Until this year, the scope of my Jefferson Airplane collection was the first two albums, which really give no indication of where the band would be by the end of the decade. The band was a sort of canvas that all of the decade's growing strains were painted upon. Therefore, the younger idealist folksy Jefferson Airplane was gradually consumed by a heavier, more cynical band. Crown of Creation shows the transition nearing completion, with a few folk bits here and there, but overwhelmingly sporting a hard psych-rock sound and ample experimentation. It doesn't reach the level of Volunteers, its successor, but the writing is on the wall. Eventually these transitions would drive Marty Balin out of the band he co-founded and drummer Spencer Dryden, a little older than the rest of the band and disillusioned with the whole scene would exit around the same time.
As a far of the harder rock sound, I find this album and Volunteers closer to my interests than their earlier material. Crown of Creation, however, lacks a cohesiveness among its 11 tracks (plus the 4 bonus tracks even more so), with a few go-nowhere experiments and some abrupt fadeouts, as if their interest in continuing the song just trailed off.
Since there is quite a variety in the Jefferson Airplane discography, I would like to continue filling the holes in my collection. I haven't come across anything that completely poisons my opinion about one of San Francisco's greatest exports.
No comments:
Post a Comment