Anthem of the Sun

The band began with David Hassinger, who had produced their debut, and moved from Los Angeles to New York in search of a more complicated recording. Hassinger grew frustrated with the slow pace and quit with about a third of the album done. Back in San Francisco, Garcia, Lesh and the soundman Dan Healy took concert tapes from late 1967 and early 1968 and interlaced them with studio tracks. Garcia called this mixing it for the hallucinations. Tom Constanten, on leave from the US Air Force, added prepared piano and electronic tape, and the band added instruments such as kazoos, harpsichord, timpani, trumpet and guiro.

Side one is a suite that begins with That's It for the Other One, which the band divided into four named movements to increase royalty points. Robert Hunter wrote words for Alligator, following his first contributions the year before on Dark Star. The album reached 87 on the Billboard chart, and Rolling Stone placed it at 288 on its 2003 list of 500 greatest albums.