Jefferson Airplane Album: “Takes Off (Deluxe)”

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.

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.

As the author of the Jefferson Airplane book "Take Me To A Circus Tent" and a former radio disc-jockey, I am often asked to write and or discuss various recordings from the 60's and 70's.

There has never been a more appropriate day to review the debut Jefferson Airplane effort. The female vocalist at the time Signe Anderson is now battling cancer and monetary issues. Before we get to the music, please help her. If you go to the Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship message boards, you will see information on making donations directly to Signe. If you need further information, please contact me directly and put Signe Anderson in the subject line.

As often happens in the world of rock and roll even passionate fans of a band will miss the actual birth. Deep Purple for example is often associated with the start of their musical journey when Ian Gillian took over the vocals, but they had three studio albums under their belt. The progressive band "Yes" had two records released, yet many people think the third album is their first.

The Jefferson Airplane did have a flight before the classic line-up took hold. The fantastic first record is before Grace Slick and Spencer Dryden (Drums) would be part of the crew.

The perfect opening track for the recording is Marty Balin's "Blues From An Airplane." After the first verse, any ear can decipher the brilliance and passion in his voice.

"It's No Secret" (Another Balin composition) would become a staple of the band's early stage repertoire. Balin changes gears and shows his musical diversity with the upbeat rocker.

"Tobacco Road" is indeed the often-covered tune written by John Loudermilk. The majority of folks may think of the Nashville Teens hit version, but the Airplane rendition is as good as any.

"Let's Get Together" (Written by Dino Valente) yeas later would become an anthem for the Youngbloods under the name of "Get Together." Before the well-deserved accolades were handed to them, the Airplane had done a superlative arrangement.

Signe Anderson's voice can be heard miles away on the brilliant "Chauffeur Blues." She relayed a great story to me for the book that during a studio session of the song a mixing board ended up exploding because the engineers had her levels too high.

If you don't already know how tight the reigns were on suggestive lyrics back then the bonus tracks will introduce you to the songs that were originally censored and how ridiculous the reasons were! Even from day one, Paul Kantner was pushing the musical envelope.

The remarkable achievement of the initial J.A. recording is the consistency. While they took some blues from Jorma, folk from Paul, and Marty's love for rhythm and blues, they also initiated a sound for the ages. As great as they would become, even if this line-up remained and the style didn't take the more esoteric approach, they could have had their place in history as a tremendous rock and roll band.

The remastered CD sounds even better with the additional tracks. Play it once and it won't ever be too far from your hands.

Enjoy the music and be well,

Craig Fenton

Author of the Jefferson Airplane book "Take Me To A Circus Tent"

There have been great albums that people don't remember as masterpieces, like Jethro Tull's "This Was." They always think of "Aqualung," but their first was really their best (Mick Abrahams - best guitarist Tull ever had!) Same with this one. As some reviewers say - this is a folk-rock classic. A shame, because it all went horribly wrong later on when psychedelia ruined it all. Folk-Rock, and especially the bands out of L.A. and San Fran during 1965 to early 1967 was phenomenal. This album along with Surrealistic Pillow were the best. After that, Marty Balin got pushed aside. BIG - BIG Mistake. But - like I said, a Folk-Rock Classic.

There are also bootlegs of this band live and if you get a chance, try to find them playing these songs live - very cool. 12 strings ringing out, baby! You can almost see Roger Mcguinn drool!! Buy this at all costs and you will not regret it. Only thing is - it will make you cry when you compare this to the crap that's out today. Oh - by the way...I heard a live concert of the group just after Grace replaced Signe Anderson and they played the songs from this record and...Grace does'nt cut it. Not on Signe's songs. Sorry Grace - you did well on your own but you could not match Signe on this stuff. I put this album in the top 10 BEST folk rock albums of all time! Get it!!

What a debut! This is a classic of 60s music and surely one of the best rock albums ever. It's superb from start to finish, exciting and refreshing like the Beatles' LP "A Hard Day's Night", but with a dose of the blues. The album opener "Blues from an Airplane" is a lovely mid-tempo song with gorgeous harmony singing (nicely coupled with Marty Balin's plaintive vocals) and attractive guitarwork. Next we have "Let Me In", a marvelous rocker with a stunning lead vocal by Paul Kantner and great electric guitar playing (has any group ever equalled JA's virtuosity with that instrument?). And then another fine rocker, "Bringing Me Down", with a groovy riff that you'll dig! The remaining eight songs are all great as well - right through to Balin's powerful blues closer "And I Like It" - as are the bonus tracks, especially "High Flying Bird".

Signe Anderson, Airplane's female vocalist only on this one album, has a voice that's amazingly similar to Grace Slick's, and after listening to "JA Takes Off" you'll be left in little doubt that she was just as good. Or putting it a little differently, we can say that Airplane was very fortunate in finding a new female vocalist as good as Signe. She handles the lead on "Chauffeur Blues" and makes strong contributions to "High Flying Bird" and "Let's Get Together" (just a two-line solo lasting 10 seconds in the latter, but how beautifully she sings it!).

So, fasten your seat belt and take off on Jefferson Airplane!