Grateful Dead
Golden Road (1965-1973)

Aoxomoxoa

Where Anthem of the Sun was a wildly successful experiment, Aoxomoxoa fell somewhat flat. True, it unveiled such classic songs as St. Stephen, China Cat Sunflower, and Cosmic Charlie, but these were performed with varying degrees of success, leaving the album as a whole feeling a tad self-indulgent.

The reason, of course, is simple. The Grateful Dead was in a period of transition, and Aoxomoxoa caught them right smack in the middle of it. The acoustic guitars that would form the foundation for future albums peeked around the psychedelic strangeness of songs like Rosemary and Mountains of the Moon, hinting at the folk-oriented direction in which the group would soon turn. Yet, the odd distortions tended to draw attention away from its rapidly developing prowess as a songwriting team, and today, many of the tracks sound dated.

Faring better are the bonus cuts, which pull together three previously unavailable -- and rather monumental -- studio jams (Clementine, Nobody's Spoonful, and The Eleven) and one live recording from 1969 (Cosmic Charlie).  Each paints a much stronger portrait of the Grateful Dead than anything on Aoxomoxoa, while dispelling the myth that the Grateful Dead could not perform in a studio environment.  ½

This is the fourth installment of a nine part series, which will examine The Golden Road (1965-1973) album by album. The entire set is rated: 

1 Star:   Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!