The Grateful Dead are recognized as the quintessential hippie band and the sixties is the hippie era. So it really surprised me to find that two of the Dead's greatest albums are from 1970 (the other one being Workingman's Dead, which is Jim's favorite studio recording). It took a lot of perseverance by Jim to get me to be such a fan of American Beauty, although, truthfully I've been listening to Truckin' and Friend of the Devil since I was a kid.
While I liked this album gradually more and more as Jim kept playing it, I outright loved it after the sentimental last episode of Freaks and Geeks where Lindsay listens to “Box of Rain ” for the first time. This is a genuine masterpiece that makes you feel good, like you've just experienced a Sunshine Daydream.
But what do you think?