Retro Reviews: Jefferson Airplane: After Bathing At Baxter's

 

    I decided to launch a new series to imagine myself as a critic at the end of the 60s and start of the 70s, and to rectify certain reviews from Rolling Stone magazine and Creem. This not meant to be contrarian, but to offer a more balanced perspective. All the albums reviewed are indeed classic albums.

Jefferson Airplane: After Bathing At Baxter’s (1967)

**

Producer: Al Schmitt

Musicians: Grace Slick, Paul Kantner, Marty Balin, Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Cassidy, Spencer Dryden, Gary Blackman, Bill Thompson

Songs and music: The Ballad Of You and Me and Pooneil, A Small Package Of Value Will Come To You, Shortly   , Young Girl Sunday Blues, Martha, Wild Tyme (H), The Last Wall Of The Castle, Watch Her Ride, Spare Chaynge, Two Heads, Won’t You Try / Saturday Afternoon

Reviewed By Matthew Anthony Allair

    It’s pretty surprising that some peers are praising this album, perhaps it has to do with Northern California geography, I can’t say. But after the success of Surrealistic Pillow, this feels like a letdown. That album had two Bonafide hits with ‘White Rabbit’ and “Somebody To Love”, as well as interesting instrumentals like Embryotic Journey”, as well as balanced mixed of songs where everyone contributed. The one notable absence is Marty Balin who only co-writes one song on this, and you can really feel the difference. Now, Kantner is a fine song writer, but his commitment to experimenting with the structure of songs can be a great risk, and it doesn’t pay off. However much The Beatles experimented with Sgt. Pepper, there was a cohesiveness with the writing, as much as the embellishments broke from the norm. I have no problem with experimenting with the form of music, but there has to be some real craft and focus, you can see my prior review about John Coltrane’s Meditations to see when the experimental risks pay off. Too much of this album, feels aimless and not focused, aside from the risk of breaking from the commercial. The weak material sabotages the good material that can be found herein.

    “The Ballad Of You and Me and Pooneil” is the perennial single, as well as the album opener, but it’s an odd opening statement - it sets the tone but it leaves the impression that the album will amble. The short piece, “A Small Package of Value Will Come to You, Shortly” has some free jazz drums and vibes, that just don’t work, and conversations that just spout cliches. The only Balin co-written number “Young Girl Sunday Blues” is the first strong number with some good harmonies between Balin and Cassidy. “Martha” is the first acoustic number with some clever drumming, and the kind of harmonies between Slick and Balin that seem like a natural fit. “Wild Tyme (H)” starts off for a moment promising, but the instrumentation and vocals seem to tumble over each other, and it seems to lack focus. “The Last Wall Of The Castle”, like the prior track, feels aimless, but the middle section tries for something heavy, but it doesn’t work.

    At least the side two opener, Slick’s “Rejoyce” has some interesting moments between the atmospheric piano and horns, and it seems to grow in strength as it evolves. “Watch Her Ride” reminds me of the vide of The Rolling Stone’s “Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadows?”, but this simply doesn’t work. The long “Spare Chaynge” just opens with aimless noodling for the first two minutes before it get’s focused. It feels like a band struggling to find an idea, and it’s in stark contrast to the focus of Pink Floyd’s “Interstellar Overdrive”. It does double up in the second half, but it needed some good editing. “Two Heads” has a good Slick vocal and some interesting harpsicord embellishments, but it meanders. There’s some fleeting promise with the album closer, “Won’t You Try / Saturday Afternoon”, but it ends up feeling as aimless and unfocused as other tracks. The Airplane are as much as jam band as the Grateful Dead, but something has to translate in the studio verses the live performance. Looks like they forgot that. 

    I take no pleasure in not caring for this album - the prior album held such promise for the future. Rumor has it that there was some other material they scrapped to go in this direction, perhaps that was a mistake. This feels like an album that began with the best of intentions, but it doesn’t translate into anything focused enough the grip the listener. I hope this album doesn’t cast doubt into the relevance of the band. Perhaps they were embarrassed by the success of the prior album, I can’t say. Only for the merely curious.