American Beauty

A typically humble assessment by Jerry of his bands studio albums. Quite refreshing, in a culture that is over populated with self regarding wannabes, pushing themselves and their products with little awareness of their minute import in the overall scheme of things. Yes, a humble assessment. but a wrong one. The Dead made some of the most beautiful and enduring albums of their era. This one, American Beauty, is one of the best. To me, it hasn't dated in the slightest. Never have such transcendent lyrics been couple with such superb melodies ans sensitive playing. If you have never heard this album-boy are you in for a treat. One of the best albums ever made. I am in a minority regarding the live set, though. 18/2/71, and the first of a run of shows at Portchester. It is the worst of the run-several new songs are played for the first time, and it sounds like it. Even comparative warhorses like Hard To Handle sound hesitant and unsure. In fact they slow down so much on that one, that during the instrumental break down it sounds as though they are going to stop playing all together. Maybe they would have done if Pigpen hadn't woken everybody up when he resumes singing. Its not all bad-the Dark Star-Wharf Rat-Dark Star is the stuff of legend, and the band seem to find their collective mojo in the last half hour and rock out in fine style. The downside to this final rock out is Ned Lagin's tootling keyboard. Some friend he turned out to be. Curiously, it was Mickey Hart's last show for a few years. Obviously dissension in the ranks as he played the first show of the run and then left. Still - this is a great release. Just don't go thinking 18/2/71 represents the band at its best. And i should perhaps add that many Deadheads love 18/2/71-so maybe its just me.

Three months after Workingman's Dead reached the shops, the Dead were in the studios for the second time that year, at Wally Heider's in San Francisco, to record its sequel, American Beauty, making 1970 probably the high water mark as far as their studio work is concerned. It was a time when a number of American-based musicians such as Dylan and the Band, the Byrds, the Flying Burritos, Ry Cooder, Van Morrison and others had been rediscovering their country's musical roots, unplugging their guitars and adding fiddles and button accordions to forge a new Americana. It was natural that the Dead should be associated with this movement since they had been long term students of folk, blues, jug band and bluegrass music even before they had begun their psychedelic explorations in the mid-sixties. In Workingman's Dead they had shown themselves to be highly adept at mastering the demands of these structured and mostly acoustic musical forms with a collection of brilliant new songs, and the self-produced American Beauty, which came out in November 1970, proved that this was no fluke. If anything, the songs on American Beauty are even stronger and equally timeless. Furthermore, the music is beautifully recorded by engineer Steve Barncard, with deep clarity and resonance, in a way that would expose any flaws or weaknesses in the singing and playing, should there have been any. The performances were live in the studio, with restrained overdubs added to the basic tracks by Jerry Garcia and guest musicians, and is a testament to their proficiency. The songs, with Robert Hunter's exquisite lyrics, are allowed to speak for themselves, with very little soloing, and Jerry Garcia mostly using his pedal steel guitar in place of his normal electric 6-string. Songs such as Friend Of The Devil and Bob Weir's Sugar Magnolia became staples of the band's live repertoire, and edited versions of Truckin' and the very beautiful Ripple were released on a single in January 1971 to become their biggest selling single to date. This is one of the most essential of all Grateful Dead albums.

As a relatively recent convert to the music of the Grateful Dead, I've grown to love the rich diversity of this great band's music, from the psychedelic output of the 1960's, with those wonderfully eclectic elongated jams, through to the dawn of the 1970's with the delights of "Workingman's Dead", then on to this album. There's no fillers here, as the band's collaboration with songwriter Robert Hunter yields another great collection, a selection of blues-tinged country compositions. Its easy to see why the versatile Jerry Garcia is held in such high esteem, his contribution here (as usual) is superb, an example being his acoustic guitar picking on "Friend Of The Devil" which is a delight, but I'm certainly not overlooking the great contribution from the rest of the band. Its sometimes said that the band's vocals lack power, and that may be so, but personally I don't want to be blown out of my chair with powerhouse vocals when listening to these songs, I find the vocals here to be sensitive and emotional, and blend perfectly with the often beautiful and tender music/lyrics. My favourite tracks are "Box Of Rain" - the personal pain behind Phil Lesh's aching vocals add extra emotion and poignancy to this classic opening track. Then "Friend Of The Devil". Also the truly beautiful "Ripple" with it's moving lyrics and vocals. The catchy "Truckin" is an uplifting foot-tapper. A great album from a uniquely special band, an album that still sounds fresh over forty years after it's release.

Great album. Especially the live set

good album but when they play live so good and bad stick to the live goodies 68-77 then a good come back in the late 80s ealy 90s

Bought vinyl copy on release way back (1970). Loved it then. What a time - Live Dead in '69 (and THE quintessential Dark Star) then Workingman's Dead quickly followed by this masterpiece. Had to buy this anniversary box set, as I had done recently with the Workingman's Dead box, both for the original version (re-mastered) but especially for the February 1971 gigs at Port Chester NY, which showcase much of the music on these albums in their working on the road mode. Sublime; timeless; magical. If you only have one GD album in your collection - and there are many great live recordings - make it this one. It is their best studio recording, and the live material is excellent. Great package and booklet too!

Perfect LP sealed vinyl well packaged , arrived promptly

Hi there, I don't normally do reviews but have just listened to my remastered vinyl copy of American Beauty some 6 times & had to put pen to computer. Please believe me I am a Deadhead of over 40 years standing & this is probably their best album by far many respects because each time you listen it is still new, fresh & amazing. If there is a God out there then Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Ron McKernan, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann & not forgetting Robert Hunter were truly blessed. They only visited the UK once & The Dead said Newcastle 1972 was their worst concert whereas it was my best ever. It's a matter of opinion as the man with the wooden leg once said. Best cover & best everlasting music on this planet yesterday, today & tomorrow Regards James

Una ristampa perfetta

One of my all time favourite records but the experience in this instance is marred by an unacceptable level of noise which I can only assume is because of the artwork on the disc. Like listening at an airport with taxiing jets in the background. Sleeve is also a terrible flimsy design. Avoid this 50th Anniversary version. Album 5 stars, pressing 1 star.

Excelente

Me arriesgo a comentar que este álbum es de los mejores que he escuchado en toda mi vida, la composición de las letras es impecable, al igual que la música, es probable que haya sido uno de los mejores discos de la década de 1970, el género al que pertenece este álbum es el rock psicodélico. Además la portada y el arte del disco es simplemente hermoso. El disco vino es de 180 g, lo cual le da una calidad muy buena tanto al tacto, como a la calidad del audio.

Wie auch schon andere remasterte Aufnahmen aus der ersten Phase von Grateful Dead ist auch diese rundum gelungen, auch wenn sie schonungslos offenbart, dass sie an die Gesangsqualität ihrer Vorbilder nicht heranreichen. Das aber lässt sie durchaus näher erscheinen, immerhin als würden sie zumindest noch die selbe Luft wie normale Menschen atmen. Auch hier ist ein fantastisches Konzert auf zwei CDs eine Zeitkapsel in eine musikalisch sehr schöne Zeit...