Jefferson Airplane

Listening to the 1968 Live at The Fillmore East album tonight. It's sorta this shambling randomness until POW - then it all makes sense.

― Chris Barrus (Elvis Telecom), Friday, December 19, 2008 11:11 PM (1 year ago)

Finally got around to listening to The Woodstock Experience (it's basically their complete Woodstock set) and I could say the exact same thing again. Utterly maddening listening as just when you're ready to give up on Balin's prattling you can hear Jorma & Jack agreeing with you from 40 years in the past and putting the hammer down. "Wooden Ships" is 21 minutes long and has everything I love and hate about them.

Worth tracking down for "3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds" and "The Other Siade Of This Life" which are both amazingly furious. Amon Duul II comparison completely OTM.

tell me more about this "Wooden Ships": what's great about it? What's lousy? I like the song a lot and am looking for gateways to better appreciation of the Airplane: since I like their komrades at the time e.g. Neil Young, CSN, the Dead, there's got to be more magic in the Airplane than I've been able to hear.

Just got back from "A Serious Man".

"Somebody to Love" really is a fine song. Powerful vocals too, Slick sounds so fierce, so betrayed.

That said, I remember listening to my parent's copy of Surrealistic Pillow way back when and being really disappointed. Still like "Plastic Fantastic Lover" though. Unless my memory deceives me, that song has some funk.

oh waht a great song

the album kills imo. the use of the guitar bits from 'today' when duder is up on the roof in ASM proves it to be so.

Their take of "Other Side of This Life" will probably always be my favorite thing they did. Bless It's Pointed Little Head is a pretty great live record.

"Bear Melt"!

Today is such a jam.

also this photo: http://i48.tinypic.com/16bg4zs.jpg

I saw Jorma with David Bromberg two weeks ago tonight. always a treat. he did "Keep your Lamps" and "Hesitation Blues" for all you Hot Tuna fans out there. listened to that 'Sweeping Up the Spotlight' Cd for a week straight afterward .. so f'n good. The "Good Shepherd" on there is amazing..

Surmounter is right by the way (tends to be right a lot actually); "Hey Fredrick" is godlike.

One of my favorite bands (mostly bcz of Slick.)

after checking out the dead last week thought i should get more into jefferson airplane

picked up volunteers for a couple bucks on vinyl

basically jorma is a guitar god, he is absolutely killing every second he plays on this....the seems like their most dead-like record kinda "back to the country" jive and stuff but parts are downright amazing...it's funny how great grace can be at times and how hectoring and bad she can be at times.

we should be together is a jam....the version of wooden ships rules

Would like to have that version of "Wooden Ships" with the vocals stripped out. Hate the lyrics.

not feeling very free & easy?

yeah JA is almost like a parody of "hippie", they are the most hippie band i think, cassidy looks like a "hippie" halloween costume you buy at a party store on the back cover photo

also kinda weird: not a very well produced album, kinda muddy even on the orig vinyl...which is weird cuz most big rock stuff from that era is so well recorded

Beginning totally sounds like Balin is singing La La Means I Love You by The Delfonics over the chord changes!

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

it kinda blows my mind that jorma isn't mentioned in the best guitarists of the 60s discussions more often. he's just electrifying on volunteers

have you heard after bathing at baxters

that is my jam, sometimes

no honestly i've always had a hard time w/JA....i have surrealistic pillow on beat up vinyl somewhere, never really clicked w/this band until recently with volunteers?

baxter's one of the good ones?

is crown of creation good? that was one of my pop's fav records he always talked about it

Crown of Creation is great, especially this time of the year.

pillow is good but overrated

best one is

http://bestmediaportal.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/jefferson-airplane-takes-off-1.jpg

Regardless of their topical content, there's something undeniably mythical about the Airplane for me.

Slick is a p great songwriter; one of my favorites of the decade, not v prolific but there's a still a lot of classics there: obv White Rabbit, but also Lather, Hey Fredrick, Eskimo Blue Day...ABAB has two--Rejoyce & Two Heads, and both are keepers imo; another one of my favorites is Wild Tyme. And of course Won't You Try/Sunday Afternoon is a perfectly serviceable closer...

also, re: muddy production, Simon Reynolds said it best:

also that shrill, treble-bright, highly-strung feel running through the record seems a lot closer to the acid experience than more blissy gambolling through the meadows type stuff

― blissblogga, Monday, February 7, 2005 12:43 PM (6 years ago) Bookmark

Not that that's really appealing (to the extent that it might be true). I think a big part of what's appealing about them sonically is actually their warmth.

They truly rock like no one else. Not big on riffs, just great instrumental interplay and searing lead guitar/vocals.

wow I think Reynolds actually nailed it right there, can't imagine those records sounding like anything other than what they do. One of my favorite bands, and yes, Jorma is a god .. I *so* wanted to fly out to New York last December for his 70th! birthday bashes at the Beacon, but alas the funds just weren't there ... saw him like three times in 2010 otherwise, tho -- two Hot Tuna sets, one set with Dave Bromberg

Don't know much of this band's stuff but I absolutely love 'Have You Seen the Stars Tonite?' (which I think may have been Starship anyway)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl1PkH2D9EI

Blows Against the Empire and the other 70s pre-Starship solo Kantner albums are definitely all on my 'stuff to get' list

SAAATUUUURRRDAAAAaaaAAYY AAAFFTERRNOOOOON

still digging volunteers a lot. need to get more stuff by them.

i think i like them more than the dead so far, both bands i never really checked out too much. while the dead have a lot of good things, airplane "goes for it" a little bit harder which i like

btw,

what exactly does marty balin do in this band?

ululates, takes good publicity stills

according to wiki, has mild autism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ia2YcPwNVo

just watched the clip of airplane from gimme shelter...god, forgot how chilling that movie is.

props to balin for being the only one of the performers that day that just didn't stand up there say "hey be cool everyone"

Fidelity and panning make me wonder if After Bathing at Baxter's was recorded on four track.

matt if yer into JORMA, as you should me, you should check out some hot tuna LPs. my fave is 'burgers.' i love the airplane. think surrealistic pillow is my favorite, but really love baxter's, crown of creation, and volunteers too. blows against the empire is fun, and takes off is fine but a bit primitive by the the standard of their later heights...

I'm surprised there's only been three mentions of Bless Its Pointed Little Head in this long thread. That's where they sound completely on top of their game - the scorching version of "Plastic Fantastic Lover," the revamped version of "Somebody to Love"... almost a swaggering vibe to the whole record.

Ended up writing a little something on "Young Girl Sunday Blues":

http://thisiheard.blogspot.com/2011/05/jefferson-airplane-young-girl-sunday.html

matt if yer into JORMA, as you should be, you should check out some hot tuna LPs. my fave is 'burgers.'

This one song (from Burgers) is as great as even the greatest Airplane:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nHgt13nCrg

Oh man, hell yeah. god, Hot Tuna >>>>> Starship ( and I actually like almost all Starship stuff)

*J* Starship , i guess i should have said ( i forgot that, in the case of this collective, it is key not to casually drop-off a modifier when making references)

What do y'all think of the Great Society?

I'm surprised there's only been three mentions of Bless Its Pointed Little Head in this long thread. That's where they sound completely on top of their game - the scorching version of "Plastic Fantastic Lover," the revamped version of "Somebody to Love"... almost a swaggering vibe to the whole record.

Indeed. The way the band come in piecemeal on Somebody To Love, until the bass part comes in properly and the whole thing locks together, is great.

What do y'all think of the Great Society?

versh of "Sally Round the Roses" is all psych heaven!!

I'm surprised there's only been three mentions of Bless Its Pointed Little Head

also .... fucking "BEAR MELT"!!

Great Society is good stuff but doesn't get nearly the play around my place as the prime Airplane records.

this is actually one of my fave JA documents:

http://www.amazon.com/Sweeping-Up-Spotlight-Live-Fillmore/dp/B003W77U88/ref=sr_1_5?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1304916426&sr=1-5

seriously, if you dig Jorma, you gotta get that CD.

it rules.

"Good Shepard" appears early on. gets better and better

not sure which version I like more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LPDCdtjkx0