| | Grateful Dead American Beauty CD Grateful Dead Discography of CDs
 (2 Customer Reviews)
AMERICAN BEAUTY was an instant classic when it was first released November of 1970. It is among the most satisfying and enduring of the Grateful Dead's studio recordings, expanding as it does on the engaging mix of country, blues, and folk materials they first coined earlier in the year with WORKINGMAN'S DEAD.
The musical vision of the Dead is more sharply focused on AMERICAN BEAUTY--from the serene reflection and compassion of the opening "Box Of Rain" and the earthy mysticism of "Ripple," to the sensual rock of "Sugar Magnolia" and the anthemic proto-boogie of the closing "Truckin'." But then, every tune on AMERICAN BEAUTY has attained a classic resonance, both from decades of steady airplay, and the way the Dead seemed to continually revive these popular standards for their concert repertoire.
Also available with WORKINGMAN'S DEAD on one cassette.
Recording information: Wally Heider Studio, San Francisco, California.
Grateful Dead: Jerry Garcia (vocals, guitar, pedal steel guitar, piano); Phil Lesh (vocals, guitar, piano, bass instrument); Bob Weir (vocals, guitar); Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (vocals, harmonica); Bill Kreutzmann (drums); Mickey Hart (percussion).
Additional personnel: Dave Nelson (electric guitar); David Grisman (mandolin); Howard Wales (piano, organ); Ned Lagin (piano); Dave Torbert (bass instrument); New Riders Of The Purple Sage.
Rolling Stone (12/24/70, p.52) - "...the album is American beauty of the best possible kind....A complete contentment shines through the vocal work....The instrumentation is rich with sound that moves through, under and into the listener..."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.153) - "It's a near perfect set of songs, most becoming mainstays of their repertoire." American Beauty Music | List Price | $12.99 (You save $4.72) | | Category | Rock Albums, Oldies CDs, Rock/Pop, Country Rock, 70's | | Label | Warner Bros. (Record Label) | | Orig Year | 1970 | | All Time Sales Rank |  7021  | | CD Universe Part number | 1099024 | | Catalog number | 927190 | | Discs | 1 | | Release Date | Oct 25, 1990 | | Studio/Live | Studio | | Mono/Stereo | Stereo | | Producer | Grateful Dead | | Personnel | Jerry Garcia - vocals, guitar, pedal steel guitar, piano
Phil Lesh - vocals, guitar, piano, bass instrument
Bob Weir - vocals, guitar
Bill Kreutzmann - drums
Mickey Hart - percussion
Ron "Pigpen" McKernan - vocals, harmonica
Also: David Grisman, New Riders Of The Purple Sage, Dave Torbert, Ned Lagin, Howard Wales, Dave Nelson |
American Beauty Music Review Average Rating: (5 out of 5 stars)  American Beauty
American Beauty, is, arguably the Dead's best album, definately, among the top 3 very best. Each song on the album is exellent, and each song is in such an order that, not only does the entire album have a smooth feel, it almost begs to be played over and over again. The album contains some of the Dead's very best songs, Phill Lesh's masterpeice "Box Of Rain", starts the album followed by "Friend Of The Devil" the sad tail of a man on the run, "Sugar Magnolia" is a wonderful song, and even better played live, and "Candyman" is the perfict song to end the first side of the record, "Ripple", with it's folkish tune, and wonderful lyrics is the perfict tune to open side two, and the album ends with "Truckin'" probably the Dead's most famous song.
Submitted by a reviewer (Vancouver BC)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No An American Classic!!!
Despite the fact that this album, coupled with "Workingman's Dead" are the two most commercially accessible albums by the Dead, this is a must for any fan of the Dead, classic rock, folk rock, or even the roots-rock movement of today. With quasi-bluegrass ("Friend of the Devil")mixed with a twinge of folk ("Ripple"), sentimental ballads ("Brokedown Palace"), and introspective rock ("Box of Rain", "Operator"), this album is a true statement of the times and the freedomm inherent in the American experience. A great listen on a road trip.
Submitted by sobota (Naperville, IL)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No | Have you heard this album? |  |
Purchase American Beauty CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Bob Dylan Time Out Of Mind CD (1997)
American Beauty
 $6.89    
TIME OUT OF MIND won the 1998 Grammy Awards for Album Of The Year and for Best Contemporary Folk Album. "Cold Irons Bound" won the 1998 Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance.
This album by the quintessential singer-songwriter comes after a long layoff from recording original material. Dylan's previous two albums were powerful collections of traditional songs, and the album that preceded them was full of some rather iffy original tunes, so all eyes were on Dylan to make one of his patented surprise comebacks. As luck would have it, that's exactly what TIME OUT OF MIND turns out to be. Produced by Daniel Lanois, who manned the boards for Dylan's best latter-day album, OH MERCY, this one has the kind of raw, spontaneous vibe that serves Zimmy's music so well.
Loss and world-weariness abound in the lyrics, and Dylan articulates these emotions perfectly, in a manner that seems simultaneously casual and precise. Songs like "Standing In The Doorway" and "Million Miles" are bathed in sorrow and emotional desolation, but are so well-crafted that their solipsism is irresistible. An all-star cast including Ry Cooder and Duke Robillard provides the sparse, rough-edged, bluesy accompaniment that casts Dylan's ...
| | Grateful Dead CD (1967)
American Beauty
$11.19
All tracks have been digitally remastered using HDCD technology.
The Grateful Dead's self-titled first album contains the main ingredients of the unique musical stew the band would brew over the coming years. Upon its release in March 1967, it brought the musical and philosophical ideals of the freak counter-culture out of the Bay Area and into the ears of mainstream America.
"The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)" is a Summer Of Love anthem nonpareil. "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" shows off the Dead's ability to reinterpret the blues, and Pigpen's natural front-man qualities. The hyperactive rockabilly of Jesse Fuller's "Beat It On Down The Line" and the rearranged traditionals "Sitting On Top Of The World" and "Cold Rain And Snow" are proof that, despite the group's anti-establishment fashions, their lyrical symbols and musical forms were as time-honored as the English folk-tale that provided their name. While the cover of Bonnie Dobson's eerie anti-war epic "Morning Dew" and the women-and-wine rocker "New, New Minglewood Blues" are energetic portrayals of hippie values, the closing number, Noah Lewis's "Viola Lee Blues," is the album's grand, mind-blowing concoction and a highlight. ...
| | Grateful Dead Aoxomoxoa CD (1969)
American Beauty
$6.63 
The Dead's first attempt at sixteen-track recording, AOXOMOXOA was remixed at Alembic Studios in San Francisco in 1971 by original engineers Bob Matthews and Betty Cantor. This is the mix used for the CD issue.
All tracks have been digitally remastered using HDCD technology.
Named after one of famed San Francisco poster artist Rick Griffin's lysergic palindromes, the Grateful Dead's third album saw the band inject their acid-fueled sting into folk music of various ages. Hunter added a lyrical landscape perfect for the band's blend of exploration and tradition. Portraits of a rebellious mystic ("St. Stephen") and a dandy day-tripper ("Cosmic Charlie"), proper Olde English tales ("Dupree's Diamond Blues"), and hallucinatory excursions to the borders of Hunter's muse ("China Cat Sunflower," "Mountains Of The Moon") are remarkable in that their expansive overview is interwoven with precise detail.
The elongated strides of ANTHEM OF THE SUN were replaced with short bursts that hinted at the music's timeless sources. "St. Stephen" is a raw clarion call from Temple Mount. "Dupree's Diamond Blues" sounds like it fell out of the bluegrass tradition into a field of poppies. "Cosmic Charlie" is built on a "Revolution"-like riff, but with a far more subtle thrust and sweetly ...
| | Grateful Dead Workingman's Dead CD (1970)
American Beauty
$11.65
The Grateful Dead's first four albums reinforced their stature as a performing group, with a loose improvisational feel rooted in the blues, rock & roll, and modern jazz. But with the 1970 release of WORKINGMAN'S DEAD, Garcia, Weir, Lesh, McKernan, Kreutzmann, and Hart reined in their many spatial musical elements and found their true stylistic niche in the studio with an engaging blend of country, blues, and folk. Where earlier studio releases strove to recreate the kind of freeform group improvisations that won the Dead a fanatical cult following in the Bay area, WORKINGMAN'S DEAD drew upon a rural American vernacular that was in many ways analogous to that of the Band.
The resulting music has a rootsy, timeless quality, with tight instrumental arrangements, concise solo breaks, and a carefully wrought style of vocal harmonizing. The Dead ...
| | Neil Young After The Gold Rush CD (1970)
American Beauty
$12.79
The album continues its collage of styles, from the wistfulness of "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" to song fragments like "Til the Morning Comes" to the transformation of Don Gibson's "Oh Lonesome Me" from canter to ballad. But the crowning achievements are the album's magnificent title track, a vividly drawn portrait of post-'60s melancholy, and the gorgeous, aching "Birds," a swan song heralding emotional departure. Both songs are graced by Nils Lofgren's delicate piano, and stand as two of Young's finest compositions. In a catalogue filled with rock classics, AFTER THE GOLDRUSH still ranks among the best.
AFTER THE GOLDRUSH mixes up the hard rock of EVERYONE KNOWS THIS IS NOWHERE and the folk and country leanings Young pursued with Crosby, Stills And Nash in one of his most eclectic and satisfying releases. The acoustic picking on the opener, "Tell Me Why," frames Young's vulnerable ...
| | Grateful Dead Europe '72 CDs (1972)
American Beauty
$33.85
Originally a three-LP set, this live document of the band at their largest (an octet if you count non-performing lyricist/official member Robert Hunter) is a well-recorded portrait of one of the Dead's finest eras. The Chick Corea-channeled-through-Floyd Cramer piano of ...
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