Grateful Dead - American Beauty (2LP, 45RPM, Ultra Analog, Half-speed Mastering)
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Bass, Guitar, Piano, Vocals – Phil Lesh
Drums – Bill Kreutzmann
Guitar, Pedal Steel Guitar [Pedal Steel], Piano, Vocals – Jerry Garcia
Guitar, Vocals – Bob Weir
Harmonica, Vocals – Pig Pen (Ron McKernan)
Percussion – Mickey Hart
Written by Robert Hunter
2 LPs, gatefold jacket
Limited numbered edition
Original analog Master tape : YES
Half-speed Mastering
GAIN 2 Ultra Analog™ LP
Heavy Press : 180g
Record color : black
Speed : 45 RPM
Size : 12'’
Stereo
Studio
Record Press : RTI
Label : MOFI
Original Label : Warner Bros
Recorded August–September 1970 at Wally Heider Studios, San Francisco
Produced by The Grateful Dead
Remastered by Krieg Wunderlich
Originally released in 1970
Reissued in 2014
Tracks:
Side A:
- Box of Rain
- Friend of the Devil
Side B:
- Sugar Magnolia
- Operator
- Candyman
Side C:
- Ripple
- Brokedown Palace
- Till the Morning Comes
Side D:
- Attics of My Life
- Truckin’
Awards:
TAS Super LP List! Special Merit: Informal
Michael Fremer's 100 Recommended All-Analog LP Reissues Worth Owning - Rated 53/100!
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time - Rated 261/500!
Rolling Stone 2015 Readers' Poll: The 10 Best Jam Bands: The Grateful Dead Rated 1st!
1000 Recordings You Must Hear Before You Die - Ranked 190
Reviews:
“With 1970's Workingman's Dead, the Grateful Dead went through an overnight metamorphosis, turning abruptly from tripped-out free-form rock toward sublime acoustic folk and Americana. Taking notes on vocal harmonies from friends Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the Dead used the softer statements of their fourth studio album as a subtle but moving reflection on the turmoil, heaviness, and hope America's youth was facing as the idealistic '60s ended. American Beauty was recorded just a few months after its predecessor, both expanding and improving on the bluegrass, folk, and psychedelic country explorations of Workingman's Dead with some of the band's most brilliant compositions. The songs here have a noticeably more relaxed and joyous feel. Having dived headfirst into this new sound with the previous album, the bandmembers found the summit of their collaborative powers here, with lyricist Robert Hunter penning some of his most poetic work, Jerry Garcia focusing more on gliding pedal steel than his regular electric lead guitar work, and standout lead vocal performances coming from Bob Weir (on the anthem to hippie love "Sugar Magnolia"), Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (on the husky blues of "Operator"), and Phil Lesh (on the near-perfect opening tune, "Box of Rain"). This album also marked the beginning of what would become a long musical friendship between Garcia and Dave Grisman, whose mandolin playing adds depth and flavor to tracks like the outlaw country-folk of "Friend of the Devil" and the gorgeously devotional "Ripple." American Beauty eventually spawned the band's highest charting single -- "Truckin'," the greasy blues-rock tribute to nomadic counterculture -- but it also contained some of their most spiritual and open-hearted sentiments ever, their newfound love of intricate vocal arrangements finding pristine expression on the lamenting "Brokedown Palace" and the heavenly nostalgia and gratitude of "Attics of My Life." While the Dead eventually amassed a following so devoted that following the band from city to city became the center of many people’s lives, the majority of the band's magic came in the boundless heights it reached in its live sets but rarely managed to capture in the studio setting. American Beauty is a categorical exception to this, offering a look at the Dead transcending even their own exploratory heights and making some of their most powerful music by examining their most gentle and restrained impulses. It’s easily the masterwork of their studio output, and a strong contender for the best music the band ever made, even including the countless hours of live shows captured on tape in the decades that followed.” AllMusic Review by Fred Thomas
Ultra Analog™ : The GAIN 2 Ultra Analog™ Series stems from the use of the Gain 2 system, mastered at half speed from the original master tapes where possible, capturing and uncovering as before undiscovered sonic information.
Half-speed mastering. In half-speed mastering, the whole process is slowed down to half of the original speed. A typical 33 1/3 rpm record is cut at 16 2/3 rpm. The source material is also slowed down (reducing the pitch in the process) meaning the final record will still sound normal when played back. Slowing the whole process down allows more time, which means the end result sounds better and is more efficient — allowing engineering to minimize the effects of inherent limitations within the vinyl format. The result is a more accurate and more open high-frequency response in the half speed vinyl when compared with a normal speed recording.
Ratings :
AllMusic : 5 / 5 , Discogs : 4,53 / 5