Anthem to Beauty

Amazon.com 　　This installment of the Classic Albums series follows the making of two Grateful Dead albums, the fiercely experimental Anthem of the Sun and the understated masterwork American Beauty, which spawned melodic gems like "Sugar Magnolia" and "Ripple." Between the archival scenes and contemporary interviews with band members, the DVD shows a band making seismic inroads in pop music--and five young guys coming to terms with artistry, mortality, and, yes, the pursuit of happiness. There is priceless footage of Neal Cassady driving Ken Kesey's bus and of the Dead, surrounded by martini-sipping hipsters, on Playboy After Dark. The best scenes involve band members talking about specific songs (you will never hear Phil Lesh's "Box of Rain" again without thinking of it as a gift to his dying father) or deconstructing a tune by playing each track separately. Intimate and surprisingly cohesive, Anthem to Beauty is a rare glimpse into how the Dead's magic was made. --Anne Hurley 　　Product Description 　　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".