#4 - American Beauty: Grateful Dead (1970)

Psychedelia was one of the most important album cover art “schools” out there. And this particular example of that school is probably the Mona Lisa.

It was designed by “Kelley and Mouse,” who we’ve seen here before.

Here’s some more of their stuff, which I honestly just can’t get enough of:

I actually used this cover as an inspiration for something I did in Commercial Art class back in high school.  I used a wood panel as a background and then cut different types of paper (foil, flocked, etc.) for the circle, rose, and lettering.

I mentioned before that I’m not really a Deadhead, but this is one of my favorite albums of all time. Almost every song is a hit – “Ripple,” “Box of Rain,” “Candyman,” “Friend of the Devil,” “Sugar Magnolia” … I find that if I’m doing something monotonous and unplugged (hiking, biking, kayaking), these are the tunes that I naturally start to sing to myself.

I consider this album to the pinnacle of the Dead’s career. To me, it represents the perfect expression of their unique combination of folk, country, and rock, all combined with the incredible lyrics of Robert Hunter.

A lot of people don’t realize that Hunter was a musician too

One last look at the band:

Love those pig tails

No parodies for this one, I’m afraid. The title has, though, had quite a history of its own:

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