| American Beauty (album) |
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''American Beauty'' is the fifth album by the Grateful Dead . It was recorded between August and September of 1970 and originally released in November of 1970 (see 1970 In Music ). In 1991, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked ''American Beauty'''s Album Cover as the 57th best of all time. {Link without Title} The album was released in a multitude of ways in years since its original release.
HISTORY The band began recording ''American Beauty'' only a few months after the release of '' Workingman's Dead .'' An odd occurrence was that the band recorded the album without their 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 Steve 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."''Garcia: An American Life'' by Blair Jackson, Penguin Books, 1999, pg. 196. Both ''Workingman's Dead'' and ''American Beauty'' were extremely innovative at the time for their fusion of Bluegrass , Rock And Roll , Folk Music and, especially, Country Music . Like ''Workingman's Dead'', the album did not include any guitar solos from Jerry Garcia. It was during the recording of this album that Garcia would first collaborate with Mandolin ist 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.''Garcia: An American Life'' by Blair Jackson, Penguin Books, 1999, pg. 202. In fact, there were many big names in the "San Francisco scene" rotating in and out of the same studio. 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 and Grace from the {Link without Title} 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."''Phil Lesh: Searching for the Sound'' by Phil Lesh, Little, Brown and Company, 2005, pg. 190. "Truckin'"/"Ripple" was released as a single and the songs "Sugar Magnolia" and "Friend of the Devil" also became "instant radio favorites." 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. The highly-ranked Kelley - Mouse Studios album cover can also read ''American Reality''. Anthem to Beauty 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 ''. TRACK LISTING Original release Side one #" Box Of Rain " ( Hunter , Lesh ) – 5:16 #" Friend Of The Devil " ( Garcia , Dawson, Hunter) – 3:20 #" Sugar Magnolia " ( Weir , Hunter) – 3:15 #"Operator" ( Ron McKernan ) – 2:21 #"Candyman" (Garcia, Hunter) – 5:12 Side two #"Ripple" (Garcia, Hunter) – 4:10 #"Brokedown Palace" (Garcia, Hunter) – 4:18 #"Till the Morning Comes" (Garcia, Hunter) – 3:13 #"Attics of My Life" (Garcia, Hunter) – 5:09 #" Truckin' " (Garcia, Lesh, Weir, Hunter) – 5:09 :''This was the same track listing for the CD released in 1987 and 2001. 2003 reissue #"Box of Rain" (Hunter, Lesh) – 5:18 #"Friend of the Devil" (Garcia, Dawson, Hunter) – 3:24 #"Sugar Magnolia" (Weir, Hunter) – 3:19 #"Operator" (Ron McKernan) – 2:25 #"Candyman" (Garcia, Hunter) – 6:12 #"Ripple" (Garcia, Hunter) – 4:09 #"Brokedown Palace" (Garcia, Hunter) – 4:09 #"Till the Morning Comes" (Garcia, Hunter) – 3:09 #"Attics of My Life" (Garcia, Hunter) – 5:14 #"Truckin" (Garcia, Lesh, Weir, Hunter) – 5:17 #"Truckin'" (single edit) – 3:17 #"Friend of the Devil" (live) – 4:21 #"Candy Man" (live) – 5:18 #"Till the Morning Comes" (live) – 3:20 #"Attics of My Life" (live) – 6:31 #"Truckin'" (live) – 10:10 Dual Disc additions This reissue included the same track listing as the original on both sides. One side was regular CD audio, while the other was enhanced DVD Audio and included:
PERSONNEL Grateful Dead :
Additional performers:
Recorded at Wally Heider Studios , San Francisco . Production:
BONUS TRACKS PRODUCTION DETAILS
REISSUE PRODUCTION CREDITS
TRACK LISTING Box of Rain See Also: Box of Rain Friend of the Devil See Also: Friend of the Devil Sugar Magnolia/Sunshine Daydream See Also: Sugar Magnolia Operator
"Operator" debuted at The Fillmore in San Francisco on August 18 , 1970 . It is the last song recorded by Pig Pen McKernan before his death ( March 8 - 1973). The song is about a man calling a telephone operator, trying to learn the phone number for a woman. The House Of Blue Lights , referenced in the song, is a real, famous nightclub in Chicago, Illinois . Candyman
"Candyman" debuted at the Field House in Cincinnati, Ohio on April 3 , 1970 . Throughout the band's career, the song was almost always played in the first set. The song opens with "Come all you"; Come-all-ye s are a common type of folk song, and variations on the line open many traditional songs. A "candyman" is, in early 20th century African-American slang, a man who is lusty, and has "got a stick of candy nine inches long" (in many old Blues songs, the "candyman" carries a candy bar, intended as a Double Entendre referring to the Penis ). In the 1960s, the term also frequently applied to drug dealers. See also '' Candyman (movie) ''. The line "roll them laughin' bones" probably refers to gambling with Dice . Ripple
Like many folk songs, "Ripple" addresses itself as a song and an instrument of the performers' emotional expression. Several lines throughout the song echo the 23rd Psalm of the Bible . The signature lines in this song were played by mandolin master David Grisman. The songwriter, Robert Hunter, wrote this song in 1970 in London in the same afternoon he wrote "Brokedown Palace" and "To Lay Me Down" (reputedly also drinking an entire bottle of Retsina in the process). The song debuted August 18 , 1970 at The Fillmore in San Francisco . Among fans, "Ripple" is widely considered one of the best Grateful Dead songs, and is also often cited as one of the most beautiful and poetic songs in Popular Music . Brokedown Palace
Robert Hunter, the songwriter, wrote this song in 1970 in London in the same afternoon he wrote "Ripple" and "To Lay Me Down". It debuted August 18 , 1970 at The Fillmore in San Francisco . The term "brokedown palace" comes from John Steinbeck 's '' Cannery Row '' (1945), where it referred to an abandoned warehouse where some bums slept. In 1986, Steven Brust wrote a Fantasy novel called '' Brokedown Palace '', which contains many references to Grateful Dead songs. In the folksong tradition of the British isles and of the Appalachians, the Weeping Willow is a symbol of mourning for lost love. Many of the lyrics seem adapted from a folk song called "Fare Thee Well". In later years of touring, the band would frequently play Brokedown Palace as an encore at the last show of a multi-night stand at a particular venue. Till The Morning Comes
"Till the Morning Comes" debuted at The Fillmore in San Francisco on August 18 , 1970 . The song was only performed live five times before it was retired. The line "till we all fall down" refers to the children's song " Ring Around The Rosey ". Attics of My Life
"Attics of My Life" debuted at Meramec Community College , in Kirkwood, Missouri on May 14 , 1970 . The lyrics to the song are structured like a Prayer , and it is usually sung with harmonic, slow and reverent vocals. Truckin' See Also: Truckin' CHARTS Album - Billboard Singles - Billboard RIAA Certification SEE ALSO REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS |
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