THE WORST OF JEFFRESON AIRPLANE

Jefferson Airplane brilliant performance at Woodstock brought a lot of new fans to the band (at least in Europe where they were far from being very popular). It was my case at least. I had never heard of them before (but I was only eleven years old when the "Soundtrack" was released).

This compilation, concentrates mainly on three albums almost skipping their first release (which is fine with me). All but one of their anthems are present. I really can not figure why "Won'T You Try" and "Saturday Afternoon" are not featured but it is the only blunder of this compilation. It should have replaced "Embryonic Journey" which does not really fit on a compilation effort.

The remastered version of this compilation is very well balanced and proposes two songs from "Take Off" with "It's No Secret" and "Blues From An Airplane". Five songs from "Pillow" with "Somebody to Love", "Today", the fabulous and hypnotic "White Rabbit", "Embryonic Journey" and "Plastic Fantastic Lover"

Three songs from "Baxter's" : "Martha", "The Ballad Of You And Me And Pooneil" and "Watch Her Ride". Four from "Crown" : the title track of course, "Greasy Heart", "Chushingura" and "Lather". And finally three from their latest and very good album "Volunteers" : "Good Shepherd", "We Can Be Together" and the title track again of course.

I would definitely recommend this work. It will give you a very good idea of their early works and will avoid maybe too many numbers of minor interest should you buy all their respective albums.

Jefferson Airplane was a very influent band on the Psyche Frisco scene during the second half of the sixties. Some songs though did not really aged well. Grace Slick is just a fabulous vocalist and this band definitely deserves a try.

This compilation is also well presented in the sense that the numbers are listed in their chronological order (except "Plastic Fantastic Lover") which makes it easier for the newcomer to follow the evolution of the band.

Four stars.

"The Worst Of" is a funny title. But I think the Mothers Of Invention had a "Worst Of The Mothers" a year before. You generally get the band's more well-known and accessible songs here. But there are two oddities here for a 'best of': "Embryonic Journey" and "Chushingura". The former is a short acoustic guitar instrumental, while the latter is a trippy sound effects piece.

Two of the best songs here are from the band's first album without Grace Slick: "It's No Secret" and "Blues From An Airplane". Of course you get the band's two most famous songs ("Somebody To Love", "White Rabbit"). Other highlights include "Lather" and "Good Shepherd". There are some 2-CD compilations that give you more of an idea of what this band sounded like. If you want to know why this band got added to PA, listen to their two albums After Bathing At Baxter's and Crown Of Creation.

This is some groovy music, but what you hear on those two albums is even groovier. A nice introduction but could have been better. 2 stars.