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In a glass vial, capturing the freedom of colorful butterflies drunk on their brief but wonderful life, cosmic vibrations, explosive intensity, thousands of spirits united in an immense flow of sounds, noises, beats, and rays of starlight… Is it humanly possible?
Well, I don't know, but it's what the divine Grateful Dead attempted to do in 1968 with their second studio album after the almost complete disappointment that was “Grateful Dead” in 1967.
The Dead at the time were already living legends, gods on earth for those in the San Francisco Bay who had decided to change their lives, for their amazing, fiery, unique live jams. With “Anthem Of The Sun”, also because they were tempted by the many musical avant-gardes proliferating in the USA, they aimed to create a live-studio experimentation hybrid that was risky, to say the least... The result? In my opinion, very interesting but not entirely convincing; in fact, the first track, the multi-part suite “That’s It For The Other One”, manages in eight minutes to transform from a tender country ballad with the soft touch of genius Jerry Garcia into a devilish blues jam, then concluding in a disorienting "prepared-piano" improvisation reminiscent of John Cage, undoubtedly achieving excellent results; however, the distinct general impression is that their soul is not meant to be disassembled, divided, and reassembled in the studio, the most exciting moments are the great live “extracts” like the epic “Alligator” and the irresistible “New Potato Caboose”. This impression, for the writer, finds more than decisive confirmation on one of the most important and astonishing LPs witnessing the Sixties magic: the unparalleled “Live/Dead”... ...but that's another review...
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 That's It for the Other One: I. Cryptical Envelopment; II. Quadlibet for Tender Feet; III. The Faster We Go, The Rounder We Get; IV. We Leave the Castle (07:40)
04 Alligator (11:20)
Sleepy Alligator in the noon day sun,
Lyin' by the river just like he usually done.
Call for his whiskey, he can call for his tea,
Call all he want to, but he can't call for me.
Oh no! I've been there before,
And I ain't gonna come around here any more.
Creepy alligator coming all around the bend,
Shoutin' about the times when we was mutual friends,
I checked my memory and I checked it quick, yes I will.
I checked it runnin' some old kind of trick.
Oh no! Well I've been there before,
And I ain't gonna come around here any more.
Sailin' down the river in an old canoe,
A bunch of and an old tennis shoe.
Out of the river all ugly and green,
Came the biggest old alligator that I've ever seen!
Teeth big and pointy and his eyes were buggin' out,
Contracted the union, put the beggars to rout.
Screamin' and yellin', he was pickin' his chops,
He never runs he just stumbles and hops.
Just out of prison on ten dollars bail,
Mumblin' bitches and waggin' his tail.
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