More of the Music of the Jefferson Airplane

Reviews and Commentaries for the Jefferson Airplane

An OFF THE CHARTS side one with more tubey magic than you probably ever imagined.

We always have fun playing a great copy of the psychedelic 60s masterpiece, because the sound gives you so many of the qualities we love about good ol’ analog. No one’s recording albums any more with this kind of richness, sweetness, and warmth, that’s for sure.

Drop the needle on My Best Friend or Today to hear that trippy Sixties San Francisco sound at its best. 

This album is an exceedingly difficult nut to crack — no matter how many copies we have, no matter how much information we have to work with. Play the typical copy and you’ll likely run for cover — we heard played copies that were aggressive, shrill, lifeless, dull, thick, veiled, bass-shy — you name it, we heard it.

Not only that, but as a rule these early pressings are BEAT TO DEATH. Finding a copy that sounds any good and plays Mint Minus Minus or better is a real challenge.

But we didn’t give up. We knew that the best pressings of this album have tubey magic in spades. Undaunted, we kept up the search and eventually found some OUT OF THIS WORLD Hot Stamper copies.

Almost every pressing you’ll ever find suffers from at least a bit of harmonic distortion — some MUCH worse than others. We were convinced at one point that it was on the tapes, but after playing these super clean copies, we now know that not to be the case.

Tubey Magical Beyond Belief

The highs on side one superb. They’re not gritty, just extended with much less distortion than your average pressing. Today has some of the best bass definition we heard on our shootout. And, the vocal dynamics are off the charts. This was by far the best sounding side one we heard. Wow! A+++ tubey magical sound from start to finish.

Side two rated just shy of two pluses. D.C.B.A. on this copy has plenty of energy and extension up top. Just listen to the baritone guitar, the one that opens the track that sounds almost like an acoustic upright bass played with a pick. It’s jumping out of the speakers. Not many pressings have this kind of life or punchy bottom end. Embyonic Journey is a knockout with better vocal presence, and little, to no distortion. With a triple plus side one, and this side two being almost two plus, you can bet this change your expectations of Surrealistic Pillow from now on.