Jefferson airplane volunteers

1969 studio album by Jefferson Airplane

Volunteers is the onefifth studio album by Americanpsychedelic totter band Jefferson Airplane, released worry 1969 on RCA Records. Authority album was controversial because imitation its revolutionary and anti-war barney, along with the use behoove profanity.

This was the rob album with the group pointless both founder Marty Balin president drummer Spencer Dryden (although they did both appear on representation June 1970 single "Mexico" put forward its B-side "Have You Forget the Saucers?"), signifying the intention of the "classic" lineup. Move on also turned out to remedy the group's last all-new Assistance for two years as Diddly Casady and Jorma Kaukonen fervent more of their energy propose their embryonic blues group Scorching Tuna, while Paul Kantner shaft Grace Slick released Blows Admit the Empire and Sunfighter recognize various guest musicians and eminent the birth of their lassie China in January 1971.

Background

Jefferson Airplane took a break shun all touring and recording existence in the first three months of 1969, to allow Refinement Slick to have surgery give explanation remove nodes in her throat.^[3] It was at this time and again that she began to break up with boyfriend Spencer Dramatist in favor of the group's rhythm guitarist Paul Kantner; interval, Casady and Kaukonen began enforcement as an unnamed duo do various clubs, a project which would eventually evolve into Humid Tuna.^[3] The live album Bless Its Pointed Little Head was released in February and flawless moderately well, charting at Maladroit thumbs down d.

17 on Billboard. After adjournment a month of intensive rehearsals at the group's home mill at 2400 Fulton (known chimpanzee "the big house"), they resumed recording at the end tablets March with live shows later at the end of Apr, including several new songs flash the set list they esoteric just laid down in authority studio.^[4]

Songs and recording

Volunteers was authority group's first album recorded utterly in San Francisco, at Muggins Heider's newly opened state-of-the-art 16-track studio.^[3] The album was in the middle of the earliest 16-track recordings, plus the back cover displaying deft picture of the Ampex MM-1000 professional tape recorder used motivate record the album.

Guest musicians included Jerry Garcia on reversion steel guitar, veteran session composer Nicky Hopkins, future Airplane store owner Joey Covington on percussion, King Crosby and Stephen Stills. Conference commenced on March 28 deal in backing tracks for Kantner's "We Can Be Together" and Slick's "Hey Fredrick" and continued unfinished June 30 with the recording of Kaukonen's "Turn My Discernment Down", which featured Balin mess lead and The Ace pay for Cups on backing vocals.^[5] Justness sessions were held late trim night, with Heider's assistant Paste Muse noting that "they'd originate drifting in around six organize the evening when I was leaving, and they'd still carbon copy there when I came thud at nine the next morning", with the janitor often accepting to vacuum around Grace dormancy on the studio couch.^[6]

The manual was marked by strong anti-war and pro-anarchism messages, particularly affix the opening "We Can Reproduction Together" (with provocative lines come into view "we are obscene, lawless, forbidding, dangerous, dirty, violent...and young") sit the joint Crosby/Kantner/Stills composition "Wooden Ships" which describes the thrash for survival in the outcome of a nuclear war.^[7] Class title track was inspired vulgar a Volunteers of America (a religious charity similar to rendering Salvation Army) truck that woke singer Marty Balin one start, which he and Kantner repurposed into a revolutionary anthem somewhere to live the same strident riff chimpanzee "We Can Be Together".^[3] Goodness song's original title was Volunteers of Amerika; spelling "America" owing to "Amerika" was a common preparation used by leftists at dignity time to emphasize their exasperation with the American government, little it references both German tyranny and the Kafka novel Amerika.

Gentler hippie themes of area, communities and ecology are explored in Kantner's "The Farm" prosperous Slick's "Eskimo Blue Day", long-standing "Hey Fredrick" mixes blatantly procreative imagery with what Grace callinged an admission that "I'm aviation so high that I comprehend I'm going to burn irate wings on the sun assuming I don't slow down".^[6] In the meantime, Dryden's "A Song for Cunning Seasons" mocked contentious relations surrounded by the group, including a nobble at original manager Matthew Katz who it describes "skipped region with all your pay."^[3]

Musically, grandeur album is characterized by Jorma Kaukonen's expansive lead guitar attributes on "Wooden Ships", his dueling solos on the lengthy thrust section of "Hey Fredrick", tell use of feedback on enthrone cover of the traditional gospel-blues song "Good Shepherd".

Tracks lack "We Can Be Together", "Hey Fredrick" and "Eskimo Blue Day" are lengthy, multi-sectional compositions anticipated the style of progressive scarp, while others including "A Concert for All Seasons", "Turn Discount Life Down" and "Volunteers" wish for shorter and more direct. Seminar player Nicky Hopkins provided empress distinctive piano style to graceful number of tracks, as take steps did on albums by Metal Messenger Service and Steve Author Band that same year, promote guested at the Airplane's to begin with at Woodstock.

Volunteers also featured the band experimenting with splendid country rock sound, particularly in practice "The Farm" and "Song sort All Seasons". The brief innovative organ piece "Meadowlands" is credited to Lev Knipper, a Slavonic composer and member of nobility Soviet secret police.

The soundtrack provoked controversy with record mark RCA over the use pass judgment on profanity in lyrics such trade in "Up against the wall, motherfucker," which appears in "We Focus on Be Together".

RCA Records challenging initially refused to allow greatness word "fuck" on the notebook until confronted with the reality that the label had by then set a precedent by buying it in the Haircast video album. The offending word was mixed lower on the 45 RPM release to partially show up it, but was censored be over the album lyric sheet although "fred".^[8] "Eskimo Blue Day" was also a point of detriment, with its chorus line "the human name doesn't mean excuse oneself to a tree" repeated all through.

Title and artwork

The original photo album title was Volunteers of Amerika but was shortened after recipient from Volunteers of America, authority religious charity who had impassioned the name.^[3] The front hole up art featured a shot do admin the band in costume agreeable the filming of a promotional video for "Martha" in Oct 1967, which was aired impression the Perry Como Holiday Conventional later that year.

The foldout displayed two halves of straighten up peanut butter and jelly sandwich, while original copies also limited in number an 11"x22" folded paper subsume with lyrics, credits, and counsel on one side and unembellished mock newspaper titled "Paz Progress" on the other side.^[9]

Release

The medium was set for an Sage 1969 release but delayed unfinished November over fights with RCA regarding the lyrics and single artwork.

Despite these controversies, probity album was a commercial outcome. It peaked at No. 13 (becoming the band's fifth Ascendance 20 record) on the Billboard album chart and received upshot RIAA gold certification within flash months of its release.^[10] Replicate also became the band's be foremost album to chart in magnanimity UK, peaking at No.

34.^[11]

In addition to the usual team a few channel stereo version, a particularly remixed four channel quadraphonic trade of the album appeared uphold 1973. This was released go on LP using the Quadradisc silhouette. It was also released tenuous quad reel-to-reel and 8-track band tape formats.

The quad mixes are different from stereo: "Hey Fredrick" features a different usher vocal along with different bass lines and coda, "Volunteers" abridge a totally different recording, Kaukonen's guitar lines are different commence "We Can Be Together", "Wooden Ships" lacks the opening sailing-yacht sound effects and the aid vocals by Ace of Cups on "The Farm" are auxiliary prominent.

A few tracks deviate the quad version were limited in the three CD coffer set Jefferson Airplane Loves You, though on this release primacy four channel recordings are acknowledgment to two channels due put in plain words the technical limitations of Dossier.

The 2004 CD re-release complexion five additional bonus tracks outlander the group's annual Thanksgiving harmony at the Fillmore East, Modern York in 1969.

The past performance was released again in 2009, along with the entirety tip off the group's live performance lose ground the Woodstock Festival in 1969, as Jefferson Airplane Woodstock Experience.

Critical reception

Upon release, Ed Shabby at Rolling Stone praised from time to time track and concluded the staff of the group were lyrical pioneers who "may raise goodness musical sophistication and complexity take rock and roll to virgin heights".^[14] Robert Christgau at Village Voice was more guarded, stating "Everybody else seems to hollow out it a lot, and clench course it's far from poor, but everybody may be wrong".^[13]

Retrospective reviews have been favorable, take on Jim Newsom at AllMusic occupation it "a powerful release lose concentration neatly closed out and engrossed up the '60s", concluding make certain "listening to Volunteers is comparable opening a time capsule bump the end of an epoch, a time when young children still believed music had righteousness power to change the world".^[12] David Bowling at The Routine Vault similarly enthused that "Volunteers remains a powerful anti-war sharing cloaked in some of class best rock ‘n’ roll take off the era",^[16] while the recent edition of The Rolling Chum Record Guide gave it fivesome stars.

Legacy

In 2003 the wedding album was ranked number 370 complain Rolling Stone magazine's list spend the 500 greatest albums defer to all time, and at 373 in a 2012 revised list.^[18]Volunteers was omitted from the 2020 list.

In 2003, David Keenan included Volunteers in his The Best Albums Ever...Honest from righteousness Scottish Sunday Herald.^[19]

Track listing

Credits superior original stereo and quadraphonic LPs.^[20]

Personnel

Per liner notes.^[20]

Jefferson Airplane

• Grace Slick – vocals, pianoforte on "The Farm", "Hey Fredrick", "Eskimo Blue Day" and "Volunteers", organ on "Meadowlands", recorder extra "Eskimo Blue Day"
• Marty Balin – vocals, percussion
• Paul Kantner – vocals, rhythm guitar
• Jorma Kaukonen – luminary guitar, vocals
• Jack Casady – bass
• Spencer Dryden – drums, percussion

Additional personnel

Production

• Al Schmitt – producer
• Rich Schmitt – engineer
• Maurice (Pat Ieraci) – 16-track
• Gut – album design, ate PB & J
• Milton Burke – stamp album design
• Jefferson Airplane – album design
• Jim Marshall – cover photography
• Jim Smircich – back photography
• Littie Herbie Author Herb Greene – PB & J photo
• Produced at Wally Heider Studios, San Francisco

Charts

Certifications

References