Can Run is the environmental song from the band that really wasn't very political. Still I've heard worse. Then there is the gentle I Will Take You Home, a sweet lullabye that closes the album. It might not have been their best CD, but certainly one worth hearing.


through the years   July 24, 2005
Todd Smith (rochester ,ny)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

alot of poeple don't feel this was a good disc.i would have to disagree with that.i've been a dead head sence i was about 15,i'm now 42.in that 27 year time span i've seen the band grow.60's with pig pen as the front man,and jerry evoving in to that slot as they eased into the 70's. around 1973-74 they were inspired to record things like "blues for allah" and "wake of the flood".both very creative albums.and the shows that followed were made of the same magic.
then brent started to find his place in the band ,in the 80's.he and jerry were on the same plain and complamented each other so well.
then at around the time of "in the dark" the band felt it was time to give brent the spotlight.and how he did shine!his music brought a new creativity to the music ,not felt sence that mid 70's time period.
the very first time i heard "i will take you home",it was at the buffalo july 4th ,1989 show.i was wowed.tears filled me up alittle (i was not alone in that)a year or so later the new disc came out.i went straight to that track to see if the studio version was as good.it was.
so i've seen the band grow over the years ,and dig every new turn they took.thats was the grate thing about the band .it alway continued to grow.
so maybe if you listen to the disc with the history in mind ,you'll come away with a little different perspective.


The Dead's last studio album deserves a place in history...   August 24, 1998
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

This is Brent's showcase. Its a good album, certainly not one of the Dead's greatest, but a must-have for all the Brent fans in the younger deadhead ranks.

I really enjoy Picasso Moon, and would buy the album just for that tune. And the rest is quite easy on the ear as well, like the fine & friendly Blow Away.

I think the only Bobby tune is "Victim or the Crime" - hardly his usually upbeat self! But Jerry comes through with a couple songs to add to Brent's work and rounds out the disk just fine.

This one is a fine example of the lack of pure energy the Dead have in some studio albums. But it is still good music, some of it not readily available elsewhere, and well worth its price.