SHRINK RARE STICKER 1970 Orig GRATEFUL DEAD AMERICAN BEAUTY DEAD HEAD Psych

$

262

                                TOP COPY!

   1970 ORIGINAL IN FACTORY SHRINK WRAPPER

         WITH RARE CUSTOM "DEAD" STICKER

          THE GRATEFUL DEAD

            American Beauty
      

Super-Rare ADVANCE RELEASED WHITE LABEL PROMOTIONAL  

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49 years old ...1970 original, still in original factory shrink wrapper = contains the first pressing GRATEFUL DEAD custom designed logo sticker...

The 1970 "American Beauty" album by The Grateful Dead, continues in the same style of they started with on Workingman’s Dead by writing from more of a rural 'head' zone style rather than the electric and psychedelic driven songs from their first three albums. Overall, American Beauty does sound slightly less rural than Workingman's Dead and has the better songs between the two albums. The vocals just continue to improve and The Dead really develop a very full sound with all the vocal harmonies, particularly on Attics Of My Life. Also similar to Workingman’s Dead which had one song slightly similar to classic Dead, Casey Jones, this album features Sugar Magnolia, which is a track that’s quite different from the rest of the record and could’ve been on an earlier record.

1. Box Of Rain - Box Of Rain continues with the more folk and rural sound that the band started to develop on Workingman’s Dead, but it sounds even better. The instrumentation sounds a lot fuller on this song compared to a lot of songs from the previous album. Excellent are Phil Lesh’s vocals mixed with the use of background vocals throughout the song. The mood is a bit laid back and mellow, the great vocal performance is able to carry the song easily. Great way to open the album.

2. Friend Of The Devil - This song showcases The Dead’s ability to portray a story through their lyrics and they do it well. Thankfully, Garcia actually has some pretty interesting guitar work during this whole track, and not just during his solo - some of his leads even under the vocals just sound great. Along with some excellent guitar parts, Lesh has another one of his interesting basslines which carries the rhythm of the song well. Something that Workingman’s Dead failed to do was combine a great vocal performance with a great music performance - this song comes a lot closer than anything on that album, and as well features a terrific melody line.

3. Sugar Magnolia - To be straightforward, this is one of the best songs on the record and definetley a fan favorite. Just as how Casey Jones was basically the only track to sound anywhere close to the first three dead records, this song also gives that same type of vibe. Whereas the first two tracks sound a lot more like folk rock, Sugar Magnolia just sounds a lot more like the music one associates with The Grateful Dead. The song has a great and very energetic vocal delivery along with just excellent flow and rhythm throughout, great work.

4. Operator - Just from the start, this song sort of reminds of Dupree’s Diamond Blues from Aoxomoxoa, but that doesn’t really continue. Rather than having a bit more of a light-hearted tone like Dupree’s Diamond Blues, this song sounds a lot more like a rural song, similar to some material on Workingman’s Dead. Despite this, the vocal performance is actually very fitting with the music and the melody is also very catchy.

5. Candyman - This song sort of reminds of some of the songs off Workingman’s Dead where the vocal harmony sounded really beautiful and just so fitting...the vocals just sounds great and the song has a very catchy memorable melody....

6. Ripple - Ripple has got a great mood to it. Lesh has a simple yet steady bass rhythm going on during this song which seems to carry it well and goes along with Garcia’s simple strumming. Also, the use of a mandolin on the chorus of this song seemed to fit it well. Very mellow 'head' song and a great one.

7. Brokedown Palace - this song is gets better with time you hear it -- musically gets better and better as the track goes on.

8. Till The Morning Comes - Till The Morning Comes has a more upbeat feeling. This song has energy to it and an upbeat feel accompanied by some nice vocal harmonies throughout.

9. Attics Of My Life - To be straightforward, the vocal harmony of this song is beautiful and there’s no other way to describe it. The vocal harmony is one of The Dead’s best up to this point.

10. Truckin’ - Truckin’ is one of the most catchy Grateful Dead songs in their entire career and a very accessible track at that. The song has a very nice rhythm to it, doesn’t last a very long time, and the vocal performance is great and quite catchy as well. Garcia’s brief leads are also a nice touch to this song and it’s a pretty good way to end the classic record.

Box of Rain
Friend Of The Devil
Sugar Magnolia
Operator
Candyman
Ripple
Brokedown Palace
Till The Morning Comes
Attics Of My Life
Truckin'