Since the first Grateful Dead album wasn’t a huge commercial success, all those in the Grateful Dead agreed that a more experimental and authentic (at least in comparison to their amazing live shows) approach was required to win over the masses. Instead of breaking through to those masses, they made arguably the most interesting and Psychedelic experimental album to date by the band. However, this album did get more attention than their debut album released in 1967. Of course, this was the late 1960s when this was the era of studio creativity, completely different from today’s scenario of a typical celebrity with a laptop-styled album. Jerry Garcia, the leader and guitarist of the Grateful Dead, in particular, insisted on recording a ton of different versions of the songs on this album, before splicing and dicing the efforts to create the end result. Anthem of the Sun was recorded between September 1967 and March 1968, being released on Warner Bros Records on July 18, 1968. The album was initially produced by David Hassinger before he freaked out over the recordings, and the Grateful Dead produced the rest of the record. The Grateful Dead at this point were: Jerry Garcia (vocals and guitars); Mickey Hart (drums and percussion); Bill Kreutzmann (additional drums and arrangements); Phil Lesh (bass guitar, horns and trumpets); Ron “Pigpen” McKernan (vocals, keyboards and electronics) and Bob Weir (vocals and guitars). This album received mostly positive reviews in its own way, although it is not seen as a stone-cold classic today. We shall be the judge, let’s listen to this album now and we will hear what it sounds like.

1. That’s It For The Other One: Cryptical Envelopment / Quadlibet For Tender Feet / The Faster We Go, The Rounder We Get / We Leave The Castle is a seven-minute long piece. It begins with smooth organ, and clean and clear guitars and launches into a strange-sounding piece of Southern fried Psychedelic Rock. This is much better than expected and sounds absolutely awesome throughout. Soon enough, this tune changes into a trippy and interesting piece with acoustic guitars and edited and treated vocals. A super cool tune, this is already worthy of classic album status by this point. Drum rolls head into the next section, and this piece sounds mind-meltingly great. It is fairly reminiscent of Cream’s music, in actual fact. This leads to an excellent and tripped-out section of music that sounds absolutely awesome. A cool bunch of rhymes enter, and this music sounds absolutely musically accomplished and very awesome. This has some of the best and most imaginative tripped-out sounds that one can ever imagine. Jerry Garcia plays a mean guitar throughout, and he proves that he was the voice and vision of the Grateful Dead. A seriously awesome and fantastic tune, this proves that from the start, the Grateful Dead had some wonderful musical magic about them. This launches back into a Psychedelic ballad-based section in the second half, with other snatches of musical genius added into the background. This follows into a bombastic section of drumming and musicianship that is quite simply, far out man. A genuinely great listening experience that has beauty, melody and some sweet drumming throughout. This is obviously designed to trip on LSD. Soon enough, some discordant sounds enter, including bells and other ingeniously arranged pieces of music. This continues on nicely as we approach the end, with bells sounding. A very Psychedelic and intricate piece of music is present here. This whole tune wraps up with these bells and chimes, to conclude a mysterious and fantastic listen. Absolutely awesome to hear. Were the Dead Grateful? Definitely. This segues into the next track.

2. New Potato Caboose is a longer piece at over eight minutes in length. It begins with some sweet and clean electric guitar parts, that are multitracked. This sounds absolutely amazing and tripped out. Bass guitar and harpsichord enter, and this tune gets going along very nicely. Sweet and interesting lyrics enter, which are obviously drug-influenced. LSD was frequently handed out at Grateful Dead gigs, alongside other interesting substances, so bear that in mind. This tune, regardless, is a really trippy and fantastic listen that has some of the most interesting, musically advanced and Psychedelic sounds that you will ever hear in your entire life. The singing and musicianship, notably the guitars here, sound absolutely fantastic. Like opening a literal door in one’s mind, this will take most people back to the first time that they tried drugs. A really awesome and fantastic listening experience, this is music for those of you who are prepared to expand your mind throughout. The lyrics are beyond strange, but that’s perfectly fine here. Towards the middle is some trippy mixing with some excellent and punchy drumming to match. This sounds absolutely and fantastically awesome to listen to, even though the sound quality of this recording isn’t great for late 1960s standards. The guitar soloing does sound really terrific here, and Jerry Garcia indeed could play in all sorts of ways and emotions throughout. Absolutely awesome and very smooth to listen to, this music is a big step ahead of the debut album by the Grateful Dead. Obviously, something great and unrecognised was ongoing at the time by the Grateful Dead. Multitracked drums enter, and this rivals the 1967 classic The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn by Pink Floyd for Psychedelic supremacy. Absolutely cool and sweet to listen to. This still sounds as interesting and artistic today as it did back in 1968. Extremely cool to listen to. Definitely worth your time. A cool and intricately musical listen with glorious guitar soloing and organ to match. Some of the greatest music of 1968 is here. It ends suddenly.

3. Born Cross-Eyed is only two minutes long. It is a short piece with some weird guitars and smooth, sweet vocals that sound absolutely gorgeous and fantastic. A bit weird of a listen, but that’s perfectly fine for this kind of music. A simple, explorational and Pop sounding piece that is interesting and full of many awesome layers of music and playing throughout. Many Hippie-styled references and some Miles Davis Sketches Of Spain-styled horns are in the background of this tune. A thrilling wonder of a listen, this builds up with some cool and amazing sounds to a loud and climactic conclusion to finish with. Very odd.

4. Alligator is the centrepiece of the album at over 11 minutes long. It begins with some drums in the left channel, and some weird guitars and organs to follow it. A kazoo, out of all things, is present in this song. This enters into a pleasant and sweet tune that makes one want to go full Syd Barrett mode, grabbing a Fender guitar and ripping out some Psychedelic Music licks. This also sounds a lot like early Deep Purple as well. For all its weirdness, this is really great music to listen to. The singing is sweet, melodic and soulful throughout, and this has some awesome and fresh singing and playing throughout. A cool and interesting listen throughout, this has some fragments of pianos and hordes of tapes of sound throughout. A very cool tune about meeting an alligator on a river trip (or an LSD trip) and this tune is absolutely insanely odd, but nonetheless, very cool. This music is quirkily hilarious to listen to. The guitar work and playing throughout are really good. Soon enough, this changes into a tribal sort of piece with drums and percussion to match it. A fantastic and very interesting listening experience, Led Zeppelin was obviously listening away at this point. The drumming sounds absolutely fantastic and punchy, giving this music an uplifting spirit to listen to. All in all, this sounds absolutely awesome to listen to. With references to said alligator running around one’s door and coming into the cabin floor, the Grateful Dead add humour and oddness into an excellent extended piece of music. The drumming throughout eventually is matched by loud electric guitar playing which sounds absolutely sweet and awesome to listen to. A really great and excellent listen to boot, this sounds quirky, different and awesome. It eventually continues in an organ-based jam that is mindblowing and fantastic simultaneously. A cool tune to listen to, this is definitely not something that you want to miss during your lifetime. The multitracked guitars and performances throughout are stunning and sound completely different to anything else out there to this very day. A cool and interesting piece of music that sounds absolutely great to hear, this is a literal winner. The jamming continues on nicely with the whole band eventually joining in for a blissful and wonderful listening experience. The Grateful Dead weren’t just Hippies, they were Hippies with a great musical mission at hand. No doubt Dr. Timothy Leary would have dug what these guys were about. A truly fantastic and interesting piece of music that sounds killer, the jamming is so good here that you wish that it would never stop, even as it gradually approaches its conclusion. Towards the end are some amazing and fruitful sounding riffs, guitars, drums and sweet singing to conclude with. A great, great tune that really deserves more love from listeners today. It concludes with a mash-up of power chords on guitar, organ and tremendous sounds to conclude with, followed by guitar riffing and feedback. Sweet, it segues into the next and last piece of the album.

5. Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks) is a weird track name, if there were ever one. It begins with a ton of organ, muted guitars and drums. This quickly launches into an odd piece of music that is heavily influenced by Blues Music. Singing about meeting a gypsy lady, this is real Hippie stuff, right here. Singing and drums are present here, and this gypsy turns out to be a sort of fortune teller at hand. In any case, this has some pleasant electric guitar playing throughout and sounds very sweet and awesome throughout. A cool and interesting tune about male sexual lust and love, this was recorded nearly sixty years ago (at the time of writing) and it sounds very different throughout. A good listen that imitates The Doors’ Jim Morrison here (think The End and you are there) and some interesting music and progressive events throughout. This is mainly held up by a load of drumming and fragments of music that are really weird. This is hugely trippy and quite weird, as it leads into the next section of music of this song. Drugs, obviously, were being used by the Grateful Dead. A weird and wacky piece of music, this is definitely far out man. The music is highly Psychedelic throughout. No doubt a hugely trippy and interesting listen, the guitars and keyboards throughout are very different. The second half continues the musical journey and sounds absolutely awesome. It enters an organ-heavy section which is really fantastic and sounds very cool and powerful, with some guitar feedback being cut up and processed throughout. This is way better than Yoko Ono and John Lennon’s experimental musical efforts, having said that. The feedback probably could have been toned down a bit, but nonetheless, this is a trippy exploration of the basis of sound. Gong hits and sustained guitars follow, and this tune sounds very wacky and weird. It goes subtle for a bit, with some weird sounds being thrown into the mix, namely keyboards. This continues into a wacky conclusion to the album, which honestly, is not good. Still, this is a small upset that doesn’t really bring down the overall project. It fades out to conclude with.

This album is surprisingly better than you would come to think. Yes, it isn’t perfect but for the most part, it is very, very enjoyable and musically uplifting throughout. This is also one of the closest musical experiences that one can get to the nature of an LSD trip. However, this is poorly mixed and lacks consistency, especially on the last track. In short, this is still something worth listening to. Should you hear this album? Anyone with a mind and intellect for the 1960s Psychedelic Music experience will love this album. Fans of Punk or Metal will hate this album, however.

Trippy Hippie Music.

8/10