The airplane returns

Tomorrow should see the great off even with a load of stuff to get through current conditions as fresh air probably will do more good for me than what passes for fresh air here.

It's a badly kept secret that bands such as the Byrds, Country Joe & the Fish and Jefferson Airplane were the first anything like serious music interests I had and over the years I have put together full selections mainly on compact disc with the odd legacy vinyl compilations.

The second Airplane album was the one that saw Grace Slick join the band bring with her a couple of songs from previous band the Great Society and that album wasn't just top five but for many remains THE album that sums up the Summer Of Love.

By that point what was the norm in the US until late 1967/8 having stereo and mono versions had moved to just the stereo version kept on catalogue and the stereo version of this album doesn't just have different versions  that for the two singles don't relate to what was hits played on radio but had a lot of reverb added - cave worthy amounts in places.

While a reissue on record had restored this version, splitting it between four 45 rpm sides was tedious to me and recently I did manage to get a sealed copy of the deleted super audio cd too.

This apart from not having that echy feel also sounds smoother.

For me there's nothing that matches hearing the mono Somebody To Love and White Rabbit.

Everything starts somewhere and this is their debut album with the original lead vocalist Signe Andersson with the classic Blues From a Airplane, Come Up The Years and Marty Balin's It's No Secret.

As the rear jacket correctly stated it was indeed a "jet age sound" and this 2005 edition reinstated one song removed in its entirity by RCA Records over concerns during that 1966 drugs clamp down in California that refenced to "trip" would fall foul radio stations and senators and the edits to another in their original mono forms.

In 1967 the Airplane were on a high old time having two iconic top five singles and a top selling album so given an advance and paid studio time time spent three months working on something with absolutely no consideration for commercial success or appeal whatsoever and with Grace Slick pratcising singing Armadillo scat style just cos she liked that.

Ron Cobb's artwork shows a vintage late nineteenth century San Fransisco townhouse flying over the wasteful consumer society while on the left that is the rear of he jacket by the pile of waste it says "Every litter hurts" sourround by U.S. Law enforcement aeroplanes after drugs, a comment on the reality of those times.

The songs are arranged into suites and this does feature The Ballad of You, Me & Pooneil, Wild Tyme and Young Girl Sunday Blues  apart from having a high old time at the recording console A Small Package of Value Will Come to You, Shortly freak out.

It arguably is the least compromised album ever issued by them and as left field as this album is in places it is my personal favourite.

This Sundazed edition presents it in mono where most copies sold were stereo and there are mix and track segue differences apart the top and bottom strips missing from original UK pressings being present here.

I replaced my stereo UK copy for this as it sounds so much fuller.