Customer Reviews

Volunteers

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

"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.

As a drummer,singer,songwriter, who was a teen in the late sixties, I can remember the day I bought this album,(and After Bathing At Baxters!). If you like The Airplane, there are several cuts on this album that are their absolute best. The way ' Hey Frederick ' shifts gears,literally;Grace Slicks vocals, the tightness of the band make this song a classic. It grabs me everytime I listen to it. And we actually play,(though we don't do it proper justice), the Airplanes' version of Wooden Ships,which is on my top 10 list of all time favourite songs. Songs like Wild Tyme,Saturday Afternoon and Young Girl Sunday Blues etc. demonstrated that NOBODY did acid rock like Jorma Kaukonen! And Jack Cassidy is still one of my favourite bass players! The live cuts ,from the Filmore East,ARE a real bonus! - Ron ' Rock ' Larocque,Orleans,Ontario,Canada.

`Holy Counterculture, Batman', what is the world coming to?' The Rolling Stones started it all when they lent one of their songs to sell Windows '95. Now Mick is shilling for digital cameras. Songs by Pete Townsend and The Who have been selling allergy medicine and have fronted every CSI show from coast to coast. Not that this is all bad. Half the reason I watch CSI is the jolt of adrenaline I get from their opening themes performed by The Who.

But now, who of all people but the Jefferson Airplane is lending one its songs to ads for a STOCK TRADING company, of all things. And, not only is it just any old Jefferson Airplane song, it's `Volunteers of America', the closest thing there is to being an anthem for the counter culture in 1969, when it first appeared on the `Volunteers' album. To the sponsor, E*Trade's credit, they use the song in a very imaginative way, playing exactly on the fact that the song is literally a suggestion for revolution. Of course, like the Beatle's `Revolution', there is just a little artistic license here, as the song is more exactly a reflection of `60s attitudes than it is a literal call to the barricades.

As a long time Jefferson Airplane fan, and a person who literally did exactly what the `Airplane' suggests in the song `The Farm' for a short time, E*Trade's appropriation of this most sacred of texts from that most sacred of decades comes as a major surprise. I just hope Gracie and Paul and Martie and Jorma and Headband Jack and the rest of the `Airplane crew are getting paid very, very well for their selling off this piece of my heritage to Wall Street.

To get to the point of reading what is supposed to be a review, let me say that while `Volunteers' may represent the high water mark of American artistic aversion to the Vietnam war and what it was doing to this country, it is probably not their best album. Their most important work that established them as THE San Francisco psychedelic band was `Surrealistic Pillow'. Their fullest work, with the greatest number of original songs is `Crown of Creation'. The album which I really believe is the most fun is the live recording `Bless It's Pointed Little Head'. But, `Volunteers' is the very last real `Airplane album before Gracie and Paul did their `Blows Against the Empire' project billing the band as the `Jefferson Starship', all based on a SciFi classic by Robert A. Heinlein. Explaining the irony of Heinlein quoted by the `Airplane is just too deep to go into here.

After `Blows...' I believe the band became much less interesting for a very long time. This may have been due to the alienation of Marty Balin and the spin-off of Jorma and Jack to the blues group Hot Tuna. So, this is the last of the truly great `Airplane albums, the apotheoses of the counterculture reaction to the very unpopular war. Aside from `Volunteers' itself, there are two other classic anti-war / anti-establishment songs in `We Can Be Together' by Paul Kantner and the great `Wooden Ships' by Kantner, David Crosby, and Stephen Stills which also appears as the first cut on the second side of the Crosby, Stills, and Nash debut album. Grace contributes the song `Eskimo Blue Day' which stylistically previews the themes of `Blows Against the Empire'. Jorma contributes three works, two of which are arrangements of traditional tunes and one original, `Good Shepherd'. Drummer Spencer Dryden contributes the country and western novelty `A Song for All Seasons'.

With all this anarchy, its curious that the very little `bad language' is so badly mumbled that you can hardly know what they are saying, and, in the copy of the lyrics in the LP, these words are changed to something much less objectionable. I thing Frank Zappa actually called them out on the timidity of hedging their bets with these dodges.

All in all, this is still an extremely powerful album that still resonates over the last thirty-five years. If you really want to know about music in the `60s counterculture, trade in your Grateful Dead for this classic.

Volunteers was released in 1969 and is the last of the Jefferson Airplane albums to feature their classic lineup. While their previous studio albums After Bathing At Baxter's and Crown Of Creation were both strong and diverse releases, they also had a few songs which were uneven. Although many would say Surrealistic Pillow is their best album because it has their biggest hits "White Rabbit" and "Somebody To Love" and other popular songs, Volunteers plays more to the band's strengths in that it's a more musically diverse collection while still showcasing the band's songwriting skills. You could make similarities to the Doors in this aspect as their debut album also had more classic songs but it was on their Morrison Hotel release where they truly put it all together.

The first half of Volunteers has a strong good time feel to it beginning with the the excellent "We Can Be Together" which is carried throughout by Jorma Kaukonen's melodic lead work and the soaring harmonies of Grace Slick, Paul Kantner, and Marty Balin. What truly makes the song magical is longtime session man Nicky Hopkins whose piano work truly shines here. The tracks "Good Shepherd" and the countryish "The Farm" continue the upbeat mood while "Turn My Life Down" is a great track featuring the rare mix of acoustic guitar and Hammond B-3 organ along with a great lead vocal from Balin. The epic "Hey Frederick" is outstanding, featuring great vocals from Slick and a long jam at the end which shows the great interplay among Kaukonen, Hopkins, and the rhythm section of Jack Casady and Spencer Dryden. The album's second half is moodier but just as impressive. "Wooden Ships", written by Kantner and CSN members David Crosby and Stephen Stills, is an excellent track and one of the most memorable from the era. Although the CSN version performed on their self-titled debut is the more popular version, the Airplane's version is nearly as impressive, having a looser feel in both its harmonies and execution. "Eskimo Blue Day" is another moody epic from Slick while "A Song For All Seasons" is another upbeat country tune. Finally, the title track is one of their most enduring songs and one of the great anti-war anthems of the 1960's. Like all of their classic releases, the album has been remastered and features a generous portion of bonus tracks. In this case, it's five live tracks from a performance at the Fillmore East in November 1969 which cement the Airplane's reputation as a phenomenal live band. Casady's inventive bass playing is way up in the mix and a highlight of energetic versions of "Somebody To Love" and "Plastic Fantastic Lover." The live perfomances of "Good Shepherd", "Volunteers", and "Wooden Ships" are very good as well. Overall, a fantastic album and one of the best from the Woodstock era. Highly recommended.

I'm compelled to review this one to help offset the one-star review given this classic album by another reviewer.
While I understand their frustration with the choice of bonus tracks, that's no reason to rate this great album so low in musical quality. No matter what you think about the bonus material, the original album is still the second best Airplane album, after "Surrealistic Pillow". It's their counterculture manifesto, and it wasn't just lip service on their part. Grace Slick and Paul Kantner, especially, were very politically active at this point in their careers. The two tracks that most define their message here are the title track (which served as an effective "revellie" at Woodstock) and "We Can Be Together", which quoted the radical battle cry "Up against the wall, [m-f'ers]!" (Gun-shy RCA substituted the word "Fred" on the lyric sheet - don't forget there were no "parental advisories" in those halcyon days). The rest of the album is great, too, especially their cover of David Crosby's "Wooden Ships" - they actually trump Crosby Stills and Nash's original version and add some lyrics of their own. This is also Marty Balin's last album with the Airplane (he would return years later to join the retooled Jefferson Starship). Add to that some great instrumental work (including piano from legendary sideman Nicky Hopkins) and you have a rockin' time capsule of the Woodstock era. It's still one of my favorite albums of the Sixties, bonus tracks notwithstanding.

Yes, well, that revolution may not have succeded, but Volunteers as an album certainly holds its own with the preceding Airplane albums. It is highly underrated because its political stance so overshadows the rest of the album. In fact, only two or three songs really take a "radical" political stance.

Sure, "We Can Be Together" has lines like "We are all outlaws in the eyes of America." Whether or not that still has relevance is for conservatives and liberals to battle out, but the music is among Jefferson's best, the opening riff is dynamic, and the band certainly sound engaged throughout this classic. If the political statement is a little dated, it's very hard to deny the passionate delivery - Jefferson Airplane believed that music could change the world.

Realizing that the guitar riff was classic, Marty Balin and Paul Kantner reused it for "Volunteers," a brief but effective rocker whose catchphrase - "Got a revolution!" - remains the most political statement on Volunteers. One of the greatest Airplane songs of all time, it was rather ridiculously used in an ad for something - jeans, if I'm not mistaken. Well, I guess jeans have something to do with revolutions. Maybe...

Between those two counter-culture anthems lie a number of songs that hearken back to their less political days (the wonderful "Hey Fredrick," the straightforward classic "Turn My Life Down"). Others emphasize a pastoral, rural theme ("The Farm," "A Song for All Seasons"), and Jorma Kaukonen and Paul Kantner each contribute an adaption ("Good Shepherd," a coffeehouse staple, and "Meadowlands," the Soviet army's theme, respectively). The band also cut their own version of "Wooden Ships," arguably better than CSN's version (admittedly a classic), and "Eskimo Blue Day," a somewhat disjointed song that (maybe) touches on environmentalism, in Grace Slick's own obscure way. But it's a very good song. Actually, the latter's lyrics mostly sound like a description of an acid trip.

Volunteers was met with heavy criticism upon its release, and many have said it's the worst Balin-era album, but it's every bit as good as Crown of Creation. They are both strong, solid efforts from a band at the top of their game.

And your enemy is greed." If that isnt a warning for Conservative America, then I dont know what is. Anyways this album is an unreceognized timeless masterpiece. It is #370 on the Rolling Stone 500. The heavenly vocals of Grace make this a real winner, and she says MFer 3:20 into the first and best song We Can Be Together. I cant put into words how good this album is. All I can say is get some good headphones and tune into Volunteers.

Jefferson Airplane always had a little bite to their "We Can Be Together" politics. Living at the epicenter of hippie culture in San Francisco as they were, it's hard to duck the flowers and beads when talking about their musical aesthetic -- sort of Haight-Ashbury's answer to the guitar sounds the Velvet Underground was making, plus a heady dose of electric and country blues, plus 3 and sometimes 4 way vocals, plus incendiary musical change-ups that hinted at sprawling psychedelic vistas.

A case in point is "Turn My Life Down," a concise track that starts with a fairly standard coffee-shoppish slide guitar before nimbly slipping into Laurel Canyon-style guitars and Hammonds. Then, suddenly at about 1-and-a-half minutes, the song tranforms into a romping pop melody and searing guitar counterpoint, nearly lifting the track right out of the stereo.

The title track "Volunteers," "The Farm," and "Good Shepherd" all espouse a back-to-nature agenda while simultaneously pointing an accusatory finger at religious zealots and political opportunists. But rather than being soap-boxy, these come off as beautifully constructed songs, scintillating in a raggedy way that is most often attributed to early Neil Young.

If you were concerned things were going to be a bit treacly and trapped in dated politics, Grace Slick delivers two songs that make it clear she was the Kim Gordon of her day. "Hey Fredrick" and "Eskimo Blue Day" are unflinching and raw -- "Either go away, or go all the way in" snarls Slick in the former tune. He voice soars over ambiguous lyrics that seem to search out some sort of meaning in religious and interpersonal dynamics. It could have been a boring graduate-level lecture... or it could be the dynamic and provocative polemic that she delivers here. You don't even notice nearly 9 minutes have passed. She is equally demanding in "Eskimo Blue Day," reminding us in no uncertain terms that "the human name doesn't mean @#$% to a tree."

As if to rub salt into the wide eyes of stupefied right-wingers who may have heard the album in its day, one of the closing songs is a tremulous organ reading of "Meadowlands," a communist-affiliated anthem much-reviled by the "Red Scare" set.

Another quote from the previously mentioned "We Can Be Together" is below. For as rewarding and generally uplifting as this album listens, the Airplane was out for blood -- striking a blow for the youth and pulling no punches in alienating apathists, poseurs, and opportunists. It's delivered with excellent musicianship and some thrilling left-turns too, making this album a real accomplishment from its era. One of my period favorites -- enjoy!

"We are forces of chaos and anarchy, everything they say we are we are, and we are very proud of ourselves."