Anthem of the Sun

Anthem of the Sun
A multi-colored image of fractals on a blue background
Studio album / Live album by
Grateful Dead
ReleasedJuly 18, 1968 (1968-07-18)
RecordedSeptember 1967 – March 31, 1968 (see Locations for more on these dates)
StudioVarious
Genre
Length38:57
Label
Producer
Grateful Dead chronology
The Grateful Dead
(1967) 		Anthem of the Sun
(1968) 		Aoxomoxoa
(1969)

Anthem of the Sun is the second studio album by American rock band the Grateful Dead, released on July 16, 1968, by Warner Bros-Seven Arts. It is the first album to feature second drummer Mickey Hart. The band was also joined by Tom Constanten, who contributed avant-garde instrumental and studio techniques influenced by composers John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen. The album was assembled through a collage-like editing approach helmed by members Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh (along with soundman Dan Healy), in which disparate studio and live performance tapes were blended together to create new hybrid recordings. The band also supplemented their performances with instruments such as prepared piano, kazoo, harpsichord, timpani, trumpet, and güiro. The result is an experimental studio amalgam that is neither a pure studio album nor a live album.

In 1972, a more commercial alternate mix of the album was officially released to capitalize on the band's recent success. A 2018 reissue on Rhino Records collects both the 1968 and 1972 mixes. The album was ranked number 288 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, in both the 2003 and 2012 iterations of the list.[4][5] It was voted number 376 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.[6]

  1. ^ Shuker, Roy (2005). Popular Music: The Key Concepts. Routledge. p. 212.
  2. ^ Bouyamourn, Adam (May 30, 2016). "Album review: It's a mixed bag, but covers album breathes new life into songs by The Grateful Dead". The National. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  3. ^
    • Horowitz, Hal (July 13, 2018). "Grateful Dead: Anthem of the Sun (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)". American Songwriter. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
    • Gallucci, Michael (April 24, 2018). "Grateful Dead's 'Anthem of the Sun' Gets 50th Anniversary Reissue". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
    • Harrington, Joe S. (2002). "The Revolution". Sonic Cool: The Life & Death of Rock 'n' Roll. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 181. ISBN 9780634028618.
    • Black, Johnny (April 1991). "Concept Albums: A-may-zing!". Q. Retrieved August 13, 2022. In the wake of Pepper, 1968 saw a rash of different approaches to conceptuality. The Turtles extended the Pepper idea into Battle of the Bands, wherein they played in the style of 12 different groups, from country to MOR, psychedelia and surf. The Grateful Dead offered up a non-stop sound collage, Anthem of the Sun, in which live and studio tracks were interwoven with sound effects and disjointed electronic compositions.
  4. ^ "500 Greatest Albums: Anthem of the Sun" Archived 2012-05-22 at the Wayback Machine at RollingStone.com
  5. ^ "Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Albums of All Time: 2012 edition – Page 3 – MusicBrainz". musicbrainz.org. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
  6. ^ Colin Larkin, ed. (2000). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 144. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.