tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-508596483308849125.post7710942074880957361..comments2024-03-17T11:10:04.872-07:00Comments on Grateful Dead Guide: What's Become of the BabyLight Into Asheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-508596483308849125.post-33579037254423080792022-11-10T11:30:08.972-08:002022-11-10T11:30:08.972-08:00For me the 1971 version seems cleaner, simpler tha...For me the 1971 version seems cleaner, simpler than the 1969 version, and thereby preferrable.<br /><br />After listening to electronic effects for decades, I think I can mentally subtract the echoes and flangeing and whatnot from the actual performance -- and Garcia's actual vocal performance on "What's Become of the Baby?" has always impressed me. Yes, it does sound like a &Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-508596483308849125.post-47636172707006627632022-05-10T19:38:21.904-07:002022-05-10T19:38:21.904-07:00I'm sure I'm in the minority here, but I&#...I'm sure I'm in the minority here, but I'm more of a fan of the 1971 version.<br /><br />I first heard "What's Become of the Baby" as a freshman in college around 1991. I'd made slight friends with a couple of stoners and at one point the topic of the Dead came up. Having mostly heard "Touch of Grey" and the stuff off Workingman's Dead, which didn'tAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-508596483308849125.post-88903204577827208082022-04-06T18:49:41.286-07:002022-04-06T18:49:41.286-07:00Varese might have been one of the inspirations for...Varese might have been one of the inspirations for the WBotB soundscape - I don't know if Garcia ever mentioned him, but I imagine Lesh & Constanten might have been enthusiastic about Varese. <br />I wonder how the Aoxomoxoa remix would have turned out if Lesh had done it instead! It is a shame that WBotB got ruined for decades of listeners by Garcia's 1971 tampering. At the time I Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-508596483308849125.post-33882630338231051622022-04-02T14:41:18.418-07:002022-04-02T14:41:18.418-07:00I got into Aoxomoxoa in my late teens at around th...I got into Aoxomoxoa in my late teens at around the same time that I also got an album by Edgard Varese which included his epic musique concrete piece Poeme Electronique. I always assumed that piece was the inspiration for What's Become Of The Baby. Probably I'm wrong about that but it's worth listening to the two pieces back to back. I thought that What's Become Of The Baby was -Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-508596483308849125.post-31657457848832305872021-07-20T06:34:21.325-07:002021-07-20T06:34:21.325-07:00I don't know if I would ever call the Dead &qu...I don't know if I would ever call the Dead "faux-Americana", Americana wasn't even a term at the time they started playing that style. They kind of helped invent the genre along with the Band and others.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-508596483308849125.post-10134448477306844312021-06-22T22:12:48.848-07:002021-06-22T22:12:48.848-07:00Garcia went into more detail on how this track sho...Garcia went into more detail on how this track should have been in a 1977 interview with John Hall: <br /><br />Q: Somebody into electronics had speakers halfway to the ceiling in a little apartment in '69, when Aoxomoxoa came out. We got loaded and listened to the side with "What's Become of the Baby?" I'm tellin' ya, it was a wiggy experience. "Cosmic Charlie&Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-508596483308849125.post-33131823587960855752021-06-11T12:56:31.852-07:002021-06-11T12:56:31.852-07:00I do not understand the animosity towards this. Th...I do not understand the animosity towards this. This is one of my favourite pieces by the Dead and I would take this over some of the faux-Americana that came out of the period directly after. Maybe that's the lifelong Sonic Youth fan in me talking.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13250315803851546321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-508596483308849125.post-66471525657246718982020-12-17T00:28:15.613-08:002020-12-17T00:28:15.613-08:00When Garcia was working with Ned Lagin on "Se...When Garcia was working with Ned Lagin on "Seastones" in the mid-'70s, some of the vocals and studio effects on that sound just like what he had pursued in WBotB. Aside from the recent Seastones CD reissue, a couple examples can be heard in the recent Ned Lagin deadcast - <br />https://www.dead.net/deadcast/bonus-nedcast-ned-lagin (at 10:20, 47:15 & 49:30)<br />- or briefly in Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-508596483308849125.post-89233539745448555142020-12-04T22:55:53.788-08:002020-12-04T22:55:53.788-08:00Case in point! Side 2 of that album has some odd i...Case in point! Side 2 of that album has some odd instrumental pieces, and a couple conventional songs. The two things are kept completely separate, and nothing's nearly as weird as WBotB. (A true equivalent would be if he'd done The Wheel as a sepulchrally slow Gregorian chant and laid Spidergawd on top of it.) For Garcia, his songs were distinct from his experimental soundscapes, and heLight Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-508596483308849125.post-14780384687278444332020-12-04T14:40:08.013-08:002020-12-04T14:40:08.013-08:00"It remains a small mystery just what gave Ga..."It remains a small mystery just what gave Garcia the idea to do the song like this. Garcia was normally a conventional songwriter, not prone to dabbling in 'extremely revolutionary' arrangements"<br /><br />See most of Side 2 of his first solo album. :-)3243https://www.blogger.com/profile/13059586058341689787noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-508596483308849125.post-16984186613956549172020-12-04T14:34:04.655-08:002020-12-04T14:34:04.655-08:00Hey I LOVE the version from the original mix of Ao...Hey I LOVE the version from the original mix of Aoxomoxoa. The electronic/musique concrete effects added to the song. 3243https://www.blogger.com/profile/13059586058341689787noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-508596483308849125.post-91566612151295073252020-11-27T02:45:21.719-08:002020-11-27T02:45:21.719-08:00Thanks LIA--
Ages since I listened to it, but I...Thanks LIA--<br />Ages since I listened to it, but I'm going to get wasted and cue it up soon! You give so much texture to the music--my most sincere thanks.Go Faster, Get Rounderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07011623878631825720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-508596483308849125.post-25977481676978494322020-11-17T09:43:17.127-08:002020-11-17T09:43:17.127-08:00The studio mix played at the Kinetic Playground so...The studio mix played at the Kinetic Playground sounded very close to the album mix, to my ears. The only differences: <br />- the speed's a little different, understandable with the varying tape sources; <br />- the instrumental effects seem quieter in the "live" version, but I think they're being drowned out by the stage feedback; <br />- Bear is fading the volume in & outLight Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-508596483308849125.post-60201030995357415142020-11-16T05:33:38.652-08:002020-11-16T05:33:38.652-08:00Thanks for another great article! I can't chec...Thanks for another great article! I can't check because I don't have some of my music immediately to hand but, from memory, I seemed to think that the version of WBotB played over the Feedback on 1969-04-26 was different from the version on Aoxomoxoa. I'm sure you'll have listened closely so I'm probably wrong on that score.<br /><br />Shame we only have the one live recordingSimonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810299638854859995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-508596483308849125.post-60130960028298875622020-11-08T17:39:41.710-08:002020-11-08T17:39:41.710-08:00On the radio ads for Aoxomoxoa, the male voice was...On the radio ads for Aoxomoxoa, the male voice was David Ossman of the Firesign Theatre who did several promos for Warner Brothers around that time. (I don't think the Dead were involved in making the ad.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-508596483308849125.post-60224535618125511672020-11-08T09:51:03.868-08:002020-11-08T09:51:03.868-08:00Robert Christgau may have been another critic flum...Robert Christgau may have been another critic flummoxed by WBotB:<br /><br />Grateful Dead: Aoxomoxoa [Warner Bros., 1969]<br />One experimental cut which hasn't made it for me yet, otherwise fantastic. A<br /><br />https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=10818Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com