1970 was a great year for the Grateful Dead. Live/Dead was considered a master piece, almost equal to Get yer yaya’s out by the Stones and Live at Leeds by the Who, and in 1970 they released to important albums: Workingman’s dead and American beauty. Both feature well written songs in what one would call alt country / Americana / rootsy style. Seemingly, the druggy jam music was gone, and in its place, well crafted songs emerged. Live it was slightly different, but yes, these albums are great. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young taught them to sing harmony (in return for Jerry Garcia playing guitar on Déjà vu).
Most of the songs rule, and many became standards of their live repertoire for years to come. Highlights include Box of rain (nice harmony singing and touching lyrics), Friend of the devil (a folk ballad), Sugar magnolia (mainly because of the promise of live versions, this version is actually quite tame), Ripple (a speeded up Friend of the devil), Brokedown palace (a slow ballad) and Truckin’ (another signature tune, never to leave the active repertoire). Attics of my life is TOO slow and Operator shows that Pig pen was a great performer, but not necessarily a great writer (although he wrote better tunes in the years he had left).