Long John Silver [Remaster]

Performer: Jefferson Airplane
Artist: Sammy Piazza
Distributor: MSI Music Distribution

Notes: Jefferson Airplane: Jorma Kaukonen, Paul Kantner (guitar, vocals); Papa John Creach (violin); Grace Slick (piano, vocals); Jack Casady (bass); John "Goatee" Barbata (drums, tambourine); Joey Covington (drums). Additional personnel: Sammy Piazza (drums). Reissue producer: Paul Williams. Recorded between March and May 1972. Originally released on Grunt. Includes liner notes by Jeff Tamarkin. All tracks have been digitally remastered. LONG JOHN SILVER was Jefferson Airplane's last studio album until a 1989 reunion album, JEFFERSON AIRPLANE. Digitally remastered. The final Jefferson Airplane studio album -- if their half-hearted 'reunion' from 1989 isn't (and really shouldn't be) counted -- presented yet another alteration in the band's lineup. Not only would Long John Silver (1972) be the second project minus co-founder Marty Balin (vocals), who left after Volunteers (1969), but Joey Covington (drums) also split before the long-player was completed, forming his own combo, the short-lived Black Kangaroo. Covington contributes to a pair of Paul Kantner's (guitar/vocals) better offerings "Twilight Double Leader" and "Story of Jesus," while Hot Tuna kinsman Sammy Piazza (drums) lends a hand to Jorma Kaukonen's (guitar/vocals) whimsical "Trial by Fire." Eventually, Turtles' and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young percussionist John Barbata (drums) would fill the drummer's stool for the remainder of the Airplane's rapid descent. He would likewise make the transition alongside Kantner, Grace Slick (piano/vocals) and Papa John Creach (violin) into the brave new world of Jefferson Starship. Even more so than on their previous platter, Bark (1971), the material featured on Long John Silver rather blatantly exposes the two disparate factions to have emerged from the once unified Airplane. The Kaukonen/Jack Casady (bass) offshoot -- � la Hot Tuna -- and Kantner/Slick, whose Blows Against the Empire (1970) from two years earlier clearly pointed to the exceedingly cerebral approach evident on Slick's indistinct "Aerie (Gang of Eagles)" and "Easter?," or the mid-tempo meandering of Kantner's "Alexander the Medium." The edgy, blues-infused rocker "Milk Train" is one of the few standouts on Long John Silver, giving Creach a platform for his ever-adaptable and soaring fiddle. Quite possibly the heaviest selection on the package is the Slick/Kaukonen co-composition "Eat Starch Mom." Appropriately, it concludes the effort on a positive charge with the Airplane hitting on all cylinders before landing the craft (for all intents and purposes) the last time. When the LP hit store shelves in the summer of 1972, it became instantly notorious for the cover that transformed into a cigar (read: stash) box. The inner sleeve went as far as reproducing the image of tightly compressed domestic ganja, replete with sticks, seeds and stems. ~ Lindsay Planer The original Airplane's final studio effort will go down in history as a victim of circumstance. By the time it was made in 1972 vocalist Marty Balin was long gone, and with the emergence of Paul Kantner and Grace Slick as the predominant power center of the group, the creative role of Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady had diminished. Thus, band morale was generally low, as were public expectations, and ultimately the album was roundly dismissed by band and public alike. Hindsight shows this to be a grievous error. LONG JOHN SILVER found the Airplane solidifying their spacey folk-rock sound. There was less psychedelic abandon, but it was replaced by sturdy song structures and more focused arrangements. On the title track and elsewhere, Jorma still wails in his unique way, and Papa John Creach's fiddle enlivens "Milk Train," but the real stars of this album are the songs, which are uniformly strong. The feel here is somewhat statelier, more deliberate and thoughtful, but LONG JOHN SILVER still gives off an agreeably earthy feel.

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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