The Jeffersons In Space

Primer on collective acid-rock history

Next month, the tenuous San Francisco band Jefferson Airplane will be 41 years old. Over the years, the band morphed into Jefferson Starship with a constantly rotating cast of characters. Paul Kantner, along with David Freiberg, Slick Aguilar, Prairie Prince, Tom Constanten, Country Joe McDonald and friends are looking back on four decades of the Airplane, the Grateful Dead and the early San Francisco sound on a trip called the “Jefferson Family Galactic Reunion.” The following five works are a good primer on their collective acid-rock history before the July 1 show at the Variety Playhouse:

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1) “Wooden Ships” (1969) — Jefferson Airplane: A perfect example of the late-’60s crossroads of folk and psychedelia, with contributions from David Crosby and Stephen Stills.

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2) “The ‘Fish’ Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag” (1967) — Country Joe & the Fish: One of the best-known protest songs of the Vietnam era.

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3) “The Fool” (1968) — Quicksilver Messenger Service: Twelve minutes of time-warped psychedelia. QMS bassist David Freiberg was also a member of the Airplane and Starship.

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4) Anthem of the Sun (1968) — Grateful Dead: A great document of pre-Woodstock-era Dead. Keyboardist Tom Constanten was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the rest of the Dead in ‘94.

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5) Blows Against the Empire (1970) and Planet Earth R’n’R Orchestra (1983) — Paul Kantner: Kantner’s two “solo” albums, released 13 years apart, feature plenty of Jefferson alums and shimmer with celestial sci-fi imagery.






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