Feed Your Head: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, Live!

The San Francisco Bay Area music scene of the 1960s was certainly one of the most fertile at that time or any other; groups of such prodigious invention as The Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Quicksilver Messenger Service all thrived and found a national audience. With apologies to The Dead, though, the longest and strangest trip of all may have been taken by the Bay Area's own Jefferson Airplane. Drawing on blues, rock, folk, jazz and psychedelia, the Airplane carved out a niche all its own, scoring hit singles with songs like "Somebody to Love" and defining the Woodstock Generation with the politically-charged "Volunteers." The band then morphed into Jefferson Starship in the following decade, creating somewhat more mellow recordings like "Count on Me" and the erotic, tamed-for-Top-40 "Miracles." And then the 1980s saw perhaps the most controversial incarnation of the band, Starship, as big kitschy anthems like "We Built This City" stormed the charts. Later this year, Collector's Choice Music will celebrate the rich legacy of the first beloved version of the group, Jefferson Airplane, with four new releases drawn from five landmark concerts.

Gordon Anderson of Collector's Choice first announced the series back in April on his blog, noting how the tension in the band often led to its most exciting live performances. Anderson reflected that "there has probably never been a band of five individuals with such distinct and sharply-drawn personalities." (For anybody doubting that, just read Jeff Tamarkin's terrific biography Got a Revolution: The Turbulent Flight of Jefferson Airplane.) Yet for all of the offstage battles, the band (whose most famous lineup included Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, Marty Balin, Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady and the estimable drummer Spencer Dryden) produced some of the era's most forward-thinking rock. Craig Fenton and Richie Unterberger have helped Anderson select and annotate the releases, which will appear on the Collector's Choice Live label. More than two months after Anderson's initial announcement, the concerts selected have apparently been revealed thanks to some personnel involved with the releases over at the Steve Hoffman Music Forums.

Four of the shows date from 1966 at Bill Graham's Fillmore Auditorium. Live at the Fillmore: 10/15/66 Late Show - Signe's Farewell, marks the final performance of the Airplane with its original singer, Signe Anderson, who performed on the band's debut RCA LP, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off. Signe's replacement was waiting in the wings, though: The Great Society's Grace Slick. Live at the Fillmore: 10/16/66 Early and Late Shows - Grace's Debut picks up literally one day later, though her iconoclastic personality has yet to come to the fore. Slick primarily participates here in recreating Anderson's harmonies, and neither "White Rabbit" nor "Somebody to Love" have been introduced to the set, primarily drawn from Takes Off. A 2-CD set, Live at the Fillmore: 11/25/66 and 11/27/66 - We Have Ignition, shows the band's progression over one short month, with Slick assuming a comfortable role in the band. The final release, Return to the Matrix: 2/1/68, is a 2-CD set recorded at that storied San Francisco club. The Airplane opened the Matrix on August 13, 1965, and in fact, Marty Balin owned a stake in the club. The Airplane of the '68 stand, though, was a much-changed band. The Matrix show is the most psychedelic of the releases; the other concerts still show a hungry folk-rock band finding their signature sound. (Jefferson Airplane's second release, 1967's Surrealistic Pillow, shows the band heading in this direction. Later in 1967 came the edgier After Bathing at Baxter's, the songs on which feature prominently in the Matrix set.)

While these CDs haven't been formally announced by Collector's Choice yet, you can expect such an announcement shortly which will include the release dates (rumored to be this fall). Hit the jump for possible track listings, with thanks to Wolfgang's Vault, currently offering the shows for streaming and download.

Live at the Fillmore: 10/15/66 Late Show - Signe's Farewell (57:37)