Album of the Day

Though AOXOMOXOA was the third Grateful Dead album, it represented several significant firsts for the Bay-area band. The group's first self-produced set, it would be their first recorded on 16-track tapes and the first whose lyrics were entirely penned by frequent collaborator Robert Hunter. It was also the first with cover art by the great Rick Griffin, who came up with the titular palindrome with Hunter. The 1969 collection introduced favorites like "St. Stephen" and "Mountains On The Moon," as well as "China Cat Sunflower," a song that would continue to remain in the band's repertoire (and one, “Rosemary,” which the band only performed live once - on this day in 1968). Murky, mysterious and majestic, AOXOMOXOA is a perfect time capsule that is still resplendent a half century after it first appeared.