Jefferson Airplane

The Jefferson Airplane has always been one of my very favorite rock bands of the
non-blues - playing, white, American variety, and it has always been my contention that
they were perhaps fated to advance what has come to be called rock into yet-unexplored
areas in much the same way as the Beatles and Cream have done. This unexplored region,
my reasoning went, would involve a kind of broad expansion of the notion of to... More >

For someone who enjoys their albums, like me, this factitious compilation--fifteen cuts is a lot, but though it includes all (two) of their AM smashes it doesn't even pretend to be a singles anthology--is a waste. But for someone who finds their albums wanting, like me, it has its uses, especially as overview. These folks are literate both verbally and musically. Their chops don't quite equal their tastes--"White Rabbit," with its bolero build and librarian's-eye view of lysergic acid, is perfect, but "Chushingura" is almost as sloppy in the picking as "Today" is in the sentiment. They were hippies when becoming a hippie took beatnik initiative and psychedelic imagination. And when they're good they make the for-better-or-worse evolution of rock and roll into rock seem both appropriate and inevitable. (Grade: B+)