Jefferson Airplane - After Bathing at Baxter's

'Won't You Try/Saturday Afternoon'.

Oh, weird timing. I just listened to this for the first time (like, I finished it just this minute) as part of my ongoing survey of music from '67. Not bad. After listening to countless bands doing the whimsically faux-trippy "And peppermint trolleys do daintily dash down the cobbles of Lollipop Waaaaay" thing over harpischords and flugelhorns, it's nice to hear something that sounds properly fried. "Rejoyce" and "Two Heads" are the stand-outs at the moment. "A Small Package of Value Will Come to You, Shortly" is like a proto-"Revolution No. 9".

1. "Won't You Try/Saturday Afternoon," 2. "The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil," 3. "Martha." (I think "Martha" was originally just a single, added to the album later?)

Spare Chaynge

Picking just one is especially BS here, but I picked "Young Girl Sunday Blues" for wailing vocal mesh x young-girl empathy rare in 60s male-dominated Rock (Donovan's song of a similar title maybe even better lyrically, but this got Grace X Marty!) This album was the earliest one where I thought, "Now that's what I call ***(((Psychedelic)))**, re the posters, cover art, concert pix I drooled over, and the Love-Ins and Be-Ins I missed). Previous JA LPs just sounded like good West Coast folk-rock, as Grateful Dead's debut seemed like maybe the Youngbloods. The Doors and Quicksilver Messenger Service debuts had their own midnight luminescence, but Baxter's was wider-ranging (talking teen appeal). Really liked the remastered (late 90s?) CD on headphones, re layers revealed/polished, except the bass got covered up! For a better balance, check Bless Its Pointed Little Head, one of the best Airplane albums.

this has so many great tracks, but I have a really soft spot for watch her ride for whatever reason

Rejoyce wins but this album has a bunch of cool stuff on it. Will you do Volunteers soon? That's my favorite JA album

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

NO MAAAN IS AN ISLAAAND
(he's a peninsula)

Clem, my copy's an original Canadian on the red RCA label, and it's got "Martha" on it, for what it's worth.

"Rejoyce" for me

"Martha" was always on the album. There's a 'single mix' that is frequently touted on comps tho.

rejoyce, followed (at some distance) by spare chaynge. this and crown of creation are j.a. at their peak... for me, anyway.

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

I should have checked that--I've got a red original too, and "Martha's" on it. I guess I encountered the single mix somewhere online.

Small sample, but I've considered "The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil" one of their greatest and weirdest (droniest) songs since buying The Worst of the Jefferson Airplane in high school, my first Airplane LP.

Somehow I've never really been into "Rejoyce." I appreciate the idea but it seems a little more straightforward melodically than the other tracks on the album, like I could see it slotting into a lot of 70s folk-pop albums?

(Voted "Two Heads" because I definitely side with the psychedelic bullshit side of things.)

If you have any interest in hippies--the good, the bad, the strange, and everything in between--the 30 second interlude in "Saturday Afternoon" where the song slows down, and they walk around their neighborhood and find yellow clouds and incense and people dancing, is truly beautiful.

Re-listening to this record right now, I think I actually prefer this to Surrealistic Pillow.

I agree. It's weirder in the best possible way.