Surrealistic Pillow vs. After Bathing at Baxter's

Two mind-blowing 1967 psychedelic albums from one of my favorite bands, Jefferson Airplane.





VS.



Which one do you prefer?

 

Love both but have to go with "Surrealistic Pillow".

 

I like Surrealistic because it's a more consistent album (not a weak song on the album, really) but Baxter's has my all-time favorite Airplane track - Saturday Afternoon/Won't You Try.

 

Pillow is the better record. Great songwriting. But Baxters is a very cool fun psychedelic mess but a great listen. Two cool records.

 

Baxter's easily. I love the entire album. Was never a JA fan until I heard it, thankfully I changed my mind and moved on to Kaukonen's solo / Hot Tuna material as well.

 

solipsistic brillo

 

2 great records , Baxter's is my go to when i feel like some JA . Such an awesome record .

 

Both are great. My pick is "Surrealistic" but in retrospect don't think it's all that psychedelic as define it nowadays.

 

Surrealistic Pillow, for me.

 

I love both these records and am finding that I listen to Baxter's more these days but I chose Surrealistic Pillow as the better album overall.

 

Did they both come out the same year?

 

Just looked it up and saw Baxter's came out just 9 months later - amazing.

 

Yes, but Surrealistic was recorded in late-66.

 

Digitally, I listen to Baxter's more after replacing The Ballad of Pooneil with the full 11 minute version, it just makes it easier to ease into the rest of the album for some reason. I enjoy both albums equally even though I secretly know SP has more going for it musically.

 

Seeing Clouds On Acid

At its unveiling this record must have seemed unique and special. But I have always thought it was overrated. Sure it has the trilogy of great songs `Somebody To Love', `White Rabbit' and `Today'. But for me there is too much blended pop folk mixed in with the rock.

Unlike say, the Beatles, Stones Cream or Doors, this album does not open with one of its strongest songs. Instead it starts with the oddly named `She Has Funny Cars'. A simple drum beat leads us into a mid tempo rock song that has nothing to say and never really drives us anywhere. The music just is not good enough to make up for the vapid lyrics. `Three Fifths Of A Mile' is another oddly named song with nothing to say. But this time a good beat and nice guitar work make up for the disappointing lyrics. But right when the guitar solo gets going it ends, never being as good as it could have been. 'D.C.B.A-25'. Huh? Another oddly named song, this one is actually very pleasant. This is a good mesh of folk rock, pretty singing and poetic lyrics.

`Somebody To Love' is and always was a standard bearer of classic rock. Thus it is the groups' iconic song. The lyrics are timeless, while the tone of the guitar solo snaking its way to the end, speaks of music's modern future. `White Rabbit' is of course the groups other icon. Translating "Bolero" and "Alice In Wonderland" into the sixties sound, it is both dense in atmosphere and full of imaginative lyrics. `Today' is one of my all time favorites. Immediately mysterious and distant, it gives the impression of an achingly lonely soul spilling over with emotion, yet it is hauntingly beautiful. To me this is the best song they ever created.

`Plastic Fantastic Lover' is a song that never reaches its potential; it rambles along and just ends. It has nothing of the bite and rock that it would have when done live. This is typical of the albums fault to me. It does not know if it wants to be a folk album or a rock album, so it tries to be a combination of both.

`My Best Friend' and `How Do You Feel' are the type of folksy pop that the Mammas And Papas would do. They would be fine on an album of related songs in the same style, but here they water down the rock that is being built up. `Comin' Back To Me' is borderline good, but just reminds me too much of Bobby Goldsboro, which is not a good thing. I don't dig the folksy stuff so this decision to blend the two styles dilutes the album for me.

And `Embryonic Journey' seems totally out of place. It would have functioned better as an opener or coda.

So while at first glance this looks like a fantastic album, upon playing it I find it to be an overstuffed pillow. One with too much stuffing.

While I would give Pillow 4 out of 5 stars, I would give Baxter's all 5 stars. To me it holds more together as an album, more psychedelic and much more rocking. Pillow has the high points, but it is too fluffy. Baxter's is solid as a rock.

 

Nice overview but I disagree with ever point about Pillow. It 's such a focused record and Funny Cars is the perfect opening track.

 

Two totally different albums and both are great.

 

love 'em both, for different reasons. Both essential.

 

Geez...THAT is a hard poll, and I chickened out and went with both.

Pillow is indeed one of the biggest examples of folk-rock-turning-into-psychedelia you will ever hear. There are signs of LSD creeping in but all-in-all is still remains grounded in a structured sort of 3-minute song world. By the time Baxter's came around, all bets were off.

I love them both. Baxter's for it's slightly self-indulgent yet fantastic variety, and Pillow for its mix of cranked up guitars and supreme mellowness. The only downfall about Baxter's is that the single mix of POONEIL never made it to the mono LP. What a waste. It absolutely shreds any other mix.

Pillow's two best cuts for me are COMING BACK TO ME and DCBA-25. I could listen to them on an endless loop. Mellow, I know. YMMV.

 

D.C.B.A. - 25...Yes, among my favorites from this album. According to Paul Kantner "DCBA" are the chords and "25" is a reference to LSD-25.

 

Got to go with both

 

They are both great records, but if I have to choose one it's Surrealistic Pillow.

 

Both

 

Not even close. Pillow.

 

I think you're looking at Surrealistic Pillow in the wrong context. First off it has nothing to do with Beatles, Stones, Cream or Doors. ' She has Funny Cars' is classic Airplane and a very strong song. I remember when Surrealistic came out it sounded so different, maybe that's why they call it the 'West Coast Sound.'
Anyway in my opinion it is a stone cold classic pun intended.