Jefferson Airplane Compilation

This was the first serious effort to assemble the best and most interesting of the Jefferson Airplane's work from beginning to end. At the time, the group's catalog on CD was in a woeful state of disrepair, hastily mastered from LP production sources and sounding worse than original vinyl copies of many of the titles, and there was no comprehensive anthology,

This compilation chronicles the history of Jefferson Airplane/Starship as seen on the VH1 Behind the Music series. This is the first CD to encapsulate the band as it morphed between its three phases with the only consistency being the vocals of Grace Slick. These 18 tracks start with 1967's summer of love anthems "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit," then move into the decadent '70s haze of "Miracles" and "With Your Love," and conclude with the '80s glossy pop/ballads "We Built This City," "Sara," and "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now." Fans of one particular incarnation of the band may find parts of this nauseating or outdated, depending on where they stand. For better or worse, the band constantly evolved throughout three decades, unlike other mega superstar groups that gained prominence at the same time.

The triple CD (or cassette) box set Jefferson Airplane Loves You came out at a time when major record labels were rushing out deluxe sets of about every meaningful artist of the '60s and '70s. Most of those sets hid self-indulgent, inflated "best of" collections of previously released material with a couple of alternate mixes and live tracks to lure in the fans. Loves You has some general appeal (although slimmer "best of" collections are available and cater better to the casual listener who wants to hear "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love"), but it is clearly aimed at the fan. Disc 1 covers the early years up to the group's second LP Surrealistic Pillow.

This odds and sods collection of the Jefferson Airplane gives an eclectic overview of one of the premier San Francisco bands. Although several of their better-known songs are included ("White Rabbit," "Volunteers"), the purpose of Flight Log seems to be to tell the story of the original JA lineup rather than present their greatest hits. The first half of the record documents the group together, the second half the group apart. A live version of "Somebody to Love" rides the sonic punch of Kaukonen and Cassady; Marty Balin's "Comin' Back to Me" remains one of the Airplane's finest ballads. The initial Hot Tuna recordings are also represented here along with tracks from the Blows Against the Empire assemblage. The inclusion of Jefferson Starship's "Ride the Tiger points the way to a slicker, pop-oriented future. While Flight Log is not essential, it may certainly be of interest to devout fans of the Jefferson Airplane.

On August 13, 1965, Jefferson Airplane made their debut at the Matrix in San Francisco, and the club, founded by Airplane singer Marty Balin, was also having its opening that night. Two and a half years later, on February 1, 1968, Jefferson Airplane returned to the Matrix to play a show. By then, the group (three of whose six members had been replaced along the way) was a national success with a gold second album, Surrealistic Pillow, and two Top Ten singles, "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit."

REMARKABLE 1970 SHOW FROM A REVITALISED JEFFERSON AIRPLANE After a number of years of plain sailing, by the end of 1969, having recently played both Woodstock and, at the end of the year, the disastrous Altamont Festival, Jefferson Airplane were somewhat mentally and physically exhausted. The only casualty however was Spencer Dryden, who was dismissed from the band in February 1970, as he was deeply disturbed by the events at Altamont and burned out from four years on the acid-merry-go-round. Throughout 1970 the group continued to tour regularly however, but their only new recording that year was the single Mexico backed with Have You Seen the Saucers? . Grace Slick's a-side was an attack on President Richard Nixon's Operation Intercept, which had been implemented to curtail the flow of marijuana into the United States.

Jefferson Starship were among the most successful arena rock bands of the 1970s and early '80s. Guitarist Paul Kantner and singer Grace Slick started the group after the disbandment of Jefferson Airplane, adding former Airplane vocalist Marty Balin not much later. Red Octopus, their second album, established Jefferson Starship as a mainstream rock powerhouse. It topped Billboard's album chart and its smooth single "Miracles" gave the band a number three hit that crossed over to the adult contemporary charts. Many Airplane fans decried the Starship's more mainstream musical direction, especially after Airplane singers Grace Slick and Marty Balin departed in 1978. But with shifting personnel still anchored by Kantner and bassist David Freiberg, the group managed to please its new fans, and some old ones, over a period of a decade before shifting gears into even more overtly pop territory and changing names again to simply Starship. Kantner revived Jefferson Starship in the '90s, bringing Freiberg back into the fold in the mid-2000s, and the bassist kept the band going into the 2020s after the 2016 death of Kantner. Jefferson Airplane, the seminal San Francisco psychedelic rock band of the '60s noted for its hits "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit," began to fragment in the early '70s.

Starship is an American rock band established in 1985. Although a continuation of Jefferson Starship, its change in musical direction, loss of key Jefferson Starship personnel, and name change sparked a new identity. Love Among the Cannibals is the third album released in 1989 by rock band Starship. It was the first album after Grace Slick's departure from the band, and their last full-length studio release until Loveless Fascination in 2013. The song "Wild Again" had previously been produced for the soundtrack to Cocktail (1988), and was included as a bonus track for the album's CD release. The album had one top 20 single on the Billboard charts, "It's Not Enough", which peaked at No. 12 in October 1989 and was their final Top-40 hit, but the album itself only climbed to No. 64. The track "I'll Be There" went on to being featured in the end credits of Gross Anatomy (1989).

Starship is an American rock band established in 1985. Although a continuation of Jefferson Starship, its change in musical direction, loss of key Jefferson Starship personnel, and name change sparked a new identity. Love Among the Cannibals is the third album released in 1989 by rock band Starship. It was the first album after Grace Slick's departure from the band, and their last full-length studio release until Loveless Fascination in 2013. The song "Wild Again" had previously been produced for the soundtrack to Cocktail (1988), and was included as a bonus track for the album's CD release. The album had one top 20 single on the Billboard charts, "It's Not Enough", which peaked at No. 12 in October 1989 and was their final Top-40 hit, but the album itself only climbed to No. 64. The track "I'll Be There" went on to being featured in the end credits of Gross Anatomy (1989).

Starship is an American rock band established in 1985. Although a continuation of Jefferson Starship, its change in musical direction, loss of key Jefferson Starship personnel, and name change sparked a new identity. Love Among the Cannibals is the third album released in 1989 by rock band Starship. It was the first album after Grace Slick's departure from the band, and their last full-length studio release until Loveless Fascination in 2013. The song "Wild Again" had previously been produced for the soundtrack to Cocktail (1988), and was included as a bonus track for the album's CD release. The album had one top 20 single on the Billboard charts, "It's Not Enough", which peaked at No. 12 in October 1989 and was their final Top-40 hit, but the album itself only climbed to No. 64. The track "I'll Be There" went on to being featured in the end credits of Gross Anatomy (1989).