A long, strange trip indeed. From the deeply traditional to the cutting edge of the forms beyond chaos, the Dead did their best to love it all, and so do we. Performance oriented. It's all about the show.
Prerequisites
For all levels and instruments.
- Teacher: Steve Levitt
They're dead Jim- Teacher: Steve Levitt
- Teacher: Steve Levitt
American Beauty is the fifth 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 features the lyrics of Robert Hunter prominently.- Teacher: Steve Levitt
The title of the album comes from a comment from Jerry Garcia to lyricist Robert Hunter about how "this album was turning into the Workingman's Dead version of the band," a play on the fact the band had recently been covering Merle Haggard's song "Workingman's Blues" in concert.[1]
The band returned to the Pacific High Recording Studio in San Francisco to record the album and spent just ten days there. Garcia noted that "let's do it all in three weeks and get it the hell out of the way."[2] Besides the weight of their debt in producing their previous album, Aoxomoxoa, the band was also dealing with the stress of a recent drug bust in New Orleans — which could have possibly resulted in jail time — and their manager Lenny Hart (father of drummer Mickey Hart) skipping town with a sizable chunk of the band's wealth. "In midst of all this adverse stuff that was happening ... [recording the album] was definitely an upper," said Garcia in an interview.[3]
Garcia has commented that much of the sound of the album comes both from his pairing with Hunter as well as the band's friendship with Crosby, Stills and Nash. "Hearing those guys sing and how nice they sounded together, we thought, 'We can try that. Let's work on it a little,'" commented Garcia.[4]
Warner Bros. released "Uncle John's Band" backed with "New Speedway Boogie" as a single, but got limited airplay because of length issues (not to mention concerns about profanity); later "Casey Jones" would also be released as a single.
The album was voted by readers of Rolling Stone as the best album of 1970, in front of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's Déjà Vu and Van Morrison's Moondance.[1]
