1970 was a watershed year for the Grateful Dead; the band had fully grown into the fluid and adventurous machine they're now known as, hitting new peaks in their individual playing as well as their chemistry in the long, improvised jams that were the cornerstone of their live shows. Of almost equal significance, they released their two best studio albums just months apart: "Workingman's Dead" and "American Beauty," the latter their magnum opus in terms of songwriting, production, and musicianship.
"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.
The tracklist for the album reads like a veritable 'who's who' of Dead classic: "Box of Rain," "Friend of the Devil," "Sugar Magnolia," "Ripple," "Brokedown Palace," and "Truckin'" are all some of the most important and beloved songs in the band's catalog. It's also worth noting that unlike most of their songs, almost everyone of them was definitively done in the studio as opposed to onstage. The charm of these songs is in their simplicity, leaving little room or reason for them to be extended or rearranged for the stage.
Lyrically, the team of Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia hit their stride here. "Friend of the Devil" has beautiful, cinematic lyricism, fleshed out characters and situations that rival some of the best folk songs that inspired it. "Ripple," "Brokedown Palace," and "Attics of My Life" are mature, introspective ballads with a depth exceeding their youth at the time. Phil Lesh also contributes his best song to open the album, the moving meditation "Box of Rain," written by Lesh as a letter to his father on his deathbed, asking a series of questions as to how he can comfort him before he dies.
"American Beauty" would turn out to be something of an aberration in the Dead's catalog, as the band never approached any of their subsequent studio albums with the same commitment (with the exception of "Blues for Allah" and maybe "In the Dark"), and none have been able to match its influence or legacy within the band's history. Nearly 50 years after its release, it remains a hallmark not just in the Dead's output, but in the pantheon of rock's most beloved albums.
