Two things happened during 1969 that caught my attention. In November, The Jefferson Airplane issued their strongest political statement at the height of the Vietnam War. Secondly, and more important at the time, was that that December, my birthday was selected number three in the first draft lottery. <\/p>\n
For any reader who is not familiar with the draft lottery of 1969, winning was not a good thing. It was amazing how much my college grades improved from that date. While the draft lottery is now a relic of the past, Volunteers<\/i> remains a powerful anti-war statement cloaked in some of the best rock \u2018n\u2019 roll of the era.<\/p>\n
Volunteers <\/i>was different from many of the anti-war and protest albums of the \u201860s. There was no despair or condescension, but rather, it was an angry and scathing commentary about what was wrong with society and our nation. Listening to such songs as the title track and \u201cWe Can Be Together\u201d forty years later may find them a little dated, but the passion of the lyrics and the power of the music remain.<\/p>\n
The opening notes of the first track, \u201cWe Can Be Together,\u201d announce a strong political statement featuring the harmonies of Slick, Balin, and Kantner. It may be a tad idealistic today, but as the \u201860s drew to a close it was a meaningful anthem. \u201cVolunteers,\u201d which closes the album, was a call to a generation. It was both anti-establishment and unifying, which served as a vehicle for the group to preach their political message. The music demands your attention.<\/p>\n
I have always been attracted to The Airplane\u2019s presentation of \u201cWooden Ships.\u201d The popular version may remain that of Crosby, Stills, and Nash, but this rock interpretation of the apocalypse, Cold War, and nuclear holocaust seems more true to the song\u2019s lyrical intent. And the Kaukonen guitar solo is brilliant.<\/p>\n
There are certainly a number of other highlights on this album. \u201cEskimo Blue Day\u201d finds a tough Grace Slick fronting a song that would look ahead to Blows Against The Empire<\/i>, while \u201cHey Fredrick\u201d features another of her great vocals. Jorma Kaukonen continued his creative guitar explorations on the traditional \u201cGood Shepherd\u201d and his own composition, \u201cTurn My Life Down,\u201d which would look ahead to his work with Jack Casady in Hot Tuna.<\/p>\n
Two final comments seem in order. Marty Balin was the co-writer of only one song and his time with The Airplane as a regular member was coming to a close. He always had more pop sensibilities than the other members and, as a counterpoint, would be missed. On the other hand, the great Nicky Hopkins contributed his virtuoso piano playing to four of the tracks, which added an interesting sound to their usual mix.<\/p>\n
Volunteers<\/i>\u00a0 was the last great Jefferson Airplane release. Today the album stands the test of time well. Some of the lyrical nuances may be lost on the modern listener, but it remains an essential statement four decades after its release. Historically, it is an important echo from an era, especially for people with a draft number of three.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":30509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8038],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-42175","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-jefferson-airplane","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42175"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}