AOXOMOXOA SEKATTUO

Grateful Dead Live at AoxomoxoA Outtakes on 1969-12-31 (December 31, 1969)

St. Stephen, The Eleven, , China Cat Sunflower, What Becomes of The Baby?, Cosmic Charlie, Doin' That Rag, Mountains of The Moon, Dupree's Diamond Blues alt listing: St. Stephen, The Eleven, Barbed Wire Whipping Party, China Cat Sunflower, Rosemary, Cosmic Charlie, Doin' That Rag, Mountains of The Moon, Dupree's Diamond Blues

Here is an interesting review from the archives pages......
Reviewer:light into ashes

- September 22, 2010
Subject: studio mayhem
This collection of outtakes comes from all over the place - solo demos, outtakes, and alternate mixes spanning from fall '68 to early '69. On most of these, there's no Tom Constanten, so a lot of this may predate December '68.
The first two tracks are a highlight, showing that the Stephen>Eleven medley was originally planned for Aoxomoxoa (until they decided to leave it for the live album). Unfortunately, the sound quality is particularly poor in this section. (In fact, the whole reel seems to come from a very weak cassette copy with lots of distracting bass print-through.)
1. St Stephen - a different early take, more far-out than the finished version, and covered with strange effects.
2. The Eleven - very nice! basically done just like the live version; unfortunately it cuts early.
3. Barbed Wire Whipping Party - the most famous Aox outtake, and the least listenable...
4. Doin' That Rag - I think this is the same basic track as the album; they just haven't dubbed the organ or backing vocals yet.
5. Dupree's Diamond Blues - a basic track: 12-string guitar, bass, drums, and Garcia's double-tracked vocals.
6. Instrumental - Garcia & drums, doing an unknown song.
7. China Cat Sunflower - this sounds pretty close to the final mix (though there's no TC here), but it could be a different take or an extremely different mix - the parts aren't quite the same, so most of this was redone. There's a gap/cut in the middle solo.
8. Cosmic Charlie - very nice! A totally different opening. This is another basic track: guitar, drums, and Garcia's double-tracked vocals.
9. Doin' That Rag #2 - another basic track: guitar, drums, vocal. Notice the pattern? Some of these tracks are just Garcia & Kreutzmann, no Weir or Lesh, just like his first solo album.
10. Mountains of the Moon - basically the same as the album version, just an alternate mix. (And the girl choir hasn't been dubbed on yet.)
11. What's Become of the Baby - just Garcia & guitar here, few studio effects, so you can actually hear the song. Very acid-folk, and not like anything else he ever did.
12. Rosemary - pretty much the same as the album version; no surprise, since Garcia just made one 4-track tape of this song.
13. Mountains of the Moon #2 - an earlier track: guitars, bass, and vocal (no TC on harpsichord yet).