Nearly synonymous with the term "psychedelic," the
Grateful Dead reached their true peak of psychedelia on their third album, 1969's
Aoxomoxoa. The band had already begun work on an initial recording of the album when they gained access to the new technology of 16-track recording, doubling the number of individual tracks they'd used on their last album. Fueled by acid and keeping pace with the quickly changing hippie subculture of the late '60s, the band went wild with this newfound sonic freedom. The exploratory jamming and rough-edged blues-rock of their live shows were ornamented with overdubbed choirs, electronic sound effects, and layers of processed vocal harmonies. Rudimentary experimental production took the band's already-trippy approach and amplified it with generously applied effects and jarring edits. In their most straightforward songs,
Aoxomoxoa's ambitious production isn't as noticeable. Gelatinous rockers like "Cosmic Charlie" and "St. Stephen" showcase
Jerry Garcia's spindly guitar leads and the band's dusty vocal harmonies clearly before detouring into wild studio experiments. Though the studio mix of "China Cat Sunflower" sounds like the different instruments are floating in space, trying to connect from distant individual planets, the core of the song still comes through, and this number would become a live favorite for the rest of the band's lengthy run.