Aoxomoxoa – THE GRATEFUL DEAD***

St Stephen/Dupree’s Diamond Blues/Rosemary/Doin’ That Rag/Mountains Of The Moon/China Cat Sunflower/ What’s Become Of The Baby/Cosmic Charlie

Aoxomoxoa contains a heavy dose of experimental jamming from The Grateful Dead, which the average popular music punter may find a rather wearisome listen. (US:73)

“Although Aoxomoxoa isn't necessarily better than its predecessor, Anthem Of The Sun it does at least subtly indicate a progression away from psychedelic jamming towards more formulaic (but still rather spacey) folk-based numbers. This trend would eventually supplant jamming as the basis for The Grateful Dead's albums, although jamming remained the live preference of both the band and their audience.”

“More straight out and catchy psychedelic rock than on the predecessor album, and therefore a bigger commercial success. There are some elements of folk rock and roots rock interlaced, as on tracks like Doin' That Rag. Early fan favourites St. Stephen and China Cat Sunflower plus some nice blues slide guitar on Cosmic Charlie completed the set. Only the heavy psych What's Become Of The Baby is tough stuff and a bit strange.”

“The Dead had not yet worked out how to make albums and this is still something of a mess. However it is a really enjoyable mess with a brilliant cover.” “Transitional album by The Dead as they moved from their particular brand of trippy jam rock to a more reflective Americana style.”

“Many of the songs just seem to run out of ideas. The chord progressions are interesting for a while. However the melodies are not that memorable. The What's Become Of A Baby piece is downright atrocious. I hate it when bands put tuneless garbage like that on a record. What is the purpose of filling up eight and half minutes of space with aggravating chanting?”

“Dated, flawed, but unique and ambitious in a way that only The Dead could be, this album saw the group gravitating more towards playing it straight. It succeeds on that front, and shows off some of the band's nascent song stylings that would pay off on the next two legendary studio albums. A pretty solid, trippy album, right down to the cover art, though it could have been a little less of a cluster of experiments.”