Brad's Take:
Just a few months after Workingman's Dead was released, the Grateful Dead released their follow-up American Beauty. I enjoyed the former quite a bit and so I was looking forward to diving into this one. Being recorded only a few months apart left little room for growth in sound. This is more like a sequel to Workingman's Dead. It was more or less more of the same thing, which isn't a bad thing by any means.
"Box of Rain" kicks the record off and you are able to tell immediately that they are just picking up where their last album left off. Once again, you can hear the Crosby, Still, and Nash folk/country influence. "Friend of the Devil" was one of those fun knee-slapper songs that you'd sing along to around the campfire with your pals.
Basically, this album is exactly what I expected it would be as soon as it started. It's a spin-off of the album that came before it. There's a lot of good stuff, a few songs that blend together, but nothing I really disliked or anything. "Till the Morning Comes" would probably be the only track I'd actually come back to. That song is my cup of tea.
Dad's Take:
I really like Workingman's Dead, which we reviewed earlier, but American Beauty is the Dead album that I am most likely to spin. If I had to name a favorite Grateful Dead song, chances are I'd pick one from this album. "Friend of the Devil," "Sugar Magnolia" (for a long time my absolute favorite Dead song, although it now has contenders), and "Ripple" are all top candidates. And "Truckin'" is, of course, the one Dead song everybody knows. And for good reason. "Truckin'" is probably also the first Grateful Dead song I ever knew. It received heavy airplay on the San Francisco stations, and I always had one ear to my little white clock radio.
There's a relaxed, contented feeling to this album. I get the sense that they were having a good time, and really enjoyed this making this album. And we enjoy it with them.
This is pure folk-rock-country-hippy bliss, full of rebellion against The Man, but in that laid back way that says "I just want to be left alone to enjoy the world without being hassled." How does anyone not feel like life is good when listening to the sunshine daydream of "Sugar Magnolia"?
Top to bottom, this is just plain old good listening. Song after song, story after story, makes you feel good, which is weird, really, because some of the stories are not all that happy. Getting busted, running from the heat, escaping the hassles of society. Those themes are all here. But they make it sound like it was fun to be a cultural outlaw. And of course, there are other songs about just kicking back and enjoying the world. Every time a new song starts, I find myself thinking, "Oh yeah! I love this song!" "Box of Rain," "Candyman," "Brokedown Palace" (with its gorgeous chorus), "Till the Morning Comes," the hymn-like "Attics of My Life"--it's like the great songs never end.
Stylistically, there's not much difference between this album and the one before it, but there's just something about this one. Maybe it feels cozier or more personal. Maybe it's just a bit tighter. Maybe the sound they experimented with on Workingman's Dead just gels even better. Or maybe it's just because this record contains both "Sugar Magnolia" and the flat-out incredible "Ripple." I don't know.
All I know is, I love this album. I don't listen to it all the time, but when I dig it out, I tend to listen to it over and over.
"Box of Rain" kicks the record off and you are able to tell immediately that they are just picking up where their last album left off. Once again, you can hear the Crosby, Still, and Nash folk/country influence. "Friend of the Devil" was one of those fun knee-slapper songs that you'd sing along to around the campfire with your pals.
Basically, this album is exactly what I expected it would be as soon as it started. It's a spin-off of the album that came before it. There's a lot of good stuff, a few songs that blend together, but nothing I really disliked or anything. "Till the Morning Comes" would probably be the only track I'd actually come back to. That song is my cup of tea.
Dad's Take:
I really like Workingman's Dead, which we reviewed earlier, but American Beauty is the Dead album that I am most likely to spin. If I had to name a favorite Grateful Dead song, chances are I'd pick one from this album. "Friend of the Devil," "Sugar Magnolia" (for a long time my absolute favorite Dead song, although it now has contenders), and "Ripple" are all top candidates. And "Truckin'" is, of course, the one Dead song everybody knows. And for good reason. "Truckin'" is probably also the first Grateful Dead song I ever knew. It received heavy airplay on the San Francisco stations, and I always had one ear to my little white clock radio.
There's a relaxed, contented feeling to this album. I get the sense that they were having a good time, and really enjoyed this making this album. And we enjoy it with them.
This is pure folk-rock-country-hippy bliss, full of rebellion against The Man, but in that laid back way that says "I just want to be left alone to enjoy the world without being hassled." How does anyone not feel like life is good when listening to the sunshine daydream of "Sugar Magnolia"?
Top to bottom, this is just plain old good listening. Song after song, story after story, makes you feel good, which is weird, really, because some of the stories are not all that happy. Getting busted, running from the heat, escaping the hassles of society. Those themes are all here. But they make it sound like it was fun to be a cultural outlaw. And of course, there are other songs about just kicking back and enjoying the world. Every time a new song starts, I find myself thinking, "Oh yeah! I love this song!" "Box of Rain," "Candyman," "Brokedown Palace" (with its gorgeous chorus), "Till the Morning Comes," the hymn-like "Attics of My Life"--it's like the great songs never end.
Stylistically, there's not much difference between this album and the one before it, but there's just something about this one. Maybe it feels cozier or more personal. Maybe it's just a bit tighter. Maybe the sound they experimented with on Workingman's Dead just gels even better. Or maybe it's just because this record contains both "Sugar Magnolia" and the flat-out incredible "Ripple." I don't know.
All I know is, I love this album. I don't listen to it all the time, but when I dig it out, I tend to listen to it over and over.
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