Album: American Beauty
Artist: Grateful Dead
Born: Palo Alto, California
Released: November 1970
Genre: Americana
Influenced: Santana, Elvis Costello, Wilco, Animal Collective
If there's one band that symbolises the transition from psychedelia to roots music in the late 60s / early 70s, it's the Grateful Dead. No other west coast band was as experimental as the Dead. They were doing 10-minute compositions, like the brilliant Viola Lee Blues from their first album, long before prog rock got there. I've listened to all their early psychedelic albums, but I always struggle to get through them without letting my attention wander. The real beauty of the Dead in the 60s, I think, was dropping some acid and watching them live (or listening to Live / Dead). Inspired by CSNY, the band took a new direction in the early 70s, first with Workingman's Dead and then American Beauty, both steeped in native strains of music (folk, country and bluegrass). The pedal steel guitar and harmonies are plain to hear on the opening track, Box of Rain, a really tender song about our short time on this planet. This sets the tone for the album, one of conciliation and spirituality.
American Beauty (or is that American Reality?) is a really great collection of songs, from Friend Of The Devil to Ripple and Truckin', and the album's sound is richer than Workingman's Dead. Friend Of The Devil runs Truckin' close for most iconic song in the Dead repertoire, reminiscent of Robert Johnson with its story of a pact with Satan and a man on the run. Sugar Magnolia is a little sickly sweet, while Operator has a jaunty groove and Candyman explores darker themes of outsiders and gambling, offset with great harmonies. None of these songs hold a torch to Ripple though, the first track on side 2 and my favourite on the album. This is American Beauty's songwriting and spiritual core. The melody, the bluegrass sound and Jerry Garcia's delivery all combine brilliantly. Brokedown Palace follows seamlessly, full of warmth and positivity, while the harmonies shine through again on Till The Morning Comes. Attics of My Life feels like the biggest departure for the Dead on this album, almost flirting with gospel, but order is soon resumed with the brilliant Truckin', which is stoner Americana par excellence:
"Lately it occurs to me / what a long, strange trip it's been"
If there's one band that symbolises the transition from psychedelia to roots music in the late 60s / early 70s, it's the Grateful Dead. No other west coast band was as experimental as the Dead. They were doing 10-minute compositions, like the brilliant Viola Lee Blues from their first album, long before prog rock got there. I've listened to all their early psychedelic albums, but I always struggle to get through them without letting my attention wander. The real beauty of the Dead in the 60s, I think, was dropping some acid and watching them live (or listening to Live / Dead). Inspired by CSNY, the band took a new direction in the early 70s, first with Workingman's Dead and then American Beauty, both steeped in native strains of music (folk, country and bluegrass). The pedal steel guitar and harmonies are plain to hear on the opening track, Box of Rain, a really tender song about our short time on this planet. This sets the tone for the album, one of conciliation and spirituality.
American Beauty (or is that American Reality?) is a really great collection of songs, from Friend Of The Devil to Ripple and Truckin', and the album's sound is richer than Workingman's Dead. Friend Of The Devil runs Truckin' close for most iconic song in the Dead repertoire, reminiscent of Robert Johnson with its story of a pact with Satan and a man on the run. Sugar Magnolia is a little sickly sweet, while Operator has a jaunty groove and Candyman explores darker themes of outsiders and gambling, offset with great harmonies. None of these songs hold a torch to Ripple though, the first track on side 2 and my favourite on the album. This is American Beauty's songwriting and spiritual core. The melody, the bluegrass sound and Jerry Garcia's delivery all combine brilliantly. Brokedown Palace follows seamlessly, full of warmth and positivity, while the harmonies shine through again on Till The Morning Comes. Attics of My Life feels like the biggest departure for the Dead on this album, almost flirting with gospel, but order is soon resumed with the brilliant Truckin', which is stoner Americana par excellence:
"Lately it occurs to me / what a long, strange trip it's been"
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