Slow Learner: Retrospective Record Reviews (for the Listening Disabled)
American Beauty - Grateful Dead (1970)
When I was in school, The Dead still toured. As somewhat part of, and somewhat rebellion from the Generation X grunge revolution, the music of the last rebellious period in musical and American history was frequently revisited. The Beatles had a resurgence with the release of their Anthology and two new songs. The Rolling Stones were revisited from Mom and Dad’s catalog. Bob Dylan was popular among the youth again. Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin t-shirts were equally as common as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Smashing Pumpkins wear. Inevitably, if people are searching that era, they will find themselves running across the Grateful Dead.
First of all, Deadhead’s presence can always be felt. If you have never seen Steal Your Face or the Dancing Bears, then you have been living under a rock somewhere, as even in the small town I grew up in had both visually present at record stores and on clothing. In all honesty, the iconic images worked. I wanted to know more about what Deadheads and the band themselves were all about.
My first experience with actually hearing the Grateful Dead was at parties where many present were smoking marijuana and playing bootleg cassette tapes, sometimes where a single song could be one side of the cassette. My attention span would not tolerate this and while I didn’t mind it in the background, I wanted something more concise and straight-forward for my own personal taste. I believed that The Dead were like jazz was to me at that age… something I didn’t understand and couldn’t understand. And that was something I was fine with.
Then kids my age all began to similarly order Skeletons in the Closet: The Best of the Grateful Dead and I was able to hear some of the more common “pop” songs of theirs. This became a foundation for later times when I would hear a much longer version of one of their “hits” (which they never really had other than “Touch of Grey” in the 80’s) I knew what the studio version sounded like. This helped make sense of things a little better.
As I learned more about those who loved the Dead, I learned also that tons of folks harbored a hatred for the Dead with a passion normally reserved for television preachers and Nazis. I always thought this was unfair. The things the Dead stood for were so much more respectable than the hatred they received.
A lot of hatred comes toward the Dead from those who can’t stand their long jams and a equal or greater hatred of hippies who love their tunes. This can be placed on most any band that obtains any level of popularity. I’m sure the ratio is no worse than the ratio of smart/likeable people in the world. They have such a wide spectrum of fans, it’s easy to hate them for the worst of their kind. It’s easy to remember the asshole who sold you the bad ecstasy, the guy who annoyed you with a guitar he couldn’t play, and Ann Coulter. (Yes, Virginia. Ann Coulter claims to be a Deadhead.) But think about the people you know and love or who have influenced you life who are also Deadheads. One of my favorite people is a true Deadhead, a brilliant conversationalist, an up and coming poet, and a southern gent. Not to mention famous Deadhead politicians Tony Blair, Al Gore, and Bill Clinton all claim to be fans. Bob Dylan himself, Ken Kesey, Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, Will Oldham, David Pajo, Henry Rollins, and many more all love the music but may fall into the group who would not enjoy all of the people who like the band.
While it may be argued by the more die-hard fans that I still don’t get it, I believe inheriting a cassette tape of American Beauty opened my eyes to the Grateful Dead -to the songwriting skills of Robert Hunter and the band themselves.
I won’t say American Beauty is timeless. Rather it takes on the time it was released and provides a document of the mood and emotion of that time in history. That being said, it’s such a good one that certain things that no longer are spoken of, like the bold drug references of “Candyman” or the obsolete style of traveling in “Truckin’”, for the most part still resonate with the audience. It still works the same way that Lead Belly songs about cotton fields still works, even though not many people are being rocked in their cradle while their mama works the cotton fields these days.
The album American Beauty ventures into various styles of music, most notably folk, country, and blues; three styles that I enjoy immensely. And I enjoy American Beauty immensely. From the beginning when “Box of Rain” begins, I am taken back to a place full of hope. A feeling that I imagine is probably much more intense for those who heard the album on initial release. Even on songs that seem to take a sad turn, (like “Brokedown Palace”) there is an element of hope to the record that transcends and can be felt by the listener. It also contains the more popular tracks “Truckin’” and “Sugar Magnolia”. One of which is about rambling and the other about that woman you never meet, or at least don’t meet for long. (Similar to the woman in “Up On Cripple Creek” by The Band, so maybe it was the same one.)
No matter if you like long-jams or not, American Beauty is as catchy and well-crafted as a Creedence Clearwater Revival album with signature vocal harmonies, Garcia’s guitar work, and Robert Hunter’s lyrics.
“If my words did glow with the gold of sunshine
And my tunes were played on the harp unstrung,
Would you hear my voice come through the music,
Would you hold it near as it were your own?”
I think if you were trying to simplify the music of the Dead into one verse of one song, this is it. For that matter, it also potentially sums up the motive and goalof most songwriters.
I’ve heard it said that the Dead are like licorice, not everybody likes it, but those who do like it a lot. It’s quite possible that the Grateful Dead will remain popular for the same reasons Buddha remains popular: It strikes a chord with people (pardon the pun) and helps them through this life by relating to the emotions we carry around with us. As long as I have a music library, American Beauty will be a part of it.
The Grateful Dead circa 1970
Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – Brokedown Palace -Here is a version of a song from the album covered by Will Oldham aka Palace aka Arise Therefore and in this case he goes by his most common moniker: Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy.
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Great post.
The fist music I ever fell in love with was the Dead and it’s led to so many more great bands (and also a lot of really, really bad ones!). Anyway American Beauty from start to finish is a beautiful, concise masterpiece that belongs in every LP collection. I hope that when I go to my final resting place its too the tune of “Brokedown Palace”. Like you said, while being the most depressing track on the album its also probably one of the best examples of the magic that Hunter and Garcia had in those early days before all the fame, cars, drugs, and responsibility. Selah.