American Beauty | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | November 1970 | |||
Recorded | August–September 1970 | |||
Studio | Wally Heider Studios, San Francisco | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 42:21 | |||
Label | Warner Bros. | |||
Producer |
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Grateful Dead chronology | ||||
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Singles from American Beauty | ||||
American Beauty is the fifth studio album (and sixth overall) by American rock band the Grateful Dead. Released in November 1970, by Warner Bros. Records, the album continued the folk rock and country music style of their previous album Workingman's Dead , released earlier in the year.
Upon release, American Beauty entered the Billboard 200 chart, ultimately peaking at number 30 during a nineteen-week stay in January 1971. [4] 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, 261 in a 2012 revised list, and 215 in a 2020 revised list. [5]
American Beauty was the result of a prolific period of the songwriting partnership of Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter – one that yielded two studio albums in one year for the Grateful Dead. This was the only time the band would return to the studio so quickly. However, unlike the previous effort, where almost all the songs were written solely by the pair, the album saw more input from the rest of the band. Included are Phil Lesh's "Box of Rain" and Bob Weir's "Sugar Magnolia", both written with Hunter, and "Operator", Ron "Pigpen" McKernan's only singing-songwriting effort on a Grateful Dead studio album.
The album was produced after the discovery that the band's manager, Lenny Hart (father of drummer Mickey Hart), had renewed their contract with Warner Brothers Records without their knowledge, and then skipped town with a sizable chunk of the band's wealth. [6] In between near-constant touring and gigging, recording began only a few months after the release of Workingman's Dead –without their regular sound crew, who were out on the road as part of the Medicine Ball Caravan tour (which the Dead were originally scheduled to join). Instead, studio staff engineer Stephen Barncard replaced Bob Matthews as producer –"a move that irks Matthews to this day" (Matthews had co-produced the band's two previous albums [7] ). Barncard also mused "I had heard bad stories about engineers' interactions with the Dead but what I found were a bunch of hardworking guys". [8]
Both Workingman's Dead and American Beauty were innovative at the time for their fusion of bluegrass, rock and roll, folk, and, especially, country music. Lyricist Hunter commented "We went back into American folk tradition but, being experimenters, nothing would do but that we try to reinvent that." [9] Compared to Workingman's Dead, American Beauty had even less lead guitar work from Jerry Garcia, who increasingly filled the void with pedal steel guitar. It was also during the recording of this album that Garcia first collaborated with mandolinist David Grisman, a friend who had recently relocated to California following the dissolution of Earth Opera. "I just bumped into Jerry at a baseball game in Fairfax, and he said, 'Hey, you wanna play on this record we're doing?'" commented Grisman, whose playing is heard on "Friend of the Devil" and especially "Ripple". [10] Howard Wales, another musician from outside of the band, added keyboards to three songs. Drummer Bill Kreutzmann commented, "Wales came to us through Jerry, who played with him in side projects. [He] had done session work with James Brown and the Four Tops before we brought him in for American Beauty." [11] MIT student Ned Lagin, a jazz pianist who had corresponded with the band after attending their 1969 New Year's Eve concert at the Boston Tea Party, also contributed piano to "Candyman". [12] Lagin subsequently sat in with the band on occasion from 1970 to 1975.
Phil Lesh, in his autobiography Searching for the Sound, commented "the magnetism of the scene at Wally Heider's recording studio made it a lot easier for me to deal with [the loss of my father] and my new responsibilities. Some of the best musicians around were hanging there during that period; with Paul Kantner and Grace Slick from Jefferson Airplane, the Dead, Santana, Crosby, Nash, and Neil Young working there, the studio became jammer heaven. Thank the Lord for music; it's a healing force beyond words to describe." [13]
"It was a surprise to us –as it was to everybody else: this machine-eating, monster-psychedelic band is suddenly putting out sweet, listenable material"
Though both albums focused on Americana songcraft, Workingman's Dead mixed the grittier Bakersfield sound with the band's psychedelic roots, whereas the mostly-acoustic American Beauty focused more on major-key melodies and folk harmonies, evincing the influence of Dylan and studio neighbors/friends Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young. Kreutzmann later explained, "The singers in our band really learned a lot about harmonizing [from] Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, who had just released their seminal album Déjà Vu . Jerry played pedal steel... on that record. Stephen Stills lived at Mickey's ranch... and David Crosby enjoyed partying as much as we did. So our circles overlapped." [14]
Crosby has demurred on this point: "Sometimes they have given us credit for teaching them how to sing and that's not true. They knew how to sing; they had their own style and they had the most important quality of it down already, which is tale-telling". However, he has also stated "The idea is –when you hang out with other musicians –to sort of cross-pollinate your idea streams, and that naturally happened between us on a level that was very rare. We would listen to what they were doing with time signatures and with breaking the rules, and it appealed to us a lot." [9]
American Beauty was released just over four months after Workingman's Dead. The title of the album has a double meaning, referring both to the musical focus on Americana and to the rose that is depicted on the front cover. Around the rose, the album title is scripted as a text ambigram that can also be read "American Reality". [15] The back cover features a photograph by George Conger of a diorama containing ferns, roses, a bust, shadowboxes and other curios. To each side of the photo are illustrated panels with a vaguely-shaped guitar, whose strings are also rose stems. The cover artwork was produced by Kelley–Mouse Studios.
"Truckin' ", a blues/boogie-based rock tune with a shuffle rhythm, was also released as a single (backed with "Ripple"), and the songs "Box of Rain", "Sugar Magnolia", and "Friend of the Devil" also received radio airplay. [16] The single version of "Truckin'" is a completely different mix, with extra lead guitar fills throughout, reverb on Weir's vocals, fewer verses, and without Wales's organ part. The autobiographical song became the one most associated with the band, and their track most commonly played on FM radio classic rock formats. In his book on Garcia, Blair Jackson noted that "if you liked rock'n'roll in 1970 but didn't like the Dead, you were out of luck, because they were inescapable that summer and fall". [10]
American Beauty peaked at No. 30 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart, while the single, "Truckin'", peaked at No. 64 on the Pop Singles chart. It was the final album with Mickey Hart until his return to the band four years later, in 1975. Eight of the album's ten songs would remain in live setlists throughout the band's history.
The album was remixed for 5.1 surround in 2001 by Mickey Hart. This version is heavy in reverb and bass drum, and received mixed reviews, with one reviewer calling it "musically and sonically goofy". [17]
It was remastered and expanded with eight bonus tracks as part of the box set The Golden Road (1965–1973) in 2001. This version was released separately in 2003.
A 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of American Beauty was released as a three-disc CD on October 30, 2020. Disc one is a newly remastered version of the album. Discs two and three are a live concert by the band, recorded on February 18, 1971 at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester, New York. [18] [19]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Christgau's Record Guide | A− [21] |
Pitchfork | 10/10 [22] |
Rolling Stone | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Sputnikmusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Andy Zwerling of Rolling Stone felt that the album was a continuation of Workingman's Dead , though there was more care and contentment in the singing, as well as the instrument playing being rich. [15] Robert Christgau also compared the album to Workingman's Dead, feeling it was "sweeter vocally and more direct instrumentally". [26] The Washington Post writer Tom Zito felt that the album showed "wisdom of age" when compared to their earlier works, while maintaining an "exuberance of youth." [27] Jason Ankeny at AllMusic feels that the album is the Dead's "studio masterpiece", and in comparing it to Workingman's Dead, it is "more representative of the group as a collective unit". [28]
In 2003, the album was ranked number 258 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The American National Association of Recording Merchandisers placed the album at number 20 in its 2007 list of "definitive 200 albums". [29] The album is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die [30] and in 1991 Rolling Stone ranked American Beauty's album cover as the 57th best of all time. [31] [ deprecated source ] It was voted number 103 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000). [32]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
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1. | "Box of Rain" | Lesh | 5:18 | |
2. | "Friend of the Devil" |
| Garcia | 3:24 |
3. | "Sugar Magnolia" |
| Weir | 3:19 |
4. | "Operator" | Ron McKernan | McKernan | 2:25 |
5. | "Candyman" |
| Garcia | 6:14 |
Total length: | 20:40 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
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1. | "Ripple" |
| Garcia | 4:09 |
2. | "Brokedown Palace" |
| Garcia | 4:09 |
3. | "Till the Morning Comes" |
|
| 3:08 |
4. | "Attics of My Life" |
|
| 5:12 |
5. | "Truckin'" |
| Weir | 5:03 |
Total length: | 21:41 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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11. | "Truckin'" (Single Version) | Garcia, Lesh, Weir, Hunter | 3:17 |
12. | "Friend of the Devil" (Live – May 15, 1970, at Fillmore East in New York City [a] ) | Garcia, Dawson, Hunter | 4:21 |
13. | "Candyman" (Live – April 15, 1970, at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco [b] ) | 5:18 | |
14. | "Till the Morning Comes" (Live – October 4, 1970, at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco [c] ) | 3:20 | |
15. | "Attics of My Life" (Live – June 6, 1970, at Fillmore West in San Francisco) | 6:31 | |
16. | "Truckin'" (Live – December 26, 1970, at Legion Stadium in El Monte, California) | Garcia, Lesh, Weir, Hunter | 10:10 |
17. | "Ripple" (Single Edit) | 3:02 | |
18. | "American Beauty radio promo" | 1:11 | |
Total length: | 37:10 79:31 |
Notes
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Bertha" (Single Version) | Garcia, Hunter | 6:20 |
2. | "Truckin'" | 9:14 | |
3. | "It Hurts Me Too" | Elmore James, Tampa Red | 5:56 |
4. | "Loser" | Garcia, Hunter | 6:55 |
5. | "Greatest Story Ever Told" | Weir, Hunter | 3:48 |
6. | "Johnny B. Goode" | Chuck Berry | 3:08 |
7. | "Mama Tried" | Merle Haggard | 3:22 |
8. | "Hard to Handle" | Alvertis Isbell, Allen Jones, Otis Redding | 9:14 |
9. | "Dark Star" | Hunter, Garcia, Mickey Hart, Kreutzmann, Lesh, McKernan, Weir | 7:02 |
10. | "Wharf Rat" | Garcia, Hunter | 7:24 |
11. | "Dark Star" | 7:21 | |
12. | "Me and My Uncle" | John Phillips | 4:13 |
Total length: | 73:57 116:18 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Casey Jones" | Garcia, Hunter | 7:38 |
2. | "Playing in the Band" | Weir, Hart, Hunter | 6:11 |
3. | "Me and Bobby McGee" | Kris Kristofferson, Fred Foster | 6:35 |
4. | "Candyman" | 7:59 | |
5. | "Big Boss Man" | Luther Dixon, Al Smith | 5:42 |
6. | "Sugar Magnolia" | 7:12 | |
7. | "St. Stephen" | Hunter, Garcia, Lesh | 6:26 |
8. | "Not Fade Away" | Buddy Holly, Norman Petty | 4:31 |
9. | "Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad" | traditional, arranged by Grateful Dead | 5:03 |
10. | "Not Fade Away" | 4:00 | |
11. | "Uncle John's Band" | Garcia, Hunter | 6:39 |
Total length: | 67:56 184:14 |
American Beauty: The Angel's Share | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | October 15, 2020 | |||
Recorded | August–September 1970 | |||
Studio | Wally Heider Studios | |||
Label | Rhino | |||
Grateful Dead chronology | ||||
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On October 15, 2020, a collection of demos and outtakes from the American Beauty recording sessions entitled American Beauty: The Angel's Share was released in streaming and digital download formats. [33] [34] [35]
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Friend Of The Devil (Demo)" | 3:29 |
2. | "Sugar Magnolia (Demo)" | 3:25 |
3. | "Candyman (Demo)" | 5:42 |
4. | "To Lay Me Down (Demo)" | 5:49 |
5. | "Truckin’ (Demo)" | 4:14 |
6. | "Hand Me Down (Ripple) [Demo]" | 4:07 |
7. | "Brokedown Palace (Demo)" | 3:56 |
8. | "Til The Morning Comes In (Demo)" | 4:03 |
9. | "Attics Of My Life (Demo)" | 4:58 |
10. | "Operator (Demo)" | 2:24 |
11. | "Box Of Rain (Acoustic Mix)" | 5:24 |
12. | "Candyman (Alternate Take)" | 7:45 |
13. | "Truckin’ (Alternate Mix)" | 5:41 |
14. | "Operator (Take 1) [Slated]" | 3:07 |
15. | "Operator (Take 2 Breakdown) [Slated]" | 0:24 |
16. | "Operator (Take 3) [Slated]" | 2:48 |
17. | "Operator (Take 4 Breakdown) [Slated]" | 0:24 |
18. | "Operator (Take 5) [Misnamed as Take 6] [Slated]" | 2:53 |
19. | "Operator (Take 6 Breakdown) [Slated]" | 0:14 |
20. | "Operator (Take 7 Breakdown) [Slated]" | 0:12 |
21. | "Operator (Take 8) [Slated]" | 2:44 |
22. | "Friend Of The Devil (Take 1 Breakdown) [Slated]" | 0:21 |
23. | "Friend Of The Devil (Take 2 Breakdown) [Slated]" | 0:50 |
24. | "Friend Of The Devil (Take 3 Breakdown) [Slated]" | 0:33 |
25. | "Friend Of The Devil (Take 4 Breakdown) [Slated]" | 0:33 |
26. | "Friend Of The Devil (Take 5) [Slated]" | 3:37 |
27. | "Friend Of The Devil (Take 6) [Slated]" | 3:32 |
28. | "Friend Of The Devil (Take 7) [Slated]" | 3:42 |
29. | "Friend Of The Devil (Arranging Take 1) [Not Slated]" | 2:18 |
30. | "Friend Of The Devil (Arranging Take 2) [Not Slated]" | 1:30 |
31. | "Friend Of The Devil (Arranging Take 3) [Not Slated]" | 1:05 |
32. | "Friend Of The Devil (Take 9 Breakdown) [Slated]" | 0:16 |
33. | "Friend Of The Devil (Take 10 Breakdown) [Slated]" | 0:27 |
34. | "Friend Of The Devil (Take 11) [Slated]" | 0:35 |
35. | "Friend Of The Devil (Take 12 Breakdown) [Slated]" | 0:08 |
36. | "Friend Of The Devil (Take 13) [Not Slated]" | 3:29 |
37. | "Friend Of The Devil (Take 14 Breakdown) [Slated]" | 0:17 |
38. | "Friend Of The Devil (Take 15) [Slated]" | 3:32 |
39. | "Friend Of The Devil (Take 16) [Slated]" | 3:35 |
40. | "Friend Of The Devil (Take 17) [Slated]" | 3:48 |
41. | "Friend Of The Devil (Take 18) [Slated]" | 0:39 |
42. | "Friend Of The Devil (Take 19) [Not Slated]" | 3:35 |
43. | "Friend Of The Devil (Take 20) [Slated]" | 3:39 |
44. | "Attics Of My Life (Take 1) [Slated]" | 5:54 |
45. | "Attics Of My Life (Take 2 Breakdown) [Slated]" | 0:23 |
46. | "Attics Of My Life (Take 3 Breakdown) [Slated]" | 2:53 |
47. | "Attics Of My Life (Take 4 Breakdown) [Slated]" | 0:46 |
48. | "Attics Of My Life (Take 5) [Slated]" | 5:39 |
49. | "Attics Of My Life (Solo Version)" | 5:14 |
50. | "Hand Me Down (Ripple) [Take 1 Breakdown] [Slated]" | 1:12 |
51. | "Hand Me Down (Ripple) [Take 2 with Vocals] [Slated]" | 3:37 |
52. | "Hand Me Down (Ripple) [Take 3] [Slated]" | 3:43 |
53. | "Hand Me Down (Ripple) [Take 4] [Slated]" | 3:46 |
54. | "Hand Me Down (Ripple) [Take 5 Breakdown] [Slated]" | 1:33 |
55. | "Hand Me Down (Ripple) [Take 6 Breakdown] [Slated]" | 0:42 |
56. | "Hand Me Down (Ripple) [Take 7] [Slated]" | 3:36 |
Grateful Dead
Additional musicians
Technical personnel
| Reissue personnel
|
Year | Chart | Position |
---|---|---|
1971 | Billboard 200 | 30 [37] |
1971 | Australia (Kent Music Report) | 34 [38] |
Chart (2020-2023) | Peak position |
---|---|
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ) [39] | 29 |
US Billboard 200 [40] | 19 |
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard) [41] | 3 |
Year | Single | Chart | Position |
---|---|---|---|
1971 | "Truckin'" | Billboard Hot 100 | 64 [42] |
Certification | Date |
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Gold [43] | July 11, 1974 |
Platinum [43] | October 13, 1986 |
Double Platinum [43] | August 24, 2001 |
The album has been released in a multitude of ways since its original release. [28] In 2001, the CD version was remastered and expanded with live tracks and singles for The Golden Road (1965–1973) 12-CD box set. This version was given individual release in 2003. Additionally in 2001, a standalone DVD-Audio version was released including a 5.1 Surround Sound mix. On October 24, 2004, the album was released as a DualDisc recording, including a DVD side with interviews with Mickey Hart and Bob Weir, a photo gallery, and lyrics to all songs. In 2006 it was released in a CD replica of the original vinyl edition, with period labels and inner sleeve.
Region | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
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United States | 1970-11-01 | Warner Bros. | LP | WS 1893 |
1978 | Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab | MFS-1-014 | ||
Worldwide | 1987 | Warner Bros. | Compact Disc | 1893-2 |
Cassette tape | M5-1893 | |||
1990 | LP | 1893 | ||
United States | 2001 | Rhino | DVD-Audio | 74385 |
2003 | CD | 74397† | ||
LP | ||||
2004-10-24 | Warner Bros./Rhino | DualDisc | 74385 | |
2007 | Grateful Dead | CD | 74794 | |
Worldwide | Rhino | 1893 | ||
WEA/Rhino | LP | 8122736821 |
† Re-mastered edition with bonus tracks
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, folk, country, bluegrass, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, and world music with psychedelia, the band is famous for improvisation during their live performances, and for their devoted fan base, known as "Deadheads". According to the musician and writer Lenny Kaye, the music of the Grateful Dead "touches on ground that most other groups don't even know exists." For the range of their influences and the structure of their live performances, the Grateful Dead are considered "the pioneering godfathers of the jam band world".
Live/Dead is the first official live album released by the rock band Grateful Dead. Recorded over a series of concerts in early 1969 and released later the same year, it was the first live rock album to use 16-track recording.
Workingman's Dead is the fourth studio album by American rock band Grateful Dead. It was recorded in February 1970 and originally released on June 14, 1970. The album and its studio follow-up, American Beauty, were recorded back-to-back using a similar style, eschewing the psychedelic experimentation of previous albums in favor of Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter's Americana-styled songcraft.
Europe '72 is a live triple album by the Grateful Dead, released in November 1972. It is the band's third live album and their eighth album overall. It covers the band's tour of Western Europe in April and May that year, and showcases live favorites, extended improvisations and several new songs including "Jack Straw" and "Brown Eyed Women". The album was the first to include pianist Keith Godchaux and his wife, vocalist Donna Jean Godchaux, and the last to feature founding member Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, who died shortly after its release.
What a Long Strange Trip It's Been is the second compilation album by American rock band Grateful Dead. It was released August 18, 1977, by Warner Bros. Records, three and a half years after the Skeletons from the Closet compilation. Both albums are subtitled "The Best of the Grateful Dead". Unlike the previous compilation, What a Long Strange Trip It's Been is a double album.
Garcia is the first solo album by the Grateful Dead's guitarist Jerry Garcia, released in January 1972.
Ace is an album by Grateful Dead singer and guitarist Bob Weir. His first solo album, it was released in 1972. Weir's bandmates in the Grateful Dead back him on the album, and all but one of the songs became staples of the band's live shows.
"Truckin'" is a song by the Grateful Dead, which first appeared on their 1970 album American Beauty. It was recognized by the United States Library of Congress in 1997 as a national treasure.
The Very Best of Grateful Dead is a single-CD compilation album chronicling all the years of the San Francisco psychedelic band the Grateful Dead. It is the first release to document every label the band recorded on: Warner Bros. Records, Grateful Dead Records/United Artists Records and Arista Records. It was released on September 16, 2003.
Rockin' the Rhein with the Grateful Dead is a Grateful Dead triple live album released in 2004. It was recorded April 24, 1972, at "Rheinhallen", in the German town of Düsseldorf, during the band's European tour of 1972. The complete concert is included, but the order of the tracks on the CD was altered to fit the show on three discs, while preserving groups of segued tracks.
Dick's Picks Volume 31 is a four-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It was recorded on August 4 and 5, 1974 at the Philadelphia Civic Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and on August 6, 1974, at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was released in March 2004.
Anthem to Beauty is a music documentary about the making of the Grateful Dead albums Anthem of the Sun and American Beauty. It originally aired in a somewhat shortened version in 1997 as part of the television series Classic Albums. It was released on VHS videotape in 1998 and on DVD in 1999, with a running time of 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Three from the Vault is a live album by the Grateful Dead. It contains the complete show recorded on February 19, 1971 at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York. It was released on June 26, 2007.
Rocking the Cradle: Egypt 1978 is a live album by American rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains two CDs and one DVD and was released in 2008. The album was recorded September 15 & 16, 1978, at the Giza pyramid complex in Giza, Egypt. This was the third continent on which the band performed, having previously performed in Europe. The shows on the album were recorded on a 24-track multitrack recorder and were mixed down to stereo for the album's release.
The Warner Bros. Studio Albums is a box set of five vinyl LPs by the rock group the Grateful Dead. It is a reissue of their first five studio albums: The Grateful Dead (1967), Anthem of the Sun (1968), Aoxomoxoa (1969), Workingman's Dead (1970), and American Beauty (1970). These albums were originally released by Warner Bros. Records. The box set was released by Rhino Records on September 21, 2010.
Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead is a live album consisting of audio and video recordings from the Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead concerts. These shows were performed by former Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, and Mickey Hart, along with Trey Anastasio, Bruce Hornsby, and Jeff Chimenti. The album was recorded on July 3, 4, and 5, 2015, at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. The other two Fare Thee Well concerts, played on June 27 and 28 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California are not included. The album was released on November 20, 2015.
Saint of Circumstance is a live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains the complete concert recorded at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on June 17, 1991. It was released on September 27, 2019, on three CDs or five LPs. The same recording was also released the same day as part of the 14-CD album Giants Stadium 1987, 1989, 1991.
Dave's Picks Volume 34 is a three-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains the complete concert recorded on June 23, 1974, at the Jai-Alai Fronton in Miami, Florida. It also includes a fourth, bonus disc recorded at the same venue the previous night. It was released on May 1, 2020, in a limited edition of 22,000 copies.
The Story of the Grateful Dead is a box set of albums by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains eight previously released albums – four recorded in the studio and four recorded live – in vinyl LP format. It comprises 14 discs, on 180-gram colored vinyl. The albums were remastered directly from the original master recordings. The box set includes a booklet of essays by various musicians, each discussing the influence of one of the albums on their own music. The booklet also contains photos of the Grateful Dead. The box set was released by the Vinyl Me, Please record company in November 2020, in a limited edition of 7,500 copies.
Dave's Picks Volume 39 is a three-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains the complete concert recorded on April 26, 1983, at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It also includes several bonus tracks recorded at the same venue on the previous night, and at the War Memorial Auditorium in Rochester, New York earlier that month. It was released on July 30, 2021, in a limited edition of 25,000 copies.