GRATEFUL DEAD SET OF 2 PICTURE DISCS WORKINGMAN'S DEAD & AMERICAN BEAUTY SEALED

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SET OF 2 GRATEFUL DEAD PICTURE DISC LP'S. THIS LISTING CONSISTS OF BOTH OF THE GRATEFUL DEAD CLASSIC 1970 LP RELEASES BRAND NEW AND SEALED TITLED "WORKINGMAN'S DEAD AND AMERICAN BEAUTY"

50th Anniversary Picture Disc Vinyl LP Reissue Newly Remastered by Grammy Award-Winning Engineer David Glasser!

Workingman's Dead defies the erroneous belief that the Grateful Dead never attained brilliance in the recording studio. As flawless as any rustic album ever released, the 1970 set brims with soaring harmonies, organic execution, intertwined textures, and uncomplicated structures that furnish the songs a transcendence associated with timeless American music. Colorful, relatable characters seemingly torn from working-class histories and old-time fables inhabit the narratives. Instrumental melds and refined accents, such as guest David Nelson's nimble fills on "Cumberland Blues," are part of a larger whole that gives the impression you are witness to the world's coziest campfire session. Frontier tales and refined performances further this feeling.

The first Grateful Dead album to eschew cosmic jams and complex signatures, Workingman's Dead stakes its existence to great songs, homespun warmth, and bare essentials. Its wistful, relaxed state – immediately apparent via the innocent album-opening invitation "Will you come with me?" on "Uncle John's Band" – owes to the circumstances and conditions surrounding its creation. At the time, the Dead owed a considerable financial debt to Warner Bros. and were hobbled by a recent drug bust and financial scandal. Most significantly, the band was recovering from – and reacting to – the tragic events of the Altamont Music Festival and symbolic end of the peace and love era. As such, Workingman's Dead acts as a retreat from chaos and uncertainty, its songs emblems of simpler times and pleas for compassion in the face of hardship.

Lyricist Robert Hunter said he aimed to capture the vintage elements of late 1940s country-and-western jukebox singles as well as old blues classics. In that vein, fare such as the Bakersfield-leaning "Cumberland Blues," pastoral ballad "Dire Wolf," and bluesy "Easy Wind" hit the mark. Leader Jerry Garcia's occasional pedal-steel underpinnings arrive as a bonus. Of course, aside from the economical concision and thematic consistency, the genius of Workingman's Dead resides in the group's expressive harmonies. Taught by Crosby, Stills and Nash, the Dead produce live "air blends" of multi-part vocal harmonies that provide the foundations of nearly every track. "Uncle John's Band," "High Time," "New Speedway Boogie" (with the iconic refrain "One way or another/This darkness has got to give" referencing the ill wind that greeted the new decade), and the radio favorite "Casey Jones" practically float on the ensemble's communal vocal beds.

Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart recorded the album in about 10 days at Pacific High Recording Studio in San Francisco with Bob Matthews and Betty Cantor – the band's live-sound engineers – as producers. Fifty years on, every song on Workingman's Dead sounds fresh, alive, and new. Limited to 10,000 copies, this 50th anniversary picture disc vinyl LP reissue features all eight perfect songs from the original album, newly remastered by Grammy Award-winning engineer, David Glasser. Each album side features striking imagery from the original release.

Features:
• 50th anniversary picture disc vinyl LP reissue
• Newly remastered by Grammy Award-winning engineer David Glasser
• Each album side features imagery from the original release
• Limited to 10,000 copies

Crown Jewel of the Dead's Studio Output Newly Mastered in 2020 for 50th Anniversary by Grammy Award-Winning Engineer David Glasser and Pressed on Picture Disc Vinyl with Customized Album Artwork on Each Side of the LP!

The pinnacle of the Grateful Dead's studio output, American Beauty certainly lives up to its name. Made just months after its companion release, Workingman's Dead, the San Francisco legends' second 1970 masterpiece furthers the former work's close-knit relationship between country and folk while adding extra rock and bluegrass currents. Understated amplified passages, graceful melodies, layered singing, and old-time string flavors – including mandolin work from masterful guest David Grisman – bestow the material with easygoing, comfortable vibes.

Again taking advantage of the best songwriting of Robert Hunter's career, the Dead turns in its most collective studio performance, with every individual contributing equally and focusing on nothing but the songs at hand. From Garcia's breathtaking gospel-laden homage to his mother ("Brokedown Palace") to Lesh's healing salve in the form of the groove-based "Box of Rain," from Weir's jaunty and free-wheeling summer escape "Sugar Magnolia" to McKernan's eloquently simple homespun plea "Operator," all the way to the closing autobiographical anthem "Truckin'," American Beauty feels like the warm, spirit-infusing embrace of a loved one after a long journey away.

Jerry Garcia noted that American Beauty had "some of the first things I've written, and that we've performed as a band, that in my opinion are genuinely beautiful" which was confirmed by Rolling Stone's Andy Zwerling who wrote in 1970 that, "A complete contentment shines through the vocal work on this album. A full contentment. The instrumentation is rich with sound that moves through, under, and into the listener...the album is American beauty, of the best possible kind. The positivity of the Dead just can't be kept down."

Newly mastered in 2020 for 50th Anniversary by Grammy Award-winning engineer, David Glasser and pressed on picture disc vinyl with customized album artwork on each side of the LP!