A companion piece to the luminous Workingman's Dead, American Beauty is an even stronger document of the Grateful Dead's return to their musical roots. Sporting a more full-bodied and intricate sound than its predecessor thanks to the addition of subtle electric textures, the record is also more representative of the group as a collective unit, allowing for stunning contributions from Dave Torbert (the poignant opener "Box of Rain") and Bob Weir ("Sugar Magnolia"); at the top of his ga...   [ read more ]

CD $11.38

Supposedly, the Dead had broken their studio jinx with In the Dark and finally learned how to make good albums without an audience in front of them. So why was this follow-up such a letdown? Perhaps because they hadn't taken seven years to write and perfect new material as they had with the previous album. The dominant songwriter here was keyboard player Brent Mydland (who died the following year), while the crucial songwriting team of Garcia and Hunter contributed only minor efforts. Chastened, the Dead o...   [ read more ]

MP3 $10.49

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Having given up on studio work after the disaster of Go to Heaven, the Grateful Dead recorded a series of concerts in New York and San Francisco in October 1980 for two live albums. This is the first, a set of acoustic material that will remind many listeners of the rustic feel of the classic Workingman's Dead and American Beauty albums, although much of it consists of traditional and bluegrass material favored by Jerry Garcia. [The original two-LP set was fit onto one CD in 1987 by eliminating the Dead's ...   [ read more ]

MP3 $10.49

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