Jefferson Airplane - Early Flight (1965 - 1970)
Страна: US
Жанр: Psychedelic Rock
Год выпуска: 1965
Формат: MP3
Битрейт аудио: 256 kbps
Продолжительность: 32 минуты 29 секунд
Трэклист:
01. "High Flyin' Bird" – 2:32
02. "Runnin' 'Round This World" – 2:22
03. "That's Alright" – 2:14
04. "Uncle Sam Blues" – 5:07 (on releases after 1997 only)
05. "In the Morning" – 6:24
06. "J.P.P. McStep B. Blues" – 2:48
07. "Go to Her" – 4:00
08. "Up or Down" – 6:17
09. "Mexico" – 2:05
10. "Have You Seen the Saucers?" – 3:38
Доп. информация: Early Flight is a 1974 compilation album by the American psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane. It features previously unreleased material from 1966 and 1970. Some of the songs are from the earliest days of the Airplane and feature vocals by Signe Toly Anderson and Skip Spence on drums.
Jefferson Airplane formed in San Francisco during the summer of 1965, emerging from the San Francisco Bay folk music boom (see American folk music revival). Although the Airplane was considered the pre-eminent San Francisco group of the period, Paul Kantner was the only native San Franciscan in the band.
The group's founder was singer Marty Balin, who had established a minor career as a pop singer in the early Sixties and had made several recordings under his own name. In mid-1965 Balin raised funds to open a night club, The Matrix.
Balin met folk musician Paul Kantner at another local club, the Drinking Gourd. Kantner had started out performing on the Bay Area folk circuit in the early 1960s, alongside fellow folkies Jerry Garcia, David Crosby and Janis Joplin. He has cited folk group The Kingston Trio as a strong early influence. Kantner briefly moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1964 to work in a folk duo with future Airplane/Starship member David Freiberg (who subsequently joined Quicksilver Messenger Service).
After Balin recruited Kantner, the two set about selecting other musicians to form the house band at the Matrix. After Balin heard female vocalist Signe Toly Anderson at the Drinking Gourd, he invited her to be the group's co-lead singer. Anderson sang with the band for a year, departing in late 1966 after the birth of her first child.
Kantner next recruited an old friend, blues guitarist Jorma Kaukonen. Originally from Washington, DC, Kaukonen had moved to California in the early 1960s and had met Kantner while at Santa Clara University in 1962. Kaukonen was invited to jam with the new band and although initially reluctant to join, was won over after playing his guitar through a tape delay device that was part of the sound system used by Ken Kesey for his Acid Test parties. The original lineup was completed by drummer Jerry Peloquin and acoustic bassist Bob Harvey.
The origin of the group's name is often disputed. "Jefferson airplane" is slang for a used paper match split to hold a marijuana joint that has been smoked too short to hold without burning the hands - an improvised roach clip. An urban legend claims this was the origin of the band's name, but according to band member Jorma Kaukonen, the name was invented by his friend Steve Talbot as a parody of blues names such as Blind Lemon Jefferson. A 2007 press release quoted Kaukonen as saying:
"I had this friend [Talbot] in Berkeley who came up with funny names for people," explains Kaukonen. "His name for me was Blind Thomas Jefferson Airplane (for blues pioneer Blind Lemon Jefferson). When the guys were looking for band names and nobody could come up with something, I remember saying, 'You want a silly band name? I got a silly band name for you!'"
The group made its first public appearance at the opening night of The Matrix club on 13 August 1965. The band drew inspiration from The Beatles, The Byrds and The Lovin' Spoonful, gradually developing a more pop-oriented electric sound.
A few weeks after the group was formed, Peloquin departed, in part because of his disdain for the others' drug use. Although he was not a drummer, singer-guitarist Skip Spence (who later founded Moby Grape) was then invited to replace Peloquin. In October 1965, after the other members decided that Harvey's bass playing was not up to par, Harvey was replaced by guitarist-bassist Jack Casady, an old friend of Kaukonen's from Washington. Casady played his first gig with the Airplane at a college concert in Berkeley, California, two weeks after he arrived in San Francisco.
The group's performing skills improved rapidly and they gained a following in and around San Francisco, aided by reviews from veteran music journalist Ralph J. Gleason, the jazz critic of the San Francisco Chronicle; after seeing the band at the Matrix in late 1965 he proclaimed them "one of the best bands ever." Gleason's support raised the band's profile greatly, and within three months their manager Matthew Katz was fielding offers from record companies, although they had yet to perform outside the Bay Area.
Two significant early concerts featuring the Airplane were held in late 1965. The first was the dance at the Longshoremen's Hall in San Francisco on 16 October 1965, the first of many happenings in the Bay Area, and it was here that Ralph Gleason first saw the Airplane. At this concert they were supported by a local folk-rock group, The Great Society, which featured Grace Slick as lead singer. Kantner met her for the first time that night. A few weeks later, on 6 November, they headlined a benefit concert for the San Francisco Mime Troupe, the first of many engagements for rising entrepreneur Bill Graham, who became their manager.
In November 1965 Jefferson Airplane signed a recording contract with RCA Victor, which included an unheard-of advance of $25,000. On December 10, 1965 the group played at the first Bill Graham show at the Fillmore ballroom, supported by The Great Society and others. The Airplane also appeared at Family Dog shows promoted by Chet Helms.
The group's first single was Balin's "It's No Secret" (a tune he had written with Otis Redding in mind); the B-side was "Runnin' Round The World", the song that led to the band's first major clash with RCA.
After the Airplane's debut LP Jefferson Airplane Takes Off was completed in March 1966, Skip Spence quit the band. He was eventually replaced by Spencer Dryden, who played his first show with the Airplane at the Berkeley Folk Festival on July 4, 1966.
Manager Matthew Katz was fired in August -- causing legal fallout that continued for years -- and Balin's friend and roommate Bill Thompson was installed as permanent road manager and temporary band manager. Thompson, a friend and ally of the band, was a former Chronicle staffer who had convinced reviewers Ralph Gleason and John Wasserman to see the band. Thanks to Gleason's influence, Thompson was able to book the group for appearances at the Berkeley Folk Festival and the Monterey Jazz Festival.
Jefferson Airplane Takes Off was released in September 1966. The folk-music-influenced album included John D. Loudermilk's "Tobacco Road" and Dino Valente's "Let's Get Together", as well as original ballads "It's No Secret" and "Come Up the Years." The LP garnered considerable attention in the USA and became a gold album. RCA initially pressed only 15,000 copies, but it sold more than 10,000 in San Francisco alone, prompting the label to reprint it. For the reprinting, the company deleted "Runnin' All Over The World" (which had appeared on early mono pressings), because executives objected to the word "trip" in the lyrics. For similar reasons, RCA also substituted altered versions of two other tracks, "Let Me In" and "Run Around". The original pressings of Takes Off featuring "Runnin' 'Round The World" are now worth thousands of dollars.
