Surrealistic Pillow. Four stars.
The popularity of Jefferson Airplane always rather perplexed me. They were, it is true, an epitomizing sixties band, but I never found anything spectacular about them in musicianship, songwriting or anything else. So I concluded it was because of Grace Slick, first lady of rock (I know, I know, there was Janis, but she came from the blues tradition. Note all others at the time were into folk: a la Joan, Judy and Joni... or country). Now imagine my frustration when I heard this record and discovered she only sang two of the eleven tracks! Marty Balin got the job of lead vocals, and actually sounds a lot like a West Coast Paul Simon.
So what has my second listen discovered about one of 1967s most popular releases? Sheer enjoyability. These fellows were early on in the psychedelic movement and were just having a good time, making music and taking drugs - they weren't trying to be anything or make any sweeping statements. They were just a pleasant little San Francisco group. The excess and political posturing would come later.
Track 1, She Has Funny Cars (to the title I say "????"). Opening with drums and harmonies, it quickly reinvents itself as a shuffle. Marty Balin with Grace on counterpoint. Rather than your usual call-and-respond technique, they mix it up, singing different lines in tandem and occasionally harmonizing. The effect is disorienting but neat.
Surrealistic Pillow is primarily a pop record, and Somebody to Love makes for one of the few rockers, and a memorable single. It was written by Grace's brother-in-law, so she sings lead. Brilliant voice, cuts like steel and she projects so well.
My Best Friend is....cute. Dreamy, sunny pop, extremely dated, and Grace is back to being an accent again.
Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead guests on lead guitar for Today, an extremely beautiful ballad. Alright, it's sentimental and rhymes "you" and "true" more than necessary, but it still makes for a lovely moment.
Comin' Back to Me is Today Part 2. Replacing percussion with recorder, it's even more evocative. Garcia plays again and the lyric is an improvement. An acoustic gem.
3/5 of a Mile in Ten Seconds gets back to a rock foundation. At the last, the random title is shouted out but the song actually has something to do with freaks and the price of pot. Cool riff.
D.C.B.A. - 25 (Whose idea was that for a name?) is a pleasant, inconsequential California folk-rock number. You know, with the jangly guitars of the Byrds/Mamas and Papas....
How Do You Feel is more sunny harmonized pop, which blends nicely with the rest of the album.
Embryonic Journey is just one finger picking guitar played by band member Jorma Kaukonen. First song he ever composed, purely from the folk tradition, no rock and roll to it. Very short, yet a memorable addition.
The classic White Rabbit is next. Combining Alice in Wonderland with drugs and some kind of Spanish march, it drips with atmosphere for its two brief minutes. That is due to Grace, who wrote it. I can forget the sixties lyric and just savour the way she sings it. Mojo Magazine named it the greatest drug song ever recorded, for what that's worth.
Plastic Fantastic Lover finishes things off in the rock camp. I thought it was about a robot, but it turns out Marty had the television in mind. As the title indicates, the lyric is some kind of a mouthful.
The bubblegum pink cover strongly indicates Surrealistic Pillow as a pop record, and that's pretty much what you'll find. Oh, and notice the glum mop-top holding a banjo? Notice it has no strings? False advertising, or, to put it more kindly, a stylistic addition. No banjos were used in the making of this record.
I lump Jefferson Airplane in with Donovan, Simon and Garfunkel and The Zombies. Make a pot of tea, put up your feet and smile.
(Next week, I promise I'll review something frightfully obscure again. It'll be after Christmas then, so here's a Merry Christmas to all my devoted followers and to those who just happen by. Cheers!)
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