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Rating:
The year 1968 is certainly one of the most explosive years in the history of rock and coincides with the peak of the golden era of the San Francisco group.
Recorded in various sessions between performances, 'Crown Of Creation' was born without a particular predetermined goal other than to provide a worthy successor to the excellent "After Bathing At Baxster's", released less than a year before. It would become what many consider their masterpiece.
The Airplane offers a convincing psychedelic rock but with roots deeply embedded in American folk, not limiting themselves to just the use of the electric guitar, as clearly seen from the first part of the LP. Note "Triad", a beautiful song about three-way love written by David Crosby originally for the Byrds, who deemed the content too daring for the band, leading the author to give it to the Jeffersons, far more accustomed to themes considered unconventional at the time. The rhythm picks up again with the excellent "Star Track" and "Share A Little Joke", where Jorma Kaukonen's guitar intro is nothing short of memorable.
The energy increases further in the four songs characterizing the second part, from "If You Feel" to the edgy "Greasy Heart", maintaining both tension and quality, here truly at the peak, and not just for the group. The closure is a very lysergic "The House at Pooneil Corners", very close to the atmospheres of "After Bathing". The key to the album lies in the ability to blend the many voices (four) of the group into an almost perfect sound mix and in the ability to leverage the high individual technical skills both in composition and execution.
An album that is a child of its time, in sounds and themes, but still very strong when listened to, pleasant and without overly self-serving psychedelic digressions that go to the detriment of the form of the compositions, which indeed remain brief, all to the advantage of listenability.
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