Jefferson Airplane

Surrealistic Pillow
$7.99
Whoops: I was expecting plastic bombastic psychedelia. In reality (!), it's one and a quarter sides of magnificence, and the lesser material isn't bad, definitely much better than that plastic stuff. I totally dig Grace Slick, wish she sang more, and I really dig Paul's vocals, or maybe that's Jorma I'm hearing. It's Jorma's riffs I'm feeling, especially on "Somebody to Love," which would have made me turn off the stereo at one time. Not now.

White Rabbit (Remastered)
$1.29
G-R-E-A-T compilation and I bought this only for the "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love" tracks. Grace Slick's voice is without excpetion the BEST female voice in classic Rock music bar none. Yeah yeah I know the Janis Joplin camp thinks her caterwauling is better but NOT in my opinion. Grace's voice is smooth, silky and has a pheneomenal quality to it that Joplin just could not. Anne Wilson comes close to Grace's quality and in my opinion she is the reigning queen of modern Rock music now that she's over her insecurities about her obesity and out touring again. (Go Anne!)

The song "Someone To Love" is my absolute favorite. Grace's voice sends chills down my back in a VERY GOOD way when she hits certain notes. She definitely was a modern day Female Bard of song. *whew*

White Rabbit is a phenomenal track in that it is slow, thoughtful and very introspective while listening to it. I like to watch mandelbrots while it plays on my surround system. Trippy song and it builds in its intensity quite nicely. Much like a vocal o r g a a s m may.

Highly recommended music!

Bless Its Pointed Little Head
$7.99
We are transported back in time to the old Fillmore Auditorium. The big room is filled with the hipsters of the day and we're all looking up at the giant screen above the stage where the old black and white film classic KING KONG is being screened. The final moments of the movie come assuring us all that it was not the airplanes that killed the beast and thank goodness for that because another airplane is just about ready to take off.
Spencer dips into '3/5 of a mile in 10 seconds' followed piece by piece by Paul's rhythm guitar, Jorma's lead and Jack's bass, layering one atop the other and then the 3-part vocals of Paul, Marty and Grace. Marty just ripping through his vocals. Grace complementing at every turn. Jack scorching his bass. Spencer...c o o k i n g on his kit. I have to really take a moment here to praise Spencer's drumming. From the very beginning of '3/5'ths with his alternate light-as-a-feather/sharp as a jack hammer combination I was truly impressed listening to him all through this album. But, it's all there, the whole band. The Jefferson Airplane sound, complete. This has to be the best song on this album, I'm thinking.
"....some of them chords...." Grace concludes aloud at song's end.
But just when you think it's the best track 'somebody to love' sets in next. And it's another intricate weaving together of each intrument piece by piece, building till everyone is finally up and running. At first, unrecognizable from the well-known single version. Grace's altered melody definately takes you by surprise. Marty's fast and hard tambourine spanking christens the song with the unmistakeable Airplane signature. "....garden flowers are dead....." . damn what a great version! wow. I've only heard the first two tracks and I'm ratin' this album VERY high!
Fat Angel begins...again, the slow build-up with each intrument weaving in one by one but with a twist this time. Jack has switched to rhythm guitar chopping out a foundation under which Marty drops in a bass line. Drums building..Jorma's lead bending around. Paul's Donovan vocal-"Ffffly trans-love airways-gets you there on.............time". Excellent black light music. slow and hypnotic. Paul's guitar drone effects. Now I'm thinking this is the albums centerpiece.
"Captain High at your service".
Side one of the original Lp concludes with a bit of a change of pace. A slow blues showcase for Jorma. In case you didn't know, not only did Grace, Marty and Paul share lead vocals, Jorma makes his mark with a very versatile vocal performance on 'Rock me baby'. But this song is a two guitar/bass/drums grinder over the length of which.......bass-just....f l y i n g.
Side two opens with 'other side/of this life'....again, building piece upon piece. Marty's tambourine and integral beat establishment. And here, the return of the 3 part Paul,Grace,Marty vocals. They really loved this Fred Neil song. "would you like to know a secret, just between you and me/i don't know where i'm goin next/i don't know who i'm gonna be. well my whole world is in an uproar/now my whole world's upside down. i don't know where i'm goin next and i'm always runnin around. i don't know what i'm doin half the time/i don't know where i'm goin. i think i'll get me a sail boat-sail the gulf of mexico"
It's No Secret-only one that starts all together. Little song c o o k s.
Plastic Fantastic Lover-damn that's some hot bass and guitar! Marty ripping through his vocals--yet again.
After a brief 'turn out the lights' Paul introduces Bear Melt, the final song on the album-all eleven minutes of it, and, the albums 2nd and final centerpiece. "we'll leave you with this. feel free to sing along if you'd like". Grace quickly zings back a "thank you" for this song will be her showcase as well. this mini-epic is Bless's 'the end'.
"why not keep the little animals alive". more....just more great 4 piece ensemble playing and when Grace comes back in at the very end....wow. beautiful.
It took me a l o n g time to discover this album. I'm glad I finally did. great great great.

Volunteers
$7.99
Well, Spencer's gone, we're all getting on, the present gets crappy and scary, and the 60's just get more mythical as we go. So when do we realize this band and their cronies were the Cassandras of their time? (Google her).
The music is epic and anthemic, even the quiet songs like "Good Shepherd" and "Turn My Life Down" have an urgency to them that asks the listener to think about the choices and compromises they have made, the lifestyles they have chosen.
I gave this album a good headphone listen tonight, and I'm convinced the reason this band has become so obscure and forgotten is because they spoke an uncomfortable truth to comfort. They were not about entertainment, but rather whatever entertainment's opposite is.
This album is not just a collection of erudite, well written and really well played songs, but a statement about America (as it was then) that has become horribly and prophetically realized 40 years later.
If Baxters was anti-commercial, Volunteers was anti-everything our dopey leaders thought was good for us, and (more importantly) them.
What is the last time music actually made any kind of political statement about the status quo, the way this album did? U-2, maybe, but every other pop artist these days is all about the mo-ney. No musician today will let you hear a discouraging word about the way things are, so listen to the increasingly ancient sounds of the Airplane to understand where politics briefly met art and music. Good luck on your 401K, motherf$#*er!