Disco de Jefferson Airplane: “Surrealistic Pillow [Magic]”

We all know that Surrealistic Pillow is a landmark album. The question is where can I find a decent sounding CD of this essential album? We suffered for more than ten years with the first generation CD - a notoriously bad CD plagued by hiss and crummy mastering. No surprise, RCA showed the same disregard for the Elvis CDs for years until his estate finally stepped in and said enough is enough - suddenly the original masters started showing up and now remastered Elvis sounds great. Will the same good fortune happen to Surrealistic Pillow? Well, there was the expensive Gold disc a few years ago. It sounded better, and even included the mono along with the stereo mixes (22 tracks), but virtually anything would have been an improvement! The problem was that the Gold disc lacked any depth whatsoever, it sounded very flat - and on top of that it had an edgy, harsh treble quality whenever the music got louder. Oh, well... Then a box set came out that included a slightly less harsh sounding Surrealistic Pillow that also had both stereo and mono versions. But again, the basic problems remained - a one-dimensional soundstage, a still too-harsh high-end, and muddied vocals, not to mention that, like the Gold disc, it was going to cost you some major bucks to buy the whole box to get this one disc. And remember, throughout this whole time RCA had continued to mass produce that first generation CD without remastering it - forcing you to either buy the Gold disc or the box to get better sound. Are you starting to get the picture here? Frustrating! Anyway, FINALLY last year (2001) a new single CD was issued domestically and it turns out to be exactly the same as the remastered one in the box set (includes both stereo and mono tracks). Same sound problems, but at least now you can get it without having to buy the whole box. But, that's not all folks! There is more to the story. There was also a new European import CD issued in 2001 with 4 bonus tracks (no mono tracks) that actually sounds ALMOST as good as my LP copy from the 70's, which of course isn't saying much. In any case, for what it is worth, this is by far the best re-issue CD I have heard. My advice is that if you need to get the best sound, then get the import. I can listen to this import CD without cringing and actually enjoy the experience. The remastering on the import is very faithful to the original LP mix (unlike the domestic issue) and on some songs it has some of that warm three-dimensional presence that all the other domestic CDs lack. Now I am not saying this is a fantastic CD, only that it finally begins to approach the minimal quality that you might expect from this great album. Be forewarned that even this import CD still is harsh at times, but it is far, far less annoying than the domestic versions. Let's just say Surrealistic Pillow needs to be totally remixed from top to bottom from the first generation four-track master instead of the worn out two-track Stereo mix-down master to do it justice. Until that happens, get the import CD and skip all domestic issues or better yet dig out that old LP and give it a spin.

We all know that Surrealistic Pillow is a landmark album. The question is where can I find a decent sounding CD of this essential album? We suffered for more than ten years with the first generation CD - a notoriously bad CD plagued by hiss and crummy mastering. No surprise, RCA showed the same disregard for the Elvis CDs for years until his estate finally stepped in and said enough is enough - suddenly the original masters started showing up and now remastered Elvis sounds great. Will the same good fortune happen to Surrealistic Pillow? Well, there was the [pricey] Gold disc a few years ago. It sounded better, and even included the mono along with the stereo mixes (22 tracks), but virtually anything would have been an improvement! The problem was that the Gold disc lacked any depth whatsoever, it sounded very flat - and on top of that it had an edgy, harsh treble quality whenever the music got louder. Oh, well... Then a box set came out that included a slightly less harsh sounding Surrealistic Pillow that also had both stereo and mono versions. But again, the basic problems remained - a one-dimensional soundstage, a still too-harsh high-end, and muddied vocals, not to mention that, like the Gold disc, it was going to cost you some major bucks to buy the whole box to get this one disc. And remember, throughout this whole time RCA had continued to mass produce that first generation CD without remastering it - forcing you to either buy the Gold disc or the box to get better sound. Are you starting to get the picture here? Frustrating! Anyway, FINALLY last year (2001) a new single CD was issued domestically and it turns out to be exactly the same as the remastered one in the box set (includes both stereo and mono tracks). Same sound problems, but at least now you can get it without having to buy the whole box. But, that's not all folks! There is more to the story. There was also a new European import CD issued in 2001 with 4 bonus tracks (no mono tracks) that actually sounds ALMOST as good as my LP copy from the 70's, which of course isn't saying much. In any case, for what it is worth, this is by far the best re-issue CD I have heard. My advice is that if you need to get the best sound, then get the import. I can listen to this import CD without cringing and actually enjoy the experience. The remastering on the import is very faithful to the original LP mix (unlike the domestic issue) and on some songs it has some of that warm three-dimensional presence that all the other domestic CDs lack. Now I am not saying this is a fantastic CD, only that it finally begins to approach the minimal quality that you might expect from this great album. Be forewarned that even this import CD still is harsh at times, but it is far, far less annoying than the domestic versions. Let's just say Surrealistic Pillow needs to be totally remixed from top to bottom from the first generation four-track master instead of the worn out two-track Stereo mix-down master to do it justice. Until that happens, get the import CD and skip all domestic issues or better yet dig out that old LP and give it a spin.

"Surrealistic Pillow" is Jefferson Airplane's finest moment, and one of the quintessential '60s albums. So many great records were put out in the late '60s, particularly in the period surrounding and including the "Summer of Love," but this is always one of the first mentioned.

I had the privilege of hearing Jorma Kaukonen play "Embryonic Journey" while I was in college in the late 70s, and it evoked for me how great this album is. That lovely, fluid, and weaving solo tune is the only one unaccompanied by singing, and Grace and company do it up with the rest. There is consistently good instrumentation, but this album is more marked by verse and lyrics, the accompanying melody usually dominating rather than the surrounding music and soloing.

"White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love," which stand as '60s anthems on the magnitude of almost anything, are the highlights of a load of great tracks. Through the looking glass, and let's love one another. They have a similar dramatic tone and structure but are still distinctive, and both are superb. "Plastic Fantastic Lover" is another memorable song, and provides a forceful conclusion. "My Best Friend" is more spirit of the '60s. "DCBA" is one of a number of pretty songs, with rhythmic cadences that make it a favorite for me. "Today" and "Comin' Back to Me" are highly evocative, beautiful ballads, with a sort of tripped out aura, but more lyrically dominated. Indeed, one thing I like about this album is the clear, fluid structures, not the tripped out excesses of the Airplane''s later work. There are no wasted cuts, as the Airplane make one of the great artistic statement of the 60s.

Having grown up in the Bay Area during the sixties and seventies, I'd like to share my impressions with Amazon buyers and browsers of the aural artifacts of the scene, we'll call it "Back In the Daze." And there's no better place to start than with this essential recording. While the majority of the first wave of Bay Area bands didn't translate well to the studio, the Airplane was a glowing - and I do mean "glowing" - exception. This is a perfect rock album from start to finish. However, and it's a BIG however, don't buy it. This release is one of RCA's nefarious, generic, "Digitally Remastered" CD's. In other words, the term, "digitally remastered," when discs first started appearing in the eighties, was bandied about in a slipshod fashion. One could argue that all CD's are "digitally remastered," but today, we do know better...right? Compare this with almost any other recent RCA Jefferson Airplane release, and you'll know you've been had. Especially at full price! And to address another contributor's comments, "Pillow" was available on an RCA gold disc, with both stereo and mono versions, and while the sound is infinitely better than the present issue, the remastered versions of the other Airplane releases set the standard. The mono portion still counts among one of my favorite discs. For those who aren't quite so jaded, pick out your favorite songs on "Pillow," and search around Amazon's Airplane listings for a recent compilation that'll suit you. Perhaps you'll find yourself enjoying the other material, as there's much more - with better sound - to enjoy by this classic band.

Unlike, say, the Doors or the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Jefferson Airplane really is a "'sixties band." The group's hippie ethos was and remains omnipresent, the very core of its sociomusical importance. Thus it is that the Airplane's most celebrated and probably greatest album, SURREALISTIC PILLOW, sounds a lot more dated now than many other classic records from 1967 - though still less so than SERGEANT PEPPER. But as even a cursory listen proves, the flower children had a lot more to offer than free love and cheap acid.

Right from the heavily reverbed drums opening "She Has Funny Cars," PILLOW is a powerfully expansive and entertaining experience, and its overt sense of its own time and place does nothing to weaken it. The hard-rocking "Somebody to Love" is still a rousing blend of psychedelic swagger and pop accessibility, "D.C.B.A. 25" a lovely folk-rock gem which can wring a nostalgia for the Summer of Love even from one who wasn't there. It's a pair of beautiful ballads, however - "Today" and the magnificent "Comin' Back to Me" - which are really the album's highlights. Singer Marty Balin's lovely, emotive tenor has never quite gotten the credit it deserves; but his performances on these two songs make clear that it was he, rather than the overhyped Grace Slick, who truly was the voice of Jefferson Airplane. Not that Slick doesn't do some fair work of her own, on flute and keyboards as well as at the mike: "White Rabbit" may sound corny from the smarmy vantage of 2006, but put it up against any of the tripe currently being peddled as worthwhile music on FM radio and it's nothing less than high art.

This 2003 remaster of PILLOW sounds good - though not great, perhaps, as the original album appears to have been rather muddily recorded - and adds seven bonus tracks, a couple of which are indeed good enough to have been on the LP itself. Hippie or not, you're sure to find something you like here, as people have been doing for nearly forty years. Peace!