Bless Its Pointed Little Head [Bonus Tracks] [Remaster]

Performer: Jefferson Airplane
Engineer: Richie Schmitt; Richie Schmitt
Producer: Al Schmitt; Al Schmitt; Bob Irwin (Reissue)
Distributor: BMG (distributor)

Notes: Jefferson Airplane: Jack Casady (bass guitar); Marty Balin, Grace Slick, Jorma Kaukonen, Paul Kantner, Spencer Dryden. Personnel: Marty Balin, Jorma Kaukonen, Paul Kantner (vocals, guitar); Grace Slick (vocals, keyboards); Spencer Dryden (drums). Liner Note Author: Jeff Tamarkin. Recording information: Filmore East, NY (09/24/1968-11/05/1968); Filmore West, San Francisco, CA (09/24/1968-11/05/1968). Photographer: Mike Frankel. Arranger: Jefferson Airplane. Jefferson Airplane's first live album demonstrated the group's development as concert performers, taking a number of songs that had been performed in concise, pop-oriented versions on their early albums -- "3/5's of a Mile in 10 Seconds," "Somebody to Love," "It's No Secret," "Plastic Fantastic Lover" -- and rendering them in arrangements that were longer, harder rocking, and more densely textured, especially in terms of the guitar and basslines constructed by Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady. The group's three-part vocal harmonizing and dueling was on display during such songs as a nearly seven-minute version of Fred Neil's folk-blues standard "The Other Side of This Life," here transformed into a swirling rocker. The album emphasized the talents of Kaukonen and singer Marty Balin over the team of Paul Kantner and Grace Slick, who had tended to dominate recent records: the blues song "Rock Me Baby" was a dry run for Hot Tuna, the band Kaukonen and Casady would form in two years, and Balin turned in powerful vocal performances on several of his own compositions, notably "It's No Secret." Jefferson Airplane was still at its best in concise, driving numbers, rather than in the jams on Donovan's "Fat Angel" (running 7:35) or the group improv "Bear Melt" (11:21); they were just too intense to stretch out comfortably. But Bless Its Pointed Little Head served an important function in the group's discography, demonstrating that their live work had a distinctly different focus and flavor from their studio recordings. ~ William Ruhlmann These 1968 live recordings from the Filmore East and West are the definitive live document of San Francisco's premier psychedelic group. 1968 was prime time for the Airplane, as the instrumental interplay between Kantner, Casady and Kaukonen had really begun to gel. So too had the interaction between lead vocalists Grace Slick and Marty Balin reached near-telepathic heights, and it can all be heard here. From the mind-melting proto-acid-rock of "Somebody to Love" to ribald, bluesy brashness of "Plastic Fantastic Lover," this is the Airplane in full flight. POINTED HEAD also makes it plain that the early Airplane had a special way with cover tunes. Folk god Fred Neil's "Other Side of This Life" gets a furiously rocking revision, and Donovan's "Fat Angel" is stretched out to encompass some wonderfully trippy jamming. BLESS ITS POINTED LITTLE HEAD is a candid but flattering photo of this seminal American band. Jefferson Airplane's first live album demonstrated the group's development as concert performers, taking a number of songs that had been performed in concise, pop-oriented versions on their early albums -- "3/5's of a Mile in 10 Seconds," "Somebody to Love," "It's No Secret," "Plastic Fantastic Lover" -- and rendering them in arrangements that were longer, harder rocking, and more densely textured, especially in terms of the guitar and basslines constructed by Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady. The group's three-part vocal harmonizing and dueling was on display during such songs as a nearly seven-minute version of Fred Neil's folk-blues standard "The Other Side of This Life," here transformed into a swirling rocker. The album emphasized the talents of Kaukonen and singer Marty Balin over the team of Paul Kantner and Grace Slick, who had tended to dominate recent records: the blues song "Rock Me Baby" was a dry run for Hot Tuna, the band Kaukonen and Casady would form in two years, and Balin turned in powerful vocal performances on several of his own compositions, notably "It's No Secret." Jefferson Airplane was still at its best in concise, driving numbers, rather than in the jams on Donovan's "Fat Angel" (running seven-and-a-half minutes) or the group improv "Bear Melt" (over eleven minutes); they were just too intense to stretch out comfortably. But Bless Its Pointed Little Head served an important function in the group's discography, demonstrating that their live work had a distinctly different focus and flavor from their studio recordings. [The 2004 reissue of the record includes three previously unreleased bonus tracks recorded November 5, 1969 at the Fillmore West: "Today," "Watch Her Ride" and "Won't You Try Saturday Afternoon" (here titled only "Won't You Try").]~ William Ruhlmann

One of the quintessential San Francisco psychedelic bands, the Jefferson Airplane brought together interests in acoustic blues, folk, and rock music. Add political topicality and modal improvisations, and you have an inspired, mind-bending sound that could have only sprung forth from the late '60s. In their initial, most beloved phase, they were powered by the powerful dual lead vocals of Grace Slick and Marty Balin and the serpentine guitar of Jorma Kaukonen. They went through a traumatic series of personnel and name changes over the decades (they ventured into commercial AOR in the late '70s and early '80s) but their early work retains its seminal power.

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