American Beauty is the sixth album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It was recorded between August and September 1970 and originally released in November 1970 by Warner Bros. Records. The album continued the folk rock and country music explored on Workingman's Dead and prominently features the lyrics of Robert Hunter.
In 2003, the album was ranked number 258 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
History
The band began recording American Beauty only a few months after the release of Workingman's Dead, and without their regular sound crew, which was out on the road as part of the Medicine Ball Caravan tour (which the Dead were originally scheduled to join), and this led to staff engineer Stephen Barncard replacing Bob Matthews as producer--"a move that irks Matthews to this day". Barncard mused that "I had heard bad stories about engineers' interactions with the Dead but what I found were a bunch of hardworking guys".
Both Workingman's Dead and American Beauty were innovative at the time for their fusion of bluegrass, rock and roll, folk, and, especially, country music. Compared to Workingman's Dead, American Beauty had even less lead guitar work from Jerry Garcia, who instead filled the void with pedal steel guitar passages on both albums. It was during the recording of this album that Garcia first collaborated with mandolinist David Grisman. "I just bumped into Jerry at a baseball game in Fairfax, and he said, 'Hey, you wanna play on this record we're doing?'" commented Grisman. Phil Lesh, in his autobiography, commented "the magnetism of the scene at Wally Heider's recording studio made it a lot easier for me to deal with Dad's loss and my new responsibilities. Some of the best musicians around were hanging there during that period; with Paul Kantner and Grace Slick from Jefferson Airplane, the Dead, Santana, Crosby, Nash, and Neil Young working there, the studio became jammer heaven. Thank the Lord for music; it's a healing force beyond words to describe."
"Truckin'" and "Ripple" were released as singles, and the songs "Box of Rain", "Sugar Magnolia", and "Friend of the Devil" also received radio play. In his book on Garcia, Blair Jackson noted that "if you liked rock'n'roll in 1970 but didn't like the Dead, you were out of luck, because they were inescapable that summer and fall". American Beauty peaked at No. 30 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart (North America), while the single, "Truckin'", peaked at No. 64 on the Pop Singles chart and achieved considerable FM rock radio airplay. It was the final album with Mickey Hart until his return to the band four years later in 1975.
Beauty Box Photo Video
Cover
The title wording on the front cover is an ambigram; it can also be read as "American Reality". The artwork was produced by Mouse-Kelley Studios.
Reception
Andy Zwerling of Rolling Stone felt that the album was a continuation of Workingman's Dead, though there was more care and contentment in the singing, as well as the instrument playing being rich. Robert Christgau also compared the album favorably to Workingman's Dead, feeling it was "sweeter vocally and more direct instrumentally".
Legacy
Jason Ankeny in AllMusic feels that the album is the Dead's "studio masterpiece", and in comparing it to Workingman's Dead, it is "more representative of the group as a collective unit". In 2003, the album was ranked number 258 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The American National Association of Recording Merchandisers placed the album at number 20 in its 2007 list of "definitive 200 albums".
In 1991, Rolling Stone ranked American Beauty's album cover as the 57th best of all time.
Track listing
All songs written by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter and all lead vocals by Jerry Garcia except where noted.
Side one
- "Box of Rain" (Phil Lesh, Robert Hunter) - 5:18 (lead singer: Phil Lesh)
- "Friend of the Devil" (Garcia, John Dawson, Hunter) - 3:24
- "Sugar Magnolia" (Bob Weir, Hunter) - 3:19 (lead singer: Bob Weir)
- "Operator" (Ron McKernan) - 2:25 (lead singer: Ron "Pigpen" McKernan)
- "Candyman" - 6:14
Side two
- "Ripple" - 4:09
- "Brokedown Palace" - 4:09
- "Till the Morning Comes" - 3:08
- "Attics of My Life" - 5:12 (lead singers: The Grateful Dead)
- "Truckin'" (Garcia, Lesh, Weir, Hunter) - 5:03 (lead singers: Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir)
2001 Rhino reissue
- "Truckin'" (Single Edit) (Garcia, Lesh, Weir, Hunter) - 3:17
- "Friend of the Devil" (Live - May 15, 1970 at Fillmore East in New York City) (Garcia, Dawson, Hunter) - 4:21
- "Candyman" (Live - April 15, 1970 at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco) - 5:18
- "Till the Morning Comes" (Live - October 4, 1970 at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco) - 3:20
- "Attics of My Life" (Live - June 6, 1970 at Fillmore West in San Francisco) - 6:31
- "Truckin'" (Live - December 26, 1970 at Legion Stadium in El Monte, California) (Garcia, Lesh, Weir, Hunter) - 10:10
- "Ripple" (Single Version) - 3:02
- American Beauty radio promo - 1:11
The final two tracks are unlisted. The "American Beauty Promo" is a radio commercial promoting the release of this album.
Personnel
- Jerry Garcia - guitar, pedal steel, piano, vocals
- Phil Lesh - bass, guitar, piano, vocals
- Bob Weir - guitar, vocals
- Pigpen (Ron McKernan) - harmonica, vocals
- Mickey Hart - percussion
- Bill Kreutzmann - drums
- Robert Hunter - songwriter
- Dave Torbert - bass on "Box of Rain"
- David Nelson - electric guitar on "Box of Rain"
- David Grisman - mandolin on "Friend of the Devil", "Ripple"
- Howard Wales - organ on "Candyman", "Truckin'"; piano on "Brokedown Palace"
- Ned Lagin - piano on "Candyman"
- Produced by Grateful Dead
- Co-producer, audio: Steve Barncard
- Artwork: Kelley/Mouse Studios
- Rear photo: George Conger
- Reissue produced for release by James Austin, David Lemieux
- Executive producer: Peter McQuaid
- Associate producer, research coordination: Michael Wesley Johnson
- Archival research: Eileen Law
- Project coordinator: Cassidy Law
- Business affairs: Eric Doney, Nancy Mallonee, Malia Doss
- Grateful mentor: Dennis McNally
- Additional mixing: Jeffrey Norman
- Mastering, production consultant: Joe Gastwirt
- Product manager: Jimmy Edwards
- Project coordination: Joe Motta
- Discographical annotation: Gary Peterson
- Liner notes coordination: Shawn Amos
- Editorial supervision: Vanessa Atkins
- Editorial research: Daniel Goldmark
- Reissue art direction: Hugh Brown, Greg Allen, Rachel Gutek
- Design: Rachel Gutek, Greg Allen
Charts
Certifications
Release history
The album was released in a multitude of ways in the years since its original release. In 2001, the CD version was remastered, expanded and was also part of the The Golden Road (1965-1973) 12-CD box set. This version included live and unreleased studio tracks. On October 24, 2004, it was released as a DualDisc recording, including a DVD side with interviews with Mickey Hart and Bob Weir, a photo gallery, and lyrics to all songs. Additionally in 2001 a standalone DVD-Audio version was released including a 5.1 Surround Sound mix. The album--including the re-release bonus tracks--is also available on the iTunes Store.
+ Re-mastered edition with bonus tracks
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