Grateful Dead American Beauty Original 1970 Release Green Label WB 1893 LP Mint
$
130
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Description
Grateful Dead
American Beauty
Original Green
Warner Brother
Matrix WS-1893 39804/5-1
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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.
In 2003, the album was ranked number 258 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
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 Stephen 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."
Both Workingman's Dead and American Beauty were innovative at the time for their fusion of bluegrass, rock and roll, folk music and, especially, country. Compared to Workingman's Dead, American Beauty had even less lead guitar work from Jerry Garcia, who instead filled the void with shimmering pedal steel guitar passages on both albums. It was during the recording of this album that Garcia would first collaborate with mandolinist 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. 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 Kantner and Grace Slick from Jefferson 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."
"Truckin'" and "Ripple" were released as a single,[4] and the songs "Box of Rain", "Sugar Magnolia", and "Friend of the Devil" also received radio play. 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."[2] 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 title wording on the front cover is an ambigram; it can also be read as "American Reality". The artwork was produced by Mouse-Kelley Studios.
In 2003, the album was ranked number 258 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 1991, Rolling Stone ranked American Beauty's album cover as the 57th best of all time.[9]
Track listing
1."Box of Rain" (Robert Hunter, Phil Lesh) – 5:18
2."Friend of the Devil" (Jerry Garcia, John Dawson, Hunter) – 3:24
3."Sugar Magnolia" (Bob Weir, Hunter) – 3:19
4."Operator" (Ron McKernan) – 2:25
5."Candyman" (Garcia, Hunter) – 6:14
6."Ripple" (Garcia, Hunter) – 4:09
7."Brokedown Palace" (Garcia, Hunter) – 4:09
8."Till the Morning Comes" (Garcia, Hunter) – 3:08
9."Attics of My Life" (Garcia, Hunter) – 5:12
10."Truckin'" (Garcia, Lesh, Weir, Hunter) – 5:03
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Original Thick Heavy Vinyl
Stored In Heavy Plastic Outer Sleeve Since Purchase
Official Release Information
Label: WB WB 1893
Released: 1970
Format: 12" vinyl LP (album), 33 1/3 RPM
Disc Condition
Mint
Visual Inspection
No visable flaws - Looks unplayed
Cover Condition
Mint
Visual Inspection
No Notable Exceptions
Shipment Information
All records are carefully packaged and shipped in heavy duty commercial grade #200 corrugated Record shipping boxes!
International Buyers Welcome
Please Read Buyer Instructions below regarding shipping costs and customs before purchasing or bidding!
PayPal—eBay's service to make fast, easy, and secure payments for your eBay purchases!Special Notes on Condition
All records come from my personal collection accumulated during my years in the music industry. When purchased new or received as a promotional copy, the album or single was placed in a plastic outer sleeve and sometimes a plastic inner sleeve. When possible the records will include these plastic sleeves. Most were listened to once and transferred to tape.I rate rather conservatively but work closely with Goldmine standards. My Near Mint ratings are generally what everybody else rates as Mint or Brand New.
I try very hard to give accurate descriptions of the records and check them prior to shipment to ensure that the condition advertised is indeed what I ship. If there is something that I missed I will notify you prior to shipment. In turn, if you receive your record and the condition is not what you expected, let me know and we can discuss it.
