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Jefferson Airplane - Bless Its Pointed Little Head CD (album) cover

BLESS ITS POINTED LITTLE HEAD

Jefferson Airplane

 

Proto-Prog

3.46 | 36 ratings

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Sean Trane
Special Collaborator
Prog Folk
3 stars 3.5 stars really!!

Between Creation and Volunteers came out this live album, recorded in autumn of 68 in both the Fillmore East and West. This weirdly-titled (you don't want to know how this came about ;-) live album came with an equally weird artwork depicting a drunken French-bereted Casady in a ballroom. This album is interesting in a few ways as it shows the different live facet of the Airplane that might not have been so obvious in their studio recordings. Indeed the blues facet was not shunned in studio, in concert it became more present and the backbone of the group (the three virtuosos, Kaukonen, Casady and Dryden) took on a lengthy and improvisational turn as much as was tolerable for the "singers" of the group. So much so, that this would lead to the trio actually creating their own unit (first called Hot Shit, then Hot Tuna) and started opening the JA concert or doing aftershows as the trio was sometimes playing up to six hours a night.

Another first in JA concerts came the pre-recorded intros (here the track called Clergy), something to would be commonplace for some of the "prog" giants (Yes and RB's Rainbow among others). Of course are present a good deal of the shorter and better known tracks, but there are plenty of other ones that were first released including the longer more jam-oriented tracks. Some covers such as the standard Rock Me Baby, the lengthy Bear Melt, Donovan's Fat Angel (in which the Scott troubadour sang JA's praises) and Fred Neil's Other Side Of This Life. One of the striking thing is that most of the band's shorter tracks (the "hits" if you wish) are all speeded-up, something rather usual and hardly noticeable in concert, but disturbing while sitting at home. Disappointingly, there are no tracks from their masterpiece Crown Of Creation and no preview of the album to come, Volunteers. The three bonus tracks on the remastered version of the album are well in the line of the album, exploring more the Baxter and Pillow albums.

So this album is not essential to progheads (the jams are fairly straightforward and do not go in uncharted or difficult terrain), but those confirmed JA fans will find it indispensable, especially those wishing to see the genesis of Hot Tuna.

Sean Trane | 3/5 |

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