#seven-arts — Public Fediverse posts

The Grateful Dead, Aoxomoxoa, 1969 on Warner Bros

This was the third studio LP from The Grateful Dead, and was one of the first albums recorded in 16 tracks on an Ampex MM-1000. It was remixed by Garcia and Lesh in 1971. “China Cat Sunflower” and “St. Stephen” remain among my favorite Dead tunes, though I find it hard to get through “What’s Become Of the Baby.”

My copy—via Salem Flea Marketplace—is a 1971 Terre Haute pressing, with the 1971 remix, on green labels but with the W7 logo on the jacket. I’m still on the hunt for a 1969 issue. (It was included in the Warner Bros. Studio Albums box set, and was put on CD in 2019 by Rhino but not vinyl).

Grateful Dead, Anthem of the Sun, 1968 on Warner Bros / Seven Arts

Second LP from the Dead, assembled together by Garcia and Lesh out of a mixture of live and studio recordings to make a new hybrid. Very much a psychedelic and experimental record, as the cover and song titles would suggest.

My copy is the Vinyl Me, Please reissue from 2023, which was manufactured for Rhino. It includes on the gatefold the letter Joe Smith, the VP at Warner Bros, sent to Danny Rifkin calling the recording of Anthem of the Sun “the most unreasonable project with which we have ever involved ourselves” and noting the Grateful Dead “has many problems” and “never will be truly important.” It’s also a version of the “original” mix rather than the more well known 1972 mix. Sounds great.

#1960s #1968 #2023 #GratefulDead #JerryGarcia #PhilLesh #psychedelic #Reissue #SevenArts #vinyl #vinylMePlease #VinylMePleaseEssentials #vinylcollection #WarnerBrothers