Jefferson Airplane

The one Great Society song I love is "Free Advice."

I wanted to post my favourite weird Airplane song, "Thunk," but it's been removed from YouTube. It pretty much stands apart from anything they ever did. This is pretty great too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K8FucBj_q8&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

that hot tuna song posted above is pretty hot stuff

Inspired by this thread, I played side 2 of "Crown Of Creation" last night. I also went to the record store today in search of "Bless Its Pointed Little Head", which I thought I had but didn't. They were out as well.

Hey guys: as part of what I assume is the gradual folding of the Collector's Choice label, Deep Discount is offering the 4 JA live albums CC music dropped last year for the total price of around $11 here.

woah ... awesome find! Thanks, C. Grisso/McCain!

Thanks--ordered five non-JA CDS (shipping to Canada: ugh, but still cheap overall).

They are an immensely flawed band, but I feel like the flaws are part of why I have a soft spot for them, or at least for their late 60s material. It feels like an honest document of those times, as in their music really exemplified a lot of the techniques and concepts that seemed hip and the way forward then but seem really embarrassing now, but they really... went for it, and I can't fault them for that.
For me it's all about the three-part harmonies plus the collision of different lead vocalists in one tune on a lot of their stuff. The guy right near the top of the thread who compared them to X is otm I think. Sometimes I think Slick benefits too much from her reputation of being the cool/smart/stylish one in an uncool band, but at the end of the day her voice is kind of incredible. Bass is pretty good on their peak material. Lead guitar is mediocre imo. Drumming is shite even when they were at their best (supposedly it's better on the live recordings but I've never ventured that far). Crown of Creation prob their best individual album.

As you may have noticed now, the only times I post in non funky house related threads is when I'm drunk. If anyone were to post a Dead Kennedys thread in this sort of situation I would prob ramble on all night.

I like Spencer Dryden - nice touch, creative.

Their first album, when Signe Anderson and Skip Spence were still in the band, is so underrated. "Blues From An Airplane", "It's No Secret", "Come Up The Years", and a whole bunch of other great songs. Holds up much better than other late-'60s hippie bands they're often compared with.

Pillow is one of my top 5 albums from 1967 - Balin and Slick may be my favorite mixed-gender vocal pairing of all time (well at least of those where one of them isn't Sandy Denny). And more great songs - "Today" and especially "Comin' Back To Me" sound as if they hailed from the 16th century. Skip's "My Best Friend" doesn't sound like the work of a crazy guy.

After that they unraveled - too much druggy noodling, long jams, lack of focus, though there were some occasional highlights.

Just got done with Return To The Matrix, the last of those four CCMusic live albums (all of which I got on the sale I linked to upthread and then held back for my birthday a couple weeks ago). The second disc is serious heat, concluding w/a killer 10 minute "...You and Me and Pooneil"

RIP Joey Covington

:(

Fuck that newspaper for showing the scene of the crash, imo. R.I.P.

aiiieee

Was listening to "Won't you try..." last week!

I picked up Baron von Tollbooth... (Kantner/Slick/Freiberg) from the cheapie bin at Fry's last week and am seriously loving it. All that Mellotron, interesting piano work from Grace, crystalline Jerry Garcia steel, actual tunes-it's like the country-prog move JA could never pull off..

I should totally check that one out, I ended up liking at least half of Sunfighter

I like "When I Was a Boy I Watched the Wolves" and "Million" a lot.

"When I Was a Boy I Watched the Wolves"

http://cards.littleoak.com.au/197172_daily_mirror_my_club/wolverhampton_wanderers.jpg

I imagine the song is not sung in a Black Country accent though, if only

Can't really say I get the thought process that brought them here (did a little reading, and it was commissioned), but in the film, it works okay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAJ4-Ey7jBM

jesus the music supervision in "american hustle" is beyond horrible.

http://www.openculture.com/2012/02/jefferson_airplane_wakes_up_new_york_jean-luc_godard_captures_it_1968.html

Saw that about a year ago--fantastic. The guy who walks across the frame just past 4:00 looks like Marvin Gaye, but he didn't have the beard yet, so it can't be him.

Jefferson Airplane’s Paul Kantner suffers heart attack
http://blog.sfgate.com/loaded/2015/03/27/jefferson-airplanes-paul-kantner-suffers-heart-attack/

Never knew Marty Balin put out a single in 1962: "Nobody but You"/"I Specialize in Love." Pretty ordinary and close to unrecognizable. There are two sales listed on Discogs, both around $200.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax1waV3lr_U

(A couple of posts question Balin's contribution to the band earlier in the thread. I'd agree with Christgau--the most soulful folkie ever. On "Today" and "Come Up the Years" especially, he's amazing.)

Balin formed the band.
The bside of the solo single at least was included on the JA box set JA Loves You. Though I've long since lost the first disc so can't listen to it myself.

Paul Kantner passed earlier today.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Jefferson-Airplane-s-Paul-Kantner-dies-at-74-6791483.php

rip. love those first few kantner/slick post-ja lps, ridiculous as they might be on occasion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWucwTZ2oIc

Yeah love that Grunt label stuff.
But Jeefferson Airplane with the classic Slick/Dryden lineup are one of my favourite bands ever. Especially Baxters.

classic rock poll & radio would be less cool without Jefferson Airplane. they had some dope jams

Sorry to hear this. I think Marty Balin sang most of my favorite JA songs, but (I had to check) seems that Paul wrote or co-wrote almost all of them: "Come Up the Years," "Today," "The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil," "Won't You Try/Saturday Afternoon," "We Can Be Together."

classic rock poll & radio would be less cool without Jefferson Airplane. they had some dope jams

― Flamenco Drop (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, January 28, 2016 8:00 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah... i don't think i even knew who "Jane" was by before the poll but it placing in the top 30 was so justified, incredible song.

the best!

The Airplane seem to have slipped off a lot of people's radar in the recent past, but the run of records from _Pillow_ through _Volunteers_ is pretty solid, as are a few of the mid-'70s Starship records. Kantner was always a great interview -- he was prone to the occasional conspiracy-theory excursion, but was never less than articulate and entertaining. RIP.

in the dead musician harvest of Jan 2016, Kantner's will not rate terribly highly going forward. I will only say that I like Blows against the Empire, his piece de resistance, after thinking that Jeff Airplane and everything branching off from it fucking sucks for many years, and that I saw him 20 years ago on St. Mark's Place, and he was wearing shorts and wore his tube socks up to his kneecaps.

Every airplane album is great. Same with every starship album up to Spitfire. And baron Von tollbooth and the chrome nun.

Classic. RIP.

The Kantner/Slick/Freiberg stuff is slept on, it's true.

Total Jam:

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

More "Jane" love...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjs9eUlv2AQ

The very early live sets by Jefferson Starship include live versions of tracks from those solo Grunt label lps. Certainly seeing a lot of Blows Against, Baron von and Manhole on the 74 era sets I've got.

Such a great song. RIP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rvetP_Kcgk

Sunfighter the solo Slick/Kantner lp is also great.
I was listening to it a couple of years back having just heard one of the first couple of Howlin Rain lps several times and was hearing similarity in influence combination of folk, psych with a lot of gospel or something similar in it.

I'm not sure what the ins and outs of the PERRO project were but seemed to be a lot of the SF and LA musicians living around Marin and other semi rural escapes around the time collaborating on musical projects. So seemed to include several of those early Grunt label lps, David Crosby's If I could only Remember My Name and a few other things. What I've heard from that stuff has been pretty great.

Marty was woken up by a truck one morning, which happened to be a truck with Volunteers of America painted on the side.[1] Marty started writing lyrics down and then asked Paul to help him with the music.

RIP. Honestly, as a teen I probably listened to more Airplane than I did Bowie.

Crazy thing is, the current Starship lineup is in my town tonight, and the show will go on.

Michael Corcoran, from FB:

1988 in San Francisco, the grand opening of Slim's. We are drinking Cape Cods like they're Koolaid and maybe there's a pill or two. I see Doug Sahm and go up to him. "Hey, man, we were just hanging out at the Hole In the Wall last week," I say. Not me, says Doug. "I'm from Austin, man." No recognition. "Doug Sahm," I said. "I know you man, c'mon." I'm not Doug Sahm, he says. Wow, stuck up, I think. The next day in the newspaper is a photo of some of the celebs on hand for Slim's opening. And there's Doug Sahm, only in the photo it says he's Paul Kantner.
RIP, man.

The Airplane are getting a Grammy lifetime award in two weeks.

wow Kantner and Sahm kinda were doppelgangers

^^Similar heritage, I think.

Just happened to watch this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somebody_to_Love_(30_Rock)