Jefferson Airplane
Early Flight

THE REVIEW

"Oh, those were the days of vinyl!" one might say when listening to this Jefferson Airplane collection. An assertion that contains no Luddite instinct towards the CD, but rather two facts that seem difficult to refute. On one hand, the fact that vinyl could only hold about forty minutes of music prevented artists from recording an hour or more, as happens today with digital media. With inevitable fillers and dull moments. Back in the day, only when there was something significant to say did they exceed sixty minutes. Thus, they produced those ten double albums, like "Electric Ladyland," "Exile...", "Blonde on Blonde," you know the list, which made rock history. The consequence is that collections of unreleased tracks on LP, like the Jefferson's one we're discussing here, truly had meaning and value because the tracks composing them could have easily appeared on the albums of the day without being out of place.

"Early Flight" was released in 1974, shortly after the end of the Jefferson as an airplane and before their reincarnation as a starship, and it is also historically significant as it is one of the first collections of unreleased tracks in American rock history.

The first trio of tracks comes from the December 1965 sessions of "Takes off," with Signe Anderson still on female vocals, later replaced by Grace Slick. The first of these pieces "High Flyin' Bird", sung by Marty Balin, is a masterpiece of absolute dimensions. The Jefferson, for unknown reasons, didn't include it on their debut album, but they loved it in the years to come and often played it live. A live version can indeed be heard at the legendary Monterey Pop Festival concert of 1967. There is an absolutely effective cover on an album, "No Polyester Please," by a group of their followers, "Illiterate Beach," which I recommend to all Jefferson fans.

Continuing in "Early Flight," we encounter three songs from the recording sessions of "Surrealistic Pillow," in November 1966. While "In The Morning", despite the participation of Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, is just a blues jam with themes that would appeal more to Hot Tuna, "J.P.P. McStep B. Blues" and "Go to her" are two other little gems. The first, written and performed by Skip Spence just days before leaving the band, is a pop delight that foreshadows the "Summer of Love". The second, a cross between the Airplane anthem "Somebody To Love" and "Love Her Madly" by the Doors, is said not to have been included in "Surrealistic..." because the Jeffersons were not happy with its studio rendition compared to the power they could impart to it live.

The last three tracks were recorded in 1970. "Up Or Down" penned by Paul Kantner, probably around the time of "Blow Against The Empire," reminds me a lot of certain things by Stephen Stills, who had played with the Jeffersons in "Volunteers" a few months earlier. Lastly, there are the two sides of a 45 rpm single, "Mexico" and "Have You Seen The Saucers", which are two classic Airplane pieces: the former contains an attack on Richard Nixon, the then President of the USA, and his attempt to block the entry of marijuana from Mexico, so much so that it was censored by many American radio stations.

In conclusion, a record to recover for all Jefferson Airplane lovers, a fitting complement to the four studio masterpieces they produced from 1966 to 1969.