How did I live without Europe ‘72 for so long? Plus I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole of live recordings and finally “get it. Always liked Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty, but regarded them as exceptions to the general rule of pointless, sloppy jams, (and I’m not a fan of jam bands anyway, apart from the Allman Bros.) Anyway, the recent Amazon doc on the Dead made me completely reassess them. For years I associated them with the worst aspects of Deadhead “culture” and the stereotype of the hippie burnout. After 1972, Jefferson Airplane effectively split into two groups. Two songs from that album, Somebody to Love and White Rabbit, are among Rolling Stone s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The individual members all looked like they were in different groups, and the crypto-revolutionary lyrics haven’t aged well. Their 1967 break-out album Surrealistic Pillow ranks on the short list of the most significant recordings of the Summer of Love. So they have totemic significance, but sound pretty unimpressive as a band: shambolic in live settings, so-so songwiting, passable vocals, subpar studio production. They rode the zeitgeist after Time magazine discovered the Haight, and were one of the few groups to play at all three countercultural signpost festivals. Most people are aware that Grace Slick was not the original female singer for Jefferson Airplane. The advance paid by RCA was said to be 25,000, and by the time the first album (Jefferson Airplane Takes Off) was recorded the following winter, the group was fully electric. The first, whose full title is Live At The Fillmore Auditorium 10/15/66 Late Show - Signes Farewell, contains vocalist Signe Andersons final performance with the band. now I consider them a flavor-of-the-month group who overstayed their welcome. Collectors Choice Music is releasing four albums of live Jefferson Airplane performances. I used to think of them as one of the iconic late 60’s rock bands.
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