Monday, November 05, 2018

Completely Conspicuous 497: Anthem of the Sun

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's second album, 1968's Anthem of the Sun. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- Recorded at CompCon world HQ
- Anthem of the Sun was recorded in 1967, released in '68
- Very experimental, similar to Zappa's song splicing in the '70s
- Studio and live performances mixed together
- An early concept album
- Songs would evolve through the years in performance
- Robert Hunter makes his first appearance as a lyricist on this album
- Producer grew frustrated with the band and left during the recording
- The sound of "thick air"
- Triple kazoo attack
- The Dead must have been a shock to fans of bubblegum pop
- Live, the Dead mixed up their shows every night
- This album sounds more jammy, like you would expect a Dead album to sound
- A lot of covers of bluegrass, country, jug bands, blues
- Pearl Jam adopted the Dead practice of releasing official bootlegs of shows
- The Dead used to do more audience banter, but recent incarnations of the group just play with minimal talking
- Anthem of the Sun was the next step in the evolution of the band's sound
- Next up: Aoxomoxoa

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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