Jefferson Airplane - Jefferson Airplane Takes Off (19 tracks) +Album Reviews

The Forgotten Masterpiece

Josh H. | Toledo, Oh (USA) | 10/21/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Jefferson Airplane's debut album is usually not acknowledged, but nonetheless, it's a stunning work of art. And not many people seem to know about Signe Anderson, their original singer before Grace Slick. She's not quite as good as Grace (then again, nobody is), but her voice is still VERY powerful and downright stunning at times. "Chauffeur Blues", her only solo spot on the album, is the best example. Listen to her wail at the end of the song and you'll see what I mean. And I love the line "I'm gonna steal me a pistol and shoot my chauffeur down". Signe was awesome! And look at the pictures of her in the booklet. What a doll she was. Anyway, the rest of the album is spectacular as well. My favorite is the killer "Bringin' Me Down", in which the vocals are irresistable and euphoric. Excellent song. "Let Me In" (is it sex-related?) is one of Kantner's best performances ever; "Blues From An Airplane" is breath-takingly spooky; "Run Around" is mediocre; "Tobacco Road" is a fabulous blues tune and the album closer, "And I Like It", is an emotional epic. The hippie anthem "Let's Get Together" is good, but not really a highlight. "Come Up The Years" and "Don't Slip Away" are simply two of the greatest romantic rock songs EVER recorded. The latter features a wonderful guitar line, too. So that leaves Marty's famous "It's No Secret". It's a very good song, but the band would eventually do it better in concert with Grace.
Most of the bonus tracks are phenomenal, too. "High Flyin' Bird" is wondrous, and there's also a great tune called "Runnin' Round This World". Then there's an alternate version of "Chauffeur Blues", however it's more or less the same as the original. A longer, better version of "And I Like It" is also included.Oh, I forgot to mention something: Listen to Casady's bass lines on "Chauffeur Blues". AWESOME. AWESOME BEYOND WORDS."

Little Known Masterpiece

G. Pascal | 03/09/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Most general rock fans know Surrealistic Pllow is a fantastic album, but this album is almost as good. This is the perfect folk-rock album- the first 9 songs are outstanding.Tobacco Road has some great guitar and is sung much more heartfelt than , I think it was The Nashville Teens? that had the hit, & many artists have covered it, but this is the best version I've heard.It's No Secret the single is classic '66 in moody mid-tempo atmosphere. . Their cover of Let's Get Together is sung maybe a little better than the Yopungbloods, though it doesn't have that haunting guitar on it. Blues From An Airplane & the beautiful Come Up The Years are other highlights."

Often Overlooked First Album before Grace Slick

B. Marold | Bethlehem, PA United States | 09/26/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I share with some other reviewers the feeling that this album is a regrettably ignored beginning for what was easily one of the four or five most important American bands in the post-Beatles world of Rock.

Part of the reason for this was the great success of 'Surrealistic Pillow', the group's second album and the first to feature Grace Slick, who brought with her two of the groups's most distinctive tracks, 'White Rabbit' and 'Someone To Love'.

This album clearly demonstrates that the group started out as Marty Balin's band, with Kantner, Jorma, Skip Spence, and Jack Casady all brought in to share Balin's vision. That this album is as good as it is becomes a testament to the strength of that vision. And, even without Gracie, you can still hear echos of Balin's (and Kaukonen's) signature sounds on much later albums such as 'Blows Against the Empire'.

The tracks and the liner notes on this album also demonstrate the folkie roots of the band, along with several of the other major West Coast groups such as Buffalo Springfield, the Byrds, and The Mamas and the Papas.

Eight of the eleven tracks on this release were written or co-written by Balin, and each one easily stands up to the three standards such as 'Tobacco Road'.

When you are assembling your Jefferson Airplane CD collection, this one is at least as important as some of the lesser works put out under the Jefferson Starship imprimateur."

After all these years

Julia C. Hines | Kansas City, KS | 10/06/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"it's interesting to see a whole new generation turning on to this album. I hate to admit that I am old enough to have seen the Jefferson Airplane of this album live at UC Santa Barbara - one of the best concerts I have ever seen. It's really good to hear that this style, which I liked even more than the Grace Slick days, still sounds fresh and appealing. Sometimes Grace screeched on the high notes. Signe Toly Anderson, on the other hand, had a voice that was very well matched to Marty Balin in depth and tone. And as for Jorma - well, his work is just timeless."

A '60s landmark, and one of the best records ever

Dave | United States | 03/17/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I picked up this CD on something of a lark, and what a mind-blower it's turned out to be. "Jefferson Airplane Takes Off", originally released in September of 1966, is an astonishing debut album.

The liner notes of this particular CD edition point out that this is basically a 'live in the studio' album, without much overdubbing or "studio experimentation", but that just makes the Airplane's accomplishment here all the more impressive--clearly these guys knew exactly what they were doing. The playing on this album is sensational. A ton of credit has to go to Marty Balin--not only is he one of the best, most expressive vocalists in all of '60s rock, but he seemed to have some kind of sixth sense in terms of assembling the original band lineup, and apart from 3 covers, he wrote or co-wrote the remaining 8 songs on the original album.

You CERTAINLY shouldn't get it in your head that this can't be as good as later albums due to the absence of Grace Slick. Yes, Grace is great, of course, and incredibly distinctive. But Signe Anderson, in her only album ever with the band, absolutely soars on her vocal spotlight "Chauffeur Blues", and although she's not involved in any of the songwriting, she plays a vital role in the group's frequent, rich harmony arrangements.

Also, don't let people who tag this as a 'folk-rock' record give you the wrong idea--it's actually an extremely versatile album. The album opener "Blues From An Airplane" (co-written by Skip Spence) is a superb, ominous acid rocker that captivates you immediately with its droning guitars and Jack Casady's thunderous bass. Paul Kantner steps up to the mic for a devastating lead vocal turn on the mind-blowingly awesome "Let Me In", a ferocious, cathartic, cleverly-timed garage rocker stuffed with blistering riffs and a smoking Jorma Kaukonen solo. The deviously laidback shuffle "Bringing Me Down" has sort of a Byrds-y jangle to it, matched with a quasi-bluesy pattern, melodic bass, and a great descending riff sequence. Marty Balin's one solo composition "It's No Secret" is a brilliant love song--Balin's exuberant, from the gut vocals on it are intoxicating, and the song's surprising bridge section elevates it to a whole other level of genius. The cover of "Tobacco Road" is superly done, with its moody opening guitar passage setting the stage perfectly. The 6/8 ballad "Come Up The Years" is an achingly lovely and bittersweet love song with an appropriately shimmering glockenspiel part. "Run Around" has a manic, arpegiatted guitar part that just knocks your socks off. Kaukonen brings on a full-blown slow blues vibe for "And I Like It", a defiant, yet deeply emotional epic with a wrenching solo vocal from Balin--it was a brilliant way to end the original album.

You can hardly even pick out favorite songs on here, and album plays out like a truly unified, ingeniously-conceived, timeless work of art.

A big thumbs up to RCA for the inclusion of 9 bonus tracks, including a 'hidden' instrumental version of "Blues From An Airplane" at the end. We get the 'original uncensored version' of "Let Me In" which 'accidentally' appeared on a very limited number of early pressings of the original vinyl album--RCA had issues with some of the lyrics and the band re-recorded it from scratch, which proved to be a blessing because the subsequent 'regular' version of the song is more forcefully performed, although the 'uncensored' version is still terrific and fascinating from a historical standpoint. "High Flying Bird" wasn't included on the original album, perhaps because they felt they already had one gloomy cover song with "Tobacco Road", and "...Bird" does have a similar feel, but it's wisely appended here. The 'early version' of the rocker "Go To Her" and an 8+ minute take of "And I Like It" are just a couple more goodies that round out what appears to be THE definitive version of this beyond-classic album (although some fans may also want the version that presents the whole album in mono & stereo versions). An absolute must-have."

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