50th Anniversary AOXOMOXOA release

wileypickett

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Just got the the new double-disc version in the mail. Interesting that Garcia shortened almost every song on the album when he did the '71 remixes. Not by a lot, but the '71 version is a couple minutes shorter than the original '69 album.

Also, according to the notes, Garcia later expressed regrets at having remixed it. He came to feel that the album was of its time and he would have been more honestly served if he'd left it alone.

Haven't listened yet, but looking forward to it. I bought the album when it came out, but haven't played it in decades.
 

adorshki

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Sure do! With that goofy locked-in groove on "Know You Rider." Big fun!
And I vividly remember Ripple. Tom Robbins called it Kool-Aid with a hardon.
I always associated that with Pigpen, notorious for his love of "fortified wine", and Gallo, being based in Califormia's San Joaquin Valley, was readily available all over the state before "going big" in the early '70's with Ripple TV commercials.
Right up there with Screaming Yellow Zonkers in targeting the emergent hippie/"young hip" marketing demographic.
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Gallo brought us Boone's Farm, too.
"One sip and it's Strawberry Hill Forever"
Interesting to note Vintage Dead was released in October '70, one month before American Beauty on which "Ripple" premiered on vinyl, and within a couple of months of its live premiere in August of '70 according to this reference:
http://artsites.ucsc.edu/GDead/agdl/ripple.html
That one also has a story that Hunter wrote the tune in London over a bottle of retsina (Greek wine flavored with pine resin, yikes!) which may have been the closest thing he could get to genuine Ripple at the time?
For all the academic and critical analysis of "Ripple" and its metaphoric meanings, I think it started out as just a simple if flowery paean to Pigpen.
Pictured here with another notorious-in-the-'60's "high alcoholic content" malt beverage:
66.C7.OLO.Pig-M.jpg

Don't think I ever realized how much Coke he drank either, although it occurs to me it was probably just something he used to water down his Jack Daniels:
owp2qrvoldg01.jpg

That pic came up next to a link titled:
"The Unlikely Connection Between Coca-Cola and the Grateful Dead"
Nice sighting of Jerry with his Starfire reputed to be from one of the first Acid Tests in LA, March '66:
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Drums still say Warlocks.
Probably left 'em that way on purpose, any bad reviews'd get blamed on a band that didn't exist anymore.... :glee:
They were already being billed as the Grateful Dead:
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Wonder what a vintage bottle goes for now. . . .
Empty (without cap of course) or unopened?:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-70S-GREEN-SCULPTED-GLASS-RIPPLE-PEAR-WINE-BOTTLE-/223476840024
 
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