This Review Along With 300+ Others Is Available In My
SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites
1960s and 1970s MUSIC ON CD - Volume 1 of 3 - Exceptional CD Remasters
As well as 1960s and 1970s Rock and Pop - It Also Focuses On
Blues Rock, Prog Rock, Rock-Fusion, Psychedelic and Underground
Just Click Below To Purchase for £3.95
Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs
(No Cut and Paste Crap)
"...Pictures Of
Mountains..."
Like The Beatles and The
Rolling Stones – musically Jefferson Airplane grew in staggering leaps and
bounds in the mid to late Sixties. The songwriting difference between their
rather cutesy Byrds-like debut "Jefferson Airplane Takes Off" in
August 1966 and their fourth platter "Crown Of Creation" delivered in
September 1968 is frankly breathtaking. It was rightly revered back in the day
and still is now.
They really did live up to that
space-age-music moniker foisted on them by RCA Records on the rear cover of
their 1966 debut album – here comes the 'Jet Age Sound'. Let's get to the
details of this digital doozy...
UK and USA released August
2003 - "Crown Of Creation" by JEFFERSON AIRPLANE on RCA/BMG Heritage
82876 53226 2 (Barcode 828765322621) is an Expanded Edition 'Original Masters'
CD Reissue with Four Bonus Tracks (one of which is Previously Unissued) and
pans out as follows (50:22 minutes);
1. Lather [Side 1]
2. In Time
3. Triad
4. Star Struck
5. Share A Little Joke
6. Chushingura
7. If You Feel [Side 2]
8. Crown Of Creation
9. Ice Cream Phoenix
10. Greasy Heart
11. The House Of Pooneil
Corners
Tracks 1 to 11 are their fourth
studio album "Crown Of Creation" - released September 1968 in the USA
on RCA Victor LSP-4058 (Stereo-Only) and December 1968 in the UK on RCA Victor
RD 7976 (Mono) and SF 7976 (Stereo). The STEREO Mix is used for this CD
reissue.
BONUS TRACKS:
12. Ribump Ba Bap Dum Dum
13. Would You Like A Snack
Tracks 12 and 13 first
appeared on the 1992 US 3CD Box Set compilation "Loves You" on RCA
61110-2. "Would You Like A Snack" is a co-write between Grace Slick and Frank Zappa
14. Share A Little Joke
(With The World) (Mono Single Mix)
Track 14 is the B-side of
the US 7” single to "Greasy Heart" released March 1968 on RCA Victor
47-9496
15. The Saga Of Sydney
Spacepig – Previously Unreleased (7-minute Spencer Dryden song recorded May
1968)
JEFFERSON AIRPLANE was:
MARTY BALIN – Lead Vocals,
Rhythm Guitar
GRACE SLICK – Lead Vocals,
Organ and Piano
JORMA KAUKONEN - Lead
Guitars and Vocals
PAUL KANTNER – Rhythm Guitars
and Vocals
JACK CASADY - Bass
SPENCER DRYDEN – Drums,
Vocals, Piano, Organ and Percussion
The 12-page liner notes are
courtesy of band-expert and uber-fan JEFF TAMARKIN who authored "Got A
Revolution! The Turbulent Flight Of Jefferson Airplane" issued on Atria
Books the same year as the CD reissues (2003). Amidst the text you get several
black and white and colour snaps of the sextet looking hip in varying shades, beany
hats and pudding-bowl haircuts (the six-plate photo in the centre two-pages is
very cool).
But a major disappointment
and laziness is that the inner lyric sheet that came with original US LPs with
the picture of a contented looking Brumus on the front is missing. Robert
Kennedy’s dog Brumus (the band hung out with such luminaries) was supposed to
counter the Hiroshima Atom Bomb photo on the front and rear of the album – a
sort of a nod towards easy-going peacefulness if you want it. And of course the
lyrics are missing too as is that Inner Bag advertising their other audio wares
(I want a complete RCA Victor Catalog for 25c). Bit of a bummer that...
Grace Slick, Marty Balin and
Kaukonen all get quotes in the text – Grace a 27-year old model at the time and
a huge out-front focus for such a radical band. As the songs had way more depth
lyrically that the boy-girl slots on the debut – age (turning 30), politics
(Vietnam) and coping with life and fame all seep into view. It’s a good read
and an enlightening one too.
But the big news here is a
BOB IRWIN Remaster from original tapes. Listening to brilliant tunes like the
sophisticated and beautiful "Lather", the San Francisco Sound of
multi-voiced cool in "Ice Cream Phoenix", the heavy-guitars
social-commentary of "The House Of Pooneil Corner", the
put-your-lips-close-to-my-face sweetness of "In Time" or even their
fabulous take on David Crosby’s ethereal "Triad" – the album is a
virtual showcase for what happens when a band is allowed to go for it – allowed
to grow. Irwin had a lot of his Audio Engineer plate when he stepped up to
Remaster this most beloved of West Coast bands and especially this album and right
from the off - you can hear he did a bang-up job. "Lather" sounds
fantastic and it just doesn’t let up from there on in.
Other moments include is the
jabbing guitar of "If You Feel" where you can’t work out if the "...feel
like laughing...feel like love..." lyrics are an invitation or a sly slag
off. Kantner’s "Crown Of Creation" tells the youth to believe in
themselves. The Bonus "Ribump Ba Bap Dum Dum" turns out to one and
half minutes of the band goofing off on silly words and even with a great drum
sound is a bit of nonsense. "Would You Like A Snack" sounds like
Grace fronting The Mothers Of Invention and is again hard to take in that Trout
Mask Replica kind of a way. The 10:25 minutes of the Previously Unreleased "The
Saga Of Sydney Spacepig” Is a sprawl of guitars, band jamming and rants at the
CIA and is probably the Plane at their wildest. Nice one baby...
"...You are afraid...embarrassed
too...no one has ever said such a thing to you...you cannot do that...it breaks
all the rules..." – Grace Slick sang on the quietly hurtful "Triad"
wondering what can we do – why can’t life be simple –how do we navigate
relationships and the heart. Although it was someone else’s song (David Crosby)
– it’s words somehow sum up the turmoil and beauty that was this great American
band. Buy and enjoy (and it's cheap too)...
