Vinyl Me, Pleas January ’23 Unboxing – Grateful Dead ‘Anthem of the Sun’
Good things comes in 12 inch packages. Delivering limited edition vinyl pressings of new and classic albums directly to your doorstep, VMP operates under a simple philosophy: The Album Lives! With a carefully curated catalog of new and hard to find releases, the subscription service is more than just a record club, it’s a lifestyle choice for folks who wish Record Store Day could happen every month… in their living room.
Here’s how it works. You send Vinyl Me, Please some of your hard-earned money (a 3-month membership will set you back about $128) and they send you one carefully selected album they feel is Essential to any record collection. Yes, it really is as easy as it sounds. You even get FREE SHIPPING. Each custom pressing (often on colored vinyl!) also comes with killer extras like original artwork and informative listening companion booklet.
You’ll have membership privileges in the VMP store too, which means you can grab a copy of previous VMP selections from the archives – including that AAA stunner of Blonde on Blonde that dropped last month – or choose from a slate of super-limited releases pressed exclusively for Vinyl Me, Please. The store is open, and Team VMP are dropping fresh new selections to their stock every single week. Do not miss out.
Word to the wise, while the store is open to the public, most of the more covet-worthy stock is only available to subscribers. Members are privy to reduced “Members Pricing” as well, so joining the club definitely has its rewards. If you’re peckish about relinquishing control of your record collection to complete strangers, know that VMP’s Swaps Program is in full effect. That means you can flip any VMP pick you’re not interested in for a past featured album from any track (including Essentials, Country, Classics, and Rap/Hip Hop). My advice? Don’t overthink it. Do your turntable a favor and sign up today.
As for this month, the VMP crew is kicking off 2023 with stone cold classic from rock & roll’s O.G. psychedelic age. Take a look.
For the Love of Music, Please Do Not Bend
It’s been a classic rock heavy few months on the Essentials track after recent Vinyl Me, Please offerings from Thin Lizzy, Bruce Springsteen, and Bob Dylan. And the gang is starting the new year by continuing that roll with a sexy new pressing of Grateful Dead’s sophomore release Anthem of the Sun.
As it’s been brought to my attention, that pick may prove a little divisive among the Deadhead set as Anthem is not the most universally adored album in the band’s oeuvre. More to the point, the Deadhead or two I talked to about it were quick to point it’s not really the best entry point to the band for folks unfamiliar with their work… which may well include a large segment of the Vinyl Me, Please subscription base. To that point, I’ll simply add that, as a longtime casual fan of the Grateful Dead, I’d never listened to Anthem myself, so there may be something to their logic.
Nonetheless, my personal thoughts on the band is that their recorded output is so vast, and varied in style, there really isn’t a perfect place to jump in. So if you’re looking to jump, you may as well get weird with it. And if you want to get weird with the Grateful Dead gang, you’ll find no finer album than 1968’s Anthem of the Sun.
Specifically, you’d be hard pressed to find an album quite as unabashedly out there as the original cut of Anthem, which is exactly what the gang at Vinyl Me, Please have delivered. And if you’re wondering what the big deal is, you should know that Anthem is one of the most singularly experimental albums released in the psychedelic era as it’s neither a studio album, nor a live recording. Rather, Anthem finds the band using a mix of studio recordings, and cuts from their legendary live shows throughout … sometimes even fading between those versions within the space of the same song.
The resulting sound collage is every bit as dramatic as you might expect. It’s also profoundly effective at evoking a legit sonic psychedelic experience, with songs ebbing, flowing, and flipping in ways that will leave your head positively swimming. As the music itself is also full-tilt experimental psych, the production dizzying technique can actually make things a touch muddy, perhaps a little confusing to the unexpectant ear – hence the warning to from my Deadhead pals about potentially turning newbies off.
Still, if you go into Anthem of the Sun with a free spirit and an open mind, you’ll likely walk away thinking it’s not just one of Grateful Dead’s strongest albums, but an absolutely essential document of psychedelic rock’s late ’60s heyday.
Cover Matters
It really doesn’t get more psychedelic than this one. And this trippy cover art could not be more on tune with the spirit of Anthem of the Sun.
Tough to see, but there’s some sick spot-glossing going on there. And yes, it’s another absolutely lovely wide-spined tip-on gatefold sleeve from VMP who’ve absolutely been killing it in regards to packaging of late.
As for the letter printed on the inside, it’s a hilariously scathing indictment of Grateful Dead and the ground-breaking (and time-consuming) processes they employed in bring Anthem of the Sun to light. Check the back of the sleeve if you want a look at the boys in the band, and learn what they contributed to the album.
You better believe there’s an official VMP Essentials foil stamp in the corner there.
And anyone who doubts this pressing of Anthem of the Sun as a legit essential need only check the stats on the hype sticker.
There’s more info for the album on the OBI strip cradling the spine just out of the dust sleeve. And there’s an excerpt from the listening companion booklet on the back too.
As for the booklet, it’s penned by longtime Grateful Dead archivist David Limeux. The man’s passion and knowledge of both the band and their work are well on display in every single page.
As with every VMP Essentials release, Anthem of the Sun comes with its own album-inspired art piece. This one from Jeremy Dean is mainly a color-inversion of Bill Walker’s original cover. And it’s arguably even more trippy this way.
As for the record, well, this “Noonday Sun” color way is maybe the coolest VMP has ever pulled off.
How’s it sound? Well, once this beauty hits your deck, it’s nothing short of pure psychedelic sunshine.
Give Vinyl Me Please a Spin
Look, I’d never be so bold as to label my self a Deadhead. But I have become a fan of the Dead’s early output over the years. And I continue to be a little bit awed at what a unique, and uniquely talented band they actually were. While I’d heard a couple of the tracks on Anthem of the Sun via live recordings and such before, I’d never heard them in the context of the full album. While there are, of course, live cuts buried throughout Anthem, hearing those tracks here really does re-contextualize them in a way I hadn’t anticipated.
To be clear, even this killer vinyl pressing of Anthem doesn’t earn it status as my favorite album from the band. But it’s very much worked its way into the conversation for the most interesting work among the Dead’s early releases. And this psychedelic vinyl treasure is no doubt destined to get plenty of spins in my house down the road.
A big THANK YOU to our friends at Vinyl Me, Please for sponsoring this subscription. Don’t forget to check out the Vinyl Me, Please website and sign up to get some choice wax delivered right to your door each and every month! Be sure to check back next month to see what vinyl treasure Team VMP sends our way!