Contributing an essay to the 50th Anniversary package of Grateful Dead’s Anthem of the Sun (released 7/18/68), scholar Steve Silberman accurately and vividly recounts the sequence of events involved in the original production of the iconic band’s second studio album. The writer’s prose recounts a herculean task, the comparable likes of which subsequently resulted in not just the 2018 Deluxe Edition of an album now over a half-century old, but also the revised mixes completed just three years after the original recording(s).
In the previously unreleased live portion of that aforementioned double set–capturing the earliest known recordings of the Dead with drummer Mickey Hart–the remote audio work of the late Owsley “Bear” Stanley is evidence of how these studio renditions of early original compositions only hint at the Dead’s visceral power.
Still, the density resulting from the recording studio efforts does mirror the mercurial spontaneity of Grateful Dead musicianship. With Hart adding his own peculiar percussion to the more straightforward kit work of original Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann, there’s more continuity here than just in the burgeoning fledgling relationship of the future ‘Rhythm Devils.’
Just as importantly, these stage renditions from October 1967 at San Francisco’s Winterland also suggest the eventual durability, not to mention the improvisation potential, of songs like “Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks)” and the entirety of the suite titled “That’s It For The Other One.” At this juncture of its career, the Grateful Dead was experimenting on both fronts.
Pressure-tested in the spontaneity of the stage, this array of melodic, rhythmic, and linguistic poetry also takes the form of a piece co-written with lyricist Robert Hunter in his burgeoning role of lyricist for the group. The performance of “Alligator” is additionally notable for guitarist Jerry Garcia’s tease of Donovan’s “There Is A Mountain” which, in extended form(s), later became the Allman Brothers Band’s “Mountain Jam”.
Like “New Potato Caboose,” the Grateful Dead applied more than a little elasticity to the product(s) of their songwriting collaborations. Accordingly, the material evolved to include the esoteric contributions of keyboardist Tom Constanten. Still, it’s no illusion the thin original mix sacrifices depth for breadth and, as a result, only scratches the surface of material such as Bob Weir’s “Born Cross-Eyed:” fading on the first rendition, this abbreviated cut ends with emphatic chording on the second.
Supervised by Lesh, the remixed version was issued in 1972 with alternate cover art (short-lived as the label did not consult the Dead). Differing in particular from the original in terms of segues, use of live recordings, and stereo imaging, these modified sonics, practically balloon with extra presence, proof positive of the meticulous process overseen by the band with sound savant Dan Healy (after sessions began late the previous year with engineer Dave Hassinger); many of the edits, fades and transitions were done physically with the tape itself in studio sessions.
All that effort was hardly for naught and, in fact, may have set the stage for even more protracted experimentation on the next Grateful Dead effort Aoxomoxoa. One of the first LPs to be recorded using 16-track technology, the temptation to tinker there too was irresistible for the group, resulting in exorbitant costs that, like its predecessor, only added to the group’s financial debt to the Warner Bros label.
Ultimately, however, those entangled processes led to 1969’s Live/Dead (recorded with the same advanced technology), the release of which was the first step of three in a cost-efficient and creative sequence of events that also included the group’s two 1970 studio records, Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty.
While the double concert set would usher in a veritable treasure trove of similar recordings, official and otherwise, it’s also arguable the latter pair of albums would not have worked so well on their own exquisitely simplified (and economically prudent) terms had it not been for their immediate predecessor and, before that, Anthem of the Sun.
