Disco de Jefferson Airplane: “Live at the Fillmore East”

In May of 1968, when Jefferson Airplane performed the four concerts that have yielded this 'Live At the Fillmore East' release, I was all of 14 years old, and one of my favorite listens was the underground FM radio station in Detroit, WABX. Aside from playing the cutting edge psychedelic music of the era, it was a trip in itself to take in the spaced-out DJ's this station let loose on the airwaves. It wasn't unusual, for instance, to hear a couple minutes of dead silence while the chemically altered spinmeister tried to decide what to play next, or to accomodate the station identification regulation with a quick "...ABX". This Airplane disc made me harken back to those days, what with the obviously random, spontaneous, and unrehearsed between-songs banter offered up by singers Grace Slick, Paul Kantner, and Marty Balin. They meander through conversations about when songs were written, to a discourse on a recent bust of the Grateful Dead in New Jersey, to a Slick monologue on a chocolate cookie that had been handed to her. And yes, there are a couple minutes of dead silence to be had. Surrounding the nostalgia, however, is a host of great psychedelia.

Aside from Grace herself, the slickest moment on 'Live At the Fillmore East' is the opening minute, featuring a deafening recording of a Boeing 707 taking off. As the wail of the jet engines subsides, we hear "Thank you for coming..." echoing about the Fillmore, and the opening, feedback-drenched strains of 'The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil'. It's a great opener, with its fat, fuzz-tone guitar leads from Jorma Kaukonen, and a several minute pounding bass bridge solo courtesy of Jack Casady. It's one of four tracks that break the seven minute barrier, in addition to the stealth rocker 'Star Track' (an homage to James T. Kirk?), featuring a great wah-pedal lead from Kaukonen, the instrumental 'Thing', which slowly builds in tempo, intensity, and complexity into a flat-out rocker with many guitar variations on its theme, and a cover of Donovan Leitch's 'Fat Angel', a typical Donovan flower-powered ("Fly trans-love airways, get you there on time...") yet funky compostion. The only other cover is Fred Neil's 'The Other Side of This Life', which along with 'It's No Secret' and 'Watch Her Ride' are rather generic rockers, undistinguished but doing no harm here either. For me, the standout tracks are those drawn from my favorite JA disc, 'Surrealistic Pillow', and those featuring Grace Slick, the finest female vocalist from the psychedelic genre. Her talents are front and center on 'Greasy Heart', 'White Rabbit', and 'Somebody To Love', and the performances are fresh, vibrant, and intense. Add to this list of highlights a worthy electric rendition of the acoustic beauty, 'Today' from 'Surrealistic Pillow', and you have the core of one outstanding, even historic performance. The only weak tracks on the disc are 'Wild Tyme', whose lyrics are embarassingly dated, and 'Won't You Try/Saturday Afternoon' which comes off sluggish and pressured.

Given that the year was 1968, these recordings are of astounding quality. It's truly a wonder than such a fine document of the Airplane's live persona remained buried for three full decades. Brilliant graphics and several pages of interesting liner notes from Jeff Tamarkin make for a complete, informative package (lyrics would be too much to ask from a live disc, since you so seldom are blessed with them even from studio productions). If you're a fan of early Jefferson Airplane studio discs, you should find this production both entertaining and enlightening. It's truly one of the better live testaments from the psychedelic era.

I saw Jefferson Airplane a bunch of times during the band's heyday, including twice at the Fillmore East, and can attest to the authenticity of this compilation. The music was raw-edged and LOUD. With the light-show doing to your retinas what the music was doing to your eardrums, it was easy to forgive (or not to notice altogether) off-notes and excesses. But take away the visual distractions and play it at less ear-splitting volume and the flaws become all too conspicuous. I like this disc because it transports me to a now-distant time and place that I recall with great fondness. Unless you're a hardcore Airplane fan, however, I'd steer clear of it in favor of Bless Its Pointed Little Head, a truly great live album of the same vintage.

This album is disappointing for a band of this caliber. The production values are sub-par and vary per track as to whether or not you can actually hear Jorma's lead guitar. The band also sounds a little loose and unfocused on some of the tracks as well. Go to "Bless It's Little Pointed Head" or the live stuff on the box set "Jefferson Airplane Loves You" if you want to hear what this band could really do live. Frankly, I am surprised the band (assuming they had any control over it) allowed this to be released. For die hard fans only.

All three of the Jefferson Airplane's live Cds are great, if flawed albums. I personally like this one the best because of it's almost punk like intensity. Despite a few bad notes instrumentally and vocally (remember that at this time monitors were either really bad or more often non existant) this performance literally jumps out of your speakers. The roar of the Jefferson Airplane indeed! Like many bands of this time period they were prone to the occasionally bad night (their performance at the Sacramento Pop Festival in 1968 was godawful) but this wasn't one of them. If you love the Jefferson Airplane by all means get this one. If you liked the Jefferson Starship better Fillmore East probaby wouldn't be one of your favorites.

I've been a fan of the Airplane since "Somebody to Love" was on the radio. There aren't many live recordings available, and none of the ones I'd heard (before this one) cover any of the songs on "After Bathing at Baxter's", which remains my favorite album.

This album was recorded while material for "Crown of Creation" was still being written. They play "Greasy Heart", which Grace says she wrote only three weeks ago. They have at least three tracks from "Baxter's" (which had been published just a few months earlier). As such, the band is at the peak of their writing. "Bless It's Pointed Little Head" has far fewer tracks, but some outstanding performances; they were playing better that night than when this one was recorded.

The recording quality is very good, performance ranges fair to very good at various times. At times their vocal arrangements don't hang together -- but they are attempting amazing things, such as a four-part harmony involving complicated chords and controlled dissonance. I'm amazed at what they attempt in this concert; sometimes it comes off quite well too.

If you don't know the Airplane, this isn't the first album you should buy. But if you've been a fan all these years, and especially if you like their psychedelic and revolutionary phases, you're in for a treat!