Comments for Grateful Dead, American Beauty

I was 15 when American Beauty was released. My friend Joe and I had work education jobs at a local top 40 radio station helping in the music dept.When "Truckin'" came in as a 45 single (before there were CD's, they used to make little vinyl records with big holes in the middle), Joe and I would pretend to be disc jockeys and talk up the intro to "Truckin'". The Music Director went on vacation, and Joe slipped "Truckin'" on the top 40 playlist and it got reported to all the trade magazines. It got lots of requests in our little cowtown, & I believe made it into Billboard Top 40! Years later, I ran into Bob Weir backstage at one of his solo club dates and told him that story, and he told me how "Truckin'" had gone to number one at a radio station in Turlock. Almost word for word like he intros "Truckin'"on "Europe '72. For some reason I moved to Marin and became a hippie.

Like many Grateful Dead fans, Truckin' was my initial taste of the band. But soon I realized that the Dead was certainly more than just Truckin'. This album embodies some of my favorite classic dead song. Box of Rain is such an inspirational song. Whenever I hear it, I feel the melancholy Phil must have felt after his mother's death. "FOr this is all a dream we dreamed one afernoon long ago." These lyrics, along with those of Candyman and Brokedown Palace are some of the Dead's best. I surely hope that a new album is in their future plans. My love for this band will never fade away.

The cult popularity of the Grateful Dead remains one of the great mysteries of modern western civilization. Wake up, Deadheads, the band sucks.

Quite nearly the perfect Dead album. "Box of Rain", "Brokedown Palace" and "Attics of my Life" have always been three of my favorite Dead songs. Actually, there's not one song on the album I don't like, although I'm maybe a little impatient with "Truckin'", because it's about the only Dead you ever heard on the radio until "Touch of Grey" came along. This album should be a part of any good record collection.

At first exposure I thought the dead sounded like mediocre country/ wanna be bluegrass rock music. I went to my first dead show in 1993 and this CD was my first dead CD. It's a good solid album with some fine instrumentation and classic song writing. Admittedly it's a little different than your standard 60's album.

The Dead's music is entirely unique, in sound and in lyric. "American Beauty" is one of the many gems produced by the band. There is an overall feeling of love, harmony, and understanding. The album has a nice even flow from song to song, which is probably why it is one of my favorites!

this album sold

This album is the first to really draw the masses to the dead and expand their ability to take other avenues of music to everybody

Personally, I don't see how anyone could listen-- really LISTEN-- to 'Ripple' and not be moved. Thank heavens for CDs-- a vinyl copy of American Beauty would be worn through by now. It is clear that this music transcends generations. While many 'DeadHeads' (and I don't consider myself one) are at least in their 30's-40's, my son (age 15) counts American Beauty as one of his favorite disks, as do many of his friends. These are intelligent, drug-free kids, so it is not merely the drug culture that attracts them. Clearly the GD reach people at many different levels. As the most 'accessible' of their albums, this is clearly the entre for many (myself included) into their astounding repertoire.

American beauty is the dead at their finest, the mere thought of listening to "box of rain" brings shivers down my spine

I can't seem to find any tabliture from the Dead. I've been playing for a while, and I want to learn some new songs. If anyone can, please send me some songs. Thanks.

It is a nice album that you can listen to before you go to bed

The most beautiful part of American Beauty is the underlying hint of optimism. Robert Hunter and the bos can can bring to the point of tears and make you feel good about the outcome. "Box of Rain" is I song I turn to for inspiration during a difficult time. Thanks Robert and Phil.

the Grateful Dead are a mediocre band at best. and they couldn't stay in tune live if the lives depended on it. all this talk about their instrumental ability is thrown out the window once you hear em live. true Garcia kicks on guitar but live its quite terrible.

uhhhhhhhhhh lalalala this is my last night on earth

A friend recommended me to the Grateful Dead; so I brought this cd, because every friend I know told me this is an excellent cd. So I did. It suck shit. It smells like ass. I threw it against the wall, which brought satification. It was wasted money. Alp.

Hey! Where is the 0 grade for this crap.

american beauty is surely one of the best albums i have ever heard : so much beauty in these 10 wonderful songs. box of rain is my favourite and i still cannot understand how people cannot find this album great! let's be honest : the grateful dead was a band of pure genius!!

Arguably the Dead's best studio album & just about the only one that demands repeated listening. A genre-defining album, to say the least....

i agree. ripple is like the simplest g c d guitar song, yet its so good you wonder who wrote it. or if it really needed to be written. my 1st concert was alpine valley wisconsin 82 and later was sad i wasnt apprised to all the uptown chicago shows 78 to 81. the tune til the morning comes almost reminds me of the 1st album. that kind of spooky crunchy guitar sound from 1 hollow body and one solid. and that weird caliope ? organ. :)