The Essential Jefferson Airplane

Performer: Jefferson Airplane
Engineer: Dave Hassinger; Don Gooch; Richie Schmitt
Producer: Al Schmitt; Matthew Katz; Rick Jarrard; Tommy Oliver; Al Schmitt; Bob Irwin (Compilation)
Distributor: BMG (distributor)

Notes: Jefferson Airplane: Paul Kantner (vocals, guitar); Marty Balin, Grace Slick (vocals); Jorma Kaukonen (guitar); Jack Casady (bass guitar); Spencer Dryden (drums). Additional personnel: Nicky Hopkins (piano); Stephen Stills (organ); Joey Covington (percussion); David Crosby, Mary Gannon, Denise Jewkes, Diane Hursh, Marilyn Hunt (background vocals). Liner Note Author: Jeff Tamarkin. Recording information: Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA (12/18/1965-09/22/1972). Photographer: Jim Marshall . Arranger: Jorma Kaukonen. RCA/Legacy's 32-track Jefferson Airplane retrospective focuses on the influential psychedelic rock collective's late-'60s/early-'70s heydays. From 1966 (Jefferson Airplane Takes Off) through 1972 (Thirty Seconds Over Winterland), the group released nine albums that effectively shadowed the era, blending social themes with drugs, paranoia, and youthful rebellion/revolution. Essential may be a bit much for the casual fan, as its two discs delve deep into the group's eclectic catalog, stacking lost gems like "Eskimo Blue Day" and "Third Week in the Chelsea" alongside radio staples like "Somebody to Love," "White Rabbit," and "Volunteers," but those who are willing to take the plunge will be rewarded with the band's most thorough, informative, and thoughtfully paced anthology to date. ~ James Christopher Monger

Uncut (p.112) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[T]heir music sounded like a supercharged folk-rock strain with a pronounced blues influence..." Dirty Linen (pp.89-90) - "Some tracks remain classics....This is a good overview of the work of an important American band."

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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