Anthem Of The Sun - Anniversary Reissue

I really loved the reissue of the Dead's debut this year. It sounded great after they applied the Plangent Process to it. Great bonus live show, too.

Has anyone given any thought as to what we can expect with the Anthem Of The Sun reissue next year?

 

Properly done we'd get the original mix + the re-mixed versions of Anthem. Bonus material would include the studio cuts of Dark Star and Born Cross Eyed. And then hopefully there is some good live material (multitrack?) from the Tour of the Great Pacific Northwest, or the March Carousel Ballroom shows that has not been officially released.

 

What are the differences between the two mixes?

 

I don't know that I've heard the remix. I've had the cassette since forever, which I assumed was the remix because it had the white cover, but A/B listening tells me its the original.

The single mix of Born Cross Eyed was on the What a Long Strange Trip its Been 1977 compilation, which is easy enough to find on CD at least. (Plus it was released this year or last in that singles series they put out.)

Above all I'd rather have an unreleased live show like they did for the debut, but fall 67-summer 68 is not one of their best documented eras in terms of recordings, and a lot of what's there has come out over the years. Hopefully they kept back enough for this.

For Aoxomoxoa, the original mix will be a must, I don't really mind if we don't get both mixes and/or the Dark Star/Born Cross Eyed single if they give us the live stuff.

 

Does anyone know where the original mix is available these days? I think the only hard copy I have is in the Golden Road boxset, which incidentally has some nice bonus material if memory serves

 

The original mix is the readily available version. The remix is becoming rare.
I happened to come across flat, straight transfers of the Jerry/Phil remixed Anthem, Beauty, and the debut before Golden Road came out. (I have a friend related to a famous engineer/mastering guy who did these). Most everyone prefers the original Anthem mix, which is why it’s the readily available mix.

 

I think we should get a box set of every 1968 recording left in the vault.

 

This is it, really. The powers-that-be missed a golden opportunity by not issuing the mono mix of the first LP this year. Let's hope we get the remix of Anthem in 2018, and the original mix of Aoxomoxoa in 2019.

 

I guess the question is what live material is there from around the time the album was recorded that has not seen an official release already, and which is likely to exist in the vault? I suspect most of the best of what they've got has been released already, but I'd be delighted to be proved wrong. Those poorly-documented 1/26/68 and 1/27/68 dates stand out as a possibility, although I don't know if they do/do not have the reels. Also the late-March '68 Carousel dates.

 

I think it should come with a bag of thick air.

 

Oddly enough, the original mix and remix are both on Spotify. On the original mix "Born Cross-Eyed" runs 2:04 while on the remix it runs 2:26.

 

what a great and weird album
I have both mixes on lp, prefer the original like many...
Have this on 8-track too
I just wish I had the 7.5 ips reel tape.
I'd like to hear a surround mix

 

Here's a really nice pdf detailing the artwork/cover by creator Bill Walker.
http://www.billzart.net/files/AnthemGuide_2002-12-02_web.pdf

 

1968 has been well mined. I doubt we'll get the remix with the 50th version. Anything from the Carousel run of shows in March would do nicely.

 

Aren't the two November 1967 Shrine Auditorium shows considered the first of the 'Anthem' live recordings? How about include the second night?

I have the vinyl release of the first night, and was blow away by the sound quality (and performance)!

 

So the remix was never issued on CD, correct?

 

Correct, but I think the remix is more common on LP, since it was (I think) the version pressed from 1971 until whenever they stopped making them.

Personally, I prefer the remix because I think "Born Cross-Eyed" sounds stupid without the final chord. I haven't done a close enough comparison to comment on any other differences between them, but that always bugged me on the CD version.

 

I think this is right, although in my experience the W7 green label LPs with the original mix are more common than the later pressings.

 

Remixed versions of Born Cross-Eyed and That's It For The Other One appear on the CD Smiling On A Cloudy Day. The remixed album was released as a digital download, if I recall correctly, a few years ago. The remix is interesting as an alternate take on this material, but not radically different (I've only heard the two songs on the compilation just mentioned).

 

Opinion is divided on the Born Cross-eyed fadeout vs the loud closing chord of the remix. The remix is a bit harder sounding and runs over some of the ebb and flow on Side 2 making it more unified or less interesting and varied depending on one's point of view..

 

I think the Anthem remix was done by Phil Lesh, and the Aoxomoxoa remix by Jerry Garcia (since some previous posts mention both of them working on both albums). Also I think Lesh considers the Anthem remix a mistake while Garcia was happy with the Aoxomoxoa remix, which may be why the Anthem original mix and Aoxomoxoa remix are the most common on CD.

 

"Caution" sounds slightly more normal on the remix........or at least they didn't fool around with (slow down) the tape speed on the weird parts. It's all in E.

 

I've seamlessly combined the best segments of the two mixes, but would love an extended Anthem, one that is not bounded by the length of a 20 minute LP side and 40 minute LP.

 

I really like the rhino reissues from the early 2000's. The bonus tracks were stellar and I prefer that first album to the new anniversary one.