Grateful Dead

American Beauty 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition RHINO

Hippie counterculture goes mainstream.

Hot on the heels of the sepia-tinted Americana of 1970’s Workingman’s Dead, an album largely dictated by Jerry Garcia and lyricist Robert Hunter, American Beauty (released just five months later) was a more group-focused take on acoustics and plush harmonies. Bass player Phil Lesh brought along the wistful Box Of Rain, giving Hunter the instruction to write something to commemorate his dying father. Bar set high, Friend Of The Devil and Sugar Magnolia took a jauntier turn, while Truckin’ celebrated a recent New Orleans drug bust. Ripple (originally titled Hand Me Down) and Brokedown Palace were written in London and considered for Workingman’s Dead, indicating why the discs are often viewed as parts of a whole.

Remastered now (not for the first time), this three-CD Deluxe