LIVE AT THE MONTEREY FESTIVAL

My first contact (it was in February 1971) with the Airplane was "Woodstock". On the first triple album, they only appeared with one track : "Volunteers" which I really liked. Later in the year Woodstock II was released and featured : "Saturday Afternoon/Won't You Try" and "Eskimo Blue Day" which confirmed my first impression : it was quite a good band but little known at that time on this side of the Atlantic.

So, I discovered them first live. And I will always like them more live than in a studio. Therefore their performance at Monterrey in 1967 is very interesting for likes of me. The power of the airplane at its (early) peak. Fantastic Slick vocals (but I admit I am biased ...). The recording quality is very decent.

The version of "Somebody To Love" is absolutely devastating. A wild rendition of this fabulous track.

It tends to appears that the set was rather improvised (or is it organized improv) ? When announcing the second number, Grace will say : "I have no idea what's next". "Other Side" ? "Other Side" ! So here we go to the other side (break on through ?). This was the B-side for their single "Plastic Fantastic Lover". It's a fantastic number that fully deserved to sit on an album. It will be a favourite during their live sets. A great number, superbly interpreted here. Rather long as well (almost seven minutes). The second highlight of course.

The third one is their absolute (but waaaaaay too short) masterpiece : "White Rabit". Grace is of course sensational in her performance. The third highlight ? Yes !

"High Flying Bird" is a number coming out of the "Take Off" sesions and released on the remastered CD version. It is, again, a great track. It is better than most of the album tracks and should have make it, really. Hopefully, it sits on this live album, so everyone can figure out how good a track it is.

The next three songs are somewhat weaker. "Today" is a bit less soporific than the studio version and "She Has Funny Cars" and "Young Girl..." do not belong to their classics.

The completely disjointed "Ballad Of You And Me And Pooneil" from "Baxter" closes the live album brilliantly. This quite long version is really spectacular. The beat is incredible and repetitive (Roxy will produce one like this with "The Bogus Man"). Another highlight of this very good live album. It is a great instantaneous representative of an era.

Four stars.