Jefferson Airplane - Along the Routes of Acid-Blues

A band with shifting lineups and chameleon-like changes in musical direction, Jefferson Airplane embodied the quintessence of 60s American acid-blues and stood as one of rock's most significant emblems of the hippie movement born in Haight-Ashbury (San Francisco).

Marty Balin is a young folksinger seeking glory in San Francisco (with three singles already under his belt for the Challenge label) when, in early 1965, he crosses paths with guitarist Paul Kantner. The two decide to form a band, Jefferson Airplane, that can land them gigs around the Bay Area; they recruit blues-rooted guitarist (of Swedish descent) Jorma Kaukonen, who had already backed an unknown Janis Joplin, singer Signe Toly Anderson, bassist Bob Harvey, and guitarist Alexander "Skip" Spence (active in San José with the Other Side), whom Balin however hires as drummer, even though Skip had almost never played drums before. The band's fame grows quickly, so much so that on August 13, 1965, Jefferson Airplane are among the headliners at the opening of the Matrix, one of the first major clubs catering to San Francisco's youth, which counted Balin himself among its founders. Harvey is soon replaced by bassist Jack Casady, Kaukonen's old bandmate from the Triumphs, and by November '65 the band is already signed to RCA.

After two modestly received singles ("It's No Secret"/"Runnin' Round This Table" - February 1966, "Come Up The Years"/"Blues From An Airplane" - May 1966), the debut album, Takes Off, is released in September 1966.

Jefferson Airplane Takes Off (RCA LSP 3584, September 1966)

(Blues From An Airplane/ Let Me In/ Bringing Me Down/ It's No Secret/ Tobacco Road/ Come Up The Years/ Run Around/ Let's Get Together/ Don't Slip Away/ Chauffeur Blues/ And I Like It)

Paul Kantner: chr.v. / Marty Balin: vs. / Signe Toly Anderson: vs. / Jorma Kaukonen: chs. / Jack Casady: bs. / Alexander “Skip” Spence: bt. – Stu. RCA Victor’s Music Center Of The World, Hollywood – Tds. Dave Hassinger – Prod. Matthew Katz, Tommy Oliver

With Marty Balin putting himself forward as the band's leader (though events would soon take a different course), Jefferson Airplane's debut album clearly displays an instrumental style borrowed from a certain strain of folk rock that struggles a bit too much to break free of the era's standards, featuring lovely vocal harmonies (Balin is excellent, Anderson holds her own quite well) and a moderate, yet already persuasive, psychedelic undertone. Balin's voice is indeed the backbone of many tracks, intense, precise and deep, capable of shaping fine melodic lines. Within a well-balanced record, stocked with decent if not especially daring songs, particularly good are the ballads "Blues From An Airplane" and "It's No Secret", the refined "Come Up The Years", and a "Run Around" that anticipates approaches the band would later exploit extensively. Also worthwhile are the covers of "Tobacco Road" (John D. Loudermilk), laid-back in tone with fine guitar work from Kaukonen, "Let's Get Together" (Chet Powers, aka Dino Valente), with lovely folk-rock lines and well-judged vocal interplay, and "Chauffeur Blues" (Lester Melrose), with Anderson on lead vocals. A solid debut, then, far from the heights the band would later reach, but capable of delivering well-structured music poised to take flight.

Right after the release of the album, "Skip" Spence decides to give up his drum stool to go back to playing guitar in the still-forming Moby Grape (replaced by Spencer Dryden, formerly of the Ashes); even more significantly, Anderson is replaced by the Great Society's singer, Grace Slick. With this new lineup, Jefferson Airplane record their second album, Surrealistic Pillow, which, in early 1967, puts the band on the charts for the first time, reaching No. 3 - the best result of their entire career.

Surrealistic Pillow (RCA LSP 3766, February 1967)

(She Has Funny Cars/ Somebody To Love/ My Best Friend/ Today/ Comin’ Back To Me/ 3/5 Of A Mile In 10 Seconds/ D.C.B.A. – 25/ How Do You Feel/ Embryonic Journey/ White Rabbit/ Plastic Fantastic Lover)

Paul Kantner: chr.v. / Grace Slick: vs.pn.or. / Marty Balin: vs.ch. / Jorma Kaukonen: chs.chr.v. / Jack Casady: bs.chr. / Spencer Dryden: bt.pr. + Jerry Garcia: ch. – Stu. RCA Victor’s Music Center Of The World, Hollywood – Tds. Dave Hassinger – Co. design Marty Balin, photo Herb Green – Prod. Rick Jarrard

"Their music was as surrealistic as a pillow," Jerry Garcia once said, inadvertently suggesting the album's title to his friends. Surrealistic Pillow marks a major leap forward in the band's sound and songcraft: the tight drum-and-guitar attack that opens "She Has Funny Cars" already shows greater personality and conviction, while the vocal interplay becomes truly remarkable thanks to the unmistakable voice of Grace Slick, clear and alluring, blending perfectly with Balin's. Kaukonen's guitar turns sharper and more acidic, and Casady's bass, powerful and deep, effortlessly underpins the rhythm section of Kantner and new drummer Spencer Dryden. Slick brings two gorgeous songs (both charting as singles too) from the Great Society's repertoire: "Somebody To Love," which in Jefferson Airplane's rendition becomes a genuine anthem of the San Francisco summer of love, and "White Rabbit," a stately, martial song dedicated to Arthur Owsley, drawing on episodes from "Alice in Wonderland" and openly inspired by the sensations of LSD. Also unmistakably lysergic in content are the lively, electric "3/5 Of A Mile In 10 Seconds" and the closing "Plastic Fantastic Lover," while "D.C.B.A. - 25" marks a return to the folk-rock atmospheres of the previous album, and the folk-blues of "Embryonic Journey" shows off Kaukonen's skills on acoustic guitar. "Today" is superlative, a magical, ethereal flight, a waking dream, featuring guest guitarist Jerry Garcia and a masterful vocal performance by Marty Balin; the Grateful Dead leader also appears on the equally beautiful "Comin' Back To Me," which moves with great sensitivity over a delicate acoustic backing.

Shortly before the album's release, on January 14, 1967, Jefferson Airplane took part in the historic Human Be-In "Gathering Of The Tribes," held at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park in front of 25,000 people - an event the band would later commemorate in the song "Saturday Afternoon." Even more important for the band's international breakthrough was their appearance at the Monterey International Pop Festival, held on the California coast in mid-June 1967, a crucial launching pad for numerous artists, including Jimi Hendrix, playing his first American concert with the Experience. "The decisive moment was the Cream concert at the Fillmore, in August 1967 (the 22nd through the 27th - ed.); that's where we moved from folk-rock to rock, and like all the San Francisco bands we decided to play louder, harsher, more electric, because that was the new music of Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix," Marty Balin once said. It was also the period of the band's sympathy for the youth "movement" and political activism, with Jefferson Airplane joining protest marches aboard a special vehicle equipped for mobile live shows.

In December 1967, After Bathing At Baxter's was released; despite a sonic impact that was by no means easy listening, the album reached No. 17 on the American charts. Meanwhile, Marty Balin's initial leadership was steadily shifting into the hands of the Paul Kantner-Grace Slick partnership.

After Bathing At Baxter's (RCA LSP 1511, December 1967)

(Streetmasse: The Ballad Of You & Me & Pooneil - A Small Package Of Value Will Come To You, Shortly - Young Girl Sunday Blues/ The War Is Over: Martha - Wild Tyme (H)/ Hymn To An Older Generation: The Last Wall Of The Castle - Rejoyce/ How Suite It Is: Watch Her Ride - Spare Chaynge/ Shizoforest Love Suite: Two Heads - Won't You Try - Saturday Afternoon)

Paul Kantner: gtr.v. / Grace Slick: vs. / Marty Balin: vs.gtr. / Jorma Kaukonen: gtrs.v. / Jack Casady: bs. / Spencer Dryden: dr. - Stu. RCA, Hollywood - Eng. Richie Schmitt - Cover Ron Cobb - Prod. Al Schmitt

After Bathing At Baxter's is Jefferson Airplane's most experimental and psychedelic album, divided into five suites each made up of several tracks; in these recordings, the band stretches sound across time and space, creating an informal collage in which the songs flow into one another with remarkable naturalness. The vocal parts too, while retaining their melodic and harmonic qualities intact, tend to shun the clichés of folk-beat singing and climb boldly over steep, sometimes jagged instrumental structures. The rough percussion and blazing guitars of "The Ballad Of You & Me & Pooneil," the original rock-blues of "Young Girl Sunday Blues," the gorgeous electro-acoustic ballad "Martha," which flows into the ecstatic anthem of love, happiness and new times that is the uninhibited "Wild Tyme (H)," the devastating "The Last Wall Of The Castle," with Kaukonen's harsh, derailing guitar, a prelude to one of Grace's great vocal flights on the intense "Rejoyce": all of these are sonic fragments steeped in poetry, rhythm and sweat, captivating electro-acoustic forms possessed of real artistic awareness. In the second half of the album, the long, free-form instrumental improvisation "Spare Chaynge" stands out, running through one intriguing solution after another, with the guitar-bass-drums triangle layering psychedelic elements and Latin American echoes, effectively anticipating the content of Quicksilver Messenger Service's memorable sessions on "Happy Trails." The martial cadences of "Two Heads" reach their peak in the closing sequence "Won't You Try-Saturday Afternoon," which (paying tribute to the Human Be-In "Gathering Of The Tribes") conveys the musicians' fervent, solemn sense of commitment to the events of the most creative season of the California youth movement.

1968 was the year of the band's first European tour (including an appearance at the first Isle of Wight Festival, on August 31, 1968), though plenty of American shows preceded it as well, including two performances at Bill Graham's Fillmore East in New York on May 3 and 4, recordings of which were used in 1998 to put together Live At The Fillmore East.

Live At The Fillmore East (RCA 07863 67563-2, 1998) reg. live maggio 1968

(Intro – The Ballad Of You & Me & Pooneil/ She Has Funny Cars/ It’s No Secret/ Won’t You Try – Saturday Afternoon/ Greasy Heart/ Star Track/ Wild Tyme (H)/ White Rabbit/ Thing/ Today/ The Other Side Of This Life/ Fat Angel/ Watch Her Ride/ Closing Comments/ Somebody To Love)

Paul Kantner: gtr.v. / Grace Slick: vs. / Marty Balin: vs. / Jorma Kaukonen: gtrs.v. / Jack Casady: bs. / Spencer Dryden: dr. - Rec. live Fillmore East, New York - Eng. John Chester - Cover JRJ Associates - Prod. Paul Williams

When the Live At The Fillmore East CD was released in 1998, fans' expectations were running very high; the band's extensive official discography, after all, didn't include many live recordings, and the ones that did exist weren't always top-notch. That said, the set list drawn from these performances, dating from May 3 and 4, 1968, is one of the best, built largely around such outstanding albums as Surrealistic Pillow and After Bathing At Baxter's, with a nod to their debut Takes Off and a couple of intriguing previews of songs that would appear just a few months later on Crown Of Creation (the solid "Greasy Heart" and "Star Track," with Kaukonen in command on the latter). Unfortunately, the performances rarely reach the level of the studio originals; the refined, engaging vocal interplay leaves a little to be desired (Balin fares slightly better than Slick), and even the purely instrumental side often comes across as less energetic and rather sparse, despite the efforts of such unquestionably skilled musicians as Casady and Kaukonen, who frequently find themselves holding up the entire sound on their own. Among the more successful moments are a solid rendition of "Won't You Try-Saturday Afternoon" (though not without a few off notes), a woozy "Wild Tyme (H)," elevated by Kaukonen's lead work, a clean "Watch Her Ride," and the ever-thrilling "White Rabbit," "Today" (which still falls short of the original's magic) and "Somebody To Love," while the version of Fred Neil's "The Other Side Of This Life" comes across as fairly unremarkable (aside from another excellent Kaukonen solo). Worth a special mention are the excellent free-form instrumental "Thing" (later reworked as "Bear Melt") and the long, lucid rendition of Donovan's "Fat Angel," moments that almost leave a bitter aftertaste given the band's unfulfilled potential on this live album. Not a bad record by any means, and certainly an important historical document, even if it falls short of expectations.

Also drawn from the 1968 shows at the Fillmore East and West is the band's first official live album, Bless Its Pointed Little Head, released in February 1969.

Bless Its Pointed Little Head (RCA LSP 4133, February 1969) rec. live 1968

(Clergy/ 3/5 Of A Mile In 10 Seconds/ Somebody To Love/ Fat Angel/ Rock Me Baby/ The Other Side Of This Life/ It’s No Secret/ Plastic Fantastic Lover/ Turn Out The Lights/ Bear Melt)

Paul Kantner: gtr.v. / Grace Slick: vs. / Marty Balin: vs.gtr. / Jorma Kaukonen: gtrs.v. / Jack Casady: bs. / Spencer Dryden: dr. - Rec. live Fillmore East / West, New York / San Francisco - Eng. Richie Schmitt - Cover photo Jim Smircich - Prod. Al Schmitt

Jefferson Airplane's first official live album came out in February 1969, assembled from recordings made throughout 1968 at the Fillmore East and West. Compared to Live At The Fillmore East, released in 1998, the record is marred by sound quality that's technically far from excellent, though the performances themselves are superior (for the record, this is the first album by the band to make a significant dent in the UK charts, peaking at No. 38). Worth highlighting is the powerful, determined "3/5 Of A Mile In 10 Seconds", a version of "Somebody To Love" featuring an arrangement with a few small but intriguing variations, and the unexpected, respectful blues cover of B.B. King's classic "Rock Me Baby", naturally helmed by Kaukonen with the aid of Casady's mighty bass. The reinterpretation of "The Other Side Of This Life" (Fred Neil) is lovely and solid, assured in the vocal parts and brilliant in the instrumental ones. Donovan's "Fat Angel" is inspired, its stretched-out, rarefied sounds sending the mind drifting toward the early Grateful Dead, while the excellent "Bear Melt" reworks an earlier idea ("Thing"), showcasing the freer, less structured side of Jefferson Airplane's music, a long jam that again brings the Dead to mind.

The time was right for a major new studio effort, Crown Of Creation (No. 6 in the US), which revealed music with a decidedly softer tone, where rarefied atmospheres sit in direct contrast with rather original electric tracks.

Crown Of Creation (RCA LSP 4058, settembre 1968)

(Lather/ In Time/ Triad/ Star Track/ Share A Little Joke/ Chushingura/ If You Feel/ Crown Of Creation/ Ice Cream Phoenix/ Greasy Heart/ The House At Pooneil Corners)

Paul Kantner: chr.v. / Grace Slick: vs. / Marty Balin: vs.ch. / Jorma Kaukonen: chs.chr.v. / Jack Casady: bs. / Spencer Dryden: bt. – Eng. Richie Schmitt – Cover design J. Van Hamersveld, bomb photo Hiroshima – Prod. Al Schmitt

Crown Of Creation, the important new studio effort, is marked by tones that are at times decidedly softer, and by rarefied atmospheres set in direct contrast with electric tracks that are almost always remarkably original. "Lather was thirty years old today, and they took away all of his toys... the children seem to think he's quite insane, as the old men gather 'round to look at him. Sometimes he's so skittish that he hardly knows what games to play, what words to say. I should have told him: no, you're not old. And I should have let him go on playing, the boy with the smile." The psychedelic music box wound up by Grace Slick's crystalline voice opens the album with "Lather" (a song drawn from a poem by James Joyce), a splendid testament to the fact that the acid experimentation of After Bathing At Baxter's had given way to a confident return to the song form, now mature and thoroughly enjoyable in its balanced blend of melody and formal exploration. "In Time" unfolds in a quiet sonic flow, broken by the sudden surge of well-placed phrases from Kaukonen's lead guitar. The version of David Crosby's "Triad" is stunning; the image of the love triangle is rendered even more effective thanks to Grace Slick's sensual delivery. "Share A Little Joke", wrapped in an irregular electro-acoustic melody shot through with percussion and feedback, and the enigmatic "Chushingura" (for Akira Kurosawa) close out the first half of the record. Among the most electrically charged moments, "Star Track" almost seems to foreshadow the evolution of Jorma into Hot Tuna; "If You Feel" is solid and concrete, if not especially imaginative, while "Ice Cream Phoenix" and "Greasy Heart" boast varied arrangements and unveil original harmonic solutions. "Crown Of Creation" is the new choral anthem dedicated to the youth "movement", with a disarming melodic finale that lends the track emotional depth and authority: "You are the crown of creation... and you've got no place to go. Life is change, how it differs from the rocks. I've already been to the apocalypse. I have seen their minds and I don't believe they will ever change." The record closes with "The House At Pooneil Corners" (perhaps dedicated to Fred Neil), a genuine psychedelic explosion that seems to burst straight out of the cover image (the Hiroshima bomb), where the Jefferson Airplane experience reaches one of the absolute peaks of its art, packing into under six minutes of thrilling sonic suspension some extraordinary instrumental performances (Casady in particular) and the dramatic vocals of Slick and Balin.

Jefferson Airplane were by now at the peak of their popularity, money was no object, and in 1968 the band members paid the handsome sum of $70,000 for an enormous Victorian house at 2400 Fulton Street, right next to Golden Gate Park, setting up offices and apartments there in a kind of luxury commune. In August 1969 the outfit (with Nicky Hopkins on board) was among the headliners at the Woodstock festival (the band performed on August 17 at 7:30 in the morning, famously running hours behind schedule), and it was in this contradictory climate, halfway between political commitment and commercial success, that Jefferson Airplane prepared to record their most significant album, Volunteers (originally titled "Volunteers Of Amerika", No. 34 UK, No. 13 US), which openly tackles political themes and embraces the student protest movement sweeping college campuses.

Volunteers (RCA LSP 4238, November 1969)

(We Can Be Together / Good Shepherd / The Farm / Hey Fredrick / Turn My Life Down / Wooden Ships / Eskimo Blue Day / A Song For All Seasons / Meadowlands / Volunteers)

Paul Kantner: chr.v. / Grace Slick: vs.pn.fl / Marty Balin: vs. / Jorma Kaukonen: chs.chr.v. / Jack Casady: bs. / Spencer Dryden: bt. + Nicky Hopkins: pn. / Stephen Stills: or. / Jerry Garcia: st. / Joey Covington: pr. / David Crosby – Stu. Wally Heider Recording Studio, San Francisco – Tds. Richie Schmitt – Co. design Milton Burke, Gut, Airplane; photo Jim Marshall, Jim Smircich – Prod. Al Schmitt

Volunteers is a beautiful record, full of contradictions. It was November 1969, and the hopes for an "alternative" world to the American way of life — one built on peace, love and solidarity — were already running out of steam. As early as October 1967, in the very same San Francisco that was home to Jefferson Airplane, the Haight-Ashbury community had held a funeral for its own culture, carrying a coffin marked "death of the hippie" through the streets overlooking the bay. Barely a couple of years later, just days before the legendary Woodstock festival, conceived as a gathering of a united, living nation, the horrifying Bel Air murders took place on August 7, 1969, when, at the home of director Roman Polanski, a handful of fanatical followers of the loosely hippie-inspired cult created by Charles Manson killed several people, including the director's wife, Sharon Tate, who was pregnant at the time. Of course, the story of Manson's "family" was a case of extreme cultural poverty, with nothing to do with the noble ideals of the hippie generation, but it offered the establishment the perfect excuse to discredit the entire movement. And while the Woodstock festival, however mediated and stage-managed by the record industry, succeeded in presenting a civil and reasonably united populace, the effects of the unrest at the Altamont festival (December 6, 1969) were disastrous: during the Rolling Stones' set, a young Black man was stabbed to death by the "security" provided by the Hells Angels.

In this scenario of rapid decay of an entire generation's ideals, the anthem to the unity of all of Amerika's outlaws against the American way of life, championed in "We Can Be Together," which opens Volunteers by Jefferson Airplane, might seem forced and contradictory. What's more, with what credibility could musicians who were by now millionaires, and increasingly distant from the naive grassroots mobilization of their early days, sing of revolution, of the fight against private property, of walls to tear down and new social models? And yet the music seemed to defy all apparent logic, with a taut, mature sound, Jorma Kaukonen's hard, acid guitar, the irrepressible piano of English guest Nicky Hopkins, and the choral vocals, steeped in dramatic awareness, of Paul Kantner, Marty Balin and our own Grace Slick. Even the numerous country-inspired tracks show a recovery of the American musical tradition that is anything but obvious or slavish; "Good Shepherd" is gorgeous, sung by Kaukonen, filling the song with refined electro-acoustic guitars; "The Farm" is quite compelling too, with Jerry Garcia's pedal steel peeking through, as is "Turn My Life Down," shot through with soul-gospel echoes and Stephen Stills's organ, while "A Song For All Seasons" comes across as piano-driven and relaxed. "Hey Fredrik" is a gut-punch: Slick's voice casts a spell over a wondrous sonic backdrop that flows into a long jam, built around Kaukonen's lyrical, distorted guitar and Hopkins's piano, which here sketches out one of his most admirable harmonic sequences (an idea the musician had already tried out in England in July '69 on Rice Pudding from Jeff Beck's album "Truth," then revisited to excellent effect later that same year on "Edward The Mad Shirt Grinder," featured on Quicksilver Messenger Service's "Shady Grove," and on "Baby's House," hosted by the Steve Miller Band on the album "Your Saving Grace").

The David Crosby version of "Wooden Ships" (with the author himself present, along with Stills on organ) is fabulous, again with Hopkins and Kaukonen very much to the fore and devastating vocal interplay. It's a song symptomatic of the decadent, individualist retreat that by now irremediably waters down the youthful ideals: here there's no talk of unity and revolution, but instead a declaration that "all we can do is echo back your anguished cry," and an announcement that "we are leaving. You don't need us." "Eskimo Blue Day" tries to push things back onto the plane of action, to restore some fighting spirit, through a raw cadence that is elevated by the epic, dramatic tones of Grace's voice and the magical colors of Jorma's guitar. The song is Jefferson Airplane's last-ditch attempt to revive the historic dignity of the alternative Frisco scene, even more so than the closing title-track anthem of "Volunteers," which cries out to the world its hunger for revolution with a touch of presumption, perhaps sensing that the game is already lost.

Yes, a record full of contradictions. Heard with the benefit of hindsight. But at the time it was a desperate cry to realize a dream, the true American dream. And a gorgeous record; on that, at least, there can be no doubt.

Despite the quality and commitment shown on their most recent work, the band's cohesion was already starting to show clear cracks. During 1969, Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady (with embryonic interest from Marty Balin too) launched the parallel venture Hot Tuna, with the explicit aim of indulging their blues instincts; at the start of 1970 Spencer Dryden (due to friction with Balin) left Jefferson Airplane to join New Riders Of The Purple Sage, replaced by drummer Joey Covington, who had already been part of Hot Tuna's very first lineup. Despite the release in August 1970 of the superb single "Mexico/Have You Seen The Saucers" (later included on the compilation "Early Flight"), a new studio album remained a mirage, and Kantner decided to take matters into his own hands, effectively conceiving the Jefferson Starship name and putting together a sprawling, "open" project. The undertaking brought together a large cast of well-known musicians from the California scene and aimed to produce an epic, psychedelic rock work with a science-fiction backdrop and cosmic, revolutionary and biblical overtones: the project came to fruition with the release, in November 1970, of the album Blows Against The Empire.

Blows Against The Empire (as Paul Kantner-Jefferson Starship, RCA LSP 4448, novembre 1970)

(Mau Mau (Amerikon)/ The Baby Tree/ Let’s Go Together/ A Child Is Coming/ Sunrise/ Hijack/ Home/ Have You Seen The Stars Tonite/ X-M/ Starship)

Paul Kantner: ch.v. / Grace Slick: vs.pn / David Crosby / Graham Nash / Phil Sawyer / David Freiberg: v. / Jerry Garcia: ch. / Peter Kaukonen: ch. / Jack Casady: bs. / Harvey Brooks: bs. / Bill Kreutzmann: bt. / Mickey Hart: bt. / Joey Covington: bt. – Stu. PHR Studio, Wally Heider Recording – Tds. Allen Zentz – Co. design Paul Kantner, Jim Goldberg – Prod. Paul Kantner

A huge deployment of resources and ideas produced the remarkable result of Blows Against The Empire, a genuine turning point for the Californian psychedelic generation, in November 1970. The lean, brazen rock of "Mau Mau (Amerikon)" opens the record, assembling a thrilling, surreal collage of sounds and words in search of a new awareness: "...open your eyes, a new world is being born... open your heart, people are loving each other... open that door." The choral "Let's Go Together" (with classic vocal harmonies and Jerry Garcia's banjo) marks the definitive farewell to Amerika, without regrets, in search of a promised world ("...let's go together, wave goodbye to Amerika, say hello to the garden... pioneers seeking refuge..."), a utopian shelter from the grim reality of the time. "A Child Is Coming" (also released as a single with "Let's Go Together") deals, with both joy and concern, with the imminent birth of China, Slick and Kantner's daughter, warmly supported by David Crosby's voice, and doesn't shy away from a sharp polemical edge... "it's none of the government's business what goes in or out of my body." The long unfolding of "Hijack" nestles among the memories of an entire generation and culminates in the utopia of a cathartic space voyage in search of "free minds, free bodies, free dope, free music." Passion, naivety, glaring historical misjudgments and great music: all ingredients of the very same contradictions that fed Volunteers just a year earlier, yet which at the same time have the virtue of making this latest example of these musicians' art feel complete and mature. The music intensely accompanies the mental flight, dispensing a sublime blend of electro-acoustic sounds free to flow unconditioned into the rapturous melody of "Have You Seen The Stars Tonite" (pedal steel courtesy of J. Garcia), before leading into the closing "Starship," which links back to the most classic tradition of the Californian psychedelic jam.

The return of the Jefferson Airplane name, with the recording of the new LP Bark (September 1971), came alongside the significant departure of founding member Marty Balin. The singer first oversaw the activity of Grootna (who released a single self-titled album in 1972), then devoted himself to his new venture Bodacious D.F., with whom he recorded the self-titled LP "Bodacious D.F." in 1973; taking his place in the lineup was violinist Papa John Creach, who had already worked with Kaukonen and Casady in Hot Tuna. Almost two years on from the great achievement of Volunteers, Jefferson Airplane played the card of setting up their own record label, Grunt, for which Bark marked the debut release.

Bark (as Jefferson Airplane, Grunt FTR 1001, September 1971)

(When The Earth Moves Again/ Feel So Good/ Crazy Miranda/ Pretty As You Feel/ Wild Turkey/ Law Man/ Rock And Roll Island/ Third Week In The Chelsea/ Never Argue With A German If You’re Tired Or European Song/ Thunk/ War Movie)

Paul Kantner: chr.v. / Grace Slick: vs.pn. / Jorma Kaukonen: chs.v. / Jack Casady: bs. / Joey Covington: bt.pr.v. + Papa John Creach: vi. – Prod. Jefferson Airplane

The new Jefferson Airplane album Bark is also the first release on Grunt, the label set up by Kantner and co. to better control how their records were promoted. The album opens with "When The Earth Moves Again," a proud, choral number with Kaukonen's guitar and Creach's violin floating over the melody: a majestic overture that hints at who knows what wonders to come. Unfortunately those promises are only partly kept, with a few slight but telling dips in quality and a pervasive sense of déjà vu. The piano-driven "Crazy Miranda" is yet another fine Slick song, as polemical as ever toward the shallow conformity of everyday life... "Crazy Miranda lives on propaganda, believes everything she reads. She could belong to either side, the underground press or the cover of Time or Life. She follows the papers no matter what they tell her, but she doesn't look like someone who reads..." "Pretty As You Feel" is hushed and refined, with an almost jazzy feel and Creach's elusive violin. The electric "Feel So Good" and the acoustic "Third Week In The Chelsea" (which closes on a deeply pessimistic note... "It's getting late and the sun is slowly slipping away. My body is tired of carrying another weight, and the sun is waiting for me a little further down the road") are excellent Kaukonen vehicles; "Law Man" benefits from an intense Slick vocal but is rather conventional musically, much like the following "Rock And Roll Island," while the instrumental "Wild Turkey" doesn't fully convince and the ambitions scattered across "Never Argue With A German..." perhaps overreach. The album closes with the surprising a cappella "Thunk" and the remarkable "War Movie," in which Kantner returns to the majestic, evocative atmospheres of Blows Against The Empire: "...In 1975 all the people rose up across the land to march against you, government man, locked together, hand in hand, they're all marching against you, across this shaky ground... until we meet again and take each other's hands, in another land."

The Airplane's community is nonetheless starting to feel rather cramped for the Kantner-Slick duo, who at the end of 1971 release Sunfighter under their own names.

Sunfighter (as Paul Kantner-Grace Slick, Grunt FTR 1002, December 1971)

(Silver Spoon/ Diana/ Sunfighter/ Titanic/ Look At The Wood/ When I Was A Boy I Watched The Wolves/ Million/ China/ Earth Mother/ Diana 2/ Universal Copernican Mumbles/ Holding Together)

Paul Kantner: ch.v. / Grace Slick: vs.pn. + David Crosby: v.pr. / Graham Nash: v. / Bill Laudner: v. / Edwin Hawkins Singers: v. / Jorma Kaukonen: chs. / Craig Chaquico: chs. / Jerry Garcia: ch. / Peter Kaukonen: ch.mn. / Jack Traylor: ch.v. / Pat Gleeson: sn.pn. / John Vierra: sn.ts. / Papa John Creach: vi. / “The Spanish Sexuals”: fl. / Greg Adams: tr.sf. / Mic Gellette: tm. / Steven Shuster: sax.fl. / Jack Casady: bs. / Joey Covington: bt. / Shelley Silverman: bt. / Chris Wing: bt. / Spencer Dryden: bt. – Tds. Pat Ieraci – Co. Acy Lehman – Prod. Paul Kantner, Grace Slick

A product of the Kantner-Slick partnership, the album seems, from its very title, to pick up the combative interstellar journeys of Blows Against The Empire. That link is reinforced by the sizeable cast of musician friends present at the sessions, while the cover depicts an image of China, Paul and Grace's daughter, to whom a song is also dedicated, rising from the ocean in symbiosis with the sun. There's more great music in "Silver Spoon," surreal and brimming with fierce irony at once, one of Grace Slick's greatest creations, shaping a sprawling, complex and unpredictable sound that is nonetheless thoroughly enjoyable, balancing melodic phrases and accelerations that follow and blend into one another seamlessly. The martial "Sunfighter" is yet another confirmation of Kantner's taste for explicit, somewhat naive activism... "sun fighter, you who battle with the rifle, mount the earth and learn to ride it..." and that mood is echoed in the fine, grounded "When I Was A Boy I Watched The Wolves," featuring guitar work from Jerry Garcia. But overall the record reveals the definitive limits of an outlook now out of step with the world around it: this is no longer a season of revolt and counterculture, and confirmation of the tragic contradictions draining what's left of the "movement's" spirit arrives right on cue, and pitiless. As on "Million," where Kantner sings "...goodbye to the good times you've left behind, goodbye, San Francisco dream...", or as stated even more starkly in "Earth Mother": "Mother Earth, your children are here and feel strong and splendid. Mother Earth, your children are here, torn apart by coke and heroin." The closing "Holding Together" tries, somewhat wearily, to revive distant echoes of struggle, deluding itself about how it will all end ("I see the empire crumbling from within..."), but a legitimate doubt remains: is this music still the expression of a living, forward-looking generation, or has it been reduced to a mere nostalgic exercise recited by a handful of diehards?

The story of Jefferson Airplane is now rapidly drawing to a close. At the end of 1971 Joey Covington also leaves the plane (he plays with Peter Kaukonen and then forms Fat Fandango, releasing an album in 1973); his replacement is Turtles drummer John Barbata. What's more, Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady seem increasingly set on devoting themselves full-time to their own Hot Tuna project. Despite these centrifugal pressures, June 1972 brings a new studio album, Long John Silver, on which some of the drum parts are played by Covington, replaced on the others by Hot Tuna drummer Sammy Piazza. It will be Jefferson Airplane's last studio offering, aside from the brief 1989 reunion that produced the self-titled Jefferson Airplane LP.

Long John Silver (as Jefferson Airplane, Grunt FTR 1007, June 1972)

(Long John Silver/ Aerie (Gang Of Eagles)/ Twilight Double Leader/ Milk Train/ The Son Of Jesus/ Easter?/ Trial By Fire/ Alexander The Medium/ Eat Starch Mom)

Paul Kantner: chr.v. / Grace Slick: vs.pn. / Jorma Kaukonen: chs.v. / Papa John Creach: vi. / Jack Casady: bs. / John "Goatee" Barbata: bt.pr. + Joey Covington: bt. / Sammy Piazza: bt. – Stu. Wally Heider Studios, San Francisco – Tds. Don Gooch – Co. design Pacific Eye & Ear, illustrations Bob Tanenbaum & Propella Rotini – Prod. Jefferson Airplane

Jefferson Airplane's final studio work of the Seventies was released in the summer of 1972. The title track opens with solid, full-bodied rock that leaves little room for lyrical moments, preferring to focus on rhythmic punch and guitars, with Grace's bright voice leading the charge. The following "Aerie (Gang Of Eagles)" is very intense, confirming the typical hallmarks of Slick's songwriting. "Alexander The Medium" offers solutions the band has already used extensively and, while a good composition, shows that Kantner's compositional vein is in decline. "Twilight Double Leader" is a brisk rock'n'roll number, "Milk Train" is marked by Creach's violin (he co-wrote the song), and "Trial By Fire" is the obligatory Hot Tuna-style Kaukonen piece (almost an outtake, fittingly featuring Sammy Piazza on drums). The touching "The Son Of Jesus," the harsh sounds and sarcastic tone of "Eat Starch Mom," and the provocative, debunking "Easter?" ("...a man of peace dies and a hundred wars begin, you keep on killing people in the name of Christ, I thought he said that was a sin...") show that Jefferson Airplane can still deliver great music, even if the feelings the record gives off are hardly uplifting, reasonably decadent and disillusioned. But it's precisely in the pained retreat running through it that Long John Silver finds its reason for being, the last drop of desperate strength that makes the record true, deep, sincere. Human.

By the time Thirty Seconds Over Winterland was released in April 1973 (recorded live at San Francisco's Winterland and Chicago's Auditorium Theatre), the plane had effectively already stopped flying, with Kaukonen and Casady's definitive departure. Just a few months earlier the lineup had expanded with the addition of David Freiberg as a singer, in a probable and futile attempt to revive the wondrous vocal interplay of Marty Balin and Grace Slick.

Thirty Seconds Over Winterland (as Jefferson Airplane, Grunt FTR 0147, April 1973)

(Have You Seen The Saucers/ Feel So Good/ Crown Of Creation/ When The Earth Moves Again/ Milk Train/ Trial By Fire/ Twilight Double Leader)

Paul Kantner: chr.v. / Grace Slick: vs. / Jorma Kaukonen: chs.v. / David Freiberg: vs. / Papa John Creach: vi. / Jack Casady: bs. / John Barbata: bt. – Reg. live Winterland, San Francisco & Auditorium Theatre, Chicago by Wally Heider's Remote Unit – Tds. Don Gooch – Co. Bruce Steinberg – Prod. Jefferson Airplane

Released in spring 1973, when Jefferson Airplane had effectively already ceased to exist following the definitive departure of Kaukonen and Casady, the live album Thirty Seconds Over Winterland delivers a decent performance, technically sound but short on emotional impact. Among the songs, a fine version of "Have You Seen The Saucers" stands out, originally the B-side of the "Mexico" single. "Crown Of Creation" and "When The Earth Moves Again" come across as dutiful, slightly perfunctory renditions, far from the fire of better days. The more straightforwardly rock numbers ("Feel So Good," "Milk Train," "Trial By Fire," "Twilight Double Leader") hold up just fine, perfectly at home in a performance led by seasoned professionals who have by now dropped any lingering "revolutionary" pretensions.

The stretch of time separating the glory days of Jefferson Airplane from the visually sweetened but musically paler offering of Starship is filled by the Kantner-Slick family (with Freiberg also contributing) with the making, in May 1973, of Baron Von Tollbooth & The Chrome Nun.

Baron Von Tollbooth & The Chrome Nun (as P. Kantner-G. Slick & D. Freiberg, Grunt BFL 1-0148, maggio 1973)

(Ballad Of The Chrome Nun/ Fat/ Flowers Of The Night/ Walkin’/ Your Mind Has Left Your Body/ Across The Board/ Harp Tree Lament/ White Boy (Transcaucasian Airmachine Blues)/ Fishman/ Sketches Of China)

Paul Kantner: ch.v. / Grace Slick: vs. / David Freiberg: vs. + Jorma Kaukonen: chs. / Jerry Garcia: ch.st.bj. / David Crosby: ch.v. / Jack Traylor: ch.v. / The Pointer Sisters: v. / Craig Chaquico: ch. / Papa John Creach: vi. / Jack Casady: bs. / Chris Ethridge: bs. / John Barbata: bt. / Mickey Hart: bt. – Tds. Jim Gaines – Co. Pacific Eye & Ear – Prod. Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, David Freiberg

The time gap separating the breakup of Jefferson Airplane from the debut of Starship was used to put together the respectable Baron Von Tollbooth & The Chrome Nun, a title taken from the nickname David Crosby would often use for Grace Slick ("The Chrome Nun"). The title track opens the album with a somewhat lightweight arrangement, and the whole record suffers from a lack of deep inspiration, often giving the impression of recycling moves and tempos already well worn in the past. Such is the case with the decent Grace Slick ballads ("Fat", "Across The Board"), classic piano-and-voice numbers that nonetheless lack the usual intensity of the singer's compositions. Of greater interest are "Fishman" and "Walkin'", bolstered by some fine guitar work (on the latter, Jerry Garcia plays lead guitar and banjo). Setting aside the modest, limp "Harp Tree Lament", the best moments are the lovely "Flowers Of The Night", a fluid song written by old folksinger friend Jack Traylor featuring fine lead guitar work from young Craig Chaquico, as well as Kantner's two compositions "Your Mind Has Left Your Body" and "White Boy (Transcaucasian Airmachine Blues)", both dreamy and sprawling, not without their charm. The hyper-classical arrangement of "Sketches Of China" closes things out.

The Jefferson Starship project finally took shape in 1974, with a lineup largely mirroring the core of the previous studio album. The first concrete result, toward the end of the year, was the release of the decent Dragon Fly.

Dragon Fly (as Jefferson Starship, Grunt BFL 1-0717, October 1974)

(Ride The Tiger / That's For Sure / Be Young You / Caroline / Devils Den / Come To Life / All Fly Away / Hyperdrive)

Paul Kantner: chr.v. / Grace Slick: vs.pn. / David Freiberg: vs.ts.bs. / Craig Chaquico: chs. / Papa John Creach: vi. / Pete Sears: bs.ts. / John Barbata: bt.pr. + Marty Balin: v. – Stu. Wally Heider's, San Francisco – Tds. Larry Cox – Co. Peter Lloyd – Prod. Jefferson Starship, Larry Cox

Dragon Fly confirms the definitive shift toward a far less adventurous sound, though not one lacking good songs or a solid instrumental foundation, with the guitar of young Craig Chaquico particularly prominent. Such is the case with the aggressive, driving "Ride The Tiger" that opens the record, a well-organized slice of rock with fine choral parts and Chaquico's own spirited lead guitar. The entire first side unfolds at a more than decent level, with "That's For Sure" striking a reasonably assured balance between calm atmospheres and rock'n'roll jolts, with the lovely, intense "Be Young You" warming the heart thanks to the piano and voice of an old-school Slick, and with the convincing "Caroline", which marks the unexpected return of Marty Balin's lead vocals. On the second side, tracks like "Devils Den" and the unmemorable rock'n'roll of "Come To Life", solid on the instrumental front, lack any particularly striking moments and leave one emotionally unmoved. "All Fly Away" fares a bit better, at least boasting well-crafted lyrical passages. "Hyperdrive" and Slick's voice close the record with dignity, amid tense sounds and romantic inflections. "...And if it rains again tonight, I can think light years ahead, or I could go back a thousand years, as if I had always been here before, or as if I were yet to be born..."

(In collaboration with Sunrising)

*****

Jefferson Starship's career continued with the hard rock-tinged Red Octopus (1975), with Spitfire (1976) and with the dismal Earth (1978), records whose declining artistic quality was rewarded with substantial sales figures. Meanwhile, Balin left the band, and Grace Slick, grappling with increasingly severe alcohol and drug problems, released the forgettable solo efforts "Dreams" (1980), "Welcome To The Wrecking Ball!" (1981) and "Software" (1984). In the meantime, she split from Kantner and married Skip Johnson, the band's twenty-four-year-old live lighting director.

The Jefferson Starship name lived on through Freedom At Point Zero (1979), Modern Times (1981), Winds Of Change (1982) and Nuclear Furniture (1984), questionable but hugely successful hard rock and pop records, on which the only original band member was Kantner, backed by singer Mickey Thomas (ex-Elvin Bishop Group), drummer Aynsley Dunbar, Chaquico, Freiberg, Sears and (from February 1981) a returning Slick.

Worth noting is "The Planet Earth Rock And Roll Orchestra" (1983), an ambitious and underrated solo record by Kantner, who then left the band in the hands of his ex-wife to focus, alongside Balin and Casady, on the overlooked "Kbc Band" (1986).

Rebranded more simply as Starship, the group led by Slick continued climbing the charts with Knee Deep In The Hoopla (1985) and No Protection (1987), two albums built to win over the programmers of America's most commercial FM radio stations. Starship wound down without Slick with Love Among The Cannibals (1989).

The band's most glorious name and lineup (Slick, Kantner, Balin, Kaukonen and Casady) came back to life for Jefferson Airplane (September 1989), an impromptu but reasonably dignified studio reunion.

In October 1992, the splendid triple box-set retrospective packed with rarities, Jefferson Airplane Loves You, brought the legendary band back to its magical era (1966-1972), while in the years that followed, sad and pathetic live reunions led by Balin and Kantner alone tried, with little success, to ride the wave of nostalgia for that memorable season.

Better, then, to dust off those magical sounds with the excellent anthology Jefferson Airplane Journey – The best of (1992). A collection featuring no fewer than twenty-one classics from the San Francisco band, including acid-blues gems like "Somebody To Love", "White Rabbit", "Plastic Fantastic Lover", "Blues from an Airplane", "Volunteers", "Aerie" and "Wooden Ships". More recently, under the Jefferson Starship name, two further albums have been released: Deep Space/ Virgin Sky (1995) and The Windows Of Heaven (1999).

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