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Aoxomoxoa

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Aoxomoxoa

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  • Artist: Grateful Dead
  • Rating: StarStarStarStar
  • Release Date: June 20, 1969
  • Total Time: 38:07
  • Genre: Rock

Review

The Grateful Dead's third studio effort was also the first that the band did without any Warner Bros. staff producers or engineers hampering their creative lifestyle and subsequent processes. As they had done with their previous release, Anthem of the Sun, the Dead were actively seeking new forays and pushing envelopes on several fronts simultaneously during Aoxomoxoa (1968) -- which was created under the working title of "Earthquake Country." This was no doubt bolstered by the serendipitous technological revolution which essentially allowed the Dead to re-record the entire contents when given free reign at the appropriately named Pacific High Recording facility. As fate would have it, they gained virtually unlimited access to the newly acquired Ampex MM-1000 -- the very first 16-track tape machines ever produced -- which was absolutely state of the art in late 1968. The band was also experiencing new directions artistically. This was primarily the net result of the budding relationship between primary (by default) melodic contributor Jerry Garcia (guitar/vocals) and Robert Hunter (lyrics), who began his nearly 30-year association with the Grateful Dead in earnest during these sessions. When the LP hit the racks in the early summer of 1969, Deadheads were greeted by some of the freshest and most innovative sounds to develop from the thriving Bay Area music scene. The disc includes seminal psychedelic rockers such as "St. Stephen," "China Cat Sunflower," and "Cosmic Charlie," as well as hints of the acoustic direction their music would take on the Baroque-influenced "Mountains of the Moon" and "Rosemary." The folky "Dupree's Diamond Blues" -- which itself was loosely based on the traditional "Betty & Dupree" -- would likewise foreshadow the sound of their next two studio long-players, Workingman's Dead (1969) and American Beauty (1970). The too-trippy-for-its-own-good "What's Become of the Baby" is buried beneath layers of over-indulgence. This is unfortunate, as Hunter's surreal lyrics and Garcia's understated vocals languish beneath the soupy sonics. In 1972, Aoxomoxoa was overhauled, and the original mix -- which includes several significant differences such as an a cappella vocal tag at the tail end of "Doin' That Rag" -- has yet to be reissued in any form. When the title was reworked for inclusion in the Golden Road (1965-1973) (2001) box set, three previously unreleased and incomplete studio instrumental jams -- respectively titled "Clementine Jam," "Nobody's Spoonful Jam," and "The Eleven Jam" -- as well as a live rendering of "Cosmic Charlie" from a January 1969 performance were added as "bonus material(s)." ~ Lindsay Planer, Rovi

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Aoxomoxoa

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Aoxomoxoa
Studio album by Grateful Dead
Released June 20, 1969 (1969-06-20)
Recorded September 1968 – March 1969
Genre Psychedelic rock, experimental rock
Length 38:07
Label Warner Bros. WS1790
Producer Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead chronology
Anthem of the Sun
(1968)		 Aoxomoxoa
(1969)		 Live/Dead
(1969)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 3.5/5 stars [1]
Rolling Stone (Not Rated, but Favorable) [2]
Robert Christgau A [3]

Aoxomoxoa is the third studio album by the Grateful Dead. It was originally titled Earthquake Country.[4] Many Deadheads consider this era of the Dead to be the experimental apex of the band's history. It is also the first album with Tom Constanten as an official member of the band. Rolling Stone, upon reviewing the album, mentioned that "no other music sustains a lifestyle so delicate and loving and lifelike."[5] The album was certified gold by the RIAA on May 13, 1997.[6]

The title of the album is a palindrome created by cover artist Rick Griffin and lyricist Robert Hunter. According to the audio version of the Rock Scully memoir, Living with the Dead (read by the author and former Dead co-manager himself), the title is pronounced "ox-oh-mox-oh-ah". The words "Grateful Dead" on the front of the album, written in large, flowing capital letters, are an ambigram that can also be read "we ate the acid".[7] The artwork around the bottom edge of the album cover depicts several phallic representations.[8]

In 1991 Rolling Stone selected Aoxomoxoa as having the eighth best album cover of all time.[9] A five-year-old Courtney Love appears on the album's back cover.[10][11]

Contents

Making of the album

The group had already initiated recording sessions for the album when Ampex manufactured and released the first Multitrack recording machine offering 16 tracks of recording and playback (model number MM-1000). This doubled the number of tracks the band had available when they recorded Anthem of the Sun the previous year. As a direct consequence, the band spent eight months off-and-on in the studio not only recording the album but getting used to—and experimenting with—the new technology. Garcia commented that "it was our first adventure with sixteen-track and we tended to put too much on everything...A lot of the music was just lost in the mix, a lot of what was really there."[4] As a result, Garcia and Lesh went back in the studio in 1971 to remix the album, removing whole sections of songs. The result, with the same catalog number, WS1790, but with much of the original's experimental character removed, can be identified by the legend on the back cover that reads, "Remixed September, 1971". The original mix was later planned for CD release, but the original master tapes could not be located. The master tapes were finally located for The Warner Bros. Studio Albums vinyl box set, marking the first time the 1969 mix has been available since the 1971 remix replaced it.

In Grateful Dead history, Aoxomoxoa had a number of firsts connected with it. It is the first album the band recorded in or near their 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 first studio release to include pianist Tom Constanten as a permanent member. It was also the first to have lyricist Robert Hunter as a full-time contributor to the band, thus initiating the Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter songwriting partnership that endured for the rest of the band's existence. It was also the first time the band would put emphasis on acoustic songs, such as "Mountains of the Moon" and "Dupree's Diamond Blues." Lesh played acoustic bass for the first time, commenting that "the fun part of that was trying to play in tune with no frets to guide my fingers, just like a violin."[12]

The lengthy sessions for the album would put the band deeper into debt with Warner Bros. Records—specifically, a total cost of $180,000 for Aoxomoxoa, it was their most ambitious and costly venture to that date.[5] It would be the last time the band would ever run up such high studio bills.

The 2003 reissue (also part of the Golden Road boxed set from 2001) includes three studio jams (including an early version of "The Eleven") from the original aborted eight-track sessions for the album, and a live version of "Cosmic Charlie" recorded early in 1969.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter, except where noted. 

No. Title Length
1. "St. Stephen" (Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Robert Hunter) 4:26
2. "Dupree's Diamond Blues"   3:32
3. "Rosemary"   1:58
4. "Doin' That Rag"   4:41
5. "Mountains of the Moon"   4:02
6. "China Cat Sunflower"   3:40
7. "What's Become of the Baby"   8:12
8. "Cosmic Charlie"   5:29

Personnel

Grateful Dead

Supporting musicians

Production

  • Grateful Dead - producers and arrangers
  • Bob Matthews - executive engineer
  • Betty Cantor - engineer
  • Ron Wickersham - consulting engineer
  • Dan Healy - consulting engineer
  • Owsley Stanley - consulting engineer (credited as "Owsley")
  • Ram Rod, John P. Hagen & Jackson - equipment managers (listed as "Kwipment Krew")

Bonus tracks production details

Reissue production credits

  • James Austin and David Lemieux - reissue producers
  • Peter McQuaid - executive producer, Grateful Dead Productions
  • Michael Wesley Johnson - associate producer, research coordination
  • Eileen Law - archival research, Grateful Dead Archives
  • Cassidy Law - project coordination, Grateful Dead Archives
  • Jeffrey Norman - additional mixing on bonus tracks
  • Joe Gastwirt - mastering, production consultant

References

  1. ^ Planer, Lindsay. Aoxomoxoa at Allmusic. Retrieved June 18, 2011.
  2. ^ Novelli, Adele (July 12, 1969). "Aoxomoxoa". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/aoxomoxoa-19690712. Retrieved June 18, 2011. 
  3. ^ Grateful Dead at RobertChristgau.com. Retrieved June 18, 2011.
  4. ^ a b Garcia: An American Life by Blair Jackson, Penguin Books, 1999, pg. 162.
  5. ^ a b Grateful Dead: The Illustrated Trip by Jake Woodward, et al. Dorling Kindersley Limited, 2003, pg. 99.
  6. ^ "RIAA Gold & Platinum database-Aoxomoxoa". http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=SEARCH_RESULTS&action=&title=Aoxomoxoa&artist=grateful%20dead&format=&debutLP=&category=&sex=&releaseDate=&requestNo=&type=&level=&label=&company=&certificationDate=&awardDescription=&catalogNo=&aSex=&rec_id=&charField=&gold=&platinum=&multiPlat=&level2=&certDate=&album=&id=&after=&before=&startMonth=1&endMonth=1&startYear=1958&endYear=2009&sort=Artist&perPage=25. Retrieved February 28, 2009. 
  7. ^ "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 cursory listen to the thickly filtered vocals of 'Rosemary' or the haunting vacuum of 'What's Become of the Baby'." Peters, Stephen (1999). What a Long Strange Trip: The Stories Behind Every Grateful Dead Song, 1965 – 1995. Da Capo Press. p. 35. ISBN 1-56025-233-2. 
  8. ^ Live-grateful-dead-music.com (scroll down to Aoxomoxoa)
  9. ^ Rateyourmusic.com, list adapted from November 14, 1991 issue of Rolling Stone. Retrieved on July 29, 2006.
  10. ^ McLeod, Kembrew. "Courtney Love", St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture
  11. ^ "Courtney Love on Grateful Dead Album Cover", Snopes.com
  12. ^ Phil Lesh: Searching for the Sound by Phil Lesh, Little, Brown and Company, 2005, pg. 138.

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