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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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ZowieZiggy
Prog Reviewer
4 stars The last studio album for the Airplane before their loooooooooong break. I was not really charmed with "Bark" so I was rather suspect before I listened to this one.

I must say that the opener and title track is quite good. A great piece of boogie, rocking as hell with a sublime Slick on the vocals. It is very difficult to expect more from an opener. It is a very nice start. The hypnotic Slick voice strikes again in "Aerie" : a superb effort from this extraordinary artist. I always succumb when I listen to her (I have the same feeling with Patti Smith actually). When she is on the lead, my emotion is at its peak, really. This album is a very good surprise with these two brilliant songs.

And it goes on with the rocking "Twilight Double Leader". It is a strong, powerful number. Brilliant guitar work and fantastic rythm. The whole band sounds very united and seems to be very pleased to play together (although it is their last album). The same mold is used for "Milk Train" : another great rock song with nice violin and rageous guitar again. The psyche sound has gone, but it is replaced by great rock influence (even hard at times).

"The Son Of Jesus" has a slower tempo, a bit heavier. Text are rather provocant in these puritian times : "Jesus had a son by Mary Magdalene and he rode the land like the man who went before young Jesus raised him loud, mother Mary raised him proud and he tracked the men who laid his father down". I do not know if the band had problems with these lyrics in those days : saying wild and loud what is almost a given fact, but always hidden by the catholic authorities is something I have respect for. It is of course not new that JA was rather provocative but here they did not compromise. A good track of course.

This very good album continues with "Easter", which again features a great Slick on the vocals and a good piano and violin play to support her. So far, I must admit that this record reaches a level I wouldn't expect. To contradict me, "Trial By Fire" is the first poor number. It has a bluesy influence that does not appeal to me. "Alexander The Medium" starts difficultly, but the guitar solo is really great. After this, the violin work is again very interesting and provides a good orientation to this good track. It ends up very solidly. The closing number "Eat Starch Mom" is again a very strong rock song; almost heavy with superb guitar again. A very pleasant way to close this album.

This album is rockier than usual (except "Volunteers" probably). This might be the reason why I like it so much. When Grace is on the lead, this album reaches the level of their very best ones, really. To me, it sits with "Baxter" and "Volunteers" my two JA albums. It does not have the historical value of the first one, nor the fame of the later but I like it quite a lot.

Four stars.

ZowieZiggy | 4/5 |

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