Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Masterpiece At The End of the Sixties, August 29, 2004
This is Jefferson Airplane at its peak, political and trippy, at the end of the Sixties. Before their legendary squables would, finally, make them implode, they managed one last great album, and here it is.
Each of them seem to have hit their stride, Kantner's writing -which predominates here- has achieved a new maturity, Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Cassady play together like one -which is no surprise given that Hot Tuna will be next for both of them- and Slick and Balin sing their hearts out.
This is a document -a masterpiece, really- of the Rock being written and played in California at the turn of that decade, while Vietnam raged and Haight Ashbury was beginning to fall apart. Whether it's the anthemic "We Can Be Together" or the tender Folk of "Good Shepperd," the fierce "Volunteers" or their evocative rendition of David Crosby's "Wooden Ships," this is vintage Airplane.
Regarding this reissue's worth, I must say that the remastering has done its job, it enhanced the original rather than destroyed it. As far as the extra tracks are concerned there has been a number of strong opinions about them, prior to my review. If you are on the sentimental side, you are likely to find them a major plus, if you are not, you might still like them or, worse comes to worst, you can program only the ten original album songs.
This is music when young people were convinced that their music could make the world a peaceful place. Listen to it ... who knows, you may feel that way too.
|
|
|
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best It's Ever Sounded, October 5, 2004
I haven't done a side-by-side comparison with the Mobile Fidelity CD, but I think RCA have done VOLUNTEERS proud. The band's first 16 track recording, the album's dense production always suffered on vinyl (especially on Dynaflex) but it has been substantially sorted-out here thanks to the state of digital recording technologies.
I was relieved to hear, from the get-go, a palpable bass presence, and as with the new remaster of BLESS ITS POINTED LITTLE HEAD, the multiple strands of instrumentalists are so clearly delineated that you can listen to the whole canvas or decide which musician you'd care to focus on, and follow. I never quite realized what a percussive performance "We Can Be Together" is given: Spencer Dryden's drums are competing with Paul's Kantner's acoustic and Nicky Hopkins' piano, and probably Marty Balin's tambourine, but as I say, all are audible now, giving the track an impressive sonic complexity. The acoustic guitars on "Good Shepherd" and "Turn My Life Down" sound as clear as river water chuckling over rocks in the flow, and all of the drums in Spencer's kit have clearer definition, so that we not only hear a backbeat but lots of jazz-flavored fills and percussive coloring. The most impressive tracks, sonically, are the ones that are most sparsely instrumentalized, such as "Eskimo Blue Day," and the extra space introduced in the sound of the recording gives Jack Casady's bass that much extra room in which to sound fuller, more rounded. (If this album has any seminal fault, it's that the band went overboard filling those 16 tracks, not realizing that less can be more, as is demonstrated here.) Even weaker tracks like "The Farm" and "A Song for All Seasons" become more interesting given the more pronounced and appreciable interplay of the musicians, especially Hopkins and Casady. Still, I have to accord MVP rating on this album to Jorma Kaukonen, never more impassioned in the studio than during his searing solo on "Wooden Ships" and never more mind-boggling than in his duet with himself on Grace Slick's "Hey Fredrick." The outstanding quality of his performance has shone through the murkiest mixes and masterings RCA could hurl at this album, and it's just breathtaking here.
Unlike the live bonus tracks on BLESS ITS POINTED LITTLE HEAD, the live bonus tracks on VOLUNTEERS -- same venue, one year later -- are superb and a boon to the overall package. The band is well-mixed and they play as if they know they are being recorded, and it matters to them to be at their best. Some audience members have clearly heard the new album and respond warmly when "Wooden Ships" is introduced, and this, "Good Shepherd" and the title track are all given near-definitive live recitals.
Warmly recommended.
Pet warning: The rumbling iceberg sounds that close "Eskimo Blue Day" sent my cats running out of the room.
|
|
|
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Final Jefferson Airplane Album Of The 60's! , July 22, 2004
"Volunteers" is the last 60's album The Jefferson Airplane recorded and what a classic it is. Merging folk and psychedic sounds, The Jefferson Airplane had a unique sound to say the least. "Volunteers" was full of well crafted songs such as "We Can Be Together", "Wooden Ships" (also recorded by Crosby, Stills and Nash), the honkytonkish "The Farm" and the anti-establishment tune "Volunteers" to name a few. Guest artists include Nicky Hopkins on piano, Steven Stills on Hammond Organ, David Crosby (no mention of what instrument he played but I'm assuming it's guitar) and Jerry Garcia on pedel steel guitar This remastered edition of "Volunteers" also includes five excellent bonus tracks, "Good Shepahrd", "Somebody To Love", "Plastic Fantastic Lover", "Wooden Ships" and "Volunteers" all recorded "live" at The Fillmore East November 28th and 29th, 1969. An excellent cd anyway you look at it.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
Interact With Your Music: Discover, listen to, and buy new music, all from the pages of SPIN's digital edition, free to Amazon customers.
~ Jefferson Airplane
~ Jefferson Airplane
~ Jefferson Airplane
~ Jefferson Airplane
~ Paul Kantner
by Jefferson Airplane 
