American Beauty (album)

Not to be confused with American Beauty (soundtrack) or American Beauty: Original Motion Picture Score.

American Beauty
Studio album by Grateful Dead
Released	November 1, 1970 (1970-11-01)
Recorded	August–September 1970, at Wally Heider Studios, San Francisco, California, United States
Genre	Folk rock, country rock
Length	42:21
Language	English
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	Grateful Dead Stephen Barncard
Grateful Dead chronology
Workingman's Dead (1970) American Beauty (1970) Vintage Dead (1970)
Singles from American Beauty
"Truckin'"/"Ripple" Released: January 1971 (1971-01)

American Beauty is the fifth studio album by 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 would first collaborate 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 #30 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart (North America), while the single, "Truckin'", peaked at #64 on the Pop Singles chart and achieved considerable FM rock radio airplay. It is the final album with Mickey Hart until his return to the band four years later in 1975.

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 favourably 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

1. "Box of Rain" (Robert Hunter, Phil Lesh) – 5:18
2. "Friend of the Devil" (Jerry Garcia, John Dawson, Hunter) – 3:24
3. "Sugar Magnolia" (Bob Weir, Hunter) – 3:19
4. "Operator" (Ron McKernan) – 2:25
5. "Candyman" (Garcia, Hunter) – 6:14
6. "Ripple" (Garcia, Hunter) – 4:09
7. "Brokedown Palace" (Garcia, Hunter) – 4:09
8. "Till the Morning Comes" (Garcia, Hunter) – 3:08
9. "Attics of My Life" (Garcia, Hunter) – 5:12
10. "Truckin'" (Garcia, Lesh, Weir, Hunter) – 5:03

The 2003 Rhino reissue, on HDCD, added the following tracks:

11. "Truckin'" (Single Edit) – 3:17
12. "Friend of the Devil" (Live – May 15, 1970 at Fillmore East in New York City) – 4:21
13. "Candyman" (Live – April 15, 1970 at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco) – 5:18
14. "Till the Morning Comes" (Live – October 4, 1970 at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco) – 3:20
15. "Attics of My Life" (Live – June 6, 1970 at Fillmore West in San Francisco) – 6:31
16. "Truckin'" (Live – December 26, 1970 at Legion Stadium in Wilmington, Los Angeles, California) – 10:10
17. "Ripple" (Single Version) – 3:02
18. "American Beauty Promo" – 1:11

The final two tracks are unlisted. The "American Beauty Promo" is a radio commercial promoting the release of this album.

Personnel

Grateful Dead

• Jerry Garcia – guitar; pedal steel guitar on "Sugar Magnolia", "Candyman", and "Brokedown Palace"; piano on "Box of Rain"; vocals
• Mickey Hart – percussion
• Robert Hunter – lyricist
• Phil Lesh – bass guitar, acoustic guitar on "Box of Rain", piano, vocals, lead on "Box of Rain"
• Bill Kreutzmann – drums
• Ron "Pigpen" McKernan – harmonica, vocals on "Operator"
• Bob Weir – guitar, vocals, lead on "Sugar Magnolia" and "Trucking"

Additional performers

• David Grisman – mandolin on "Friend of the Devil" and "Ripple"
• David Nelson – electric guitar on "Box of Rain"
• Ned Lagin – piano on "Candyman"
• New Riders of the Purple Sage
• Dave Torbert – bass guitar on "Box of Rain"
• Howard Wales – organ on "Candyman" and "Truckin'" and piano on "Brokedown Palace"

Production

• Dave Collins – pre-mastering assistance
• Tom Flye – engineering, mixing, mastering supervision
• Joe Gastwirt – pre-mastering assistance
• Daniel Goldmark – editorial research
• Robin Hurley – production
• David McLees – executive production
• Jeffrey Norman – engineering
• Fred Ordower – engineering
• Rudson Shurtliff – engineering

Design

• Robert Altman – photography
• Henry Diltz – photography
• Ginger Dettman – project assistance
• Herbert Greene – photography
• Stanley Mouse – photography, design
• Fred Ordower – photography
• Steve Pokorny – project assistance
• Amalie R. Rothschild – photography
• Steve Woolard – project assistants

Reissue production credits

• Greg Allen – design, reissue art direction
• Shawn Amos – liner notes coordination
• Vanessa Atkins – editorial supervision
• James Austin – reissue production
• Stephen Barncard – production, audio supervision
• Hugh Brown – design, reissue art direction
• Jimmy Edwards – product management
• David Gans – liner notes, project assistance
• Joe Gastwirt – mastering, production consultation
• Daniel Goldmark – editorial research
• Rachel Gutek – design, reissue art direction
• Michael Wesley Johnson – associate production
• Eileen Law – research
• David Lemieux- reissue production
• Jo Motta – project coordinator
• Jeffrey Norman – mixing
• Gary Peterson – liner note coordination
• Steve Silberman, Bill Belmont, David Gans, Jeff Gold, Bill Inglot, Blair Jackson, Gary Lambert, Steve Lang, David McLees, Hale Milgrim, Randy Perry, Janette L. Simmons, Owsley "Bear" Stanley – project assistance

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1971	Billboard 200	30

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1971	"Truckin'"	Billboard Hot 100	64

Certifications

Certification	Date
Gold	July 11, 1974
Platinum	October 13, 1986
Double Platinum	August 24, 2001

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.

Region	Date	Label	Format	Catalog
United States	1970-11-01	Warner Bros.	LP	?
	1978	Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab		MFS-1-014
Worldwide	1987	Warner Bros.	Compact Disc	1893-2
			Cassette tape	M5-1893
	1990		LP	1893
United States	2001	Rhino	DVD-Audio	74385
	2003		CD	74397†
			LP
	2004-10-24	Warner Bros./Rhino	DualDisc	74385
	2007	Grateful Dead	CD	74794
Worldwide		Rhino		1893
		WEA/Rhino	LP	8122736821

† Re-mastered edition with bonus tracks

References

The making of American Beauty and Anthem of the Sun are described by former members and associates of the Grateful Dead in the 1997 Classic Albums documentary Anthem to Beauty.

External links

• Album online on Radio3Net a radio channel of Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company
• Lyrics