Disco de Jefferson Airplane: “Cleared For Take Off”

Hi Airplaners:

As the author of the Jefferson Airplane book "Take Me To A Circus Tent" I put together this information for you and hope it gives you the best source of making a judgement about the recording. If you don't already have the music, please don't be turned off by the change of sound quality. Many times in order to acquire previously unreleased music you can't always have it sound like George Martin was part of the project.

"Cleared For Take Off " Acrobat (U.K.) ACMCD 4001 CD released 11/6/03 (Taken from the Winterland, San Francisco, California performances of 3/10-3/12/67). The sound quality changes throughout the CD and the pops come at no extra charge. Although the CD wasn't put together with the greatest respect to the band or fan (Some songs fade-out and have wrong titles), those that don't own the material will be interested. There should have been one version of everything played during the three nights. The CD doesn't include "And I Like It", "Let Me In", "Fat Angel", or the jam. No information was given in the liner notes about the dates used for the songs so I have included that for you. "3/5 Of A Mile In To Seconds" 3/11/67, "Don't Let Me Down" 3/10/67, "Don't Slip Away" 3/10/67, "She Has Funny Cars" 3/12/67, "Let's Get Together" (Fades-out) 3/11/67, "High Flying Bird" 3/12/67, "It's No Secret" 3/12/67, "Come Back Baby" (Listed as "Jorma's Blues") 3/12/67, "Plastic Fantastic Lover"(Intro cut) 3/11/67, "Runnin' Round This World"(Listed as "Running Round The World") 3/11/67, "Somebody To Love" (W/"Leave You Alone" which was not listed) 3/10/67, "The Other Side Of This Life" 3/11/67, "Thing" (Fades-out) 3/11/67, "Tobacco Road" 3/10/67, "Today" 3/11/67, "White Rabbit" 3/12/67, "Bringing Me Down" (Listed as "You're Bring Me Down") 3/11/67, and "My Best Friend" (Listed as "You're My Best Friend").

Thanks and be well,

Craig Fenton

Author "Take Me To A Circus Tent"

This disc contains tracks taken from the 10-12 March 1967 shows at Winterland. All three nights circulate as collectors' recordings, and if you want to hear the complete recordings in proper context then i'd suggest tracking those down. But as a sampler this works pretty well. The recording is a soundboard but the quality is a little rough. This is true on collectors' copies too, and the Acrobat compilation isn't bad in comparison.

The disc includes most of the songs played during those shows (omitting only "And I Like It", "Let Me In", "Fat Angel", and a long instrumental jam) but doesn't include the multiple performances of the same songs over the three nights. The performance is vintage Airplane, recorded only about a month after their breakthrough "Surrealistic Pillow" LP was released.

The disc is almost certainly unauthorized and may take advantage of sometimes lax European copyright laws, but the material hasn't been officially released. I expect that if it ever is, the quality will be substantially better. Until then, you may want to check this disc out as a sampler of the Airplane giving some tight, energetic performances.

I would concur with the previous reviewer as to the quality and worthiness of this release. Prime 66-67 live Airplane! Very energetic and rockin'! The sound is not pristine by today's standards, but good for an archival disc of this sort. I wonder about the legitimacy of the release, however, since "Come Back Baby" is mistitled. I don't think the band would have approved that. It's available though, so if you love this group in their heyday, seek it out.

My two cents worth on this CD are that this is a great set of songs from when Jefferson Airplane were very energetic and more Marty Balin led,and also that the sound really isn't bad at all(just check out the samples here...they are very representative).

I found this to be one of the better "import" live JA releases. Just get this and "Last Flight" and you've got all the good ones!

To make my point, the cover art has in bold lettering, "Live in 1961". Considering that the band wasn't even formed until 1965, that's quite an achievement.

In addition, the track listings on the reverse cover side has the songs out of order from what's actually the CD. This is nothing but shoddy merchandising, with the intent of making a quick buck from unsuspecting fans of a grest rock & roll band.