Grateful Dead - American Beauty - POLL

ripple

friend of the devil

ripple, then box of rain, then friend of the devil

i just listened to this record, after reading that OTHER thread... golly it's a hard choice. ripple or sugar magnolia maybe??

box of rain

don't sleep on "candyman" or "brokedown palace". their greatness reveals itself over time.

the choice *should* be "Ripple" ... as mentioned on the OTHER thread, it's total Great American Songbook territory. But man. I have such a sweet spot for "Candyman" -- listening to that watery, glistening guitar solo lying on the floor blunted out at 3 am is one of the greatest joys life has to offer...

"attics of my life" and maybe "operator" are the only offerings here that aren't 10/10 imo

eh, i think they are all pretty 10/10. if nothing else "Attics" has some of the best vocal harmonies on the record. and "Operator" is Ron, so I couldn't ever hate on it

Voted "Box of Rain" because of its importance in the final episode of "Freaks and Geeks."

"Box of Rain"; I think we've done this before? but no problem, it's a fun record!

I always prefer the slow version of Friend of the Devil like on Dead Set and tons of other live shows. The slow version makes the song sound more like a heartfelt ballad.

Truckin' has some of the best replay value. You might not think so after the first 5-15 listens but later down the road (many years later in my life) with over 50 listens this song becomes an untouchable playful anthem that juggles both light lyrics and deep meaning

"Friend of the Devil."

not enough love for 'brokedown palace' imho - there's a beautiful version by the henry kaiser band, too

'ripple' was the first dead song i ever heard - played by john peel on his radio show sometime in the early 80s iirc! sfunny the way it resembles 'any dream will do'

I need to include a provision in my will that Box of Rain be played at my funeral.

Friend Of The Devil

it's between ripple & box of rain for me, and very very hard to pick.

I always prefer the slow version of Friend of the Devil...

^^This. I don't even LIKE The Dead all that much, and I like the regular-speed version of this as well as I like any Dead song, but the first time I ever heard the slow version was a revelation.

I own this but don't know it as well as I probably should..."Friend of the Devil" or "Box of Rain"; I'll go with "Friend of the Devil." I'm quite sick of "Truckin'," unless it's the Pop-o-Pies version.

box of rain. one of the perfect openers.

every time I get ready to vote "ripple" or "box of rain" (leaning toward "box of rain" 'cause yeah, as an opener it sets such an open and awesome tone, settles in so nice) a little voice goes "stop forgetting 'sugar magnolia'"

box of rain. one of the perfect openers.

― tylerw, Thursday, May 20, 2010 11:41 AM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I didn't appreciate how great it was for a long time because for whatever reason I started listening on side B of the record and thought that "Ripple" was such a great opener. When I taped the album for friends, I always put side B on first, so when I ran into a friend from high school recently, she told me that she had to listen to the album as "Ripple" through "Candyman" (in addition to it never sounding the same for her without the hisses and pops from my dad's vinyl copy of the album).

ha, it's true, Ripple would be a great opener for this album too.

I want to listen to this right now.
It'll have to wait til I get off work.

I can't imagine this album opening with "Ripple". I guess it bears mentioning how well-sequenced this album is.

"Box Of Rain".

For years I only had a couple of Dead albums (including this one). Then I went on a bender and bought "The Golden Road" box and a bunch of live discs. One of the best things I ever did.

I never know how to recommend live dead albums. Someone once told me they wanted to hear really psychedelic stuff. I dunno Reckoning?

Live/Dead imo

box of rain.

Live/Dead is a decent recommendation period. But also to someone wanting "psychedelic stuff"

Europe '72 isn't "psychedelic" in the Anthem of the Sun sense but some of the soloing on there, just the far-off lost places the songs go to (including "'Truckin''" of all songs), seem v. psych to me

oddly enough, considering that AB is one of my 25 favourite records ever, I don't really have a lot of time for either Ripple or Truckin...they certainly don't hurt the album for me, but I never put the album on to listen to those two particular tracks...to me, the album shining highlights are the first three songs, Candyman, and Brokedown Palace...

Europe '72 is incredible...Jack Straw, Brown-Eyed Woman, China Cat Sunflower merging into I Know You Rider...I'd recommend that album to anybody.

I recommend the Harpur College show, which will quickly put to lie any allegations that they don't play country music pretty well

Europe '72 isn't "psychedelic" in the Anthem of the Sun sense but some of the soloing on there, just the far-off lost places the songs go to (including "'Truckin''" of all songs), seem v. psych to me
― in which we apologize for sobering up (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Thursday, 20 May 2010 20:03 (10 minutes ago) Bookmark

Yeah, the Truckin'>Epilogue>Prelude segment of Europe '72 is wonderful: way out there. And then, if that weren't enough, it merges into the concluding, immensely beautiful Morning Dew.

so box of rain its ridiculous

You're my woman now, make yourself easy

this poll is silly. as stated above each track is such classic territory who the fuck cares which one is 'best'?

Listening right now. What strikes me this time, because I'm listening to it really quietly on a forgodssake ipod, is Kreutzman's drumming.

Have you been on ILM much lately?xpost

I think Kreutzman is a badass drummer, he gets a lot of flak.

isn't what make GD so entrancing the 2 drummer setup?

no

i mean, yes. it isn't.

Man, I think I would have stayed with the Dead a lot longer if Kreutzman was the only drummer. Can't say M. Hart ever did much for me.

He did a good Leonard Nimoy impression.

I am also of the mindset that the Dead only needed one drummer and that drummer wasn't Mickey.

Completely agree, both with the Vulcan/Nimoyish look and stiffness as well as the single-drummer theory.

I'm not super knowledgeable about the Dead, but I voted for Truckin' because of the scene in Flirting With Disaster that used it.

yeah my fave dead period - 72-74 - is all mickey-free.

Why can't I find the video with Mickey dressed up as Spock and Jerry dressed up as Santa online? Also, Jerry preparing crudites. What video was that from?

The December 31, 1987 concert was broadcast on pay-per-view TV. The broadcast included several sketches that had been recorded in advance with members of the Grateful Dead. These are included in Ticket to New Year's, between the first and second sets.

First we see Tom Davis, explaining to the camera that nowadays many of us don't need to use drugs or alcohol to have a good time on New Year's Eve. As an example of this he interviews Jerry Garcia who, in a short satire of a cooking show, explains how to make hors d'oeuvres and non alcoholic punch. The DVD does not include the punch line of the skit as shown on pay-per-view — Jerry baking a Bundt cake, and frosting it with "powdered sugar" from a ziplock baggie.[citation needed] Next, all six members of the band answer pre-recorded questions from Deadheads. Some of the questions and especially the answers are less than perfectly serious. After that is a brief scene of Mickey Hart as Mr. Spock using a Vulcan mind meld to read the thoughts of Jerry Garcia as Santa Claus. The sketches conclude with the band answering more questions from Deadheads.

Then, back at the concert, the clock has struck midnight, and as the second set begins, Bill Graham can briefly be seen, riding in over the audience on a replica of the Golden Gate Bridge.

i'm confused it says that mickey hart joined the band in '67 on the dead webpage . . . but then he left the band after american beauty?

Yeah. His dad bilked the band out of a whole lot of money and he resigned in shame. Then he rejoined just before they went on hiatus in the mid-70s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenny_Hart

He was actually like, a famous rudimental drummer.

also some interesting details here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Beauty_%28album%29

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

wow i kind of expected Box of Rain to win...but not by that big a margin...

I'm surprised that Friend of the Devil beat Ripple, but I guess most of the potential Ripple voters went for Box of Rain. They're both astoundingly magical songs.

yeah Ripple was the one I liked best first but Box of Rain is the long-distance champion

xp actually Friend of the Devil is my 2nd favorite Dead song (& no way is Box of Rain 267% better, but that's neither here nor there)...any album with a one-two punch like that is pretty much unfuckwithable imo...

We should poll Friend of the Devil slow version vs. original speed version

I voted Candyman on a splurge "I don't want to decide" vote

I wonder if going to school with trustafarians who worshipped the dead has made it impossible for me to like them at all--i just tried american beauty again, no luck

you need to find their heavier more psychedelic jammy stuff I guess.. something live

yes, i refuse to stop trying, not sure why--too many people i respect like them (but aren't hardcore freaks over them). suggestions?

Europe '72! or really any live stuff from '77 even though the records are less interesting then. The Harpur College show, those it's not as cosmic. I mean, what I recommend is the version of "Truckin'" from Europe '72, specifically (from the reissue, I'm not sure whether the whole thing was on the original version), which draws the line between the country-boogie stuff and the cosmos in the same song - it's like, you know "Truckin'," probably don't think of it as a particularly out-there song, but they take it off in this direction while you're just tapping your food and before you know it it's ten minutes later are you're drifting off into some warm, pleasant version of outer space.

totally, 72 is a great first dead rec to get deep on

ps aero, coming out to the show tonight

please let me just be a poster on this board, please.

shit, sorry dude. bad morning manners on my part

Hard to keep cool when you know you're on the same.message board as Dr4w The L1ne.

heck forget about all the esoteric shit ... Iago have you tried 'Live/Dead' yet? I mean that's it in a nutshell...

it's insanely good BUT I don't think it's really representative of the whole live Dead deal! like, they were never that psychedelic again...still, true true, everybody should get that record

not quite as familiar as Truckin, you should also checked out on Europe 72, Jack Straw and China Cat Sunflower as it melds into the old folk standard I Know You Rider...instead of showcasing the band's country-rock and psychedelic-noodling sides each in its turn, they tend to blend the sides into a seamless whole...

I wz listening to "It Hurts Me Too" and thought that maybe the Dead wz sort of the 70s equivalent to country that maybe Zeppelin wz to the blues...? Discuss.

Thanks, everybody, for your responses. It seems the consensus is Europe 72 but I'll try Live/Dead too...will let ya know!

yeah, Aero, I am with you on that 'Live/Dead' isn't the end of the story ... I just got the sense that iago might be more sympathetic to the psychy/swirly end of things..

I love the '77 and on era too, that New Orleans influence and so forth

I am actually on this thing lately as maybe my fave Dead document (live or studio):

http://www.amazon.com/Winterland-1973-Recordings-Grateful-Dead/dp/B001TW2S9O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1275248290&sr=1-1

so good, they dip into that great songbook from that fertile era of songs that were never on official Dead studio albums ... the stuff from 'Skull & Roses', 'Europe '72', 'Garcia', 'Ace' .. you know what I'm talking about, "Loser", "Deal", "Bertha", "Jack Straw", "Tennessee Jed", "Black Throated Wind" etc

I'm actually listening to the Dead right now, for the first time in months. they are good late-Spring/holiday weekend music. 'Wake of the Flood' CD reissue, this acoustic demo of Bob Weir's 'Weather Report Suite' just came on. forgot about this. wow this is amazing insight into the songwriting process, his wordless vocals on the first half, sketching out the melody. it's a great composition. fuck the Bob haters

1972 shows are crucial. The Veneta Fairgrounds 8/27/72 show is where I finally "got" the dead...indeed I just lost myself watching this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLzUme1gN8c

that '73 Winterland box also has maybe my favorite version of "China Doll".

which is, to today, the only song that actually makes my cry. having lost friends to suicide. it's so powerful. damn, Garcia/Hunter were such master songwriters

I picked up that 73 Winterland set last year. Great stuff.

just listening to this album now, really want to switch my vote for friend of the devil.
Hunter later stated, "that was the closest we've come to what may be a classic song."

Hunter OTM, sounds like a standard, in a good way.

Ok, Lesh will never win any awards for his singing but the melisma on "on" in the final verse ("if you don't just pass it on") is so perfect, so heartfelt.

Interesting to listen to this track panned hard left with Jerry's piano and the backing vocals. It's a strange mix with the lead vocal panned hard right, but it obviously works.

Uh talking about "Box of Rain", obv

been playing "Friend of the Devil" on guitar lately and gaining newfound appreciation for it - it just holds together so magically, like a truly great folk song

never played it on guitar, but it is amazing that it took until 1969 for someone to write Friend of the Devil, seems like it has been around for centuries.

i see that i said basically the same thing two years ago. jeez.

I can't get into the slower versions of FOTD. The devil's on his tail, so it's got to be uptempo.

As soon as I clockout I am going home and cranking the fuck out of this album.

i can get behind the slow FOTDs, there are some 76-77 ones where keith and jerry trade these laid back solos oh wow

yeah, there's a late dick's picks from 76 that has an absolutely gorgeous slow FOTD - lol stoners etc, but the dead are always so gd at v slow tempos (stella blue, china doll)

This is still the only Dead record I own, BUT a slow version of "Friend of the Devil" comes on frequently at the restaurant where i work, and (usually) cheers me up a bit, so I guess I am not 100% anti-slow "Friend"

Godlike.

Listen to this record on average once a week at least. Never a time I am upset if it comes on.

Never had the vinyl, even though the Skeletons compilation was one of the first 20 or so albums I started my collection with in the mid-'70s. I downloaded it from Soulseek 15 years ago, but I was downloading a lot of stuff then and just got lost in the shuffle.

Anyway, bought it for real on CD a few weeks ago, and I've been playing it in the car. Quite good. I think "Candyman" is my favourite; "Friend of the Devil" I already loved, and I got to know "Box of Rain" via Freaks & Geeks. I still like "Truckin'", but it's an anomaly in the context of the album.

Lesh is More

Never bothered to do a search, but for some reason, I voted in this 10 years ago (and said I was sick of "Truckin'"). It evidently underwent a major reevaluation that was completely subconscious.

"Candyman" is the standout deep cut, though it's hard to vote for anything over "FOTD", overexposure or not. I'm surprised "Box of Rain" won this so lopsidedly.

lol this may be the only Grateful Dead album I've ever intentionally put on just for pleasure, and the only song I know from its title is "Ripple."( oh and Truckin'). But I'm sure if I heard some of the other tracks I would immediately recognize them.