American Beauty

| Grateful Dead

Cabbagescale

100%
  • Reviews Counted:3

Listeners Score

0%liked it
  • Listeners Ratings: 0

American Beauty

American Beauty is the fifth studio album by rock band the Grateful Dead. Released November 1, 1970, by Warner Bros. Records, the album continued the folk rock and country music style of their previous album Workingman's Dead, issued earlier in the year. Though the Americana approach is still evident in the songwriting, comparatively the sound focused more on folk harmonies and major-key melodies, showing influence from Bob Dylan and Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young.

Upon release, American Beauty entered the Billboard 200 chart, ultimately peaking at number 30 during a nineteen-week stay in January 1971. On July 11, 1974, the album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, and it later reached Platinum and Double Platinum certification in 1986 and 2001, respectively. In 2003, the album was ranked number 258 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and 261 in a 2012 revised list.-"Wikipedia"

Critic Reviews

Show All
  • Rolling Stone

    The Dead are getting pretty big commercially now, and if ever a band deserved it, it’s them. They have given us all something to treasure with this album. It’s one for now, and one for the kids in 20 years too. American Beauty’s like that. 

    See full Review

  • All Music

    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.  

    See full Review

  • Sputnik Music

    "American Beauty" continues the more traditional, streamlined folk sound of "Workingman's Dead," with an added understanding and respect for the genre. The more restrictive, disciplined essentially forbid the band from venturing into the cosmic territory of their jammier stuff, which remains a 'love it or hate it' element for the band's music. The focus is firmly on lyricism and straightforward melodicism. 

    See full Review

Rate This Album and Leave Your Comments