"Original Album Classics" by PATTI SMITH GROUP – Featuring Five Albums on Arista Records - "Horses" (1975), "Radio Ethiopia" (1976), "Easter" (1978), "Wave" (1979) and "Dream Of Life" (1988) – featuring Producers and Arrangers John Cale, Jimmy Iovine, Todd Rundgren, Tom Verlaine, Scott Litt and Fred Smith with Musicians Lenny Kaye, Richard Sohl, Ivan Kral, Bruce Brody, Jay Dee Daugherty, Fred Smith and more (October 2008 UK Sony/Arista/Legacy 5CD Hard Card Capacity Wallet with Mini LP Artwork Card Sleeves – Each Album With 1996 Bob Irwin Remasters and Bonuses) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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There are a wad of 5CD capacity wallets (that's what they're technically calling them nowadays) in Sony's 'Original Album Classics" series of mini box sets - and quite a few 3CD variants as well. But some just stick out better than most - Johnny Winter, Shuggie Otis, Sly & The Family Stone, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac in the 3CD issues, etc. 

And so it is with the mighty Patti Smith. Armed with 1996 Remasters by Bob Irwin and Bonuses on all five CDs - you have to say that this 2008 Legacy reissue with its dinky mini LP artwork card sleeves and tasty purchase price has it nailed to the urinated river on every front. Let's get at the details 'cause there's a wave of them...

UK released 13 October 2008 - "Original Album Classics" by PATTI SMITH on Sony/Arista/Legacy 88697313832 (Barcode 886973138328) offers Five Remastered CDs (each with Bonuses) in a Hard Card Capacity Wallet with Five Mini LP Repro Artwork Card Sleeves and plays out as follows:

CD1 "Horses" (46:42 minutes):

1. Gloria (i) In Excelsis Deo (ii) Gloria (Version) [Side 1]

2. Redondo Beach 

3. Birdland 

4. Free Money 

5. Kimberly [Side 2]

6. Break It Up 

7. Land (i) Horses (ii) Land Of A Thousand Dances (iii) La Mer(de)

8. Elegie 

Tracks 1 to 8 are her debut album "Horses" - released December 1975 in the USA on Arista AL 4066 and December 1975 in the UK on Arista ARTY 122. Produced by JOHN CALE - it peaked at No. 46 on the US albums charts (didn't chart UK)

BONUS TRACK:

9. My Generation - non-album B-side of the March 1976 US 45-single "Gloria" on Arista AS 0171 - cover version of The Who classic - first appeared digitally on the 1996 CD reissue of "Horses" as a lone bonus track 

CD2 "Radio Ethiopia" (48:40 minutes):

1. Ask The Angels [Side 1]

2. Ain't It Strange

3. Poppies 

4. Pissing In A River 

5. Pumping (My Heart) [Side 2]

6. Distant Fingers 

7. Radio Ethiopia

8. Abyssinia 

Tracks 1 to 8 are her second studio album "Radio Ethiopia" - released October 1976 in the USA on Arista AL 4097 and October 1976 in the UK on Arista SPARTY 1001. Produced by JACK DOUGLAS and credited to PATTI SMITH GROUP - it peaked at No. 122 in the USA (didn't chart UK)

BONUS TRACK:

9. Chiklets - Previously Unreleased track from the 1976 sessions, first appeared digitally on the 1996 CD reissue

CD3 "Easter" (46:59 minutes):

1.  Till Victory [Side 1]

2. Space Monkey 

3. Because The Night 

4. Ghost Dance 

5. Babelogue 

6. Rock N Roll Nigger 

7. Privilege (Set Me Free) [Side 2]

8. We Three 

9. 25th Floor 

10. High On Rebellion 

11. Easter 

Tracks 1 to 11 are her third studio album "Easter" - released March 1978 in the USA on Arista AB 4171 and March 1978 in the UK on Arista SPART 1043. Produced by JIMMY IOVINE and credited to PATTI SMITH GROUP - it peaked at No. 20 in the US album charts and No. 16 in the UK. The album also had exclusive song material from Tom Verlaine of Television (a co-write on "Space Monkey") and Bruce Springsteen ("Because The Night")

BONUS TRACK:

12. Godspeed - non-album B-side to the March 1978 US 45-single "Because The Night" on Arista AS 0318 - first appearance digitally as a lone Bonus Track on the 1996 CD reissue of "Easter"

CD4 "Wave" (43:25 minutes):

1. Frederick [Side 1]

2. Dancing Barefoot 

3. So You Want To Be (A Rock 'n' Roll Star) 

4. Hymn 

5. Revenge 

6. Citizen Ship [Side 2]

7. Seven Ways Of Going 

8. Broken Flag 

9. Wave 

Tracks 1 to 9 are the fourth studio album "Wave" - released May 1979 in the USA on Arista AB 4221 and May 1979 in the UK on Arista SPART 1086. Produced by TODD RUNDGREN and credited to PATTI SMITH GROUP - it peaked at No. 18 in the US and No. 44 on the album charts

BONUS TRACKS:

10. Fire Of Unknown Origin 

11. 54321/Wave - Tracks 10 and 11 are the non-album B-sides of the September 1979 US 45 "So You Want To Be (A Rock 'n' Roll Star)" on Arista AS 0453 - first appeared digitally as two Bonus Tracks on the 1996 CD reissue of "Wave" - "54321/Wave" recorded live in New York, 23 May 1979

CD "Dream Of Life" (51:45 minutes):

1. People Have The Power

2. Up There Down There 

3. Paths That Cross 

4. Dream Of Life 

5. Where Duty Calls 

6. Going Under 

7. Looking For You (I Was)

8. The Jackson Song 

Tracks 1 to 8 are their fifth studio album "Dream Of Life" - released July 1988 in the USA on Arista AL 8453 and July 1988 in the UK on Arista 209 172 (Vinyl Versions) and on CD too. Produced by FRED SMITH and JIMMY IOVINE – it peaked at No. 65 in the USA and No. 70 in the UK on the album charts. Note: original versions of the album had the track order as follows: Tracks 1, 6, 2, and 3 as Side 1 with Side 2 as Tracks  4, 5, 6 and 7. This CD is based on the June 1996 CD Remaster that altered that running order. 

BONUS TRACKS: 

9. As The Night Goes By - previously unreleased track from the sessions 

10. Wild Leaves - non-album B-side to the May 1988 US 45-single "People Have The Power" on Arista AS1-9689 - both tracks first appeared digitally as Bonuses on the 1996 reissue of "Dream Of Life"

The hard card slipcase or capacity wallet (as they like to call it now) houses the five Mini LP Repro Sleeves with the album info available online at Legacy Recordings website for 'Original Album Classics' - they are nice to look at, tactile and with those 1996 Remasters and Bonuses - very cool indeed. The audio is superb – so damn good - all thoughts of those first waves of dullard 80ts CDs banished. It is a shame there isn't a separate slip-in booklet to accompany these five-disc overhauls, but you can't deny that for the price, there is an awful lot of goodness on offer here for really not a lot of wonga. To the poet and her band of merry men...

It is surely the height of period cool to open your debut album with lyrics like "...Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine..." – you go lady of words and music. Patti re-writes the Van Morrison-written THEM classic "Gloria" into a musical pyre – building, building as it hurtles to the finish line with the hymn "In Excelsis Deo" thrown in for good measure. Her sort of Clash-type Reggae Rock kicks in with "Redondo Beach" – looking for her beau down by an ocean of smudge-faced teen suicides. "Gloria" was good for sure, a sure-fire 45-single winner. But for me her special kind of genius began to really show with the ethereally beautiful "Birdland" – a half-spoken and half-sung tale of lost boys left alone by cruel daddies – Lenny Kaye's fantastic guitar so subtly aiding the heavy storytelling (same applies to the piano ache in "Elegie" that finishes Side 2). 

And then, just when you think you've nailed the LP's Punk, New Wave and Art Rock credentials – she moves you with The Velvet Underground-doomy "Free Money" – hot in jet planes as it thrashes its way out your speakers with such anger and life (love those doubled vocals). And on it goes towards a nine-minute three-part collage of Gloria-type speed called "Land" – a racer that includes Chris Kenner's Atlantic Records 60ts soul dancer "Land Of A Thousand Dances" amidst the mantra of Horses, Horses, Horses – Johnny doing the Watusi in a pretty little place in a sea of possibilities - how utterly brill. 

After a balls-to-the-wall breakout like "Easter" – it was going to be hard to follow up, but she did it with the spit and sawdust kick-ass power of "Radio Ethiopia". Hot sometimes as you "Ask The Angels" (great guitar) and don't look at me in this broken state of "Ain't It Strange". I guess "Poppies" is the closest she's come a 'commercial' sound singing about longing and addiction to all manner of debilitating things while the notorious "Pissing In A River" just reeks of pain and loss of love. And don't you just tingle at the sheer rocking abandon in "Pumping" - the soloing axes screeching as she wails about connection and her heart pumping - wow! I would admit that the grunge 10-minutes of the title track is still hard for me to take all in one go, but I was surprised and even taken aback by the "Wild Horses" Rolling Stones acoustic-beauty of the bonus track "Chiklets" - a middleweight boxer getting eulogized. I would probably go as far as saying that the "Radio Ethiopia" album has weathered even better than its more famous and illustrious horsey predecessor – and the Remaster has upped its menace four-fold to where it should always have been. 

In 1978, Bruce Springsteen was all grown-up by the time he released the hard-as-nails "Darkness On The Edge Of Town" LP and it seemed his knack of giving away great songs to other artists was hitting something of a zenith (Southside Johnny, Graham Parker and later Gary U.S. Bonds, Donna Summer and Dave Edmunds). But he kept his best for Patti. I was a Bruce-o-nut in 1978 (continued from 1974 in fact) so the fact that the wicked "Easter" album also contained the equally rampant "Because The Night" by The Boss was all right in the dark-night by me. Other winners included the chug muscle of "Space Monkey" with that old-fashioned organ whining – rusty Polaroids and guitars. And there is peace to your brother in the Indian-chant of "Ghost Dance". She is joined by Jackson Pollock, Jimi Hendrix and Jesus in the infamous "Rock n Roll Ni**er" - while Brit tunesmiths Mark London (Manager to Stones The Crows and Maggie Bell) and Michael Leander provided her with the very Blondie-rocking "Privilege (She Me Free)" – a reason to live – make me lie down in green pastures. And while I never could dig the jagged mayhem of "High On Rebellion" – once again the Remaster saves the day with the superb six-minutes of "Godspeed" – a Bonus Track B-side about static and adrenalin.

"Wave" has always been seen as the let’s go for commercial album and therefore poo-pooed for it, but I liked the Rundgren-esque keyboard fills on "Frederick" and the very Velvets feel to "Dancing Barefoot" – a fantastic song in my not-so-humble opinion – some strange music that draws me in. She sings of sweet payback as she skewers a former flame in "Revenge" (love that huge guitar solo, so Hall & Oates "Along The Red Ledge" that I believe Rundgren also produced) and Patti gives even more lambasting to the message in the Byrds industry-acidic "So You Want To Be (A Rock 'n' Roll Star)". Sounding like a drunken sailor, I love the ramshackle feel to the B-side "5-4-3-2-1" – another Bonus that likes up to the moniker. She even finds a tranquil Galilee of sorts in "Seven Ways Of Going" albeit one steeped in a sort of East meets the West rock mysticism (a sleeper on a very underrated album in my opinion). 

After a decade away, she returned to much ballyhoo with 1988's "Dream Of Life" - only eight tracks - but many with that fire of old (even if the reviews were mixed). It opens strongly where "Power Have The Power" sounds like a rocked-up Buffy St. Marie as does "Up There Down There" - a great Rock shuffler with her trademark vocal style letting rip once again. But both are soundly trumped by the sheer loveliness of "The Jackson Song" while "Going Under" feels more hurt than it wants to admit. Of the Bonuses the acoustic-light "As The Night Goes By" feels the lesser to the falling of "Wild Leaves" to the ground. 

For sure you could argue that "Wave" and "Dream Of Life" are not as spectacular as the first three, but for me Patti Smith is like John Martyn or Bruce or Joni - gotta have the lot because I know there will be magic in there somewhere. Babelogue on and on - you lovely slightly loony poetess...

"After Bathing At Baxter's" by JEFFERSON AIRPLANE - Third Album from December 1967 in Stereo on RCA Victor Records - featuring Grace Slick, Marty Balin, Paul Kantner, Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady and Spencer Dryden (August 2003 RCA/BMG Heritage CD Reissue – Bob Irwin Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...My Love Talks To Winking Windows..."

Popping more than balloons in the public parks of Sixties San Francisco – I'm sure she did mate. A visionary time – genius – indulgent knob – take your pick. I suppose in the 52-year comfort-zone of 2019, it's so easy to be pass-remarkable about the year 1967 and its hallucinogenic words, third-eye thinking and peaceful ideals. The Summer of Love – Flower Power – letting it all hang out – rebelling against the man, man - and all that. And yet if you ever wanted proof-positive of how to argue that 'experimentation and drug-taking indulgence will produce brilliance' – then a listen to the Airplane's out-there third album "After Bathing At Baxter's" from November of that astonishing year will settle it for you. It's bonkers – it's brill – it's gobbledegook (try listening to the second track "A Small Package Of Value Will Come To You, Shortly" and not laugh/cringe). For better or worse "After Bathing At Baxter's" is a truly evocative time capsule into that musically explosive year – echoes that still inform our listening peccadillos to this day.

Let’s frame the picture first. Jefferson Airplane had exploded onto the East Coast music scene in 1965 and their cutesy Byrds-like debut "Jefferson Airplane Takes Off" had hit the shops in August 1966 to critical acclaim and a respectable debut chart position. But the second platter "Surrealistic Pillow" and its two top-ten smash singles "Somebody To Love" and the trippy "White Rabbit" made them cultural icons and commercial stars (the LP shifted a million copies) with a public and record company eager for more come album number three – more hits – more controversy – more madness. But already feeling artistically strangled and deliberately eschewing the perceived commercialism of the day (consolidate your fan base and simply give them more of what they want) – the San Francisco band holed up in the studio for nearly six months and on RCA’s dime made the music they wanted without the boffins in ten-gallon hats and Crimplene slacks knowing what was going on. Probably just as well they weren’t listening to the nine-minute hippy-fest that is "Spare Chaynge" where Bassist Jack Casady, Guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and Drummer Spencer Dryden have a wee bit of an instrumental wig-out while blissfully unaware RCA Victor hick-types foot the not inconsiderable bill. Even the LP sleeve was cryptic – you had to turn over the front cover to see what words the cartoon-drawn Fred Flintstone Whacky Races Jefferson Airplane was hauling on its trailing banner - "After Bathing At Baxter's" (the LP’s title is words from a Gary Blackman poem reproduced on the inner sleeve of original albums) – complete with an environmental message amidst the modern-day detritus splattered about the city below – ‘Every Litter Bit Helps’. And its eleven songs were also broken up into five thematic bits with weirdly-worded banner-headings like "Streetmasse" and "Shizoforest". Yeah man…

Co-founder Marty Balin and leading songwriter light on the "Takes Off" debut and its follow-up "Surrealistic Pillow" allegedly found the experimental jams and sessions gruelling and even distasteful - leaving Grace Slick and Paul Kantner to step forward and provide seven of the eleven songs with the remainder of the band improvising the rest (Balin has only one credit on the LP – a co-write with Kantner on "Young Girl Sunday Blues)".  When it hit Billboard in late December 1967 - the public were amused and disinterested in equal measure with "…Baxter's" stalling at No. 17 whereas "Pillow" had busted No. 3 with ease. But time and distance has shown that their artistic freak-out had merit – especially when you take into account the equally cool and brilliant "Crown Of Creation" album that followed in 1968. Let’s get stuck into those wild tymes of the year before…here are the pooneils…

UK released August 2003 (July 2003 in the USA) - "After Bathing At Baxter's" by JEFFERSON AIRPLANE on RCA/BMG Heritage 82876 53225 2 (Barcode 828765322522) is an Expanded Edition 'Original Masters' CD Reissue with Four Bonus Tracks (three of which are Previously Unissued) and pans out as follows (68:30 minutes);

"Streetmasse" [Side 1]

1. The Ballad Of You & Me & Pooneil

2. A Small Package Of Value Will Come To You, Shortly

3. Young Girl Sunday Blues

"The War Is Over"

4. Martha

5. Wild Tyme (H)

"Hymn to an Older Generation"

6. The Last Wall of the Castle

7. rejoice

"How Suite It Is" [Side 2]

8. Watch Her Ride

9. Spare Chaynge

"Shizoforest Love Suite"

10. Two Heads

11. Won't You Try/Saturday Afternoon

Tracks 1 to 11 are their third studio album "After Bathing At Baxter's" - released November 1967 in the USA on RCA Victor LOP-1511 (Mono) and December 1967 in the UK on RCA Victor RD 7926 (Mono) and SF 7926 (Stereo). The STEREO Mix is used for this CD reissue.

BONUS TRACKS:

12. The Ballad Of You & Me & Pooneil [Live – Long Version]

13. Martha [Mono]

14. Two Heads (Alternate Version)

15. Things Are Better In The East (Demo Version)

Tracks 12, 14 and 15 are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

Track 13 is the B-side of the US 7” single to "Watch Her Ride" released December 1967 on RCA Victor 47-9398

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE was:

GRACE SLICK – Lead Vocals, Keyboards

JORMA KAUKONEN - Lead Guitars and Vocals

PAUL KANTNER – Lead, Rhythm Guitars and Vocals

MARTY BALIN – Lead and Backing Vocals

JACK CASADY - Bass

SPENCER DRYDEN – Drums, Vocals, Piano, Organ and Percussion

The 12-page liner notes are courtesy of band-expert and uber-fan JEFF TAMARKIN who authored "Got A Revolution! The Turbulent Flight Of Jefferson Airplane" issued on Atria Books the same year as the CD reissues (2003). The colour photo and handwritten song list that adorned the inner gatefold is spread across the two centre pages - but the cartoons-and-poem inner that came with original LPs is rather sloppily absent and without explanation. There are a couple of black and white photos of the band (from the sessions) and the usual reissue credits. Pieced together from insider interviews - his explanation of the album's recording history across six crazy months is affectionate and genuinely informative - even if he rather conveniently omits that other cultural sensation happening across the sea in Blighty (Sgt. Peppers released 1 June 1967 and dominating the rest of that year right into December) – an LP that would surely have had an impact on the band’s working process and thinking. Page 11 of the booklet also seems to want us to believe the album's US catalogue number was LSP-4545 - when it wasn't (that's a Seventies repress as I recall). But apart from these glitches mostly Tamarkin makes a good argument as to why fans love "…Baxter's" so much – it's true 'Plane' – dancing to the piper at the gates of their own SF dawn (with less smog and rain). But the big news here is a BOB IRWIN Remaster from original tapes – bringing the STEREO mix to life – and for me the amazing quality of the four Extras which feel like just that – like actual bonus material (three are unreleased).

Edited down to a more manageable 4:35 minutes from what now appears to have been a near 12-minute session - the album opens on the wailing guitar of Paul Kantner's "The Ballad Of You & Me & Pooneil". Both Kantner and Slick trade oohs and aahs as the song finds its strange guitar groove. RCA tried it as a 45 prior to the album's release in September 1967 on RCA Victor 47-9297 with Side 2's "Two Heads" as the flipside - but it only managed a No. 42 placing on the American singles charts. It's followed by the mad voices of "A Small Package..." probably the most insufferable track on the album - a one and half minute indulgence of 'no man is an island' wit (he's a peninsula). Things pick up big time with the Balin/Kantner offering "Young Girl Sunday Blues" - a wicked groove you wish would go on longer (nice solo from Kaukonen).

Part 2 of 5 offers us "Martha" - another winner from Kantner - all acoustic guitars and collaborative vocals - it's one of my favourites on the record (the Mono version used on the 45 is one of this CD's bonus tracks). The band starts to really cook on "Wild Tyme" - a guitar-hooky Kantner rocker where everything is changing around them and singer Grace Slick reliably informs us that "...I'm doing things they haven't even named yet..." (nice). Jorma Kaukonen provided the 'teach me how to love' guitar-bop that is "The Last Wall of the Castle" - where halfway through he lets rip on a seriously gnarly solo (maybe Neil Young was listening to this over in the ranks of Buffalo Springfield). Grace then discusses "Ulysses" by James Joyce in her decidedly weird yet wonderful "rejoice" - a piano-jaunt that somehow manages to be sinister as she sings words like 'throw up on his leg' and a 'crotch that amazes'. I can only imagine what RCA executives must have made of "Spare Chaynge" - a nine-minute Avant Garde Prog Rock moment complete with its own funny spelling and deliberate difficulty. The final two "Two Heads" and "Won't You Try/Saturday Afternoon" must have offered solace in that they might be called actual 'tunes'. And off the Bonus Cuts - I'm loving the demo-delicacy of "Things Are Better In The East" - an original take of a song that would eventually morph into "Two Heads".

Studio set No. 4 "Crown Of Creation" was delivered in September 1968 and again featured an even more breathtaking leap forward (rightly revered back in the day and still is now). They really had lived up to that space-age-music moniker foisted on them by RCA Records on the rear cover of their 1966 debut album – here comes the 'Jet Age Sound'.

But despite many five-star appraisals other than mine – I’m fairly certain that re-listening to Jefferson Airplane and their "After Bathing At Baxter's" album in 2018 will have the now-generation scratching their heads and fearing for our sanity and judgement - an acquired taste – like Balsamic Vinegar Crisps or the Metric System. But as the poster on the original US album cover proclaimed - "Consume!" – and for once I’m with the cartoonist…

"Crown Of Creation" by JEFFERSON AIRPLANE (2003 RCA/BMG Heritage 'Original Masters' Expanded Edition CD Reissue - Bob Irwin Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Pictures Of Mountains..."

Like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones – musically Jefferson Airplane grew in staggering leaps and bounds in the mid to late Sixties. The songwriting difference between their rather cutesy Byrds-like debut "Jefferson Airplane Takes Off" in August 1966 and their fourth platter "Crown Of Creation" delivered in September 1968 is frankly breathtaking. It was rightly revered back in the day and still is now.

They really did live up to that space-age-music moniker foisted on them by RCA Records on the rear cover of their 1966 debut album – here comes the 'Jet Age Sound'. Let's get to the details of this digital doozy...

UK and USA released August 2003 - "Crown Of Creation" by JEFFERSON AIRPLANE on RCA/BMG Heritage 82876 53226 2 (Barcode 828765322621) is an Expanded Edition 'Original Masters' CD Reissue with Four Bonus Tracks (one of which is Previously Unissued) and pans out as follows (50:22 minutes);

1. Lather [Side 1]

2. In Time

3. Triad

4. Star Struck

5. Share A Little Joke

6. Chushingura

7. If You Feel [Side 2]

8. Crown Of Creation

9. Ice Cream Phoenix

10. Greasy Heart

11. The House Of Pooneil Corners

Tracks 1 to 11 are their fourth studio album "Crown Of Creation" - released September 1968 in the USA on RCA Victor LSP-4058 (Stereo-Only) and December 1968 in the UK on RCA Victor RD 7976 (Mono) and SF 7976 (Stereo). The STEREO Mix is used for this CD reissue.

BONUS TRACKS:

12. Ribump Ba Bap Dum Dum

13. Would You Like A Snack

Tracks 12 and 13 first appeared on the 1992 US 3CD Box Set compilation "Loves You" on RCA 61110-2. "Would You Like A Snack" is a co-write between Grace Slick and Frank Zappa

14. Share A Little Joke (With The World) (Mono Single Mix)

Track 14 is the B-side of the US 7” single to "Greasy Heart" released March 1968 on RCA Victor 47-9496

15. The Saga Of Sydney Spacepig – Previously Unreleased (7-minute Spencer Dryden song recorded May 1968)

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE was:

MARTY BALIN – Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar

GRACE SLICK – Lead Vocals, Organ and Piano

JORMA KAUKONEN - Lead Guitars and Vocals

PAUL KANTNER – Rhythm Guitars and Vocals

JACK CASADY - Bass

SPENCER DRYDEN – Drums, Vocals, Piano, Organ and Percussion

The 12-page liner notes are courtesy of band-expert and uber-fan JEFF TAMARKIN who authored "Got A Revolution! The Turbulent Flight Of Jefferson Airplane" issued on Atria Books the same year as the CD reissues (2003). Amidst the text you get several black and white and colour snaps of the sextet looking hip in varying shades, beany hats and pudding-bowl haircuts (the six-plate photo in the centre two-pages is very cool).

But a major disappointment and laziness is that the inner lyric sheet that came with original US LPs with the picture of a contented looking Brumus on the front is missing. Robert Kennedy’s dog Brumus (the band hung out with such luminaries) was supposed to counter the Hiroshima Atom Bomb photo on the front and rear of the album – a sort of a nod towards easy-going peacefulness if you want it. And of course the lyrics are missing too as is that Inner Bag advertising their other audio wares (I want a complete RCA Victor Catalog for 25c). Bit of a bummer that...

Grace Slick, Marty Balin and Kaukonen all get quotes in the text – Grace a 27-year old model at the time and a huge out-front focus for such a radical band. As the songs had way more depth lyrically that the boy-girl slots on the debut – age (turning 30), politics (Vietnam) and coping with life and fame all seep into view. It’s a good read and an enlightening one too.

But the big news here is a BOB IRWIN Remaster from original tapes. Listening to brilliant tunes like the sophisticated and beautiful "Lather", the San Francisco Sound of multi-voiced cool in "Ice Cream Phoenix", the heavy-guitars social-commentary of "The House Of Pooneil Corner", the put-your-lips-close-to-my-face sweetness of "In Time" or even their fabulous take on David Crosby’s ethereal "Triad" – the album is a virtual showcase for what happens when a band is allowed to go for it – allowed to grow. Irwin had a lot of his Audio Engineer plate when he stepped up to Remaster this most beloved of West Coast bands and especially this album and right from the off - you can hear he did a bang-up job. "Lather" sounds fantastic and it just doesn’t let up from there on in.

Other moments include is the jabbing guitar of "If You Feel" where you can’t work out if the "...feel like laughing...feel like love..." lyrics are an invitation or a sly slag off. Kantner’s "Crown Of Creation" tells the youth to believe in themselves. The Bonus "Ribump Ba Bap Dum Dum" turns out to one and half minutes of the band goofing off on silly words and even with a great drum sound is a bit of nonsense. "Would You Like A Snack" sounds like Grace fronting The Mothers Of Invention and is again hard to take in that Trout Mask Replica kind of a way. The 10:25 minutes of the Previously Unreleased "The Saga Of Sydney Spacepig” Is a sprawl of guitars, band jamming and rants at the CIA and is probably the Plane at their wildest. Nice one baby...

"...You are afraid...embarrassed too...no one has ever said such a thing to you...you cannot do that...it breaks all the rules..." – Grace Slick sang on the quietly hurtful "Triad" wondering what can we do – why can’t life be simple –how do we navigate relationships and the heart. Although it was someone else’s song (David Crosby) – it’s words somehow sum up the turmoil and beauty that was this great American band. Buy and enjoy (and it's cheap too)...

"Jefferson Airplane Takes Off" by JEFFERSON AIRPLANE (2003 RCA/BMG Heritage 'Original Masters' Expanded Edition CD Reissue - Bob Irwin Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Let's Get Together..."

Some debut albums do literally 'take off' into the stratosphere - open up a whole new world of music - and Jefferson Airplane's August 1966 starter is one of those records. Under thirty-minutes all told - and 52-years on in 2018 - the San Francisco sound is still influencing and shaping today’s Rock.

Five guys and one gal - the six-piece were young and primed - ready to take on the world and the edginess of the music reflects this (at this stage they were fronted by Folk Singer Signe Toly Anderson who would be replaced with Grace Slick). They would pump out "Surrealistic Pillow" only months later (December 1966) and sell over a million albums of that monster breakthrough – itself followed by "After Bathing At Baxter’s" in December 1967 and the mighty "Crown Of Creation" in September 1968. Heady days indeed...

But here is where those creative engines began to roar. And despite the more famous and critically acclaimed platters that followed – I’d argue that its time to look back in affection at the beginnings of the ‘Jet Age Sound’. Let's get to the details of this rather cool digital doozy...

UK released September 2003 (July 2003 in the USA) - "Jefferson Airplane Takes Off" by JEFFERSON AIRPLANE on RCA/BMG Heritage 82876 50352 2 (Barcode 828765035224) is an Expanded Edition 'Original Masters' CD Reissue with Eight Bonus Tracks (two of which are Previously Unissued) and pans out as follows (61:57 minutes);

1. Blues From An Airplane [Side 1]

2. Let Me In

3. Bringing Me Down

4. It's No Secret

5. Tobacco Road

6. Come Up The Years [Side 2]

7. Run Around

8. Let's Get Together

9. Don't Slip Away

10. Chauffeur Blues

11. And I Like It

Tracks 1 to 11 are their debut album "Jefferson Airplane Takes Off" - released August 1966 in the USA on RCA Victor LPM-3584 (Mono) and LSP-3584 (Stereo) and October 1971 in the UK on RCA Victor SF 8195 (Stereo only). The STEREO Mix is used for this CD reissue.

BONUS TRACKS:

12. Runnin' 'Round The World (Mono Uncensored Single Version)

Track 12 first issued as the B-side to their February 1966 debut US 45 "It's No Secret" on RCA Victor 47-8769

13. High Flying Bird

14. It's Alright

Tracks 13 and 14 first appeared on the 1974 US compilation LP "Early Flight" on Grunt Records CYL1-0437 (recorded December 1965)

15. Go To Her (Early Version - Version 1)

Track 15 first appeared on the 1992 US 3CD Box Set compilation "Loves You" on RCA 61110-2

16. Let Me In (Original Uncensored Version)

17. Run Around (Original Uncensored Version)

18. Chauffeur Blues (Alternate Version - Previously Unissued)

19. And I Like It (Alternate version - Previously Unissued)

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE was:

MARTY BALIN – Lead Vocals

SIGNE TOLY ANDERSON - Vocals

JORMA KAUKONEN - Lead Guitars

PAUL KANTNER - Guitars and Vocals

JACK CASADY - Bass

ALEX 'SKIP' SPENCE - Drums 

The 12-page liner notes are courtesy of band-expert and uber-fan JEFF TAMARKIN who authored "Got A Revolution! The Turbulent Flight Of Jefferson Airplane" issued on Atria Books the same year as the CD reissues (2003). Amidst the text and picture of a battered Master Tape box on Page 6 - you get several black and white and colour snaps of the sextet looking hip in varying dark-glasses, stripped shirts and flying jackets - carrying self-monikered guitar cases like they were the Second Coming. Cited as one 'the' great debut albums (they’d only been together a year) - Tamarkin makes a good case for that being so - even if the lack of initial US sales and a September 1966 chart debut at No. 208 reflected a not-so-together record label and an American Music Press still in its Pop Culture infancy ("Pet Sounds", "Blonde On Blonde" and "Revolver" were busy re-writing the musical landscape during that epoch-making year).

But the big news here is a BOB IRWIN Remaster from original tapes. As lovers of the band will know "Jefferson Airplane Takes Off" came out Stateside in three different variants in 1966 (Mono and Stereo LPs in all three cases). Using the Bonus Tracks provided (12, 16 and 17 specifically for the first two pressings) - this CD reissue will allow fans to sequence all three STEREO versions. Shame the Mono isn’t here but you can’t have it all. Speaking of aural delights - famously the album didn't arrive in the UK until October 1971 when RCA Victor put out only the 'RE' STEREO version (England never did get the Mono mix).

A bit about those variants. The first pressing had an 'uncensored' version of "Let Me In" as Track 2, an extra track at the end of Side 1 called "Runnin' Round The World" and an 'uncensored' version of "Run Around" over on Side 2. Both "Let Me In" and "Run Around" were deemed to have had racy and drug-orientated lyrics - so were dropped and re-recorded - finally appearing on Version No. 3.

Using this CD - you can sequence 'almost' all of the rare 12-track original 1st version in Stereo as follows:

Side 1: Tracks 1, 16, 3, 4, 5 and 12

Side 2: Tracks 6, 17, 8, 9, 10 and 11

Track 12 is unfortunately the "Mono Uncensored Single Version' and not the Stereo Cut but you get the picture

The second 11-track version drops "Runnin' Round The World" but still has the 'uncensored' "Let Me In" and "Run Around" - sequence as follows:

Side 1: Tracks 1, 16, 3, 4 and 5

Side 2: Tracks 6, 17, 8, 9, 10 and 11

The third and final 11-track version (used to this day) again doesn't have "Runnin' Round The World" but does have the re-recorded 'censored' versions of "Let Me In" and "Run Around" - sequenced as per Tracks 1 to 11 on the CD above

BOB IRWIN had a lot of his Audio Engineer plate when he stepped up to Remaster this most beloved of West Coast bands and right from the off - you can hear he did a bang-up job. The drums and guitars of "Blues From An Airplane" may be crudely panned across the speakers but man are they clear and what a great 'hey hey make me happy' opening salvo - even if they do sound too dangerously close to The Byrds. Balin and Kantner provide the edgy Monkees vibe of "Bringing Me Down" - a wicked 60ts raver - while they return to Byrds territory again with "It's No Secret" - a hooky little winner and easy to see why it was chosen as their debut 7" single.

John D. Loudermilk's "Tobacco Road" is one of those adaptable tunes Rock bands just can't leave alone. Originally issued in 1960 - Loudermilk's own '...my Mama died and Daddy got drunk...' version on Columbia Records wasn't a hit. But England's 'Nashville Teens' thought otherwise and charted it big in October 1964 (probably heard the Frank Ifield version in 1963). Alerted to its nasty little groove thereafter - the song became G-L-O-R-I-A unstoppable. Lou Rawls did a Soul cover of it (also in 1964) - Blues Magoos psyched it in 1966 – War and Eric Burdon funked it up in 1970 – pushing the song to a staggering thirteen and a half minute social workout. Hell even Dave Lee Roth of Van Halen had a go in 1986 (Dr. John voodoo big hair and all). But it's the Airplane's version that has that fabulous Sixties cool about it. I love it...

Side 2 opens with another Balin/Kantner shuffling ballad - "Come Up The Years" - a 'love me' and 'somebody help me before I fall apart' song - beautiful sound off the Remaster. For me "Run Around" is the first emergence of a distinctive Jefferson Airplane sound - Balin having enough of his girly's hands running around his brain. Chet Powers' gorgeous "Let's Get Together" is another adaptable beauty - come on people get together and love one another - Signe finally getting her moment to vocally shine (Chet Powers would later join Quicksilver Messenger Service).

The tragically fragile 'Skip' Spence gets his second contribution "Don't Slip Away" (the other is the album opener "Blues From An Airplane") - both co-written with Marty Balin and it's a melodic winner too. Memphis Minnie would probably have loved the Airplane's spirited cover of the song she made famous "Chauffeur Blues" (written by Lester Melrose). Given full-throated lead - Signe goes for it and wins. Lead Guitarist Jorma Kaukonen ends the album with his Balin co-write "And I Like It" - a fabulous Bluesy amble where the band already show that soon-to-be legendary obstinacy in the defiant lyrics. 

"...This is my time...this is my dream...and you know I like it..." - Paul Kantner sang on the whacking album closer with a conviction that spelt out their future. And man was he right...even if it did mean casualties and well as joy along that crazy flight path...