Bark/Long John Silver

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2009-04-29 rating:
The studio magic of late-period Jefferson Airplane available again at a sensible price
After the success of their "Volunteers" LP from November 1969 (# 13 in the US charts), the Airplane successively lost drummer Spencer Dryden (June 1970) and singer/founder Marty Balin (June 1971). br / br /The two successive albums under review were released on their newly formed "Grunt" label. br / br /"Bark", their seventh album, was released in September 1971. Joey Covington played drums [having already played on "Volunteers"] and 54 year old "Papa" John Creach added electric violin. Creach, a friend of Covington, also played with Hot Tuna. br /Bark's original packaging was quite elaborate with the LP sleeve - depicting a fish with false human teeth - wrapped in a mock grocery store paper bag. br / br /Sonically, the album's sound signature strongly recalls that of its predecessor, which it bested by reaching the #11 spot on the US charts. br / br /"When the Earth Moves Again", the apocalyptic lead-off track, is a very fine Kantner composition inspired by history and politics. The vocals are first rate. The sound is loud, with electric fiddle and guitars intertwining over solid bass and pounding drums. br / br /Kaukonen's "Feel So Good" - a catchy evocation of rock'n'roll lifestyle - is a solid rocker featuring a killer opening riff and melodic hooks. Casady's bass is mixed real way up. br / br /"Crazy Miranda", composed and sung by Slick, mocks some female character torn between the bible's teachings and her own lust. Her piano is mixed upfront. br / br /"Pretty as You Feel" (the Airplane last hit single), credited to Covington, Kaukonen and Casady, began as a studio jam but was later re-worked to include Covington's lyrics. The track has a loose, mellow feel and includes hints of blues and jazz. Melodic vocals and delicately intertwining guitar and fiddle sounds weave in and out of the musical texture. br / br /"Wild Turkey" is a Kaukonen's instrumental where he and Creach trade exciting, melodic licks over a steady background of bass and drums. Jorma expertly uses the wah-wah pedal to good effect. br / br /On "Law Man", Grace Slick expresses her feelings over law enforcement. Her vocals are powerful. The heavy instrumental backing is well suited. br / br /"Rock and Roll Island" features typical "escapist" lyrics by Kantner, who sings it with Slick. These lyrics hint at Kantner's "Starship" themes. The band pushes along forcefully. Strong, massed, overdubbed electric guitars set the pace. br / br /Kaukonen's "Third Week in The Chelsea", a softer track, speaks of alienation (maybe alluding to the band's future demise). It opens with some fine finger picked acoustic guitar. There is some under-mixed harmonica playing on the far left of the soundstage, although no credit is given. br / br /"Never Argue with a German If You're Tired or European Song", softly sung by Slick over an "experimental" background track, uses pidgin German to come up with double-entendre lyrics. br / br /Covington's "Thunk", has an appealing, novel quality to it. The track features acoustic piano and multi-tracked a cappella vocals by Covington and Slick who deliver goofy lyrics over a rather sweet melody. br / br /Kantner's "War Movie", sung with Slick, begins with strummed acoustic guitar and some electric guitar feedback. Electric organ comes in, followed by the whole band. Acoustic piano is also heard. The band's sound is good, pure, Volunteers-era Jefferson Airplane although I would easily make without the rehashed "us against them" lyrics. br / br /"Long John Silver", their eight album, is from July 1972. The vinyl LP featured an album cover that folded up into a replica of a cigar box. The record sleeve itself was adorned by a tightly packed bunch of rustic looking, mind affecting stogies. br / br /After contributing to a pair of tracks, Joey Covington left the group and was replaced by John Barbata (Turtles and CSNY). Hot Tuna's drummer, Sammy Piazza, plays on track #7. br / br /Although commercially successful (# 20 on the US LP charts), this album attracted mixed critical views. br / br /The quality of the instrumental playing is certainly as good as before. It is again dominated by Kaukonen's overdubbed, electric guitars (a unifying factor) and spiced up by John Creach's electric violin. br / br /Several strong tracks are displayed here, especially: "Twilight Double Leader", "Milk Train", "Each Starch Mom", "Trial by Fire" and the title track. br / br /Overall, the lyrics are adequate even though they prove meandering on "Alexander the Medium" [which has however a strong, likeable melody] and on "Aerie (Gang of Eagles)". The "sacrilegious" lyrics to "The Son of Jesus" or "Easter?" are downright embarrassing though. br / br /As regards the sound quality, the records feels a bit too congested. I feel that more color and more dynamic shading could have been used. Too many tracks are a bit relentless. br / br /It is also important to note that "Long John Silver" includes only one original Kaukonen tune. On "Bark", he contributed three high quality tunes and one co-composition. br /The fact that "Trial by Fire", Kaukonen's lone composition, was recorded by Hot Tuna's personnel (without apparent involvement from the rest of the band) strongly indicates that the guitarist was distancing himself from the Jefferson Airplane. br / br /I have special fondness for the Airplane's catalogue and these two albums still bring me a lot of listening pleasure. br / br /Acadia is to be lauded for making two worthy albums from one of San Francisco's seminal bands available again at a sensible price. br /

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