.....so.......Jefferson Airplane.......how important?.....

....OK, I’m a Brit, and I don’t think they meant that much over here outside of Rabbit and Somebody, I was born in 1960 so maybe I was a bit young, but seems nothing like the impact of say CSN(Y)....

.....so I read this book on Altamont which has a whole chapter on the Airplane so, y’know, better check them out......

......definitely some fine songwriting......Grace has a helluva voice........Jorma and Jack do some serious stuff on their instruments......

......but from where I stand not very well recorded or produced......the harmonies just sound like a lot of people singing at once and often too far back in the mix.......what if they’d had George Martin or someone of that calibre.....(same problem with the Kinks)

.....so convince me......genuinely......obviously an important band historically........and where to start outside of a compilation?......cheers

 

Can't convince you there as I feel exactly the same. Two great songs and Grace Slick was pretty cool.

 

At the time (I am old enuff to remember this in real time) they were ear openers for a lot of people, especially if you lived in the sticks. But their legacy has been diminished by what they became and by being essentially 3 factions fighting for control.

 

Pillow, Crown and Volunteers: three essential albums of the period.

 

If you need more than your own ears, heart, and experience to be convinced to dig Airplane - then you are likely cut off from the source, and will never like the sound. Understandable, fiftyish years out of context now. That early rough psychedelic rock was more of an audience participation thing.

Also that music needs to move air, which most folks don't do these days. Big speakers, cranked, Crown Of Creation, and your brain in a waffle iron.

Forget Jefferson Airplane. You missed your flight. Just enjoy what grabs you.

 

Their first six albums are essential IMHO.

 

They were huge and important in their day. Now they sound ragged, amateurish and dated - to me anyway.

 

I like Bark and Long John Silver. That’s about it

 

The mono mix MoFi hybrid SACD gave me a whole new appreciation of Surrealistic Pillow.

 

Jefferson Airplane were the prototype for all the San Francisco psychedelic rock bands that followed. They were Bill Graham's house band for the early concerts at Winterland and the Avalon Ballroom, and, as such, they were culturally influential in the formation of the Haight/Ashbury scene.

A problem for me with their records is the disparate styles of the songwriters within the band--Balin, Kantner, Slick, and Kaukonen, so their albums lack a cohesive stylistic flow. "After Bathing At Baxter's", their attempt at a psychedelic concept album was more fully formed with Kantner's later " Blows Against The Empire".

Having said that, you should seek out the recent MFSL remaster of "Surrealistic Pillow". If you can't get into that, you can stop there. Otherwise, "Volunteers" and "Crown of Creation" are also essential.

 

‘Important’s a sh*tty word’ - Paul Kantner

 

It’s the better mix IMHO.

 

......well, We Can Be Together grabs me......and there’s a doc called Fly Jefferson Airplane which grabs me......

 

"After Bathing at Baxter's" is all I can say.

 

If you had to pick only three albums After Bathing at Baxter’s, Surrealistic Pillow and Volunteers. Marty Balin also has an amazing voice.

 

Chronologically, generationally and geographically they are so far away from me ,but I have and love Surrealistic pillow and After bathing at Baxter.

 

The interplay of the Slick/Balin/Kantner vocals is unique and one of the things I love about the Airplane.

 

Ok, good start, now clear your calendar for a week, blow your mind into fractal oblivion and spin Jefferson Airplane, and end up living in a cave in Cumberland because suddenly the whole system is a joke.

Like I said, it is an audience participation thing. Once I really took Jefferson Airplane to heart, I didn't own a stereo until the 21st century.

It's more than music.

 

I think you nailed it. I only like the "Grace Slick band", not the stuff voiced by anonymous sounding dudes - sounds like a high school band.
Granted, I haven't heard Hot Tuna.

 

They were good through the end of the original lineup but overall second-tier after a brief moment as the premier San Francisco band in the late 60's.

 

Yeah; totally agree. Their "importance" is to a scene short-lived and long gone. All that's left is the albums - and they either grab you or they don't.

 

"After Bathing At Baxter's" captures the psychedelic era as well as anything, along with "Anthem Of The Sun", "Electric Music For The Mind And Body" and the 1st two Quicksilver Messenger Service albums.

Growing up in the Bay Area in the 60's, I can attest to the Airplane's importance. They were the first, with Marty Balin and his vision key. His opening of The Matrix gave the scene a home base, along with the band working with Bill Graham at the Fillmore. The Dead, of course, went on to do more but The Airplane was first. I remember seeing them open for The Rolling Stones with Brian at the Cow Palace on Mick's 22nd birthday in July 1966, an inclusion to the touring bill in deference to their importance in the Bay Area.

They are the only band to have appeared at Monterey, Woodstock and Altamont (being as the Dead didn't play that day.) For me, the 60's ended when Marty got punched out by the Angels right in front of us. That was astonishing to witness given the stature of the band at the time.

I can assure you they were a very powerful live act, particularly in 1969. Saw a couple of astounding shows with the Dead at Winterland that year.

Big props to a great and groundbreaking band. I say don't confuse them with The Starship...that's a different deal for a different time.

Here is a video from Jorma Kaukonen's last Quarantine Concert from his Fur Peace Ranch, the 22nd he has done since April. It was magic in 1967 and it is poignant to revisit it today...

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10224205601557560

 

Balin, Kantner, Slick, and Kaukonen. That would be a high school I would love to have attended.

 

Interesting to hear purely the objective . It was a cult - not for everyone - and man was it ever fun!