Grateful Dead Classic Albums - Grateful Dead: Anthem to Beauty

This program looks at the span of the Grateful Dead's music from 1968's "Anthem Of The Sun", which was a hybrid of a live and studio album, and the 1970 country-styled album "American Beauty". The story is told through new and vintage interviews with band members Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Jerry Garcia, and Mickey Hart, guest musicians, and lyricist Robert Hunter, along with home movies from the Grateful Dead's own archive.

Features many classic Dead tunes including: "Truckin'", "Mountains Of The Moon," "Sugar Magnolia," and "Box Of Rain."

The versatility of the Grateful Dead is immediately evident in this installment of the CLASSIC ALBUMS series, which covers two vastly different Dead releases from the band's early days. Released in 1968, the experimental ANTHEM TO THE SUN became an instant classic with the extended jams and acid trip soundscapes of the five tracks that comprise this landmark document of the Haight-Ashbury scene. AMERICAN BEAUTY, released only two years later, could not have been more different. Rooted in country music, the understated album featured melodic radio hits such as "Truckin'," "Friend of the Devil," "Sugar Magnolia," and "Ripple." This CLASSIC ALBUMS release includes rare archival footage and interviews conducted in 1997 with David Grisman, Phil Lesh, Robert Hunter, and others as they recall these legendary recording sessions, plus Grateful Dead TV appearances and home videos by the band.