Bark

Jefferson Airplane | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 30, 1996)
• Original Release Date: 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B000002WSU
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #95,158 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Japanese pressing. Limited edition reissue of the 1971 original release comes packaged in a paper sleeve. BMG. 2005. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bark? Well the reviews are a bit, shall we say, rough., May 3, 2002

By 

Junglies (Morrisville, NC United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Bark (Audio CD)

I liked this album from the start.

It is funny how everyone remembers the brown paper bag that the vinyl came in. I still have it but the vinyl is worn out.

It seems to me thatthe purists felt that the band had left their roots and I recall that fans in England felt that the Airplane had become one of those playing the heavy music that Slick had derided at Woodstock.

I do not know about that but I do know that from the moment that the album kicks off with 'When the Earth Moves Again', you know that this IS Jefferson Airplane, it is their sound and their music.

It does not really matter to me what the critics say. I like what I like and do not need a critic to tell me what is good or not. There are marvellous moments on this album including the dark, menacing feeling you get from 'Pretty as you Feel' and especially from that guitar, the excellent social commentary of 'Crazy Miranda' to name just two.

Clearly there are differences in musical interests in the band, displayed by the three main protaginists but the album as a whole does owe it's antecedents to the previous incarnations. I kind of missed Marty and his love songs but you can't have everything. (He still has that wonderful voice though so go and hear him use it if you can).

It also seems to me that this album was caught up in the changing world with Kent State events and the dawning realisation that the world had not changed. While the Airplane may have believed that the world could be changed, those who exert influence in our society clearly felt that it was time to move on to the next thing.

Definitely worth five stars, even without Marty.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Kantner steps forward, November 20, 2001

By 

Walter B. Conger "Solopreneur" (California central coast) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bark (Audio CD)

I purchased BARK on the day of its first release in 1971, and I don't recall listening to much anything else for a couple of weeks. Yes, Marty Balin was missing. Spencer Dryden was gone. And this was certainly a much different Airplane than we'd last heard from on VOLUNTEERS two years before. But BARK launched a NEW beginning, and a very exciting one at that!

One year before, we JA fans had been treated to the wonderful BLOWS AGAINST THE EMPIRE from Paul Kantner. Now, with BARK, Kantner really stepped forward as leader of the Jefferson Family. This album has not one, not two, but THREE boffo anthems by Mr. Kantner ("When the Earth Moves Again," "Rock & Roll Island," and "War Movie")--and it's here that the Airplane fully launched itself into the sci-fi realm that led it shortly to evolution into Jefferson STARSHIP.

And Grace Slick offers two classics here--"Lawman" (shades of Waco!) and "Crazy Miranda" (which is STILL relevant in today's era of lapdog media and politically brainwashed masses).

But the most interesting thing about BARK is this: 30 years later, I think it sounds BETTER than it ever has before.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Among the Top 3 JA Albums, July 1, 2005

By 

Toolshed (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bark (Audio CD)

It is hard to believe that upon its release in 1971, Bark was poorly reviewed. In retrospect, its musical closeness to Jefferson Airplane's earlier work, especially 1969's Volunteers, is striking. "When the Earth Moves Again" is a collective, anthemic song in the same mould and of the same quality as "We Can Be Together," and "Crazy Miranda" is clearly by the author of "rejoyce." What makes Bark special is the move of Slick and the astonishingly under-valued Jorma Kaukonen to the foreground and the new casual, almost frayed approach to performing and recording. Also new is a shift away from the already-qualified counter-culture sentiments of Volunteers towards a more resigned, knowing worldview: "Third Week in the Chelsea" is painful in its directness, but gorgeous in its craftsmanship and execution; Slick's "Law Man" projects a tired, slightly annoyed, spirit that Slick could tap into so well. New to the band was the funky and sensual punch of tunes like "Feel So Good" and "Pretty As You Feel," which project a randy-to-sultry adult sexuality absent from their more whimsical "love" songs of the '60s. Confirms that the early '70s were the high water mark for the extended Airplane family.