754 Jefferson Airplane - Long John Silver (1972)

 754 Jefferson Airplane - Long John Silver (1972)

Studio Album - Psychedelic Rock



About the Act:

In 1985 the band Starship released the single "We Built This City". 31 years later, GQ magazine declared it to be "the most detested song in human history". This was, of course, before Baby Shark appeared.

Starship, had quite a high turnover of members, but they formed in 1984, kind of from the ashes of the band Jefferson Starship. They have had four studio albums, and significantly retained the main singer from Jefferson Starship, Grace Slick, for the first two of those albums. It was she who sang "We Built This City".  She was also the main singer for the previous band, Jefferson Starship.

Winding backwards, Jefferson Starship were formed in 1974, and existed for 11 years, releasing 7 studio albums in that time. Confusingly, they reformed in 1992, and so there are currently two bands, one called "Starship" and one called "Jefferson Starship". Well actually, the former are now called "Starship featuring Mickey Thomas". Since their re-convention, Jefferson Starship have released three more studio albums.  Once again, there has been quite a bit of movement of members.

As if this were not confusing enough, we can wind back even further, because Jefferson Starship were born out of the ashes of a band called Jefferson Airplane. This band was formed in 1965 in San Francisco, and were a pivotal band in the burgeoning Hippie/Psychedelic movement. It is fair to say that they were hugely influential, their breakthrough single being "White Rabbit". This band name also had quite a number of members, and as if to deliberately muddy the waters, have had reunions in 1989 and 1996. By my reckoning, this means that in 1996 all three incarnations were active, Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, and Starship Featuring Mickey Thomas.   Oh, Jefferson Airplane had eight studio albums in their main stint and another in 1989 (helpfully called "Jefferson Airplane" in case there was any confusion.

One abiding person through some of the incarnations was/is the iconic voice of Grace Slick. Another, was one of the driving forces, Paul Kantner, guitarist.

About the Album:

This was their 7th studio album and was recorded at a turbulent time in their history. Was there any time that wasn't?

My History with this Album:

None

Review:

Some men find it difficult to have an opinion of cushion covers. Some men find it difficult to have an opinion on their wife's outfit. I'm having trouble having an opinion on this album.  Maybe the listening experiences didn't help. The first time I was in quite a bit of pain in my back, the second I was falling asleep. Nevertheless, my dear reader, for your sake I will force myself to have an opinion.

It's rock, bordering on heavy rock I would venture. It's a kind of loose freewheeling rock, from the age of Led Zeppelin and, well a bit later than, but reminiscent of Janis Joplin. It's gutsy, but loose, almost at times as if there was too much going on at once. It feels rich and fertile, but decadent and as if the band were falling apart. They were. There is even a leaning towards the emerging heavy metal of the time. It feels more like a live album in some ways. It still has elements of the psychedelic in it (that being the band's heritage).

The singing is dominated by Grace Slick, and nicely done too, with some male vocals (I think Jorma Kaukonen) as well, and when they sing together it makes it even harder to make out what is being sung. It's not easy at the best of times. The lyrics and subject matter are kind of out there on the edge of weirdness. Actually, not the edge, quite well advanced beyond the edge at times. There is a song about the Son of Jesus, another about the evils of the church, I think "Milk train" is some kind of euphemism, and the rest... well maybe they make sense if your brain is a bit fried, or maybe they are just what you create when your brain is a bit fried. Like a lot of songs, they are more kind of snatches and pictures than a coherent stringing together of meaning.

Dagnabbit! I was hoping that a bout of description would lead to an opinion. Let's dig deeper into my soul. I feel.... ambivalent. Yes! I have an opinion! Ambivalence.

I'm kind of joking.

I found it curious. The weird take on Jesus and Easter didn't offend me, but it didn't endear me either. I did like Milk Train, the rest kind of passed me by like a triathlon runner passing by a drinks station without taking a drink. I know it's Grace Slick and she's a classic, and I respect the weirdness. 

6.8/10


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5MQyUrnsCFbipQjBPkLAsu

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1899EE7E45C78A8C

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_John_Silver_(album)



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