Grateful Dead
American Beauty (1970)

review by: Glenn Pfeifer
Date: 12/23/00

I realize that the following statement is very bold and will probably get my name thrown off of all future "Further" festival mailing lists, not to mention a blacklisting from the "Jerry's Kids" newsletter, but......I LIKE GRATEFUL DEAD STUDIO ALBUMS!

I know any Deadheads in the listening audience are probably yanking out their bootlegs of Saratoga Springs '83.... "Seamless transition from China Doll to Fire On the Mountain, dude!" or Continental Arena '85...."Best 'Space' they've ever done!!" and I hear ya.....I was introduced to the Grateful Dead (a very late bloomer so to speak) via bootleg tape after bootleg tape. But I must say that it was the very essence of what, I felt, lacked in the bootlegs that drove me to the store for Workingmans Dead, Terrapin Station, Shakedown Street and of course, American Beauty. Probably due more to the realities of mind-enhancing drugs and inferior recording equipment than to the actual performances I was weaned on....many of the live tapes do not convey the "tightness" of this very accomplished band. It seemed on so many occasions that Jerry was always looking to slow down the show..... pulling back the tempo of already dour numbers like "Brokedown Palace" and "High Time," while Bob Weir was gearing up for Rockers like "New Minglewood Blues" and "One More Saturday Night." The studio discs...especially 'Beauty' ... let the artists realize the full potential of these great great songs...with cleaner, flawless production that allows The Dead's impeccable harmonies to be fully appreciated. 'Beauty', like 'Workingman's Dead' before it, showcases the band's original American roots, the songs are deeply planted in the fibre of blues, folk and (gasp) even country.

This disc was released in 1969 or 1970 I believe, before The Eagles, around the same time The Byrds and Bob Dylan took their (lesser) cracks at country...even a year before Neil Young's masterpiece "Harvest."

This is just great songwriting...powerful lyrics that vacillate from the spiritual and symbolic to the stalwart and gritty. If you don't like The Dead, this disc will not bring about an epiphany (although at the very least you may find yourself humming and tapping along with "Ripple," my favorite Dead tune) however, if your Dead exposure consists of the afore-mentioned homemade cassettes, pick up "American Beauty." You may discover that "selling out" to Warner Bros. or Arista was the most durable move Jerry & the crew ever made. gp fife