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Jefferson Airplane - Long John Silver CD (album) cover

LONG JOHN SILVER

Jefferson Airplane

 

Proto-Prog

3.14 | 54 ratings

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ClemofNazareth
Special Collaborator
Prog Folk Researcher
2 stars The final Jefferson Airplane studio took the band out not on a high note (pun intended) but not quite with a whimper either. The horrid 'Bark' provided a transition for the group as it licked its wounds following several key departures including founder Marty Balin and drummer Spencer Dryden (followed by Joey Covington during the recording of 'Long John Silver'), as well as a serious auto accident involving Grace Slick that sidelined most of their touring activities in 1971. Once again the group relies heavily on supporting actors to augment band material, most notably Papa John Creach who was now considered an official member and Pat Ieraci who would not only organize the studio production but would go on to oversee a whole string of Airplane and Airplane-related compilations and side projects throughout the seventies.

The overall recording sessions seems to have been much better organized than just about anything from 'Bark' but the intangible 'heart' of the band seems to be gone for good. Most of the tracks are fairly pedestrian rock including the almost hair-band sounding "Twilight Double Leader" (great guitar soloing though); a heavy but directionless title track; and an unconvincing Grace Slick rant on the weirdly titled "Eat Starch Mom". Only the acerbic and violin-dominated "Son of Jesus" comes close to anything Airplane-like, and even here the arrangement feels somewhat forced and awkward at times.

Slick's vocals are as powerful as ever but at times she comes off a bit shrill, possibly a byproduct of her auto accident the year prior. Jorma Kaukonen is as solid as ever on guitar and tends to carry the instrumentation along with Creach's raw violin work. Slick doesn't play keyboards as much here as on the previous couple of albums, seeming to rely more on Creach to fill the gaps between the rhythm section and Kaukonen's guitar forays. On "Easter?" she offers a decent piano rendition, and her interplay with Creach on "Aerie (Gang of Eagles)" is mildly interesting but not exceptional.

Overall this is a decent album but not on par with the best Jefferson Airplane was capable of at their creative peak. Some recognition is due for a solid effort despite the crumbling of the band at all corners, and there are certainly many groups who have gone on one record too long and tarnished their reputations as a result. Jefferson Airplane didn't quite do that with 'Long John Silver', but there aren't many compilations that heavily feature tracks from this record and there's a reason for that.

Two stars for effort, and I did consider making it three but compared to their prior body of work couldn't quite get there. Recommended once you've heard everything else and certainly better than anything Starship and its derivatives recorded, but not among the better Airplane studio releases. The live 'Thirty Seconds Over Winterland' would be a better choice if you want to hear the best the band could sound like during their latter days.

peace

ClemofNazareth | 2/5 |

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