Jefferson Airplane live on CD

Hey everyone, looking for some comments about all the live JA stuff that is out there. Kinda confusing. What is essential, what to avoid, anything redundant that is not needed? Thanks!

I don't have any of these:



My current JA collection:

Takes Off - RCA/BMG Heritage 2003 remaster
Surrealistic Pillow - RCA/BMG Heritage 2003 remaster
After Bathing At Baxter's - RCA/BMG Heritage 2003 remaster
Crown of Creation - MFSL
Volunteers - MFSL
Early Flight - 1997 RCA
Flight Log - 2011 BGO
Bless It's Pointed Little Head - RCA/BMG Heritage 2004 remaster
Live At The Fillmore East - 1998 RCA
Thirty Seconds Over Winterland - Iconoclassic remaster
Fly Jefferson Airplane - DVD

 

Good idea for a thread.

 

The Woodstock Experience 2 disc set is definitely worth it since you get their complete Woodstock performance. I don't think the Volunteers mastering is all that great, but the the live portion is a must have.

 

Agree.

I am curious to see what titles others recommend since I only have a couple of the live discs.

 

I'd recommend Sweeping Up the Spotlight, simply because it's the only concert on the list put on a major label. The sound quality on many of the rest border on bootlegs and I find them to be very similar.

Grace's Debut, Signe's Farewell, and Monterey are important for historic purposes.

 

I don't like the sound quality of Grace's Debut. However, also sonically challenged, Sign's Farewell was a dynamic performance. One of my favorite Airplane recordings. Marty Balin is on fire in that performance.

 

A great book on this topic is Craig Fenton's Jefferson Airplane Flight Manual.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0741436566/

 

Jefferson Airplane was one amazing live band. Just watch that Dick Cavett show with them playing live in the studio after coming from Woodstock. This may be one group that is better live than in the studio.

 

Just bought it on Amazon new for $6.86 I don't need the Volunteers as I have the MFSL, but I did want to complete Woodstock performances.

 

One thing to be aware of when you get the CDs. The Woodstock set starts on disc 1 and then continues on to disc 2. As I recall, the entire live set will fit on a single disc. I never understood why they spread it over both discs.

 

You should avoid any live Airplane releases on small, European labels - especially if they mention the Steel Riders. Of the ones you list, I'm positive Through the Looking Glass falls into that category, and I'm pretty sure Feed Your Head does too. These releases will inevitably contain the same material: a random mix of live and studio tracks, nothing of which is previously unreleased and some of which contain hideous overdubbed instrumentation. In addition, they have the three or four "Steel Riders" tracks, which have nothing to do with the Airplane.

Here is a relevant discussion thread about this weird phenomenon: http://www.jeffersonairplane.com/ja-air/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1825

And here's "You're So Loose" by the Steel Riders;

 

This is what I was thinking, also why I never picked up any titles on the OP's list of possibles except:

Sweeping Up
Woodstock

I have everything on his "I already have" list except:

30 Seconds Over Winterland
Live At The Fillmore East

 

That said, I would recommend Sweeping up the Spotlight and Return to the Matrix. The former sounds great and has a terrific version of "Come Back Baby". For some reason, though, the whole release is very Jorma/Jack-centric: Jorma has three lead vocals, while Grace only has one (!). The latter then has a whole bunch of songs not found on other live releases, like "Share a Little Joke," "Two Heads," "Martha," and "Ice Cream Phoenix" - so, it's worth getting for that reason.

Oh, and Golden Gate Park has an interesting curio: "Good Shepherd" with Grace on lead vocals. However, it's not a great performance:

 

In for answers. I am always down for live Airplane.

You know me, I tend to listen on iTunes or streaming sites when I can. I have streamed a few of these live albums, and I agree that the Woodstock show is a great one.

 

There was a time in the late 1960's when Jefferson Airplane was the premier live act.

With that said, Return to the Matrix would be my choice from your list to pick up.

 

What made Jefferson Airplane a great live band also made their live releases hit or miss - they took risks, and you can't do that every time you go up to bat and hit anything like 1.000.

With that in mind, the official Bless It's Pointed Little Head (especially Irwin's remaster with a few bonus tracks) is their best one, with everything cherry-picked from two shows. I actually think it's their second best album, behind Surrealistic Pillow. In fact, two tracks from Surrealistic Pillow ("3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds" and "Plastic Fantastic Lover") are even better on Bless It's Pointed Little Head, just played with a whole lot more fire and the recording in general is better. They sound really powerful on that album.

On film, I love them in Monterey Pop, that was the first time I ever saw footage of them, and man did it leave an impression, especially Slick. It's just intense the way she sings with Balin, and the second number opens with that extraordinary close-up of her, "singing" along to Balin's vocals. She's just mouthing the words, but it's an amazing effect.

 

"very Jorma/Jack-centric" sounds good to me!

 

You can go a step further with joining wolfgangs vault and downloading dozens of other shows at soundboard quality for pretty cheap...

That said back to the pat, I own many:
Monterey (4.5/5)
Woodstock (5/5)
Sweeping spotlight (5/5)
Signe's last show (4/5)
We have ignition (4/5)
Return to matrix(5/5)
Grace's debut(3.5/5--historically awesome but grace is a bit tepid)
Live at Fillmore east (2/5)
Family dog (3.5/5)
Bless it's pointed little head (3/5)

I'd say of what I have, sweeping up the spotlight is my top pick, but you can't go wrong with Woodstock (they sound more like a hard rock than acid rock drenched folk here) or Monterey, and the return to the matrix show has them at peak form (a few songs are slightly clipped though).

Through it all though they were a great live band, it's funny to me that 2 of their fully endorsed live albums (pointed little head and especially Fillmore east set are comparatively weak)...

 

No it clocks in at 100 mins

It's annoying that they didn't start the concert on disc1, add the rest on disc 2 and then give us volunteers....I mean 95% of folks who bought that probably had volunteers...

But Woodstock rocks...I fixed this issue when I uploaded my CDs to iTunes and now I can play their Woodstock concert all together...

 

Oh yeah, I agree! It's just curious to have a live Airplane release with more lead vocals from Jorma than Grace...

 

I recommend We Have Ignition: Nov.25/27, 1966.

It's basically the "live" version of Surrealistic Pillow. The arrangements mirror the album versions (they had just finished recording the LP in the weeks prior) but have a looser, more free feel.

Return to the Matrix is a good one too, with many rarely played Crown of Creation era tracks. Be warned though: the sound is in mono.

...but hey, that doesn't stop us from diggin' the hell out of Dick's Picks 8 (Harper's College '70) - does it?

 

yes

 

the 4 tracks on essential are on other airplane releases like bless its pointed little head

jefferson airplane loves you is essential. you get most of a fillmore 1967 concert on here

 

Thanks for the correction. I t has been awhile since I played that one.

 

I'm guessing that 67 Fillmore concert isn't available anywhere else and is excellent sound quality? I never bought this box....