Photo of Grateful Dead Family Under Live Oak

1969 studio anthology past Grateful Dead

Aoxomoxoa
Studio album by Grateful Dead
Released	June 20, 1969 (1969-06-20)
Recorded	September 1968 – March 1969
Studio	Pacific Recording, San Mateo Pacific Loftier Recording, San Francisco
Genre	Psychedelic stone, freak folk
Length	36:00
Characterization	Warner Bros.-7 Arts
Producer	Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead chronology
Anthem of the Sun (1968) Aoxomoxoa (1969) Alive/Dead (1969)

Aoxomoxoa is a 1969 anthology by the Grateful Dead.^[1] One of the commencement rock albums to be recorded using 16-track technology, fans and critics alike consider this era to exist the band'south experimental apex.^{[ citation needed ]} The championship is a meaningless palindrome, usually pronounced .

Rolling Stone, upon reviewing the anthology, mentioned that "no other music sustains a lifestyle so delicate and loving and lifelike".^[2] The album was certified gold by the RIAA on May 13, 1997.^[3] In 1991 Rolling Rock selected Aoxomoxoa every bit having the 8th best album embrace of all time.^[4] Information technology was voted number 674 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Tiptop 1000 Albums (2000).^[5]

Background and evolution [edit]

The anthology was a series of firsts for the band. It is the kickoff anthology the band recorded entirely in or near their original hometown of San Francisco (at Pacific Recording Studio in nearby San Mateo, and at the similarly named Pacific High Recording Studio in San Francisco proper). It is the only studio release to include pianist Tom Constanten as an official member (he had contributed to the previous anthology and played live with the band from November 1968 to January 1970). Information technology was likewise the first to have lyricist Robert Hunter equally a full-time contributor to the band, thus cementing the Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter songwriting partnership that endured for the rest of the ring'due south beingness. Information technology was too the starting time time the ring would showcase acoustic arrangements (as on "Mountains of the Moon", "Rosemary", and "Dupree'southward Diamond Dejection"), which would become the focus of the side by side 2 studio albums.

Some of the songs on Aoxomoxoa were played live briefly and then dropped. But "China Cat Sunflower" became a set staple through the ring's career, with "Dupree'south Diamond Blues" somewhat less and then. "St. Stephen" was played until 1971, revived in 1976 and 1977 and played a scattering of times after that. Likewise, "Cosmic Charlie" was played a few times over again in 1976.

Recording [edit]

The album was recorded twice.^[6] The initial version, with the working title Earthquake State (a Bay Expanse reference), was abased when Ampex manufactured and released the commencement 16-runway multitrack recording machine (model number MM-g). Offering 16 detached tracks for recording and playback, it doubled the number of tracks that had been available when they recorded Anthem of the Sun, the previous yr. Consequently, the band spent eight months in the studio, off-and-on, not only recording the album just getting used to — and experimenting with — the new technology. Garcia commented, "it was our start hazard with sixteen-rails and nosotros tended to put as well much on everything...A lot of the music was just lost in the mix, a lot of what was really in that location".^[7] Drummer Bill Kreutzmann states, "sixteen-rail engineering came along just after nosotros did our initial recording using an eight-track at the finish of 1968. But when the studio procured one of the first sixteen-track recorders in the world (the same ane we used for Alive/Dead), the decision was made to toss everything nosotros had already done and record information technology all again. From scratch. This time we could go deeper and experiment with things no other band had done yet. Being able to utilize twice equally many tracks essentially doubled the possibilities of what we could practice with each song. The finish result was dumbo and cumbersome in places, and all that studio time toll us a fortune, but nosotros were experimenting on the sonic frontier, exploiting cutting-edge technology."^[8]

Indeed, the lengthy sessions for the album would put the band deeper into debt with Warner Bros. Records — specifically, a total cost of $180,000 (US$1,270,290 in 2020 dollars^[ix]) for Aoxomoxoa. It was their most aggressive and plush venture to engagement and the final time the band would ever run up such high studio bills.^[2] Kreutzmann subsequently commented, "Old in 1969, when we realized the colossal debt we got ourselves into with the decidedly indulgent making of Aoxomoxoa, we realized that we needed to get a handle on our finances. We were a group of donating troubadours, a traveling psychedelic circus."^[10]

Along with assistance from invitee musicians such as John "Marmaduke" Dawson and David Nelson, Lesh played acoustic bass for the outset time. He afterward commented, "the fun office of that was trying to play in melody with no frets to guide my fingers, merely similar a violin."^[xi] Dissimilar the band's other studio albums, Garcia sang lead on every track.

Championship and cover fine art [edit]

The championship of the anthology is a palindrome created by embrace artist Rick Griffin and lyricist Robert Hunter. According to Living with the Dead, the audio memoir of band manager Rock Scully, the title is pronounced "ox-oh-mox-oh-ah".^[12]

One fan legend considers the words "Grateful Dead" on the front of the anthology, written in large, flowing capital letters, to be an ambigram that can likewise exist read "we ate the acid".^[thirteen] Kreutzmann states, "Aoxomoxoa...doesn't hateful anything — it's just a absurd palindrome. People have surmised over the years that you could read the Grateful Dead lettering on the front cover every bit We Ate the Acid which, I suppose, is true plenty, if you look at information technology just right."^[8]

The artwork is adjusted from a painting that was originally created as a concert affiche for the band. The bottom portion depicts expiry, rebirth and the cycle of life, with fertility symbols and Egyptian-based imagery.^[fourteen] The peak depicts a lord's day which doubles every bit an egg existence fertilized. Both sides feature stylized censers.

Courtney Beloved has claimed to be featured amongst those photographed on the album'due south back comprehend.^[15] Love's begetter, Hank Harrison, had shut ties to the ring at the time, and had briefly worked for them in some capacity. Beloved's merits was corroborated by David Gans in 2011,^[16] but farther research has proved her incorrect; the girl often identified as Love was actually Neb Kreutzmann's daughter Stacy, who was the same age equally Beloved at the time the photo was taken.^{[17] [eighteen]} Kreutzmann has stated, "...despite rumors, that's non a five-twelvemonth-former Courtney Dearest on the back cover in the grouping photo. That's my girl, Stacy."^[eight] The man sitting on a horse in the back cover photograph is jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi, a friend of the band.

Critical reception [edit]

Professional person ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[xix]
Encyclopedia of Pop Music	[20]
The Village Vocalism	A[21]

Reviewing Aoxomoxoa in 1969, Rolling Stone magazine's Adele Novelli called it "the work of the magical band. Tin can you lot hear this music and not run across them before your optics? The music is so much the reality of their physical and spiritual bodies that seeing them is the wonder of seeing music."^[22] In The Village Vocalization, Robert Christgau found the album "fantastic", with the exception of the "one experimental" song.^[21] He expanded on his praise in The New York Times later that year:

The effect was unique not only as rock but every bit music, with recognizable similarities to jazz, bluegrass and Indian but sounding like none of them. Garcia's endless inventive guitar defined the audio. Other guitarists relied on startling time-shifts and dissonances or tasty comping to build excitement, but Garcia eschewed such theatricality. Oft his runs resembled scales or finger exercises. However in the end he e'er got where he wanted to become, information technology was someplace new, and y'all were glad to ride with him.^[23]

Years after, AllMusic's Fred Thomas said "the Grateful Dead reached their truthful peak of psychedelia" with the album, embellishing "the exploratory jamming and rough-edged blues-rock of their live shows" with "overdubbed choirs, electronic sound effects, and layers of candy vocal harmonies."^[nineteen] According to Adam Bouyamourn of The National, the album's "iconoclastic acid rock … combined free jazz, improvisation and psychedelia".^[24]

Remix [edit]

Second-guessing the end results, Garcia and Lesh went dorsum in the studio in 1971 to remix the album, removing many parts nowadays on the original release, including a choir singing on "Mountains of the Moon", many difficult-to-place sounds on "What's Become of the Baby", and an a cappella ending for "Doin' that Rag," dropped for an earlier fadeout. The remix also uses different song takes on some songs, most noticeably "Dupree's Diamond Blues." The result, with the same catalog number (WS1790) and peradventure brighter audio, but with much of the original's experimental graphic symbol removed, tin can be identified past the "Remixed September, 1971" fable on the back comprehend. Mistakenly, the song timings on the starting time (1987) CD release refer to the original mix, not the remix (varying most significantly on "Doin' that Rag," which was edited from v:15 to 4:41, and "China True cat Sunflower," edited from 4:fifteen to 3:40).

The original mix was later on planned for CD release, just the original primary tapes could non be located. When the masters were finally found, years after, they were used for The Warner Bros. Studio Albums vinyl box set, marking the first time the 1969 mix has been available since the 1971 remix replaced information technology, in 1972. The 2013 high definition remastering for download uses the remixed version – even though promotion related to this release declared "produced from the original analog master tapes in 2013, using the original album mixes".^[25]

An edit of the track "Doin' that Rag" was released on the Warner/Reprise Loss Leaders compilation The 1969 Warner/Reprise Record Show.^[26] Since this gear up stayed in print through the late 1970s, it provided a sample of the original mix for some years after the full anthology was only available in the remixed version.

The 2003 reissue (originally part of the 2001 box set The Gilded Road) includes iii studio jams (including an early on version of "The Eleven") from the original aborted 8-runway sessions for the album, and a live version of "Catholic Charlie" recorded early in 1969.

On June 7, 2019 Rhino Records released the "50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition" of Aoxomoxoa. Disc i contains both mixes of the album – the one from 1969 and the one from 1971. Disc 2 contains previously unreleased live tracks from the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco, recorded on January 24–26, 1969.^{[27] [28]}

Track list [edit]

All tracks are written by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter, except where noted.

Side 1

No.	Championship	Writer(s)	Length
i.	"St. Stephen"	Garcia, Phil Lesh, Hunter	four:26
two.	"Dupree'southward Diamond Dejection"		3:32
3.	"Rosemary"		ane:58
4.	"Doin' That Rag"		4:41
5.	"Mountains of the Moon"		four:02

Side ii

No.	Title	Length
1.	"China Cat Sunflower"	3:xl
ii.	"What's Become of the Baby"	8:12
3.	"Cosmic Charlie"	five:29

2001/2003 CD bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
ix.	"Clementine Jam"	Garcia, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Lesh, Ron McKernan, Bob Weir	10:46
10.	"Nobody's Spoonful Jam"	Garcia, Hart, Kreutzmann, Lesh, McKernan, Weir	x:04
11.	"The Xi Jam"	Garcia, Hart, Kreutzmann, Lesh, McKernan, Weir	15:00
12.	"Cosmic Charlie" (live)		six:47

50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition – disc two

January 24–26, 1969 - Avalon Ballroom -- San Francisco, California

No.	Title	Writer(due south)	Length
1.	"New Irish potato Caboose"	Lesh, Robert Petersen	13:59
2.	"Dupree's Diamond Dejection"		4:41
three.	"Doin' That Rag"		5:42
four.	"Alligator >"	Lesh, McKernan, Weir	9:09
5.	"Caution (Practice Not Terminate on Tracks) >"	Garcia, Hart, Kreutzmann, Lesh, McKernan, Weir	7:11
6.	"Feedback >"	Garcia, Hart, Kreutzmann, Lesh, McKernan, Weir	3:46
vii.	"And Nosotros Bid You Goodnight"	Reverend Gary Davis	2:39
8.	"Clementine >"	Lesh, Hunter	11:05
nine.	"Expiry Don't Have No Mercy"	Traditional, arranged by Grateful Dead	9:57

Notes

• Tracks 9–11 recorded live in the studio at Pacific Recording Studio, San Mateo, California, on Baronial xiii, 1968
• Track 12 recorded at the Avalon Ballroom on January 25, 1969
• Track i on disc two of the Deluxe Edition, recorded on January 24, 1969
• Tracks two–7 on disc two of the Deluxe Edition, recorded on January 25, 1969
• Tracks eight–9 on disc two of the Deluxe Edition, recorded on January 26, 1969

Personnel [edit]

Grateful Expressionless

• Jerry Garcia – guitar, vocals
• Bob Weir – guitar, vocals
• Ron "Pigpen" McKernan – organ, percussion
• Tom Constanten – keyboards
• Phil Lesh – bass, vocals
• Bill Kreutzmann – drums, percussion
• Mickey Hart – drums, percussion

Additional musicians

• John "Marmaduke" Dawson
• David Nelson
• Peter Grant
• Wendy
• Debbie
• Mouse

Technical personnel

• Betty Cantor – engineer
• Dan Healy – consulting engineer
• Bob Matthews – executive engineer
• Owsley Stanley – consulting engineer (credited every bit "Owsley")
• Ron Wickersham – consulting engineer

Reissue personnel

• James Austin – production
• Joe Gastwirt – mastering, production consultation
• Michael Wesley Johnson – associate product, inquiry coordination
• Cassidy Law – project coordination, Grateful Dead Archives
• Eileen Constabulary – archival research, Grateful Dead Athenaeum
• David Lemieux – production
• Peter McQuaid – executive product, Grateful Expressionless Productions
• Jeffrey Norman – boosted mixing on bonus tracks

References [edit]

1. ^ "Grateful Expressionless – Aoxomoxoa Images" , Discogs. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
2. ^ ^{a b} Grateful Dead: The Illustrated Trip by Jake Woodward, et al. Dorling Kindersley Express, 2003, pg. 99.
3. ^ "RIAA Gold & Platinum database-Aoxomoxoa". Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved February 28, 2009.
4. ^ "Rolling Stone 's 100 Greatest Anthology Covers" Archived July 15, 2012, at annal.today, Rate Your Music, list adapted from November fourteen, 1991, outcome of Rolling Stone. Retrieved on July 29, 2006.
5. ^ Colin Larkin (2006). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 219. ISBN0-7535-0493-6.
6. ^ Kreutzmann, Bill (2015). Bargain. St. Martin'south Press, New York. Chapter half-dozen. ISBN978-1-250-03380-two.
7. ^ Garcia: An American Life by Blair Jackson, Penguin Books, 1999. pg. 162
8. ^ ^{a b c} Kreutzmann, Nib (2015). Deal. St. Martin's Press, New York. Affiliate vii. ISBN978-i-250-03380-2.
9. ^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Utilise as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the Usa: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Existent Money? A Historical Price Index for Apply as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the The states (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Banking concern of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved January 1, 2020.
10. ^ Kreutzmann, Bill (2015). Deal. St. Martin'southward Press, New York. Chapter 8. ISBN978-1-250-03380-2.
11. ^ Phil Lesh: Searching for the Audio past Phil Lesh, Little, Chocolate-brown and Company, 2005, pg. 138.
12. ^ Scully, Stone; Dalton, David (1996). Living with the Expressionless. Time Warner Audiobooks, Los Angeles, CA. ISBN9781570423710.
13. ^ Peters, Stephen (1999). What a Long Strange Trip: The Stories Behind Every Grateful Expressionless Song, 1965 – 1995. Da Capo Printing. p. 35. ISBNi-56025-233-2. A closer examination of the top half of the flamboyantly lettered 'Grateful Dead' heading reveals a line that appears to read 'We ate the acid,' a statement which isn't too hard to believe after a brief heed to the thickly filtered vocals of 'Rosemary' or the haunting vacuum of 'What's Go of the Baby'.
14. ^ "Grateful Dead Album Covers", Live Grateful Dead Music.com. Retrieved February vii, 2015.
15. ^ Dear, Courtney. Interview with Nardwuar the Human Serviette (November fifteen, 1994).
16. ^ "Fact: Courtney Beloved Was On The Back Cover Of The Grateful Dead Album "Aoxomoxoa"". Feel Numb. April 4, 2011. Retrieved November 8, 2015.
17. ^ "It Wasn't Courtney", Grateful Dead Guide, January 1, 2015. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
18. ^ Cross, Alan (Feb 1, 2015). "Sorting Out the Grateful Dead's Aoxomoxoa Photograph". A Journal of Music Things . Retrieved November 7, 2015.
19. ^ ^{a b} Planer, Lindsay. "Aoxomoxoa". AllMusic . Retrieved September 25, 2018.
20. ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (fifth ed.). Double-decker Press. ISBN978-0857125958.
21. ^ ^{a b} Christgau, Robert (July 10, 1969). "Consumer Guide (1)". The Hamlet Voice . Retrieved July 17, 2019.
22. ^ Novelli, Adele (12 July 1969). "Aoxomoxoa". Rolling Stone. San Francisco: Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc. (37): 36. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
23. ^ Christgau, Robert (July 27, 1969). "The Grateful Dead Are Rising Once again". The New York Times . Retrieved July 17, 2019.
24. ^ Bouyamourn, Adam (May 30, 2016). "Album review: It'due south a mixed bag, but covers album breathes new life into songs past The Grateful Dead". The National . Retrieved July 17, 2019.
25. ^ Glasser, David (October 11, 2013). "How Airshow Remastered the Grateful Dead Studio Albums", Airshow Mastering. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
26. ^ "Discogs.com entry" at Discogs.com. Retrieved Jan. 2016
27. ^ Bernstein, Scott (March 28, 2019). "Grateful Dead 'Aoxomoxoa' 50th Ceremony Edition Features Previously Unreleased Live Recordings". JamBase . Retrieved June 9, 2019.
28. ^ Berenson, Sam (March 29, 2019). "Grateful Dead Announces 'Aoxomoxoa' 50th Anniversary Reissue Featuring Previously Unreleased Live Recordings". Live for Live Music . Retrieved June 9, 2019.

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aoxomoxoa