ALBUM REVIEW: Grateful Dead - Anthem of the Sun

    The Grateful Dead were never a studio group, and I think they knew it, too. Even if their self-titled debut album managed to capture some of the impact and energy of their live sets, it was hard for them to transfer the exact energy to the studio, especially as their live shows became more and more adventurous—six months after their debut album had released, jams that exceeded the 10 minute mark had become standard, some stretching upwards into the 15-minute mark or beyond. This was in stark contrast with the group's debut album, where only one song dipped its toes past the 10-minute mark. It was evident to the band that capturing that live energy (that X-Factor, if you will) was crucial for an album. In comes Anthem of the Sun, the first album with drummer Mickey Hart, and more importantly an album that serves as a real product of the studio and the stage merged into one. The resulting product is halfway between the two mediums, built up into a sometimes experimental sound collage where it becomes hard to tell where one form ends and another begins. It's a bona fide album experience, and a wonder of psychedelia in the genre's final year of true, unconstrained dominance, and it comes just as the Dead have fully found their own sound, one that is unleashed on the listener in its full glory. The result is a sophomore release that is so far ahead of its predecessor it's almost mind-boggling.

    The album's indebted nature to their live shows is evident, as is its importance to the Dead's shows—crucially, this album sees the studio debut of three enduring songs from the group's live sets. The last of these three, "Alligator" and "Caution (Do Not Stop on Tracks)" had been familiar to crowds since early 1967 ("Caution" dates back to 1965, even), but they're finally laid down properly on this album. While "Alligator" was dropped after 1971 and "Caution" after 1979, both of these numbers are emblematic of the group's psychedelic years, and stand as testaments to Ron McKernan's vocal ability. McKernan's performance on these songs is as good as white blues gets, and their appeal as vamping songs to extend out for minutes on end is evident. "Caution (Do Not Stop on Tracks)" in particular is a fantastic way to end off the album, and their encapsulation of it on this album showcases its appeal as well, even with this album's release diverging far away from any live performance, heavy with empty space and guitar feedback. Still, both of these songs stand alone on the album's second half, and they make for a powerful ending to the album. The real champion here, however, is "That's It for the Other One", which simultaneously stands as the album's most experimental, most captivating, and most enduring moment. Indeed, it sits amongst the Dead's most-played live songs, played well over 500 times by the time of their last show, and on this album it serves as a fantastical outlet for the experimental elements of the album, rising and exploding before coming back down again, filled with fade-ins and fade-outs and intermingling the studio with a live setting. It's the encapsulation of the album's energy in full, and there is little wonder in my mind as to why that is.

    Even outside of the songs themselves, the improvement is obvious. Garcia's guitar work was not bad on the debut, but it often felt hindered by the constraints of the recording time and setting. Here, however, left to their own devices (they had to produce part of the album themselves when their original producer quit halfway through), Jerry Garcia is finally allowed to soar and explore far beyond the original walls of the studio, venturing out into space and back to Earth throughout the album's various jams. There's also the work of the dueling drummers, Hart and Kreutzmann, who together help elevate the performances to an almost jazzy-level, often also using the additional percussionist to work in new sounds and textures on various songs throughout the album. Bob Weir, still only 20 years old by the time of this album's release, also shines through on this album as a vocalist, with his frantic singing on "The Other One" helping lead the band forward into this new era, even if his own sole composition on "Born Cross-Eyed" does leave a bit to be desired—it's an effective sort of "reprise" of "The Other One", but as a song itself it stands as the album's outlier. Phil Lesh also emerges as a great bassist, particularly with his driving riffs on "The Other One" and the heavy, chugging line he plays on "Alligator" as the song nears its conclusion, and his own composition of "New Potato Caboose" serves as a nice addition amongst the album's three other major players. Perhaps the album's only weakness, ironically enough, is how its willingness to experiment detracts from the songs themselves—this is best seen in "Caution", wherein the unique, wide open ending does remove from the song's driving and frantic energy, which unfortunately leads to the song itself suffering because of it. Perhaps this is an unfair comparison, but if there's any group that I feel no qualms in bringing up their live work against their studio work, it is the Grateful Dead. I do it out of love.

    But even with that, what an album! With their second album, the Grateful Dead experience just as much growth in studio as they do as performers, willing to embrace the strange and the experimental wholeheartedly as they hone their skills and energy in a live setting. The result is a far more assured, interesting, and impressive release that leaps and bounds over their debut. Out of the psychedelic blues they go—the Grateful Dead as we know them are officially with us. That's not to say that everything before this doesn't matter, and even the Dead themselves have kept pieces of their early years with them all the way up to their last days, but Anthem of the Sun carries with it many of the fantastical, almost other-worldly elements of their music. It's an accomplishment in mending together live and studio work, a touchstone of 60s psychedelia, and a wonderful album all in its own right. To think it was still just the beginning, too...

RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

Listen to Anthem of the Sun.