Customer Reviews

Sweeping Up the Spotlight Live at Fillmore East 69

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When I saw the November 28 & 29th dates on the back of the CD for this Fillmore East live show I realized I was in the audience for at least one of these nights. My friend Selena & I took the R train from Queens to 8th Street & walked the two blocks to the Fillmore. Somehow we had two extra tickets, which we elected to give away to two out of towners, who repaid our kindness with party favors. As a result, other than remembering the band infront of the moving blobs of light show color, my memory is a little hazy.

Considering this concert was recorded back in the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth, the sound quality is outstanding. Also, this is NOT the Airplane at the end. This is them a couple of months after Woodstock, smack dab in the middle of their reign.

This will be considered sacrilege but I think I may like this live disc even better than Pointed Head. It is at least on par with it. Pointed Head is essence relaxed San Francisco jam music. This show is New York City battering ram. The Airplane is on fire. For once everybody in the band is on the same page - the vocalists are in tune, weaving in & out & inbetween one another. Everywhere there is a spare opening, Jorma sends out lightning bolts of guitar fire like a Norse god. Spencer Dryden was the band's secret weapon, even though shortly after this performance the band showed him the door. His inventive and authoritive backbeat kept the band on track during the guitar and vocal acrobatics. The Airplane suffered when they switched him out & went with the drummer-of-the-month club.

And then there is Jack. His bass-as-lead solo in the middle of Pooneil is jaw-droppingly brilliant. He just won't behave. I can still remember a free gig in Central Park where the vibrations from his bass rumbled up from the ground & thru my feet into my body. There never has been another bass player in rock that could touch him, probably never will. This concert lets him rock out and strut his stuff.

Nearly all the versions of classic Airplane songs are better represented here than previous incarnations - blasting off with the best version of Volunteers I've ever heard, thru a ripping version of Good Shepard that lays waste the acoustic version, a better organized Pooneil than usual, a sensuous & powerful White Rabbit, Crown of Creation on steroids, and core staple Other Side of This Life ripped & gutted by Jorma's blistering solos. Young & strong doesn't even begin to come close to describing the performances on this CD.

The only out and out cringer (and all live Airplane gigs always had a couple)is Marty Balin's excruciating vocals on You Wear Your Dresses Too Short. I wish somebody had turned his mic off. Great jam, embarrassing vocals.

If you love the Airplane, you need to own this. 40 years later, this CD documents that on a good night nobody could touch them. They tear the roof off.

A wonderful, ESSENTIAL archive release with liner notes by...drum roll...JORMA! YES! First, let it be known that "Good Shepherd" and "Plastic Fantastic Lover" appeared on the expanded CD release of "Volunteers." However, that disc ALSO included "Somebody To Love," "Wooden Ships," and a different take of "Volunteers" from the November 28th & 29th concerts, all of which are NOT included on "Live 1969." Jorma states "The lineup on this disc is the classic one. Grace Slick, Paul Kantner, Marty Balin, Spencer Dryden, Jack Casady and myself were together in that year and we were strong." How true. When Spencer Dryden left (soon followed by Marty Balin), the heart of the band went with him. "Bark" and "Long John Silver" became "Hot Tuna plus Paul & Grace plus a bunch of other guys trying to fill the gaps." On this album, Jefferson Airplane was still DANGEROUS. They were like the "Skull & Roses" Grateful Dead, or the "Happy Trails" Quicksilver...a San Francisco band living up to every single word of press testifying to their greatness. If you're a fan, you already own the expanded version of "Volunteers." That means you know what awaits you here. It's another one of those rare times in which "5 stars" hardly seem like enough.

Wow!! This is one HOT show!! The Airplane tend to get maligned at this point in r&r history, probably because nobody can wash the taste of Jefferson Starship out of their mouths. This release proves that the classic JA were one of the 2 or 3 top bands on the planet in the 60's. As soon as they lost Spencer and Marty, the fire went out. Play the opening Volunteers LOUD for your neighbors! And the sound quality blows the earlier Fillmore East release out of the water. Thank you for releasing this one, Legacy.......

Since Bless Its Pointed Little Head, which, as far as I am concerned, is the best live album EVER, I've been waiting for another live album from Jefferson Airplane. And, until now, it has been hit and miss - mostly misses. 20 Seconds over Winterland - hmmm - well, it was the end afterall (and I'm still waiting to get Last Flight, the expanded show - so my thoughts on that album are still out) The few live "extras" placed on expanded CD versions of classic Jefferson Airplance are only a tease. 1999's Live at the Filmore East was good - but had a rather murky sound. I kept thinking I was listening to the show behind a wall. This release is what I've been waiting for!!! Son of Bless Its Pointed Little Head. I got the CD on Friday, today is Monday - I haven't stopped listening to it all weekend and I'm playing it now at work. There is no let down - great sound, great show, great CD. Dangerous?!? Try Thermonuclear!

Hard to believe that this was not released in 1969-70--it's at least as good as the live Bless its Pointy Little head, and most of the cuts are as good as the best Airplane studio work. Other cuts are like a full metal jacket version of the first two Hot Tuna albums. Only live version of the Won't You Try/Sat. Afternoon from After Bathing at Baxters. Only less than stellar cut to my ears is Balin's You Wear Your Dresses too Short. While there are two cuts that were released on the expanded Volunteers, including them here preserves the integrity of the Filmore sets

Hi Airplane people:

Those looking for another CD to build the Airplane collection will be very pleased with the "Sweeping Up The Spotlight" release. A couple of minor things should have been taken care of. The liner notes are way too short and there is no mention if the songs come from November 28th or 29th of 69.

Some of the tracks have different arrangements such as 3/5 Of A Mile In 10 Seconds."

The sound quality is very strong. Hopefully sales will be good so the opportunity will exist for another one from the vaults to see the light of day.

Time to take off. Be well always,
Craig Fenton
Author of the Jefferson Airplane book "Take Me To A Circus Tent"

We can discuss whether or not this CD is as good as BIPLH or not. A couple things I'd like to mention from my perspective that make this CD different:
1) If you are a fan of Jack's, then you want this CD. He does a solo on Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil that is OFF THE FREAKING HOOK, my brothers and sisters. This solo--and Jack took way too few of them if you ask me-- feels like tectonic plates shifting. On the rest of the CD his playing absolutely ROARS as well. No one before or since has ever played bass like Jack. When Jorma joins in after the solo Jack even manages to feed on the energy and take it to still a higher level.

(Aside: To say the singing and harmonies are "uneven" is to be kind. Like so much of their live work, the vocal are just silly and indulgent.)

2) I really like how you can hear what Kantner was doing for a change. This must be a result of modern sound technology. It adds a dimension that we had to struggle to enjoy in the past and I am very glad they captured his work here.

Is it better than BIPLH? It's different. It's worth it if only for Jack's playing but there is so much more to enjoy too. Take care.

When I first saw 'Sweeping Up the Spotlight' listed, I was a little sceptical. After all we had already had two official live albums from RCA as well as a whole host of other releases in the so called 'grey market'. To add to this, the tracklisting for 'Spotlight' looked overly familiar - and I was beginning to wonder whether there was actually ever a Balin era concert when they they didn't do 'The Other Side of This Life'. I really should have known better. The Airplane's capacity for innovation and reinvention is underpinned here by their trademark instrumental prowess and some wonderful three part harmonies. 'Pooneil'features a virtual masterclass in improvisation from Jack Casady as well as series of especially deranged and discordant 'Zappaesque' sound effects at the beginning. In fairness it should be pointed out that two of the twelve performances appeared a few years back on the expanded (Legacy)version of 'Volunteers'. But they sound far better here in the context of the whole concert - and we have a bonus in Balin's 'Dresses Too Short' - the only official version of this one we've heard before is the one from the Box Set - dating from Marty's one off performance with the band in 1972. The attractive booklet contains a short but reflective essay from Jorma Kaukonen. This concert represents the Airplane at their most musically mature. Woodstock and their five classic studio albums are behind them. And yet the purity of their music has yet to be compromised by the departure of Marty Balin and the arrival of later extraneous members. Even if you are not chronically addicted to the Airplane's music you will love this one.

This is a great cd, capturing the Airplane on an exceptionally good night. The version of "Volunteers" is better than any other live version of the song I've heard and "The Other Side of This Life" is a powerful mixture of the "Bless its..." version and the earlier trippier versions of the song. "Ballad of Me and You and Pooneil" is also magnificent. Jack's bass palaying is fantastic, Jorma shows why he is the most underated guitarist in rock history and Grace sings in key! BUY THIS CD!

Having always been a huge fan of Bless It's Pointed Little Head, I've been disappointed again and again by other live Airplane releases. Thirty Seconds has its moments but, well, the Airplane was dying a slow death, and it's for that reason that I haven't bought Last Flight. Then there are the various Monterey releases, which are good but marred by off-key vocals, and then there was that truly awful Fillmore compilation a while ago. This one, though, has it all, with incredible versions of Good Shepherd, Pooneil, and Other Side. Yes, there's a bit of embarrassing stuff--Marty on "Dresses", though the jam behind him isn't bad (which, actually, is a preview of later Airplane, with Jorma and Jack jamming away, apparently oblivious to the lame material they're playing behind. Or perhaps they were all too aware, hence Jorma's "my body's getting tired from carrying others' loads"). In addition, 3/5 and Plastic Fantastic pale compared to the Pointed Little Head versions, and Jorma's blues tunes make me want to listen to Hot Tuna instead. Take those out, however, and you've go an album of around the same length as Bless Its Pointed Little Head (no, I haven't actually counted the minutes) and arguably as good or better.