Customer Reviews

White Rabbit & Other Hits

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

 

 

The Jefferson Airplane was one of the premier bands in the Golden Age of Rock, and this album contains some of their finest work: classic rock in its purest incarnation, yet always with their own distinctive style. And it incorporates one of the greatest songs in rock history, "White Rabbit". The song is noteworthy not only for the often-commented on psychedelic aspects, and its use of imagery from Lewis Carroll's "Alice" books, but for the less noted fact that its Bolero-like rising intensity is coupled with a disintegration of rationality and a sense of panic and loss of control: the song becomes, really, nightmarish, and the insistent quote from The Dormouse during the Mad Hatter's tea party, "Feed your head... feed your head..." becomes a mantra that is also a prison. This feeling of losing control and madness is lost on the more callow fans of the song, but is central to understanding it. In any fashion, this CD will become a foundation of your rock collection.

The Jefferson Airplane's recordings are curiously overlooked today; the sound (and some of the lyrical concerns) may seem a bit dated, but the tension between Marty Balin's romantic love songs, Grace Slick's upfront weirdness, Paul Kantner's counter-culture anthems and the incredible musicianship of Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Cassady and Spencer Dryden made for some wonderfully vibrant, creative music. This, however, is not the place to learn your JA. The running time is extremely short and there's only eight songs on offer; even at the price it's not great value. Try finding the Fulton Avenue compilation, or at a pinch The Worst Of Jefferson Airplane (although that one misses quite a few essential items). If you'd rather jump straight in, try to find the box set JA Loves You. All of these are a better introduction to the Airplane's music. I'd give the music five stars and the compilation one; so I've given the package three stars.

I will admit I know very little about Jefferson Airplane
in general, so I bought this as an brief introduction to
the band.
Somebody To Love and White Rabbit are probably the most
familiar songs to people who aren't fans of the band. The
entire compilation runs a little over 20 minutes, so it is
fairly short in duration.
The tracks are great though, and reminscent of the 1960s
pop culture back then. Embryonic Journey is a nice
instrumental on acoustic guitar that fills a bridge between
the psychedelic White Rabbit and Crown of Creation.
Volunteers is a song with a message and a bit patriotic,
and it's about helping your fellow person. It's symbolic
of the times it was written in, and a nice ending to the
compilation. Of course, since this album contains only
8 tracks, you would probably want to get a more
comprehensive album or albums if you like what's found
here. All the songs listed here are quite good, but I
don't know if it warrants a five star rating as
outstanding or indispensable, because for a compilation
album, the number of tracks and total time of the album
is pretty low, so I had to deduct a star for that reason.

If one has unlimited resources or is stuck in the past then you will want to purchase the CD equivalent of the vinyl albums. This album however will suffice as a good overview.

Be prepared as you start listening. For those who have lived through the era you are about to experience a flash back. If you have not been through the era; then you are about to discover what you have missed.

With "It's No Secret" to start us off you will realize that nothing was lost in the transfer to CD. "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit" is what you probably bought the album for and they will make you sit back with their power and mystery being transferred to a different world.

After listening to the other songs "Crown of Creation" sounds like it was recorded inside a tin can. It rather shakes you awake after the others. Too bad as that is one of their majors. Then we come to "Plastic Fantastic Lover"; it does not contain the resonance of "White Rabbit." However, you do not notice and will remember the words as it comes back to you.

After listening to this collection, I have the feeling that you will come up with those unlimited resources.

There are a lot of Jefferson Airplane sets out there. We have 'Platinum & Gold Collection.' We have 'The Best of Jefferson Airplane.' We have 'The Worst of Jefferson Airplane.' The list goes on.

And, we have this one. I'm giving this three stars because it is Jefferson Airplane. But that is the only reason. This has 'White Rabbit,' 'Somebody To Love' and 'Volunteers,' but it's missing a ton.

Where are 'The Ballad Of You And Me And Pooneil,' 'Greasy Heart,' 'Watch Her Ride,' 'Come Up The Years,' 'My Best Friend' and 'Wooden Ships'? And, at 8 songs, THEY COULD HAVE EASILY FIT HERE TOO!

My advice is skip this one and buy either 'Platinum & Gold Collection,' 'The Worst of Jefferson Airplane' or 'The Essential Jefferson Airplane.' Buy this only if you see it in a bargain bin.

I actually don't have this CD - but have all of their studio albums and most of their live recordings. Just wanted to note in response to other reviewers that 1) "Volunteers" was anything but "patriotic" - Marty Balin wrote it while sitting in a window of their house at 2400 Fulton St. next to Golden Gate Park and watching all the hippies doing drugs and partying in the street below - in fact the band was sued when it tried to call that album "Volunteers of America" by the (presumably patriotic) organization of the same name; 2) LOVE the "White Rabbit" deconstruction; and 3) yes, yes, try to get 2400 Fulton (tho I think it's out of print?) or JA Loves You. or for starters on the studio albums, of which there were precious few, start with "Surrealistic Pillow" (that's got "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love" on it, too - just a great snapshot of the "electric folk" aspect of their music, which is where they started).

If one has unlimited resources or is stuck in the past then you will want to purchase the CD equivalent of the vinyl albums. This album however will suffice as a good overview.

Be prepared as you start listening. For those who have lived through the era you are about to experience a flash back. If you have not been through the era; then you are about to discover what you have missed.

With "It's No Secret" to start us off you will realize that nothing was lost in the transfer to CD. "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit" is what you probably bought the album for and they will make you sit back with their power and mystery being transferred to a different world.

After listening to the other songs "Crown of Creation" sounds like it was recorded inside a tin can. It rather shakes you awake after the others. Too bad as that is one of their majors. Then we come to "Plastic Fantastic Lover"; it does not contain the resonance of "White Rabbit." However, you do not notice and will remember the words as it comes back to you.

After listening to this collection, I have the feeling that you will come up with those unlimited resources.