as far as i'm concerned after Crown of Creation you'll start getting some dodgy stuff but i can live with it...but the starship?!! aaarrrgh!!!!!!!!!!! more like starshit!

LONG LIVE THE GREAT SOCIETY!

thewhiterabbit:

as far as i'm concerned after Crown of Creation you'll start getting some dodgy stuff but i can live with it...but the starship?!! aaarrrgh!!!!!!!!!!! more like starshit!

LONG LIVE THE GREAT SOCIETY!

Amen!

1st) first)      post here @ Wolfgangs pad....but actually  red oc ti ***   (miracles)    (RED)   is the only Jefferson Starship in my O.

By bye by the way weigh does every body stud STUD  stutter here or am I trippin?????

 

 

 

I agree. If you wen't around in those days, I suggest you watch John Waters' Hairspray  to get a sense of how mundane things were in the early 60s, musically and otherwise. The Airplane came up with a signature approach to creating music, and did it pretty much out of the blue. In other words, they weren't copying a style or building on previous work.  Not only the interplay between Jorma & Jack, which is brilliant, but also the three vocalists interweaving their voices like additional instruments, playing off each other & the music. They were great live, too, which is not true for a lot of bands. They could take their music and really stretch out. Forty years later, I can still put on the JA music and get a rush. I especially like Greasy Heart. I doesn't bother me that Grace & Paul, et al went commercial with JS in the 70s and made some big bucks. They deserve it for the genius material they produced in the 60s. And, commecially, some of the JS music is fine. I was also at the Chet Helms Memorial and was please to see Kantner put in one of the best performances of the day..

tmyawtb:

I agree. If you wen't around in those days, I suggest you watch John Waters' Hairspray  to get a sense of how mundane things were in the early 60s, musically and otherwise. The Airplane came up with a signature approach to creating music, and did it pretty much out of the blue. In other words, they weren't copying a style or building on previous work.  Not only the interplay between Jorma & Jack, which is brilliant, but also the three vocalists interweaving their voices like additional instruments, playing off each other & the music. They were great live, too, which is not true for a lot of bands. They could take their music and really stretch out. Forty years later, I can still put on the JA music and get a rush. I especially like Greasy Heart. I doesn't bother me that Grace & Paul, et al went commercial with JS in the 70s and made some big bucks. They deserve it for the genius material they produced in the 60s. And, commecially, some of the JS music is fine. I was also at the Chet Helms Memorial and was please to see Kantner put in one of the best performances of the day..

Have you people totally forgot about Volunteers? One of the all-time great political albums. Now, that was the real Airplane peak. I saw the Airplane perform at the Fillmore East just days after the National Guard killing of the students at Kent State. When they sang "Look what's happening out in the streets. Got to revolution, got to revolution." I thought the audience was going empty out on Second Ave. and march up to City Hall with fists raised. It was an unbelievable performance.

Dear Jefferson.........fans,

As the band evolved, becoming at times more political as the Starship took-off, I was never lost to the great albums that came out with the new personel, however the loss of Marty's voice, Jorma's gitar and Jack's bass made me pine for the original!  With that loss we gained HOT TUNA!  So sweet the sound.

The Vault's JA concerts are real gems and I can not thank the Vault enough for them.  We are truely blessed to have such generous people, who don't mind sharing Bill Graham's collections.

Thanks and GOD bless everyone!

 

I’d heard of the Vault but couldn’t get to a computer for a few days. All I could think was please give us some Jefferson airplane, oh please, oh please. I’m not disappointed. I now hunger for more.

 

Back in my 60’s youth there was a Dead/JA debate on par with the Beatles/Stones. Love the Dead but the Airplane was my band. Saw Starship in 1975 and the reunion but never got to see them in the day and never came across any bootlegs so I was living off of Bless Its Pointed Little Head until the boxed set and Fillmore East. I’m so grateful for all these Vault recordings. And I’m excited to hear the November 69 stuff RCA will release in 2007 (as per the Official JA site.) 

 

The later day Starship has acted as a deterrent to the youth of today understanding JA’s place in the history of rock. They were two different bands as far as I’m concerned and should be treated as such and taken on its own considerable merits.

 

Thank you Vaultkateers. More please.

 

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

 

Peter H   

Jefferson Airplane was by far the better version of the group. There is no one else like Jorma & Jack. Not for nothing, having Grace sleep with several band members did not hurt either.

 

Billiam:

Did any here see the JA reunion in 1989? This was after Grace Slick has said she was too old to do rock and roll (and in fact said no 45-year old should be on stage doing rock and roll!). I somehow missed it and was wondering if they could still bring it. I assume they could given Balin's voice today and the fact that Hot Tuna was still active. NinetoThe Sky: For me, a 60's guy, the Airplane was more interesting to me than the Starship. Just listening to the two concerts here at the Vault of the Starship confirms my feeling that they became more pop-rock and commercial. But hey, they were trying to make money and the times changed. Interviews with Marty Balin from the 60's into the 70's are revealing, as Mr. Radical changed his tune....

 

...yes sir  i was @ the Greek show in LA,  about 10th row center....they did a respectable job,   the thing I remember the most was more than half of the people in the front all came from work, I guess, with their thousand dollar plus    R man ee    suits etc....and all I could think about was his leather chair waits @ the bank  very Ironic   Slicks singen on these recordings are beyond unbelievable from high to low low to high     find some more versions of bear melt      all the little animals......OMG,   I'm 51 never seen them until 1989.....bless you Wolfgang   I'm sure you are resting in peace,   unless you read the led zep hate monger disertation.

I've gotta disagree. In fact, I'd say that continued interest in the JA is largely in spite of the JS. I don't know how many times I've mentioned how much I love the Airplane and people have rolled their eyes and started talking about how lame the Starship was (of course, that's the old Starship, not the current version, which is more in the spirit of the Airplane, but isn't exactly well known outside of the Jefferson fan community).

I totally agree. As we used to say in my youth, this is far f****n out!  As a teenager who grew up in San Francisco, and went to high school just up the street from Haight Ashbury in 1966-67, I can remember the real excitement of receiving Surrealistic Pillow as a Christmas present from one of my best friends just after its release.  One needs to remember the context of the times.  The material on that album was real cutting-edge stuff.

I was / am a huge fan of the Airplane. I think they were the best band to come out of San Francisco back in the day. My favorite albums are, in order, Crown of Creation, Volunteers, and Surrealistic Pillow. As for the Starship, I kind of enjoyed Blows Against the Empire, and there are some things on Octopus that I like, but that's about it.

An interesting and obviously passionately felt thread with lots of opinions -- so let me add mine. My brother came home from his first winter break from college with Surrealistic Pillow -- but Baxter's to me is the real zenith -- just outstanding. Starship is pretty much an entirely different thing. MUCH more commercial. Except for Blows Against the Empire. Blows is one of the really distinctive albums from a really interesting time (after Woodstock, Grace is pregnant with Paul's baby, early 70s, Nixon, and Paul K got the chance to do his sci-fi concept.) And he called  some old friends --  no one has mentioned the lineup on Blows. Members of the Dead, Quicksilver, CSN -- and members of the Airplane. A regular SF all star lineup. No other  Starship album compares in anyway. The Airplane were better as a "band" and for their impact, but to me Blows stands on its own and doesn't need to take a back seat to anyone's album.

agreed. there is no comparison between the airplane of 67-70 and any permutation thereafter, blows against the empire excepted.  what was once energetic, disrespectful, challenging and unique became trite, commercial and bland....like the times.