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Rating:
Not bad, these Jefferson Airplane, actually... and to think I got to know them thanks to the movie "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" (yes, remember the bathtub scene with White Rabbit in the background?); then, little by little, I managed to get all their records, also because I liked Grace Slick's voice (to tell the truth, I liked something else more than the voice)!
And then we got to tonight, and I felt like writing this review, but just like this, informal, no pros and cons, just to fill the gap and satisfy a whim.
Premise: the album makes you dream and/or travel, and dreams and journeys are among the most beautiful things that can exist (after Grace).
I'll say the essential: "After Bathing At Baxter's" represents a daring and successful change of direction by Kantner, Slick, and company... despite dominating the Summer of Love with the "commercial" and fantastic "White Rabbit" and "Somebody To Love", here they decide to break free from the song format, a bit like their friendly rivals Grateful Dead.
Spine-tingling. Dilated lysergic structures and interludes that range from raga blues to instrumental experimentation, Slick’s overflowing vocalizations, Kantner’s compositional genius.
Pieces gathered like 5 mini-suites, kind of a train that travels... and how it travels!
The triumph of freedom... the freedom to invent, to break free from molds, to fly, thanks to intricate melodies, psychedelic levels, space guitars, Zappa, clarinets, jazz, dreamy flutes, whispers, love and LSD, far more than simple folk-rock.
The closing "Saturday Afternoon" is a commemoration of the good past gatherings, but the whole album is a bit of an exaltation of communal life in that '68 San Francisco.
Need I add more? Listen to this acid rock testament!
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
02 A Small Package of Value Will Come to You, Shortly (01:40)
A SMALL PACKAGE OF VALUE WILL COME TO YOU SHORTLY
(Dryden, Blackman and Thompson)
Well if we really wanna make it
Really wanna make it, I wanna make it man
Straight ahead all the way you guys
I don't care how dirty you guys get
It doesn't make any difference
Oh fudge, ah well, fudge
Ah Barnum gee whiz rag mop
You know gosh all whillickers
Under the wedding ring I feel a what's that
Finger finger hoo hah hoo hah are you married
Fu fu fudge, hyuh hyuh hyuh rag mop
Hoo wha hoo you do it, I do it, who do it, where do it
Do it do it do it do it do it do it do it
Folks we've been in the business for 20 years
And I've never had a heart attack
You're my friends I want you to know that
Stick it stick it time time time
Take your money sign to clarify that
Ahhh! Ahh! Er ahhh!
Would you believe New York is an island rragh!
(instrumental break)
The Honorable Hawaii sinking
Shi fah fah shuh-hoo-oo-whiss!
Yes what is it
I've been at school you see try try try
Hawaii Hawaii Hawaii
Bok! Bok! Bok! Bok!
The difference to get in though
Not that it makes any difference fah shoo
Uh New York's uh sinking
How old are you little girl
Fudge fudge ay yi the thing is
Nay nay uh! Ca-no-no yes but
Uh-uh-uh Ca-nay-nay ba-no-no
Fah-oo ah Going! Going!
Goh! Goh! Goh! Goh!
No man is an island! Do it do it do it do it
No man is an island!
He's a peninsula
04 Martha (03:27)
MARTHA
(Paul Kantner)
Martha she listens for the ticking of my footsteps, Patiently;
She sifts the hairy air that's worn and wood-swept, pleasantly;
She does as she pleases, she listens for me;
Martha she calls to me from a feather in the meadow, "Fly to me;"
You can dance and sing and walk with me
And dreams will fade and shadows grow in weed;
She does as she pleases, she waits there for me;
She does as she pleases, her heels rise for me;
My love she talks to winking windows as she murmurs to her feet, thoughtly;
She separates in laughter to my side, caught for me;
She does as she pleases, she waits there for me;
She does as she pleases, her heels rise for me;
Martha she keeps her heart in a broken clock and it's waiting there for me;
She weeds apart through a token lock; What a great thing to be free;
She weeps time, starts unspoken, but when the gate swings there she'll be,
There she'll be: in green sun, on blue earth under warm running shower.
05 Wild Tyme (03:10)
It's a wild time
I see people all around me changing faces
It's a wild time
I'm doing things that haven't got a name yet;
I see love all the time
I need love, your love
I'm here for you an old time stay here, play here
It don't matter if it's rain or shine
I want to be with you, no matter what I do
What doesn't change is the way
I feel for you today
And it's new, so new
Make a place for yourself here
I see changes, changes all around me are changesTimes just seem so good
I do know that I should be here with you this way
06 The Last Wall of the Castle (02:41)
THE LAST WALL OF THE CASTLE
(Jorma Kaukonen)
Gone swirling tears came she went today;
Down Fallen years go by,
No place in learning how to cry; I went astray;
Understanding is a virtue, hard to come by
You can teach me how to love
If you'll only try; So please!
Don't give up so soon.
Sorry that I hurt her I went astray;
Hurt her mind and broke her heart
But there's no stopping once you start; she went away;
Understanding is a virtue, hard to come by
You can teach me how to love
If you'll only try; So please!
Don't give up so soon.
I never knew you the way you are;
The Blinded bird is not sincere,
His flying's done from only fear, he's lost his star;
Understanding is a virtue, hard to come by
You can teach me how to love
If you'll only try; So please!
Don't give up so soon.
(Solo)
Fade on instrumental after 3rd Verse
07 Rejoyce (04:01)
Chemical change like a laser beam
you've shattered the warning amber light
Make me warm
let me see you moving everything over
smiling in my room
you know you'll be inside of my mind soon.
There are so many of you.
White shirt and tie, white shirt and tie,
white shirt and tie, wedding ring, wedding ring.
Mulligan stew for Bloom,
the only Jew in the room
Saxon's sick on the holy dregs
and their constant getting throw up on his leg.
Molly's gone to blazes,
Boylan's crotch amazes
any woman whose husband sleeps with his head
all buried down at the foot of his bed.
I've got his arm
I've got his arm
I've had it for weeks
I've got his arm
Steven won't give his arm
to no gold star mother's farm;
War's good business so give your son
and I'd rather have my country die for me.
Sell your mother for a Hershey bar
grow up looking like a car
there are;
All you want to do is live,
all you want to do is give but
some how it all falls apart!
08 Watch Her Ride (03:02)
WATCH HER RIDE
(Paul Kantner)
I didn't know you were the one for me, I couldn't see
But you were waiting,
For someone to come along to help you out to sing your song,
And I was changing;
All I see is you; All I feel is you for me!
And I would really like to watch you ride;
And always feel you by my side;
I would really like to watch you ride
All on me!
I go stumbling to the sky, and I seem to fly so high
I see you, I feel you;
You have a way of walking 'round your feet they never touch the ground,
And you are shining;
All I see is you; All I feel is you for me!
Times don't change; Times don't ever change for me;
And I know that you could be the only thing in my world,
The only thing that my mind would find;
For love, for love and peace of mind, for me, for me; Oh
Your Shadow in the morning sun becomes my fun, and we can say,
"I love you, love you;"
My morning shines on silver beaches, your light flashes to the reaches
Of my mind, my mind, of
My mind, and my mind it comes alive with you;
It's all that I can do to sit here and let you blow my mind;
Ah! My mind,
You're so fine, in my mind you're so fine, in my mind you're so fine,
You're so fine, in my mind, you're so fine in mind.
10 Two Heads (03:10)
You want two heads on you body
And you've got two mirrors in your hand.
Priests are made of brick with gold crosses on a stick
and your nose is too small for this land.
Inside your head is your town
inside your room your jail
inside your mouth the elephants trunk and booze,
the only key to your bail
Coda:
Want two heads on your body
and you've got two mirrors in your hand
Two heads can be put together.
And you can fill both your feet with sand.
Noone will know you've gutted your mind
but what will you do with your bloody hands?
Your lions are fighting with chairs,
your arms are incredibly fat;
Your women are tired of dying alive
if you've had any women at that.
Wearing your comb like an ax in your head
List'ning for signs of life;
Children are sucking on stone and lead
And chasing their hoops with a knife;
New breasts and jewels for the girl,
Keep them polished and shining;
Put a lock on her belly at night, sweet life,
For no child of mine. (Go to Coda)
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By CaseyJones
"Frenetic experimentation, free rein to impossible dreams are the ingredients of 'After Bathing at Baxter's,' the Anarcho-Psychedelic masterpiece by Jefferson Airplane."
"A special mention goes to Slick with 'Rejoyce,' a Joyce poem sung with hypnotic and sensual passion, one of the pinnacles of Psychedelia."
