Anthem Of The Sun [Remaster]

Performer: Grateful Dead
Engineer: Dan Healy
Producer: Grateful Dead; Dave Hassinger
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Contains the hidden track "Born Cross Eyed" which follows "Feedback." The Grateful Dead: Jerry Garcia (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, kazoo, vibraslap); Bob Weir (vocals, electric, 12-string & acoustic guitars, kazoo); Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (vocals, organ, celesta, claves); Phil Lesh (vocals, trumpet, harpsichord, guiro, kazoo, piano, bass, timpani); Tom Constanten (piano, prepared piano, electronic tape effects); Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzman (drums, orchestra bells, gong, chimes, crotales, prepared piano, finger cymbals). Originally released on July 18, 1968, the Grateful Dead's second release ANTHEM OF THE SUN combined a number of 8-track studio recordings with several live 4-track recordings to create a nearly continuous concert presentation on each side of the original LP. (Side 1 [cuts 1-3] is 18:06; Side 2 [cuts 4-5] is 20:45.) In a process that took the better part of six months to complete, Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh and engineer Dan Healy transferred many segments of tape onto one 8-track recorder. The resulting pastiche was remixed in 1971 at Alembic Studios by Bob Matthews and Betty Cantor. The track indexing and running time do not correspond at all to what's listed on the cover (although the song title listing is correct.) All tracks have been digitally remastered using HDCD technology. On 1968's ANTHEM OF THE SUN, the Grateful Dead stopped being just another band on the San Francisco scene and began initiating their own myth. Outgrowing the white-boy blues jamming of their debut and of their many SF contemporaries, the Dead graduated to an advanced, more lysergically influenced style--not just singing about Alice's adventures in that other world down the hole, but participating in them. Adventurous and grand, ANTHEM OF THE SUN was the first result of the muse that author Ken Kesey's infamous Acid Tests brought out in Grateful Dead music. The abstract chaos and freeform beauty that the Dead provided as the house band at the Acid Tests grew into a modernist polyrhythmic roar. The material now took on extended forms, and ANTHEM OF THE SUN was split between essentially two sections: the post-Hendrix electric clamor of "That's It For The Other One," and Pigpen's "Alligator," a hard-rocking, bluesy boogie powered by Garcia's liquid-grunge tone and the drummers' undeniable thrust--which segues into "Caution (Do Not Stop On The Tracks)"--a rollng bit of double-time chaos, over which Pigpen speed-raps Neal Casady-like improv tales.

Rolling Stone (9/28/68, p.28) - "...The end product is one of the finest albums to come out of San Francisco, a personal statement of the rock aesthetic on a level with the Jefferson Airplane's AFTER BATHING AT BAXTERS..." Down Beat (1/02, p.74) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Elongated performances, scorching feedback and complex instrumental arrangements....the Dead reached their experimental peak with this sound collage..."

The Grateful Dead were right there at the birth of the 1960s West Coast psychedelic scene, but they handily incorporated simple folk, blues, and country sounds into their swirling, jam-oriented style. With an endless touring schedule and a huge following of devoted fans, the group fueled hippie visions well into the '90s and sparked the jam-band movement that would eventually fill the void left by the dearly departed Grateful Dead after the passing of guitarist Jerry Garcia. Since Garcia's passing, surviving members of the band have participated in various musical projects, including a reunion tour in 2003 under the shortened name of "the Dead."

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