Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow
The second album by Jefferson Airplane, Surrealistic Pillow was a groundbreaking piece of folk-rock-based psychedelia, and it hit -- literally -- like a shot heard round the world; where the later efforts from bands like the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and especially, the Charlatans, were initially not too much more than cult successes, Surrealistic Pillow rode the pop charts for most of 1967, soaring into that rarefied Top Five region occupied by the likes of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and so on, to which few American rock acts apart from the Byrds had been able to lay claim since 1964. And decades later the album still comes off as strong as any of those artists' best work. From the Top Ten singles "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love" to the sublime "Embryonic Journey," the sensibilities are fierce, the material manages to be both melodic and complex (and it rocks, too), and the performances, sparked by new member Grace Slick on most of the lead vocals, are inspired, helped along by Jerry Garcia (serving as spiritual and musical advisor and sometimes guitarist). Every song is a perfectly cut diamond, too perfect in the eyes of the bandmembers, who felt that following the direction of producer Rick Jarrard and working within three- and four-minute running times, and delivering carefully sung accompaniments and succinct solos, resulted in a record that didn't represent their real sound. Regardless, they did wonderful things with the music within that framework, and the only pity is that RCA didn't record for official release any of the group's shows from the same era, when this material made up the bulk of their repertory. That way the live versions, with the band's creativity unrestricted, could be compared and contrasted with the record. The songwriting was spread around between Marty Balin, Slick, Paul Kantner, and Jorma Kaukonen, and Slick and Balin (who never had a prettier song than "Today," which he'd actually written for Tony Bennett) shared the vocals; the whole album was resplendent in a happy balance of all of these creative elements, before excessive experimentation (musical and chemical) began affecting the band's ability to do a straightforward song. The group never made a better album, and few artists from the era ever did.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts of the Week
-
First Anniversary Of Modern Music Blog A year passed either well or badly. This week of last year, i made a decision to share my musical tho...
-
Track List 1. Walk By Yourself 2. Telegram (Edited Version) 3. This Flight Tonight (Single) 4. When The Lights Come Down (Live Ver...
-
Rating: 5/10 Modern Music Review Indie Rock Three years have passed since "Chutes Too Narrow" and The Shins have dropped another a...
-
Rating: 8.6/10 Modern Music Review Animal Collective member Panda Bear (a.k.a. Noah Lennox) boldly returns with his long-awaited third solo ...
-
Shit Albums Come Clarity features thirteen explosive tracks, including the roll-out single and video, "Take this Life". Well,when...
-
Rating: 8.6/10 Modern Music Review This is the first solo work by formerly member of Suede. We miss Suede, those dashing guitars, perfect po...
-
Fireball is a hard rock album by Deep Purple. It was released in 1971 and was the second studio LP by the classic lineup of the group. On t...
0 COMMENTS:
Post a Comment