American beauty

[glauber]

I just received this CD today, kind of a surprise (unplanned). Beautiful album, and just in time, before the end of Grisman month. Recommended.

[Steve Cantrell]

It certainly is, Glauber. Maybe their best.

[JEStanek]

My personal favorite.

Jamie

[Fred G]

their best studio album, workingman's dead a close second. I have the workingman's re-mastered in 5.1 and like the ameriacn beauty re-mastered it has a completely different sound. Somewhere I read when Mickey help re-master them he could not beleive the nuances of the music that were lost because of the equipment available at the time.

[SternART]

Well I still only have stereo.......but with tubes & ribbons.
I'm with you on Workingman's Dead, that was a great era for
seeing the Dead, one acoustic set & one electric.

[Paul Kotapish]

In a recent interview, Mickey said that Workingman's Dead and American Beauty were recorded at the same time and then divided up onto the two LPs, but that in his mind, they were all part of the same album.

The vocals and harmony lines on those records are amazing. David Crosby apparently was hanging around the studio when those tracks went down, and although he doesn't get a vocal credit, he certainly had some influence, and rumor has it that his voice is in the mix, too.

[SternART]

Hey Paul......there's an idea for your next Wake the Dead CD
Danny Carnahan harmonizing with David Crosby!

[mandocrucian]

Anyone catch the 8 hours of live concert stuff on 5th Annual "Night of the Live Dead" last night on XM Radio?

NH

[SternART]

Missed that.....I wasn't driving my pickup last night.
Was it good? What era stuff did they play?

[mandocrucian]

From all eras. David Gans, who does the #weekly The Grateful Dead Hour (http://www.gdhour.com/) (which airs on broadcast radio stations as well as XM) selected some primo stuff. Over a 30+ year time span. What's so good about having XM as part of the DirecTV package is that I can set the vcrs to LP speed (4 hours) and set the timers to record whether I'm home or not, or asleep or doing something else. As far as last night's Dead extravaganza, I'm only about 3 hours into the vhs>cdr listening/transfer.

Lots of live concert stuff on there (XM) in various genres. #And then there are the specialty genre shows (rockabilly, 50's R&B) where the DJs are collectors or performers and really know their stuff and play a lot of obscure tracks.

NH

[Rick Schmidlin]

I was lucky enought to see th Workmans Dead /American Beauty Tour in 72 in Scranton PA. I was also able that night after the show to just walk back stage,I was 16 at thje time.I got to spend a few minutes talking to Pig Pen. It was was the best show in memory along with the Cash: Boy Named Sue tour with Mother Maybelle.

[ira]

too young for the 72 tour, but those two albums are superb. i am partial to workingman's more than american beauty. as for best albums- as with everything grateful dead, it depends on the mood- if i want something a bit experimental, - blues for allah, though many older heads don't love it- i am a big fan of terrapin, and if i want a bit on the strange side-and all jerry- aoxomoxoa. i also love the early live acoustic- bear's choice and for a picture of early dead- commercially available- live dead. but again, its all about the feeling of the moment. i actually just started listening to dead albums again recently, i almost always went for the live tape. obviously a different feel on commercial enterprises- too much thought went into it and not enough intuition maybe, but still good!

[Undercover Brother]

Check the cover of "American Beauty" out... it can also be read as "American Reality".
Dig it!
Nice Kelley-Mouse art, there.
I love these Dead threads when they pop up on the Cafe!
"Friend Of The Devil" is a staple at our pickin' and grinnin' sessions.

Chris

[Rick Schmidlin]

And I always have Trucking on my mind.

[Paul Kotapish]

Hey Paul......there's an idea for your next Wake the Dead CD
Danny Carnahan harmonizing with David Crosby!
Art,

That would be really fun, I'm sure, and I can almost figure out the connections to make it happen . . . but not quite. I know some folks who know some folks . . . but . . . Still, I'd love an excuse to work up a few of those dreamy songs from If I Could Only Remember My Name. Maybe we'll do that anyway.

On the other hand, we just finished recording our third CD, and even if Danny doesn't get to sing with David Crosby, he does get to sing with Sylvia Herold, and they sound pretty great together, IMHO. Should be out sometime around the first of the year. Blue Light Cheap Hotel is the working title.

PK

[ira]

still waitin for wake the dead to come back east- hint,,, hint...

[Perry]

My favorite Dead period is '72. I have a DVD from Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen and to me Jerry is at the height of his powers playing that Strat with the Alligator sticker. It just doesn't get better then that to me. This is also the time of Workingman's and American Beauty.

I have attended 100's of Dead and JGB shows, mostly in the eighties, but in retrospect I really love that early seventies sound. I think alot of it has to do with the lack of gutiar effects and the sound of the Strat plugged straight into that Twin. Clean and crisp!


Here's a pic (http://dozin.com/jers/guitars/Strat.htm)

[ira]

60-72 - good stuff, but man those tapes from 77- kiler!

[holdenzdad]

Box of Rain is one of my personal favorites - and I got to see It at the Hampton Coll. show ('86) - love that song!!!!

[gr_store_feet]

i agree ira

1977 - the best year for me[B]

[gr_store_feet]

I was at the shows at the Hampton Colliseum in 1986, too.

[GeoMandoAlex]

As far as the years the Dead peaked (they peaked many times, unfortunately/ fortunately, each keyboard player had a role).

1977-Boston, Barton Hall, Swing Auditorium
1989-Hampton Roads (HOTW-->Slipknot-->Franklin's gets pulled from the shelf along with a Dark Star).


The Dead are a fun band to cover. For the most part, the chord progressions allow for us amateurs to "doodle".

[holdenzdad]

gr_store_feet - cool! It was my first show!

[SternART]

I really like that 69 Fillmore stuff made available not that long ago.....
the shows that the original Live Dead album was culled from. That IMO was when
their unique style really focused....the morphing of songs....etc. After
Pigpen, just wasn't the same....I liked going till the mid 70's, and there were
plenty of great moments over the years, as they went on down the road...but I really
morphed myself from a Deadhead to a Dawghead & mostly started listening to acoustic
roots type music, with mandolins of course. I used to still go every NYE, at least
to one show from the series.....but I didn't sweat it if I missed other Bay Area shows.
It went full circle for me when Jerry reunited with David in his later years.

[AlanN]

I really like that 69 Fillmore stuff made available not that long ago.....
the shows that the original Live Dead album was culled from. That IMO was when
their unique style really focused....the morphing of songs....etc. After
Pigpen, just wasn't the same
Funny, just have the Fillmore West 1969 Dark Star on (via Napster) as I'm reading/typing this, and which I never tire of. I agree with you, SternART, but don't forget, every generation has its heroes.

But having said that, to me, the era up to Europe 72 was it, which included the early years, NRPS, Garcia's first solo record, that live double album with Bertha, the Howard Wales stuff, Merl Saunders, etc. Although Mars Hotel and Wake of the Flood had some great moments too.

[glauber]

Ira, Terrapin Station was the first i heard of the G.D. I bought it as a cassette tape out of a discount bin. I love that album too.

[mandocrucian]

My favorite was the period between Workingman's Dead and Mars Hotel. #But I also played Anthem of The Sun a whole lot too. #(Blind Melon really nailed the Dead circa Anthem sound on their song "No Rain")

[Rick Schmidlin]

I was way lucky in 72 in Scranton PA when The Dead and The New Riders played.After the show I just wandered backstage and got to meet and hang out with Pig Pen for a short while.Then I needed a ride to HWY to hitch home after the show and The Dead gave me a ride on thier Greyhound to the on ramp.

Oh what a nght for a 17 year old.

[Klaus Wutscher]

Still, I'd love an excuse to work up a few of those dreamy songs from If I Could Only Remember My Name. Maybe we'll do that anyway.
You should! That album has some great stuff and the Dead connection is really strong, just look at the credits. I would love to hear what it sounds like and besides, nobody touches that repertoire.

[jaco]

"If I Could Only Remember My Name" was definetly one of my favorite albums from that time period. A friend of mine figured out some of the tunings (various dropped D) and we would play some of these with two acoustic guitars. Great music and fun.

[glauber]

I'm listening to Friend of the Devil on American Beauty as i write this. That's not my favourite FOTD, but i have to say, pay attention to the stuff Grisman is doing there on mando, wow! I think his contribution on Ripple is more well known and the mandolin is more upfront there, but if anything he plays even better on Friend.

[AlanN]

Actually, Grisman's playing on FOTD is pretty simple, but it fits like a glove. No bg chop, more of 2 finger open chords.

I always had the feeling that the other boys in the band sort of 'put up with' Jerry's insistence on the mandolin there. Maybe I'm wrong.

[glauber]

Alan, you're probably right about the boys. I agree the playing is very simple, but the melodies are spot on, and the rhythm drive is awesome. That guy is probably the best mandolin rhythm player around.

Another interesting thing in this album is how much younger Jerry's voice sounds, compared to the later stuff.

[wah]

Thanks SternART. That late '60's stuff is what does it for me as well. I gave a friend a ride to Phil's New Years shows last year and he gave me his "road copy" of the 10 cd's from '69 - I thought I died and went to heaven. I, too, thought they lost something without Pig Pen. I didn't get back on the bus until the '80's. Of course in the meantime I had three kids, was going to school and working full-time so I lost track of a lot. Now, of course, I listen to that '70's stuff and marvel at what they were doing. I certainly have a lot more appreciation for American Beauty now than I did at the time.

Wayne

[SternART]

If you really want to hear Grisman play some licks on Friend of the Devel, play the version on Grisman/Garcia
I've had that CD out, been working on Dawg's Waltz.

[Perry]

Not sure if I have the title correct but in the documentary "The Making of American Beauty" Grisman demonstrates what he really would have played on mando had the Dead let him do what he wanted. I seem to remember that Grisman was instructed what to play on the cuts. I only saw the documentary once so I'm not sure if it was Ripple or FOTD.

I also remember reading somewhere that Jerry and Grisman may have had some type of falling out over these cuts?

SternART may have some insight on this?

[AlanN]

I'd like to know that too, if there is anything to tell.

Slightly off topic, on the old Garcia/Saunders, Live At The Keystone, the inside jacket was a photo of a days-of-yore pot party. Was Dawg pictured in there? He did play mando on one cut on that record, as I recall. There were some scruffy-looking dudes in that circle, Dawg could have fit right in http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[SternART]

There was some friction at a point......but all I'll say is it had nothing to do with American Beauty......
and was resolved years later. The Dead even gave a grant to Acoustic Disc early on thru their
philanthropy arm, what are they called Gleason grants?.....like Lesh giving grants to obscure
British Classical Composers to have their work recorded....or they bought a Meyer sound system for
the Freight & Salvage...I think the way Acoustic Disc was preserving great stuff via their Acoustic
Archives Series....keeping historic music out there....I suspect Jerry thought that was cool & made that
grant happen. I'm sure glad those fellas did that recording, at the end of Jerry's life. Some very cool stuff,
epecially for Deadhead mandolin players.

[Perry]

"Some very cool stuff,
epecially for Deadhead mandolin players."

Indeed. It is a treasure that Grisman captured some if not all of Jerry's best playing, IMHO, during the last decade of his life.

[Lee]

If you liked "If I Could Only Remember My Name", then you'd probably appreciate the first Jefferson Starship album "Blows Against the Empire".
Weren't these recorded at the Wally Heider studios? Must have been a cool place to hang.

[cooper4205]

i've finally worked out a break to FOTD from the bluegrass fakebook. it's got a dead song or two and a few old & in the way ones as well. if anyone is interested and can scan the tab and post it

[Undercover Brother]

I'd love to see a scan of that!
That song usually gets played everytime I get together with my pickin' pals, but I've yet to come up with a break.
Please post what you were able to work up.
Thank you!

Chris

[glauber]

Please only post the scan if it's legal to do so. If it doesn't say so in the book, it probably isn't.

[cooper4205]

Please only post the scan if it's legal to do so. If it doesn't say so in the book, it probably isn't.
its not in a book; it's a solo that my mandolin instructor and i worked out; it's on lined notebook paper. it follows the melody of the song, but it (the tabbed melody) wasn't at all borrowed from any kind of text. when i say its from the bluegrass fakebook i mean it fits the key of the song as they have it in the fakebook. it shouldn't be a problem then should it?

[glauber]

No, it shouldn't be a problem, as long as you think the instructor would be ok with it (IANAL, etc). Sorry, i misunderstood, thought the tab came from the fakebook.

[AlanN]

If you listen to Dawg's playing on American Beauty, he basically plays out of 2-finger chord positions, then when it goes to D chord, he plays some pent arpeggios. Fairly basic.

[C. Carr]

Coop,

Please post your tab. If you decide not to post could I please have a copy? You can send it to Fedmaritime@Yahoo.com. I watched "Grateful Dawg this evening and got motivated to work on FOTHD. Checked the Cafe and found this thread -- Cool!

Thanks so much.

Charlie Carr
New Orleans