Reissue Review of Grateful Dead "American Beauty" CD/DVD

The Grateful Dead's "American Beauty" was their sixth release, but arguably their first really professionally recorded album. The album was recorded at Wally Heider's new studio in San Francisco in August and September 1970 by Steve Barncard. Garcia liked the sound of the studio when he recorded steel guitar on Crosby, Still, Nash & Young's "Deja Vu". Steve was especially good at capturing acoustic instruments of which there is plenty of, and this album was certainly a second installment of "Wokingman's Dead", with again, no experimenting or jamming. Though not your typical Dead presentation, it is full of great tunes and performances, and many consider it their favorite Dead album. It is one of mine.

In 2004 Rhino issued this remastered version that contains a two sided disc. The CD side is your regular 44.1kHz/16 bit release of the album. The DVD side has the entire album in 5.1 surround sound and in higher 96kHz/24 bit resolution. It also has the entire album in stereo 192kHz./24 bit resolution.

Though not remixed, the CD side does not sound nearly as good as the regular CD issue and box issues from Rhino that were remastered in HDCD by Joe Gastwirt and contain bonus tracks. On the DVD side, both the 5.1 and stereo versions credit Mickey Hart (yes, their drummer) as Surround Sound and Stereo Remix Producer, Sound Design, Engineer and Mixer, with Tom Flye as Chief engineer and Mastering Supervisor.  The remix will be interesting to serious Dead Heads as there are many new things to listen for. For example; it seems that with the new mix, faders were often left up so you can hear instrument and vocal parts that were originally removed. This is fun stuff to hear, no doubt. There are also many song intros and outros to hear for the first time.

The problem with the DVD side is the very poor fidelity. Even with the higher bit words and sampling rates, it sounds very flat and congested in the sense of soundstage, dynamics and timbre.  Even with the separation of surround sound, the instruments are not as individualized as they should be. For example, the emotion of Garcia's pedal steel and Wales' organ solos on "Candyman" are buried. There is also an added  reverberation effect to the entire work that makes the remix sound like you are listening to the band doing a sound check in a small auditorium. This changes the entire feel of the album for the worse in my opinion. The original recording is studio dry and sounds like the band came over and are playing in my home as if we were friends. It is much more intimate with more presence, detail and better tonal balance than this remix. My favorite issue is still the MFSL analog LP.

The DVD includes a photo gallery (thirteen photos) and two short interviews; one with Mickey Hart about his remix approach, and one with Bob Weir about writing "Sugar Magnolia".
















Cat: Warner Bros./Rhino R2-74385
Format: 2 channel 16/44.1k CD, 5.1 Dolby Digital 24/96k and 24/192k 2 channel DVD.
Remastered by: Steve Hall at Futuredisc, Los Angeles, CA.
Sound Quality: 2.5 of 5  Should be better
Content: 4 of 5  Classic "must have" rock
Extras: 2.5 of 5  Interesting for Dead Heads

The Band "Music From Big Pink"

In 1967, after backing up Dylan on his rough "electric" tour, The Band retreated to a rented house called "Big Pink"  in Woodstock, NY where they wrote and recorded over 100 songs with Dylan, which produced the eventual release called the  "Basement Tapes" in 1975. The music written for Music From Big Pink was also from that period.

When this album came out in '68, I remember being taken aback with it's un-pretentiousness and honesty. The Band sounded as though they were musicians from the late 19th century, often with a Salvation Army band supporting. Everything about this album was different for the times: the music, the lyrics, the dress, the jacket photos, the sound, etc. Even when using modern instruments like the electric keyboards and guitar with effects, their sound is earthy and early America. The songs mix country, folk, blues, jazz, rock, gospel and even classical elements. There was soul in the lyrics, in the playing, in the singing, in the groove of the drums, and in the solos. Clapton has often referred to this album as being a favorite of his. In his recent biography he states "It stopped me in my tracks...".

Most of the album was recorded on four tracks at A&R in NY where two tracks were used to record the band live. Track three was used for horns, and track four for vocals and tambourine. These two recording sessions included the hit "The Weight" and a classic turn it up tune "Chest Fever".

This 2000 Capitol Records CD re-issue was 24 bit digitally remastered by Dan Hersch and Andrew Sandoval. It includes an 18 page booklet with additional photos and liner notes by Rob Bowman. It also includes nine bonus tracks totaling 32 minutes of music from the period. Only two of these tracks are alternate versions of songs on the album; "Tears of Rage", which is maybe just below the original, and "Lonesome Suzie", which is given a shuffle/swing style arrangement.

The other original bonus tracks include the very strong "Yazoo Street Scandal", Dylan's "Long Distance Operator" with an excellent drum groove by Helm, "Kattie's Been Gone", "Orange Juice Blues" a great song demo with just bass, piano and vocal by Manual, and "Ferdinand The Imposter", another good tune. but in mono. There are two covers: Poole's "If I Lose" and Big Bill Broonzy's "Key to the Highway", which takes my vote as the weakest track on the compilation.


As far as the sound quality goes, a few of the bonus tracks suffer, but are worth having regardless. Some of the outtakes sound very good. The original album tracks sound totally acceptable with good depth, dynamics, timbre and balance. Though I prefer the MFSL vinyl pressing, this CD is definitely worth buying.



Cat: Capitol 72435-25390-2-4
Format: 2 channel CD, 16/44.1k
Remastered by: Dan Hersch and Andrew Sandoval at DigiPrep, Hollywood, CA,  with bonus material by Andrew Sandoval at Penguin Recording in May 2000.
Sound Quality: 3.5 of 5  Respectable
Content: 4 of 5  Classic "must have" rock
Extras: 3 of 5  Makes you want more.