American Beauty

It's kind of rock n' roll country, which really isn't my jam. It's just a bit boring. I don't want to go too hard in on it though, as it's not too offensive. It's nice enough in places. I like the track with the mandolin, that's nice. But the rest.. mostly forgettable.

2.5 rounded down.

There's a 5-star 45 minute album's worth of material distributed across this, Workingman's Dead and the first Garcia and Weir solo albums representing the pinnacle of the Dead's Americana era. Alongside CSNY, the Byrds, the Band etc - other bands who're better songwriters and recording artists - this is a major album in the hippy turn towards country and folk. Even though it's a favorite band's best (or 2nd best after Workingman's Dead?) studio album, I never listen to as none of what I listen to the Dead for is here - the dark intensity of their psychadelic blues, the bright exploratory improv of their jazzy jams. It's their slow twangy Americana era, fairly conventional songs (arranged interestingly, and performed expertly) with some cool - albeit saccharine - harmonies and lots of pretty guitar parts - it's gentle easy going feel good, sometimes plodding, music - perfectly stoned and relaxed, but lacking the audience heat and high-wire risk that animates their live performances.

This was a pretty nice album to listen to although it can be a bit forgettable or bland at times.

Low 4/5

IT’S THE VOCALS!!! The vocals are out of tune! It’s cringe-inducing bad country music, falling far short of the profundity to which it aspires.

The upbeat stuff is just goofy sounding and the slow stuff is banal and hits like old gum on the bottom of my shoe and I’m just too tired to do anything about it. You really need two drummers for this? As a drummer I can tell you, you might not even need one.

Not even going to write about the lyrics. God help us.

Sugar Magnolia is alright. This is what you think of when you think Grateful Dead. A rare tight performance, and I think it’s Bob Weir singing actually hitting the notes pleasantly enough. Still awful.

Now that that’s over I’m gonna sit down and “patch my bones” WHAT THE LITERAL FUCK

No necessarily a bad album, but it left no lasting impression at all

Upbeat rhythm and melodies. Really fun songs. Bit of blues and country. Guitar focused. Enjoyable.

Is an okay album.

Perfect for listening to in the background

This one's like an old friend telling you stories at a truckstop, making you feel all comfortable and nostalgic among strangers of the road. Running from the law never felt so good, sugar never tasted so sweet, the American rose was never so beautiful. Cross-country travel is a metaphor for life's journey--whether it's that dark highway you must travel alone or you just truckin' along. In either case, it's a long, strange trip.

I have to confess that this is the first time I've ever listened to a whole Grateful Dead studio album. They aren't exactly known for their studio work. Now I can see why. This album is boring. I've always found their live recordings to just be so-so anyway but this is almost unbearable. It's like a shitty country album where most of the songs are played too slowly and there are never any changes. Terrible vocals. Sloppy instrumentation. Poor production. It must be a lot easier to like after you've dropped acid continually for years. The one saving grace is Truckin' which is decent, or is it just the only mediocre track on an album otherwise full of absolute trash? 2/5 for Truckin' and the use of real instruments, albeit poorly played.

Varsin hyvä hippirocklevy. 3/5

Tried to go into this with an open mind. I've hated the Dead most of my life, based mostly on how much I despised the deadheads in high school and college I had to endure, and honestly NOT based much on the very limited amount of their music I had heard. Box of Rain was actually a really solid track! Maybe this will be OK... Well, that was short lived. This just takes a huge nosedive after the opener. I hate the harmonies and I hate the easy-country feel. Nothing about this rocks and I feel justified in my 40 years of dismissing this band and everyone who worships them.

GD has just never been my style.

This is very much not my thing. The singing is fucking awful. Wikipedia says Jerry Garcia is known for his "distinctive guitar style" and it just sounds like rudimentary bullshit to me. I dont understand the allure of this band if this album is representative of their sound. I cannot find a single redeeming quality other than it's not country.

Right after I wrote the above, the next two songs have decidedly country-ish twangs to them. This album is just bad, man.

what a long, strange trip it has been

Don't know if it was my expectations of a such famous band, this album was decidedly mediocre. Maybe even a bit less than mediocre.

It's a whiff of folk, mixed with white people blues, with a sprinkle of country and some psychedelics. And it excels in none.

This is so incredibly bland that I now have to read up on how this became such a household name in counter-culture. Because it can't have been the music.

Meh never really got the appeal of the grateful dead. This album hasn’t helped that.

Wow. I had no idea what a true cultural monument the Grateful Dead truly are. This is old school southern rock at it's absolute finest. I definitely would have been a dead head.

Ah, the Grateful Dead.

Dead Heads will say you have to see them live. Maybe, but I can't stand 20 min songs that you forget what you were playing by the end. Just not my thing, there's no reason for a song to be that long.

But that said, I actually really like some of their music. Because the songs start and stop, like, you know, SONGS should. And I like this album. I've listened to it before and I will again.

I don't really get the whole Deadhead thing, but I really enjoyed this album. While relatively straightforward, the songwriting is great, excellent musicianship and harmony, and good lyrics. Favorite tracks: Box of Rain (nice opener, sad topic - loved the line "Such a long time to be gone and a short time to be there"), Friend of the Devil, Ripple, Attics of My Life (nice vibe - caught my attention every time I listened to the album), Truckin' (classic, and I find it impossible not to bop while it's playing). Giving it a 4 because it's not blow-me-away great, but I will definitely listen again.