What's the best song on Aoxomoxoa?

I couldn’t possibly choose btw. St. Stephen & China Cat... and nor will I!

probably mountains of the moon if we're dealing with the actual studio version (if live then china cat of course)

i'd love to lol-vote for "what's become of the baby" but this is china cat easy

Between Stephen, Rosemary, and Mountains. China Cat I’ve heard too many times and the melody just grates. The rest is a load of charming nonsense

Does anyone prefer the 69 mixes over the 71s? Latter seems much better

I prefer ‘71 m’self

"China Cat Sunflower."

gotta be mountains of the moon, everything else is either an interesting sketch or a shadow of what it would become live

i've kind of come around to what's become of the baby (og mix) over the years... but this is mountains of the moon just shading out china cat.

which mix was it that made it onto the early cd? cos i'm not sure i've actually heard the '71 version.

^it was the ‘71 mix (although: Mistakenly, the song timings on the first (1987) CD release refer to the original mix, not the remix (varying most significantly on "Doin' that Rag," which was edited from 5:15 to 4:41, and "China Cat Sunflower," edited from 4:15 to 3:40).)

I believe this new anniversary reish is the first time the ‘69 mix has been officially issued on CD.

ah, thanks... then i haven't heard the remix in 15+ years. might be interesting to get hold of a copy and contrast & compare at some point (though taking out the "experimental" factor, boo!)

I liked the 69 mix better for a while after I first heard it, but really the 71 is better for most of the album. But "What's Become of the Baby" is tons better in the original mix.

What was the version on the Golden road box set was that still the '71.

St Stephen and it isn't even close

xp To my understanding, yes. (That’s what I owned, and I dl’d a rip of the ‘69 LP mix from Slsk back in the day)

voted for china cat, even tho the studio version is almost unrecognizable to me at this point. it's still got some A+ guitarwork.

Love Phil’s 5ths during the St Stephen intro

Interesting -- not sure i ever heard this version of China Cat before. I don't hate it. Still have to go with St Stephen though.

for jams & future purposes china cat easy. for "what's my favorite song to sing & play, the best song-qua-song here" I think it's St Stephen for sure

the little "china cat!" harmonies are so goofy, forgot about those.

I hate the "la-la-la" on this china cat. Glad they dropped that.

yeah this record sounds very of its time, way too much going on at any given moment

there's a lot of hippy dippy crap on this record but the opening lines of saint stephen are so evocative and great

Saint Stephen, with a rose
In and out of the garden he goes
Country garden in the wind and the rain
Wherever he goes the people all complain

just instantly conjures up this beatific, persecuted holy fool.

this is always worth a "wow, different times" look

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx6OAfvlxTs

It was one of the first LPs recorded using a 16-track (which I imagine most folks posting here already know...).

lol @ bob at 5:38. he's so corny and always has been

Heard the live set with the 50th anniversary edition yesterday and it sounds pretty great.
Captured during the 24th-26th January 69 live shows that Live Dead comes from apparently. Seems to be quite peak 69.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

kudos to the brave soul who voted "what's become of the baby"

thread got me into "mountains of the moon"... but only live. the dp26 version is nice. (goes into a nice pre-rider china cat, too) the studio version... i mean it's a good song but harpsichord was past its sell-by date in '69

Luv the tie score!

but harpsichord was past its sell-by date in '69

― Flood-Resistant Mirror-Drilling Machine (rushomancy), Wednesday, June 19, 2019 7:12 PM (fourteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah i mean bach had already been dead for almost twenty years

Rosemary deserved better

It was down to that or What's Become for me. I knew St Stephen and China Cat would get plenty of love.

sorry about my dumb joke

as you were

in fairness knowledge of bach's death wasn't common knowledge until the 1978's "duck stab"

rosemary is cool cos it sounds like proto-ween

Rosemary’s ”a breath of cologne” such good phrasing by big J

Boots were of leather
A breath of cologne
Her mirror was a window
She sat quite alone

All around her
The garden grew
Scarlet and purple
And crimson and blue

She came and she went
And at last went away
The garden was sealed
When the flowers decayed

On the wall of the garden
A legend did say:
No one may come here
Since no one may stay