The Grateful Dead - Aoxomoxoa FLAC

I have a pretty decent reference system, and I snagged this because here at Discogs it HAD stated that Chris Bellman did the lacquer like he had just done for Anthem, which IS quite good! (It looks like since, Discogs has removed Bellman's name - thanks a lot now...) Well, CB did NOT do this one. His initials are NOT in the deadwax, and this pressing basically sounds pretty awful. Muddled, Muffled, & Muddy (3M : ) As another poster above noted, the vocals on Rosemary are almost not even audible. VERY strange mix. And I'm thinking from various NOT SO HOT sources. Wait HOPEFULLY for the upcoming 50th!***EDIT BTW, I wanted to add that I indeed DO like and prefer the original mix, which is what is on this pressing, but absolutely NOT this version! I have a LOVELY needle-drop of the true 1st US Promo pressing, and THAT sounds great!!

The group had already initiated recording sessions for the album when Ampex manufactured and released the first 16-track multitrack recording machine. It offered 16 discrete tracks for recording and playback (model number MM-1000). This doubled the number of tracks that had been available when they recorded Anthem of the Sun, the previous year. As a direct consequence, the band spent eight months, off-and-on, in the studio not only recording the album but getting used to—and experimenting with—the new technology. Garcia commented, "it was our first adventure with sixteen-track and we tended to put too much on everything...A lot of the music was just lost in the mix, a lot of what was really there".[5]Garcia and Lesh went back in the studio in 1971 to remix the album, removing many parts present on the original release, including a choir singing on "Mountains of the Moon", a great deal of sounds difficult to identify on "What's Become of the Baby", and an a cappella ending for "Doin' That Rag," omitted due to an early fadeout. It also used different vocal takes on some songs, most noticeable on "Dupree's Diamond Blues." The result, with the same catalog number (WS1790), but with much of the original's experimental character removed, can be identified by the "Remixed September, 1971" legend on the back cover. For unknown reasons, the song timings on the first CD release from 1987 refer to the original mix, not the remix (varying most significantly on "Doin' That Rag," which was edited from 5:15 to 4:41, and "China Cat Sunflower," which was edited from 4:15 to 3:40).The original mix was later planned for CD release, but the original master tapes could not be located. After the masters were finally located years later, they were used for The Warner Bros. Studio Albums vinyl box set, marking the first time the 1969 mix has been available since the 1971 remix replaced it, in 1972. The 2013 high definition remastering for download uses the remixed version - even though promotion related to this release declared "produced from the original analog master tapes in 2013, using the original album mixes".[13]

Does anyone notice the mixing of the vocals on Rosemary leave the lyrics practically unintelligible? Not an issue on Skeletons from the Closet. Wonder how the original Aoxomoxoa compares to this reissue.

I find this pressing to be really bad all the way around. It's strange because other Rhino Dead releases sound great. I have Workingman's Dead Rhino release and it was cut by Chris Bellman. NOt sure what's going on with Aoxomoxoa...

This version seems to have different takes and versions for nearly every track. How strange.....

Yes. The tracks were cut from the original 1969 recordings. The most popular version is the 1971 remixes. I was just as puzzled when I got this one.