Disco de Jefferson Airplane: “Bless Its Pointed Little Head [Remaster]”

When the Airplane recorded this blitzkrieg onslaught of out-of-control psychedelic rock, they were the biggest band in the US and, observed from a ballroom floor they were Great.

This particular set is played faster (amphetamines?) than most by JA, but you'll soon get the picture. We're talking sonic boom, here with an overlay of dueling vocalism, the likes of which have never been heard again.

This was a band with four vocalist/songwriters (Marty, Paul, Jorma, Grace), transcendental overdrive built in to the engine and more than a little craziness (Grace Slick, mainly). There is also the matter of the bass player known as "God" to his adherents, Jack Casady. He never fails.

I could go on, but hey, I'm a bit biased. This group was my favorite live group. For contrast, try JA's "Crown of Creation", an inky, dark slab of psychedelia from 1968. (By the way, Jorma Kaukonen is one of the great ones, then AND now).

Incredible live cd. The Airplane at their best. This cd captures the pure energy and musical ability this band had. Wonderful exciting versions of 3/5 of a mile in 10 seconds and its no secret. Grace shines on Somebody to love and has never been better than the bluesy 11 minute version of Bear melt. A must have for any Airplane fan.

Just wanted to stop by and add my voice to the chorus. As almost all the other reviewers have said, this is a great CD. It will make anyone with even a casual interest in psychedelic music very, very happy.

The Airplane manage to rock like a sumbitch and be as trippy as a blacklight Escher poster. There isn't a weak track here, except maybe Bear Melt, which you kinda have to be in the mood for. Although, to be fair, unlike the other tracks, which are actual songs, it really wasn't meant to stand alone. It was intended to be accompanied by a headful of drugs and a groovy light show. Still, even Bear Melt it has its moments, especially Grace Slick's truly strange and, from the sound of it, at least partly improvised spoken/sung intro (that's where I got the headline for this review, although there's nothing especially strange about that particular phrase).

Kantner's Donovan impression on Fat Angel is a little embarrassing, but it's kinda cute too. And the song shows that raga rock can actually rock. A real slow burner.

Interesting that when originally issued, in 1969 (from recordings made in late '68) all the Airplane originals and one cover (The Other Side of This Life) were from their first two albums. Nothing from Baxter's, nothing from Crown of Creation. Probably RCA (and maybe the band) wanted to lean in particular on material from the Airplane's most successful album, Surrealistic Pillow. But that makes the last two bonus tracks, songs from Baxter's, especially welcome. Very rousing version of Won't You Try, although when the band sings/chants "People dancing everywhere" you can clearly hear Marty Balin say wistfully "used to be." Late '68 and already the flowers were wilting.

I wasn't too surprised to read in Jeff Tamarkin's liner notes to this latest CD version of BLESS ITS POINTED LITTLE HEAD that it is the favorite JA album of EVERY single band member--bar none. OK, well, actually, I might not have been too taken aback if Grace--who reportedly enjoyed the studio process a great deal and liked getting the sound that she wanted nailed down--might have selected one of the studio releases, but then again, she comes off brilliantly on this live set (only two solos, but she's prominent on several other tracks, and there is no other recording that even begins to suggest the excitement of her vocal dueling with Marty) that it's really not all that surprising that its a favorite of hers as well.

The other claim that Tamarkin makes both here and in his excellent group bio GOT A REVOLUTION is that this was the unadulterated "live" Airplane--with no studio tricks, sweetening or clean ups. I recall once seeing a review that accused the Airplane of exactly that (finessing the record a bit in the studio). I remember wondering at the time if that were true, and if so, was it so bad? I mean, I certainly wasn't a jaded urban concertgoer in my youth but had been to enough live shows to know that even when they were great, they were seldom perfect soundwise. And if a record was going to be issued of any given live performance, a bit of polishing up or a bit of remixing might well be the order of the day.

Doesn't mean that the vocal trade offs between Marty, Grace and Paul were any less scintillating or that Spencer, Jack and Jorma weren't any less fiery instrumentally. It just means a cleaner recording, after all. Nothing misleading there. It is just enhancement of what's already there.

So I had decided years ago not to worry particularly whether this brilliant live disc was in any way "studio enhanced." If it's not--as Tamarkin insists--well, more power to 'em. If it really was the perfect recording of a really great couple of sets, well, how great that they were captured so well when at their absolute peak. They certainly were less well served by their second live record (their swan song 30 SECONDS OVER WINTERLAND, which while it does have its moments, pretty much documents their decline). And interestingly, the bonus tracks included with this release, supposedly recorded at the same time as the tracks that actually wound up on BIPLH, are inferior to the ones actually used.

Tamarkin suggests that it was only space considerations (the limits of vinyl) that kept these live versions of "Today," "Watch Her Ride," and "Saturday Afternoon/Won't You Try" of the original release. I can't quite swallow that whole. The bonus tracks are much sloppier vocally and much muddier acoustically than anything that actually made the cut originally. And even if the recording quality had been better none of the three tracks improves upon the original studio takes in any significant way.

Now of course, one could also argue that the SURREALISTIC PILLOW version of "Somebody to Love" is the definitive version, and in many ways, it probably is. But the live take included here is an almost complete recasting of the original. Others have commented on the funky opening riffs--not even remotely recognizable as an intro to one of the group's big hits--and Grace's jazz tinged, playfully cool take on the song similarly gives it a whole new dimension. Which is superior? Well, that will always remain the subject of debate among fans. What matters is that for this release, the group was bringing something new to the table.

In fact I've always asssumed that one of the reasons that so many of the tracks on BIPLH were re-do's of cuts from SURREALISTIC PILLOW was precisely because the earlier album, their first major commercial success, had been just a litte TOO commercial for this hippie band. Marty Balin sings "3/5 of a Mile In 10 Seconds" and "Plastic Fantastic Lover" like he's on fire. And the instrumentals are equally ferocious--with Jack's patented rumbling bass and Jorma's frenzied leads dancing around like a hot electrical wire. The polished PILLOW takes, recorded under the tutelage of an RCA house producer, are almost sterile by comparison. And of course, stuff from an even earlier era such as the previoiusly unreleased "Other Side of this Life" and TAKES OFF's once tentative sounding "It's No Secret" benefit from the band's newfound assuredness and boldness.

But boldness was precisely what the band's third record AFTER BATHING AT BAXTER'S did NOT lack for. In fact, when pressed to choose my own favorite Airplane record, I can never quite decide between their most experimental studio release (BAXTER'S) and their vibrant live release (POINTED HEAD). Had the group opted to include live versions of the two BAXTER cuts now offered here as bonus tracks, it would have been a real artistic mistake. "Watch Her Ride" and "Saturday Afternoon" are in no sense superior to the studio versions, and while I welcome having them now (completist that I am), they actually would have undercut the album's strengths in 1969).

In fact, I would encourage any Airplane "newbie" who gets ahold of this version of the CD to ignore the last three tracks the first time through. Abbreviated though it was, there was something magical about BIPLH's flow originally. In some ways, it really SHOULD end with the largely improvised (but brilliantly so) "Bear Melt." That track is a highligt for both Grace (who does a brilliant improvised vocal for the first half of the track) and for the instrumentalists who then turn it into an equally brilliant jam, ending with Grace coming in for the briefest of what Hendrix might have called "slight returns."

Hear it as it was--then go back for the bonus cuts. Best way to relate to them is to pretend that they're a welcome encore to an almost perfect set.

Yeah man, this was the Airplane's 1969 live album and it does not disappiont. Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead which I think was the best band ever, were the two pioneers in the San Fransisco psychadellic sound. The interplay here among Kaukonen, Kantner, and Jack Cassidy is just perfect. It has their famous cover song "the other side of this life" and "somebody to love." It would be awesome if their was a battle of the bands among the best San Fransisco sounds bands like Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Country Joe & the Fish (I'm not sure they were from SF but what the Hell.) and Moby Grape. Ah... Those were some good times man.