Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship/Starship/Hot Tuna/Solo & More: Album-By-Album

Two things about that electric flag vid above, a band i never gave much attention to:
1) i started playing it forgetting i already had a spotify shuffle going on but had my volume all the way down. I listened to the first minute of it with the Chill's song "Scarred"from their new album underneath, and it took minute for me to realize that E Flag was not just a very harmonically rich and imaginative band with wild arranging skills, but that something was going wrong. E Flag alone, ehh, ok white electric blues i guess.....a good solo but again, respect to the innovators i guess, but didn't sound like a guy who could touch Jorma overall.
2) Does anyone know if that exact stage/bandshell that Monterey was held on still exists physically and still has shows on it?

 

Your top three are Jorma, Eric, and John?

No Jimi, Jimmy, Jeff or Duane? Hmmm.......

 

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE - AFTER BATHING AT BAXTER'S
released 1967


After Bathing at Baxter's, the third album by the San Francisco rock band Jefferson Airplane, was released in 1967 as RCA Victor LSO-1511 (stereo) and LOP-1511 (mono). The cover art is by artist Ron Cobb.

Due to the lack of a breakout hit, the experimental album was significantly less successful than its predecessor from a commercial standpoint, peaking at number 17 on the Billboard album chart and failing to attain a RIAA certification. Paul Kantner's composition "The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil" was released as a single in August 1967, with him as lead singer and Grace Slick and Marty Balin harmonizing, and reached number 42 on the Billboard charts.[4] The band's singles never again crossed the halfway mark in the Hot 100.[4]

John Hartford referenced the cover art from After Bathing at Baxter's as the inspiration for his song "Steam Powered Aereo Plane" from his album Aereo-Plain.

According to Jeff Tamarkin's history of the Airplane, "baxter" was the band's code for the psychedelic drug LSD or "acid", and the title as a whole translates to "After Tripping On Acid".[5]

Track listing[edit]
Side one

Streetmasse
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "The Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil" Paul Kantner 4:29
2. "A Small Package of Value Will Come to You, Shortly" Spencer Dryden, Gary Blackman, Bill Thompson 1:39
3. "Young Girl Sunday Blues" Marty Balin, Kantner 3:33

The War Is Over
No. Title Writer(s) Length
4. "Martha" Kantner 3:26
5. "Wild Tyme (H)" Kantner 3:08

Hymn to an Older Generation
No. Title Writer(s) Length
6. "The Last Wall of the Castle" Jorma Kaukonen 2:40
7. "Rejoyce" ([n 1]) Grace Slick 4:01
Side two

How Suite It Is
No. Title Writer(s) Length
8. "Watch Her Ride" Kantner 3:11
9. "Spare Chaynge" (instrumental) Jack Casady, Dryden, Kaukonen 9:12

Shizoforest Love Suite
No. Title Writer(s) Length
10. "Two Heads" Slick 3:10
11. "Won't You Try/Saturday Afternoon" Kantner 5:09

2003 CD reissue Bonus Tracks

No. Title Writer(s) Length
12. "The Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil" (long version from Jefferson Airplane Loves You) Kantner 11:04
13. "Martha" (single version B-side RCA #9389) Kantner 3:26
14. "Two Heads" (alternate version) Slick 3:15
15. "Things Are Better in the East" (demo version) Balin 2:31
16. "Young Girl Sunday Blues" (instrumental; hidden track) Balin, Kantner 3:59
Notes[edit]

1. ^ All lower-case information according to album notes.

Personnel[edit]

• Grace Slick – piano, organ, recorder, vocals, lead vocals on "Rejoice", and "Two Heads"
• Paul Kantner – rhythm guitar, vocals, lead vocals on "The Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil", "Martha", "Wild Tyme", "Watch Her Ride", and Won't You Try / Saturday Afternoon"
• Jorma Kaukonen – lead guitar, sitar, vocals, lead vocals on "The Last Wall of the Castle"
• Jack Casady – bass
• Spencer Dryden – drums, percussion, horn arrangement
• Marty Balin – rhythm guitar, vocals, lead vocals on "Young Girl Sunday Blues"

Additional personnel

• Gary Blackman – vocals
• Bill Thompson – vocals

Production

• Jefferson Airplane – design, notes, song arrangement
• Al Schmitt – producer
• Richie Schmitt – engineer
• Ron Cobb – album cover
• The Walking Owls – album title
• Alan Pappe – photography
• Recorded at RCA, Hollywood

Chart positions[edit]
Album

Year Chart Position
1967 Billboard Pop Albums 17
Single

Year Single Chart Position
1967 "The Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil" Cash Box Top 100 24
1967 "Watch Her Ride" Cash Box Top 100 37
1967 "The Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil" Billboard Pop Singles 42
1967 "Two Heads" Billboard Pop Singles 124
1967 "Watch Her Ride" Billboard Pop Singles 61

 

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE - AFTER BATHING AT BAXTER’S (1967) (A)

The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil (A+):
An absolutely monsterous epic chunk of psychedelia, this has great overlapped guitar rhythmic riffing, close desperate harmonies-and a sense of a world of possibilities in the lyrics. Excellent apocalyptic lyrics. Casady is fantastic on bass with a thick lightly distorted tone. The little Kaukonen guitar touches throughout feel anything but little, lifting the Airplane to one of their best highs. The song itself is stellar melodically but on the 11-minute version, there’s so much more moody psychedelia that feels both earthy and off the ground at the same time. Pooh Bear would be very happy.

A Small Package Will Come To You Shortly (B-)
Some artists were experimenting with sonic collages in rock and in the avant-garde, and coming out of forceful feedback, we’re at a party with colliding voices and random piano runs. At under 2 minutes it acts like a segueway but is psychedelic in its own right and it tries to establish a broken barrier between artist and audience which was a thought a number of bands had at the time.

Young Girl Sunday Blues (A)
A great way to get a Marty Balin style song into the newer sound of the Airplane. Balin shadowed by Paul Kantner vocally belts out the song with plenty of emotion while the guitars stay raw. Really though, Jorma Kaukonen’s guitar solo kicks in:

Balin: “young girl Sunday blues and all her sorrooooooowwwww--------“-

Kantner “young girl………………Sunday bluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuues”

Then that solo curls in like a tiger to attack, it keeps curling before it unwinds more peacefully on the second half. But during the second half, that guitar melody is the one that I think represent San Francisco meets Los Angeles sound better than any album. (They recorded this in L.A. so sometimes the guitar tones are cleaner than on the first album sometimes, they’re way dirtier.) My favorite 30 seconds of the album.

Martha (A)
A beautiful folk-rock song with acid lead guitar, the first line “Martha she listens to the ticking of my footsteps, patiently”. Then you hear ticking follow and exit stage right and those little sonic details are all over the album. Once again like on “Comin’ Back to Me” from Surrealistic Pillow, the recorder feels so organic as part of the song. It’s another great lyric despite it not describing very much. But the wording is magnifique. Kaukonen turns in another psychedelic delight solo but it’s not as important to the song this time because it’s the melody, lyrics and Kantner vocal that are the best highlights. The bursting chorus off the quieter verses creates some nice transitions.

Wild Tyme (H) (A-)
A more forceful song, this seems like the track that declares what’s happening in the world in a general manner, something they’d explore more of in the future. Sometimes it drifts into 2nd person but it’s mostly a state of the union thing. The guitar work again is stellar as Kaukonen is now unleashing awesome solos continuously rarely hitting any bad notes. His tones throughout the album are fantastic-so good I’ve asked around to see what guitar he was using on this album. Both solos are great. Slick is the focus here with Balin and Kantner backing on vocals, it’s another strong track.

The Last Wall of the Castle (A)
As in-your-face as just about anything in rock at the time, again Kantner is on a double-tracked vocal and it’s just out of focus enough to work. When the song pauses watch out cause thunder and lightning is about to hit. As if Kaukonen’s fuse was lit, he is astounding again with a rush of a dual guitar feedback explosion that is so well thought out yet intense because of how it bursts out. It takes over the song overshadowing Kantner but it’s Jorma’s fine solo composition anyway.

rejoyce (A+)
Jazz rhythm, ominous classical piano and frightening psychedelic effects set in a dark multi-suite that can grow warm or cold, a reverbed velvety but daring Grace Slick carries on what seems to be a continuation of “White Rabbit”. It appears she has practiced what she preached, with total LSD lyrics with a touch of James Joyce, just the way she sings “you’ll be in my mind soon”, it’s so hypnotizing, the sentence no longer means what it looks like on paper. She’s very confrontational and it’s starting to come out here some but at times, the music gets soothing and mysterious like when the snakecharming horn slithers in. Ultimately she’s soothing but ends on a negative note lyrically “all you want to do is live, all you want to do is give but somehow it all falls apart.” The jazzy coda showcases more meaty bass work from Jack Casady.

Watch Her Ride (A)
Annnddd… Kaukonen is back. Listen to just Kaukonen and Casady on this. Casady in the right ear, Kaukonen in the left-Casady’s bass is so full sounding and just a stellar sound while Kaukonen comes up with unbelievable lead guitar miniature riffs throughout that sometimes Kantner imitates. Meanwhile more great team singing with all 3 involved. The key change at 2 minutes really revs up the song as Slick finishes her lengthy line “For meeeeeeeeeoooohhhh” into Kantner’s most declarative vocals on the album “your shadow in the morning sun becomes my fun and we can say I love you, I love you, my morning shines on silver beaches your life flashes through the reaches of my mind”. I love colorful lyrics that border the real and abstract. A great composition, with a catchy chorus and stellar vocals and instrumental backing.

Spare Chaynge (B)
While it was important to prove that the Jefferson Airplane could extend and jam since they were a San Fran band, this just doesn’t do it until Spencer Dryden finally gets the drums pumping and then we’re off on another great psychedelic trip. But for almost 5 minutes, Kaukonen and Casady’s spacious noodling just doesn’t strike a nerve like the rest of the album. It’s enjoyable but little more. I think a slice in half might have been better. Or use “The Other Side of This Life”, a song they always jammed on. I wouldn’t mind a cover.

Two Heads (A-):
The rhythm alone makes this unique in the 1967 canyon, Grace’s lyrics are incredibly psychedelic though she has a political point underneath. “New breasts and jewels for a girl, keep them polished and shining, put a lock on her belly at night. Sweet life for no child of mine.” She touches on life’s conveniences and unnecessary personal change like this a number of times throughout her career and this may be the first time the theme came up. This also has us shift between soft and hard parts. Incredibly intense coda where Slick doubles as she grows to giant size, swallowing the listener with her two heads/vocals. One of the best moments of her career.

Won’t You Try/Saturday Afternoon (A+)
The afternoon air is especially fresh after the intrusive and claustrophobic rhythm of “Two Heads”. Both sides of the melody are strong individually and together, they’re great and a live favorite. It’s sunnier and brighter than the rest of the album taking on a genuine peaceful afternoon mood. The harmonies, the instrumental backing, it blends the two songs well like they’re really just one. It’s a great way to close out such an intense album lyrically and musically.


JEFFERSON AIRPLANE-AFTER BATHING AT BAXTER’S (1967) (A)
The vocals, instrumental work and songwriting are impressive across the board with only the opening of “Spare Chaynge” below excellent quality. “A Small Package…” serves as a link so while it’s not quite as good, it fits into the album nicely. Traffic would also do something similar using jazz coupled with rock within a party atmosphere on multiple songs off of Mr. Fantasy. A lot of spoken word and collage recordings were being released at the time and I’m sure they had the will to find and hear them. The whole album has an avant-garde feel seemingly missing from their previous work and the extra acid makes this the album I feel most reveals their power. While While their live work is stellar and they have great albums, I think this one is the peak. Jorma is off the hook as they say, rampaging through tracks setting them ablaze, Casady is much improved and a top 5 bassist, Grace is wailing at her best, Kantner is at his songwriting peak, Dryden continues to add the right selection of percussion and avant garde, and Balin is barely here but good when he appears. I can’t think of another band with a singer/songwriter with no personal problems, who on a highly successful breakthrough album, writes and sings over half the material and then is reduced to one co-write and a couple of lead vocals on the followup. But the band is potent they pull off an excellent album anyway. This is my favorite disc of everything we will cover.

 

Great take, William, on this album. This might be the most frequently played LP in my collection. My parents gave me this for Christmas when it was first issued, and after listening to it, I felt they never would have done so had they given it a listen or perused the lyrics. Baxters was way more subversive than anything I had. Not enough can be said about how great the double album cover graphic was. It was a little taste of the SF concert posters offered to us who did not live in NY/SF. A+

 

This is one LP where the dedicated mono mix really stands out, the vocals are mixed higher and the whole thing sounds really powerful. I have an original, don't know if it's the same way on the recent (Sundazed?) reissue.

 

Missing from any digital release is the original mono single mix of Ballad of Pooneil which is slower and more bass heavy than the stereo LP mix, and far superior.

Yes, this is the best JA album. Originally they wanted the 11 minute "live" version of Pooneil on the album, and of course the jam from that developed into Spare Chaynge.

If I remember correctly, the subject of Martha is the same girl Marty wrote about in "Come Up the Years." A young well to do early "groupie."

I think the singles would have been more commercial if, say, Marty sang "Watch Her Ride." Another excellent choice for a single would be "Wild Tyme" with Grace singing lead rather than the co-lead with Paul - after all, the Airplane's two big hits both featured Grace on lead, the public would have expected a similar sound on the next single.

 

This is my least favourite album by JF from 1966-1969 period, to be honest. It's too abstract and lacks really good songs. But these compositions I really dig and recommend:

Martha
Watch Her Ride
Rejoyce
Two Heads
Young Girl Sunday Blues

 

Still waiting for the mono mix on CD.

 

Any new AAA mono pressings?

 

BAXTER's was my first Airplane and its shimmering inventive exploratory strength and beauty still thrill me now 37 or so years later. Very interested to learn that Pooneil as a single charted as high as 24...? What an era. Never tire of this. Very thoughtful writeup above, thanks.

I have never let myself be a "find every mix" guy with music, just too rich and time consuming for my blood, but if the mono on this really is all that might have to try.

 

check this out. we got this from spencer Dryden when jeff was working on the book. it's much longer than the released version.

 

Anybody knows who plays organ and bass in Great! Society's Sally go round the roses?

 

Just found old info from Darby indicating it is Grace on keyboard and Peter van Gelder on bass.

 

My favourite Airplane

 

It's funny how this album isn't just across the board admired for its willingness to take chances and some of the in-your-face moments that beat almost any rock band out there. That blast off guitar in "The Last Wall of the Castle" was very very rare for the era - especially since a lot of bands were straying away from hard rock in '67. Of course by '68, hard rock was back again.

I love that alternate album cover - I didn't know about that until recently. I forgot what country that's from but it's a great psychedelic picture.

 

So a question for all,

Why is After Bathing At Baxter's split into 5 suites and is it something you think of while listening to it?

 

AFTER BATHING AT BAXTER'S ADDITIONAL MATERIAL

The Ballad Of You Me And Pooneil (long live version) (ABAB bonus track)

A great song that gets extended to 11 minutes of colorful psychedelia and mixed moods.

Martha (single version) (ABAB bonus track)

It’s still excellent.

Two Heads (alternate) (ABAB bonus track)

I think the original is stronger.

Things Are Better in the East [demo] (B+) (ABAB bonus track)

A beautiful acoustic demo of the song that first appeared on the Jefferson Airplane Loves You box, this adds an extra four minutes of jamming including “High Flying Bird” and “Young Girl Sunday Blues”. I’m not sure why the jam is tacked onto this song.

Things Are Better in the East (A-) )(from Jefferson Airplane Loves You)

A beautiful Marty Balin vocal makes this the third fantastic mystical soft folk-rock ballad that he came up with in 1967 to be placed alongside “Comin’ Back to Me” and “Today”. It’s midtempo with a similar buildup vocally like on “Today” and a rhythm similar to “Comin’ Back to Me” but faster. By the end, it’s significantly louder than it started adding to the drama. Kaukonen ends the song with some gorgeous poignant notes.

Don't Bring Me Down (From Jefferson Airplane Loves You)
Written with Ernie K-Doe, this is blues rock but without the quality Marty had on similar rock songs like "Plastic Fantastic Lover".

 

Baxters is in a five-way tie with Surrealistic, Crown, Bless and Volunteers as their best album, imho.

Won’t You Try/Saturday Afternoon is my favorite JA track, and perhaps my favorite song from any SF bay area band of that era.

 

Miles Davis’s Sketches of Spain was an influence on both JA and the Dead whose Spanish Jam probably shared the same source as Spare Chaynge.

Miles Davis - Solea



The Dead were playing Spanish Jam by early ‘68.

Grateful Dead - Spanish Jam 3/30/68 Live

 

They were messing with DJs to get them to play 2 or 3 tunes at a time.

I don’t think about it other than noticing the songs blend together. Usually I listen to the whole album anyway.

 

A little late to the SP discussion, but on a listen today to the cd reissue in my car I decided i had a very important and improving sequence change that would make the lp a better listen: move "Plastic Fantastic" to track four side one; "Today" and "Comin Back" too similar in feel and vibe to blend into each other; move "Today" to right before "Embryonic" on side two, and end the lp with the marvelous and climactic "feed your head" on "White Rabbit." A better experience, I think.

 

In believe the dead's earliest documented version actually predates this by a couple of months. It was resurrected by the dead in the early 70s.

 

The long version of pooneil on the loves you box is listed as an alternate studio take but if you listen closely at the end you can hear applause before the fade out. I'm pretty sure it's live with some vocal overdubs and is part of the live set started on the previous disc in the box. That's just my opinion as I haven't been able to find any documentation to support that.

 

Yeah, I think January was the earliest - linked this one because I liked it more.