The Grateful Dead released two very diverse LPs in 1969.
Aoxomoxoa, released in June, just before Woodstock, was iconic as a psychedelic
experience that recreates the tripped-out vibe of the Dead's live shows. Live
Dead, which came out in late December, skips the studio artifice and delivers
the kind of live LP that every band strives for.
Garcia said, "Live Dead was recorded about the same time
we were working on Aoxomoxoa. If you take them together, you have a picture of
what we were doing at that time." While not as solid as the Dead's sophomore
effort, Anthem of the Sun, Rolling Stone reported that Aoxomoxoa was "the work
of the magical band. Can you hear this music and not see them before your
eyes?"
Garcia continued, "When we started, Aoxomoxoa was an
eight-track record, and then all of a sudden, there was a 16-track recorder in
the studio, so we abandoned our eight-track version and started over with a
16-track. At the time, we were sipping STP [a sort of supercharged LSD, which
produces 72-hour trips] during the sessions, which made it a little weird – in
fact, very weird."
"We only recorded a few gigs to get that album," Garcia recalled. "We were after a certain sequence of the music. It's our music at one of its
really good moments." Garcia's playing is flawlessly consistent and Weir shines
for the first time showing the band in evolution. While the Dead's performance
at Woodstock was problematic and subsequently lackluster, Live Dead was a hint
at the greatest of live bands.
While I still enjoy the LP, it's not at the core of the
band's studio LPs (Workingman’s Dead, American Beauty, Mars Hotel). And yet the
recording had armed the Gratefuls with the Ampex 16-track recorder, which
allowed them the ability to bring the live shows to life on vinyl, charting a
definitive course.
The double LP begins with the side-long "Dark Star," 23 minutes of guitar jam with but
a hint of vocals, the emotional performance straight from Dead
souls. Each time the band goes into jam mode, the music is instantly mesmerizing.
"Saint Stephen" on Side 2, slows things down
melodically and hits you in the face again with "The Eleven." "Turn On Your Love
Light" is a fast-paced boogie-woogie that reminds one of a stoned "Jailhouse
Rock." "Feedback" is for many the part of the LP you skip. It's
not a song, but a collection of psyched-out noises followed by "And We Bid You Goodnight,"
a 30-second ditty that sums it all up.
*Two fun things. The lettering for American Beauty by
Rick Griffin also spells out "American Reality" and if one looks closely,
imagination intact, Griffin's lettering of "Grateful Dead" on Aoxomoxoa spells
out "ATE THE ACID."
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