Back in January, when Jefferson Airplane Takes Off was the randomly selected album of the day, I lamented the relative lack of Airplane in my library. Luckily, being the Bay Area, the public libraries are well-stocked with classic era Jefferson Airplane, so this album, along with Crown of Creation, joined my collective.
Although Volunteers isn't nearly as iconic as Surrealistic Pillow, it's clear that the band was driving toward a heavier sound between the two. In fact, the disassociation from folk-rock combined with exposure to increasingly violent realities like Altamont, were the forces that ultimately drove Marty Balin and Spencer Dryden to cash out and leave the band. Nevertheless, for modern listeners who might find the first two albums to be a little too mellow, Volunteers fills that need for more hard-rocking material. For the purists, there is still enough folk/country to go around ("Good Shepherd", "The Farm"). I think the key struggle for Jefferson Airplane was that it was just plain hard to manage six different personalities. On top of that, the band was often placed in the weird position of being the performance outlet for aspiring writers like David Crosby and Frank Zappa.
Regardless, Volunteers is an important part of the San Francisco music scene, though perhaps a bookend of sorts. Not only was the world changing, but the band would also undergone considerable changes in the next couple years before finally calling it a day...then transforming into something a little more cosmic sounding!
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