An appreciation of "Workingman's Dead" and "American Beauty". For the GD, they are timeless and classic, IMHO. Amazing to me is that they both came out within a short period of time in 1970. Makes you wonder why some bands and solo performers take years to put something new out. I guess you either got the fire or you don't.

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Good stuff for sure. Good songs, good playing and good vocals. a home run on all counts

I agree. These are beautiful records from a band at the top of their game. Lovely music, superb, simple, airy production. Great tunes. Wonderful singing and lyrics. What’s not to love? And, for me, the ONLY two Dead records I actually have and like. I dislike everything else I’ve ever heard from them. But then, I don’t go out of my way to hear anything else nowadays. Back in the 70s and 80s I did buy all their records, but disliked everything else that I heard. But these two records? Wow.

Rod

Workingman's Dead is a great relaxing album bought it in 1970 a few years later a bought Wake Of The Flood but it was not as good as Workingman's...have to checkout American Beauty...

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Personally I loved both of those albums when they came out (but much preferred Aoxomoxoa honestly). American Beauty is the Dead all cleaned up (soundwise) and appealing to more of a mass audience. Unfortunately I played that record to death back in the day and do not like it much anymore. Workingman's Dead on the other hand I still dig and play pretty often (by my GD listening standards anyways). Its down and dirty and includes a couple of my all time favorite Dead songs.

Both are sterling examples of state of the art recording technology, for the day. Thats a big big plus in my book.

jb

Started watching a series on the Dead on Amazon Prime. Really interesting to see where the came from and how they evolved.

They were pretty genuine, you have to give them that. A lot of reasons to respect the Grateful Dead, and they were a local band for me, way before they became so super big.

jb

"American Beauty" and "Workingman's Dead" are the
2 Grateful Dead albums that I have on my mp3 player,
although I have a few other 1970s albums on vinyl
also.

I also have a live concert I got off of a Dead
webpage. Apparently they recorded most of their
concerts and they are now on a webpage for free
download. I attended the concert at Berkeley
Community Theater, August 14, 1971. If you want a
Dead concert that you attended you can just use
Google, find the page, and download it to your
mp3 player.

The early 1970s, particularly 1970 to 1972 were
the hay-day of the Grateful Dead, and even if they
never did anything else, those 2 albums alone make
them one of the greatest bands ever.
(in my opinion)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2020-11-13 05:27 by Chacho.

The 50th anniversary edition of Workingman's dead and American Beauty editon are really worth the price (3 CD for less than 20 euros) : Great mastering of the original albums and live performances at Port Chester.

You wish the Stones have done the same for such a cheap price with their masterpieces of the 1968 - 1972 years.

Quote
bitusa2012
I agree. These are beautiful records from a band at the top of their game. Lovely music, superb, simple, airy production. Great tunes. Wonderful singing and lyrics. What’s not to love? And, for me, the ONLY two Dead records I actually have and like. I dislike everything else I’ve ever heard from them. But then, I don’t go out of my way to hear anything else nowadays. Back in the 70s and 80s I did buy all their records, but disliked everything else that I heard. But these two records? Wow.

I agree with everyone here that American Beauty and Workingman's Dead were both very good records in their own right, but, for my money their best album was actually their very first (1967) release simply titled Grateful Dead. If you haven't given it a listen lately, it's definitely worth seeking out. Great (no pun intended) musicianship, even for those early days. Was produced by Dave Hassinger who also engineered 'Satisfaction' for the Stones.

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