Naïve? Certainly, but so was everything else in those heady days. Imaginative? Most definitely. It was a flight of fancy that only could have been fueled by those who dreamt of a better world. In fact it was so well conceived that it became the first, and to this date the only, rock album ever nominated for a literary prize: Science Fiction's Hugo Award.
Musically the album's first cut, "Mau Mau (Amerikon) carries with it the anger of the later period of Jefferson Airplane. The grinding guitars and angrily voiced lyrics that called people out into the streets to "Volunteer" for the Revolution still cry the same warning. By the third song "Let's Go Together" they have begun to step away from traditional rock, and further into the psychedelic feel of their Crown of Creation.
Swirling guitars, primitive synthesiser notes, and the soaring vocals of Grace Slick, David Crosby and Graham Nash combine to create a wash of sound that transports far beyond what rock music of that time should have been able to do. Without the pretensions of any of the so-called art bands of the seventies, they created a unique sound that captured the essence of their concept of space travel.
(Warning: This Album Can Cause Severe Flashbacks. Listen Only If Feeling Secure.)
If you ever wondered why people rave about the vocal prowess of Grace Slick, all you need do is listen to this album. Her power and range are displayed to their fullest extent on songs like "Sunrise", while her abilities as a harmonist are on continual display. Subtle when needed, but able to cut through the squeal of guitar feedback, her voice is still without equal.
Officially this was a solo Paul Kantner album. But as almost a joke he tacked on the label Jefferson Starship, more in reference to the starship needed to carry everyone away from the world to their new home than anything else. But as things turned out it was a portent of things to come.
Out of the wreck of the Airplane was born a new band: Jefferson Starship. The first album by the new group, Dragonfly in 1974, marked a new direction for the old band. With Marty Balin contributing one song, and the holdover members from the last incarnation of Airplane rejoining they were ready to fly again.
Article comments
1 - Vern Halen
"Have You Seen the Stars Tonight" from Blows Against the Empire was one of the most beautiful moments on that album - almost made you want to be on that intergalactic spaceship, which was just the updated version of "Wooden Ships,", made popular by the CSN(& sometimes Y) gang. A very underrated album overall.
2 - caffmcjimmrey
The snide comments about Quicksilver Messenger Service in this review were low, unfair, wrong, and uneccessary.
Quicksilver was one of the finest bands in Haight-era San Francisco, a group capable on any given night of blowing any other band on the scene off the stage.
Don't believe me - look at Greil Marcus' review of the Quicksilver album "Happy Trails" in Rolling Stone magazine where he calls the record "one of the best rock and roll recordings to emerge from San Fransisco, a performance that captures all the excitement and grandeur of the great days of the scene in a way that is almost too fine to be real. If rock and roll really will stand, as the Showman sang, it will be music like this that makes it that way."
Thier two finest albums, Happy Trails and the self titled Quicksilver Messenger Service, are the best examples of what Marcus is talking about.
Greg Duncan, Dino Valenti, Nicky Hopkins, David Frieberg, and John Cippolina show on these recordings why they were central in the San Francisco psychedelic music scene.
The music they made - including (yes, me and many thousands of others can name them) Mona, Who Do You Love, Bears, Pride of Man, Dino's Song, The Fool, along with the more well known and better selling but, in my opinion, lesser efforts such as What About Me?, Fresh Air, and Shady Grove - continue to demonstrate how powerful and influential this band was and remains.
Your review praises The Jefferson Airplane for its raucous and memorable contributions to the San Francisco psychedelic era of rock and roll. It's note worthy that John Cippollina and Gary Duncan both played on not only "Blows Against the Empire" but also on David Crosby's similarly recorded and more influential "If Only I Could Remember My Name."
No less a psychedelic authority than Ken Kesey in his book Garage Sale singles out Quicksilver Messenger Service (along with The Grateful Dead and The Jefferson Airplane) as one of the bands that night after night proved itself an engine capable of launching audiences into the ether of the group mind/collective trip Kesey and his friends were exploring.
Blows against the Empire is one of my favorite albums. You are absolutely right about Slick's vocals. I belive Sunrise (along with Milk Train and Law Man) is one of the vocal highlights of her career.
Please go back and give a listen to Quicksilver Messenger Service. If you do, I doubt you'll be so quick to dismiss them so easily ever again.
3 - caffmcjimmrey
The snide comments about Quicksilver Messenger Service in this review were low, unfair, wrong, and uneccessary.
Quicksilver was one of the finest bands in Haight-era San Francisco, a group capable on any given night of blowing any other band on the scene off the stage.
Don't believe me - look at Greil Marcus' review of the Quicksilver album "Happy Trails" in Rolling Stone magazine where he calls the record "one of the best rock and roll recordings to emerge from San Fransisco, a performance that captures all the excitement and grandeur of the great days of the scene in a way that is almost too fine to be real. If rock and roll really will stand, as the Showman sang, it will be music like this that makes it that way."
Thier two finest albums, Happy Trails and the self titled Quicksilver Messenger Service, are the best examples of what Marcus is talking about.
Greg Duncan, Dino Valenti, Nicky Hopkins, David Frieberg, and John Cippolina show on these recordings why they were central in the San Francisco psychedelic music scene.
The music they made - including (yes, me and many thousands of others can name them) Mona, Who Do You Love, Bears, Pride of Man, Dino's Song, The Fool, along with the more well known and better selling but, in my opinion, lesser efforts such as What About Me?, Fresh Air, and Shady Grove - continue to demonstrate how powerful and influential this band was and remains.
Your review praises The Jefferson Airplane for its raucous and memorable contributions to the San Francisco psychedelic era of rock and roll. It's note worthy that John Cippollina and Gary Duncan both played on not only "Blows Against the Empire" but also on David Crosby's similarly recorded and more influential "If Only I Could Remember My Name."
No less a psychedelic authority than Ken Kesey in his book Garage Sale singles out Quicksilver Messenger Service (along with The Grateful Dead and The Jefferson Airplane) as one of the bands that night after night proved itself an engine capable of launching audiences into the ether of the group mind/collective trip Kesey and his friends were exploring.
Blows against the Empire is one of my favorite albums. You are absolutely right about Slick's vocals. I belive Sunrise (along with Milk Train and Law Man) is one of the vocal highlights of her career.
Please go back and give a listen to Quicksilver Messenger Service. If you do, I doubt you'll be so quick to dismiss them so easily ever again.
4 - Dave
What do you expect? Blogcritics is written by amateurs, who don't understand how the items that are being reviewed fit within the context of popular culture. They also can't spell. Papa John gained a "p," and apparently, Marty Balin had a sex change and became "Mary."