If there were any more live performances of China Cat in 1968, they've been lost. The Dark Star>China Cat>Eleven medley was broken up into its separate pieces that spring, and none of them were used on the Anthem of the Sun album (the Dead perhaps feeling they weren't fully worked-out yet). But when recording Aoxomoxoa later that year, China Cat was an obvious contender. It wasn't as much of a victim of studio over-experimentation as other songs on the album, and some of the changes they made became permanent - the song is taken at a more moderate pace, Garcia sings in a more playful way, and his loose solos capture a live feel. Aside from the rattling drums, the new intro of Garcia and Phil setting up the rhythm would remain standard. Constanten is now a big part of the sound with his organ fills, and he's a natural fit in this song; but one feature that's only heard on the studio version is the backing vocals, endearingly silly as they sing "na na na....china cat...." as if this will be their radio hit. Perhaps thankfully, they didn't repeat that in live shows! It's odd, though, that they didn't play China Cat live while they were recording it. (A reader comments: "The original vinyl mix of Aoxomoxoa has Weir playing from the beginning. The 1971 remix has his guitar entering at the same time as the vocal - among other changes making this version sound more like the one they were playing live by then." The outro jam was also considerably shortened in the remix, losing the loose, stoned "live-in-the-studio" feel of the original album.) The outtake here (sadly shortened) has quite a different intro, fewer overdubs, and a very druggy feel. Garcia's guitar part is less thought-out, but it's nice to hear the fadeout solo run to its conclusion. http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-xx-xx.sbd.dodd.16760.sbeok.shnf (Aox outtakes)