Blue-Collar Brilliance

After several years of exploring the longer song structures of the burgeoning acid rock scene they helped to found, the Grateful Dead stripped their sound to the bare bones and recorded two classic folk albums. While critics and fans are quick to name American Beauty the Dead's best record, the same argument could be made for the brilliant blue-collar anthems of Workingman's Dead.

Radio latched onto several tracks here, including the sweet harmonies of "Uncle John's Band" and the snide "Casey Jones." But it is the balance of the album which makes it so great. Whether exploring a delicate love affair ("High Time") or examining the fallout over Altamont ("New Speedway Boogie"), Workingman's Dead is rich in country and blues tones. Every song is a gem, from the furious bluegrass of "Cumberland Blues" to the sparse, folky-jokey "Dire Wolf."

Even among such great songs, the jaw-dropping "Easy Wind" is one of the Dead's best ever: as Bob Weir adopts an appealing Louisiana drawl, he sings about working a jackhammer and drinking moonshine in the Bayou while the band chugs away behind him effortlessly.

As a whiskey-kissed love letter to the working class, Workingman's Dead is a blue-collar classic on par with anything Bruce Springsteen ever did. It also shows that the Dead were much, much more than just an acid rock band.