Just found the Forum and thought I'd ad a few thoughts/memories. I first saw JA at a record release party at the Cabana Hotel in Palo Alto CA summer 66.. then the rest of the summer at the Poppycock and free concerts in the park along with Janis, the Dead, Quicksilver etc..... JA in my mind were the uniquely SF Sound.... Starship, well,  they were the product of what happens when the rawness and danger is replaced with slick corporate hit-making—a pale imitation of what they were when they stood on the stage at Altamont and told the Angels to F@#$ off. I recently saw the Airplane at the Milford Oyster Festival in CT.. I agree; Marty's still got it and it was good to hear them crank it up again. Great forum.. I'd love to hear more comments.

"The interplay between Jorma and Cassady is some of the best and most innovative in rock history."

 

This Alone sums up the differences in the bands. two different entities.

 

And for the record, I still catch JA live whenever possible.

They stilll have it, then again, some of that stuff is timeless.

It will always  impress the listener

Starship vs Airplane? This is a joke. The Airplane was a living band, Starship is a Vegas review show. This is not even worthy of discussion so I will stop here.

hello,livin in the past,That was a great show ,they said the truth,and we listen,( as one) Man was life so,so cool,there was more LOVE-less-HATE?????Lets not forget the AIRPLANE in central park for free,jeff airplane thats it ,afther that i guess i forget.so it's plane,not ship,spaceship,starplane,!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!PEACE TO ALL!!!!!!!!!

hey I lived through it, later starship did suck no doubt, but when the first starship LP hit, we thought, "this is it" "Time for the Revolution" and it came this close too happening and Starship was cutting edge, like you might get arrested for just having that LP cause of all the mammalia on the that mothership, and thats a fact!

imho,the airplane and the starship are two differant bands, Ja with Jorma and Jack had almost no equal, along with Paul , Marty, Grace, and Spencer Dryden(may he rest in peace)created the soundtrack for a time and space..The early incarnation of  Starship had its moments. but never came close to matching the airplanes magic... dragonfly is a solid album (ride the tiger) and through the red octupus album there are some gems . but by 78 or so the starship crashed..once mickey thomas and company pushed paul and grace to the side  it was over..the JA reunion tour was fun the highlight was the mini tuna sets with Grace and paul joining in.. I was puzzeld at the time that another guitar player was in the band..We later got an explanation from the capt. and so it goes  thank you JA   

Miracles is one of the greatest love songs ever, Play on Love has the immortal line

"Are you talking about what it is you know

Or just repeating what it was you heard?"

There you have 2 examples.

-m-

methinks your "theorem" will not hold; ja was not a pop band and js was little more than a pop band after the first album. there can be no comparisons between filet mignon and hamburger.

No doubt this is a spirited debate! While most people feel JA far outshines JS, there was still good music being made in the JS era..... "Love Too Good" is an example of how JS continued to bring us Grace's soulful voice after JA had come and gone. And as far as rockers, how can you argue with"Stranger", and "Winds of Change", where again, Grace's voice carries that song. Agree, they are two different bands, but we get Grace's voice in both, so imho that makes JS completely relevant.

what's with the vocals being 10 times louder than the music in some of these recordings!!!   I need better balance to enjoy some of them.     I am obsessed with JA but I find the recording quality disturbing.  The 1966 one that starts off with Bear melt is perfect though.

The new form of JS is great....i saw them in Detroit.   I was blown out of my seat.  (who's kidding...i was standing the whole time)

Blows Against the Empire is a great album......good live too!

Slick Aguilar is a phenom!  

BLess It's Pointed Little Head could convince anyone that JA is untouchable. 

"If Clapton is god then Jack Casady is the Holy Ghost"     

I would buy anything that Jack "the Holy Ghost" would put out just to hear that bass such as...

Sweeping Up the Spotlight - Jefferson Airplane Live at the Fillmore East 1969
Release Date: February 13, 2007
RCA Legacy recordings

Has the Vault goosed the Airplane into new live stuff the same way it did with Neil Young?

1  Volunteers (Live)
2  Good Shepherd (Live)
3  Plastic Fantastic Lover (Live)
4  Uncle Sam Blues (Live)
5  3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds (Live)
6  You Wear Your Dresses Too Short (Live)
7  Come Back Baby (Live)
8  The Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil (Live)
9 Won't You Try/Saturday Afternoon (Live)
10    Won't You Try (Live)
11    Saturday Afternoon (Live)
12  White Rabbit (Live)
13  Crown of Creation (Live)
14  The Other Side Of This Life (Live)

Mr. H.

Jack Casady is great, but he's no Jack Bruce.

OH PLEASE!!!  First of all....people who are on the supreme level of these two men (Jack Casady and Jack Bruce) need not be compared.  I suppose if it helps you get your winks at night..so be it. 

p.s.- Jack C.'s better

 

 

Kharmakreep:

OH PLEASE!!!  First of all....people who are on the supreme level of these two men (Jack Casady and Jack Bruce) need not be compared.  I suppose if it helps you get your winks at night..so be it. 

p.s.- Jack B's better

Totally agree with you there ;)

Jack C and Jack B have really different styles. Both were great, great players.  I always thought Cassady's playing is more influenced by LSD and Bruce's by speed.  I'm serious.

 

As a frequent contributor to these forums (all of the Vault's threads) I have a confession to make -- I never saw the Airplane.  I had so many opportunities to see them too, at the Avalon, Fillmore West, Winterland, Golden Gate Park and others.  I saw Janis, Quicksilver, Steve Miller, Hendrix, The Who, the Dead, the Doors, but somehow missed the Airplane.  A friend in college convinced me that I should see them (after we listened to Bless it's Pointed Little Head on good blond Lebonese hashish), but suddenly, they were gone.  I consider this to be one of the biggest errors of my life.  That, and not seeing Led Zep at the Fillmore or Winterland.  Dang it.