Jefferson Airplane - Bless Its Pointed Little Head
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CD Details
Artist: Jefferson AirplaneEdition: Music CD
Format: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2004-06-22
Music Label: RCA
Soundtracks:
- Clergy
- 3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds
- Somebody to Love
- Fat Angel
- Rock Me Baby
- The Other Side of This Life
- It's No Secret
- Plastic Fantastic Lovers
- Turn Out the Lights
- Bear Melt
- Today
- Watch Her Ride
- Won't You Try
Music reviews of Bless Its Pointed Little Head
Music Review: A Peak Experience
Rating: 5 Stars
I wasn't too surprised to read in Jeff Tamarkin's liner notes to this latest CD version of BLESS ITS POINTED LITTLE HEAD that it is the favorite JA album of EVERY single band member--bar none. OK, well, actually, I might not have been too taken aback if Grace--who reportedly enjoyed the studio process a great deal and liked getting the sound that she wanted nailed down--might have selected one of the studio releases, but then again, she comes off brilliantly on this live set (only two solos, but she's prominent on several other tracks, and there is no other recording that even begins to suggest the excitement of her vocal dueling with Marty) that it's really not all that surprising that its a favorite of hers as well.
The other claim that Tamarkin makes both here and in his excellent group bio GOT A REVOLUTION is that this was the unadulterated "live" Airplane--with no studio tricks, sweetening or clean ups. I recall once seeing a review that accused the Airplane of exactly that (finessing the record a bit in the studio). I remember wondering at the time if that were true, and if so, was it so bad? I mean, I certainly wasn't a jaded urban concertgoer in my youth but had been to enough live shows to know that even when they were great, they were seldom perfect soundwise. And if a record was going to be issued of any given live performance, a bit of polishing up or a bit of remixing might well be the order of the day.
Doesn't mean that the vocal trade offs between Marty, Grace and Paul were any less scintillating or that Spencer, Jack and Jorma weren't any less fiery instrumentally. It just means a cleaner recording, after all. Nothing misleading there. It is just enhancement of what's already there.
So I had decided years ago not to worry particularly whether this brilliant live disc was in any way "studio enhanced." If it's not--as Tamarkin insists--well, more power to 'em. If it really was the perfect recording of a really great couple of sets, well, how great that they were captured so well when at their absolute peak. They certainly were less well served by their second live record (their swan song 30 SECONDS OVER WINTERLAND, which while it does have its moments, pretty much documents their decline). And interestingly, the bonus tracks included with this release, supposedly recorded at the same time as the tracks that actually wound up on BIPLH, are inferior to the ones actually used.
Tamarkin suggests that it was only space considerations (the limits of vinyl) that kept these live versions of "Today," "Watch Her Ride," and "Saturday Afternoon/Won't You Try" of the original release. I can't quite swallow that whole. The bonus tracks are much sloppier vocally and much muddier acoustically than anything that actually made the cut originally. And even if the recording quality had been better none of the three tracks improves upon the original studio takes in any significant way.
Now of course, one could also argue that the SURREALISTIC PILLOW version of "Somebody to Love" is the definitive version, and in many ways, it probably is. But the live take included here is an almost complete recasting of the original. Others have commented on the funky opening riffs--not even remotely recognizable as an intro to one of the group's big hits--and Grace's jazz tinged, playfully cool take on the song similarly gives it a whole new dimension. Which is superior? Well, that will always remain the subject of debate among fans. What matters is that for this release, the group was bringing something new to the table.
In fact I've always asssumed that one of the reasons that so many of the tracks on BIPLH were re-do's of cuts from SURREALISTIC PILLOW was precisely because the earlier album, their first major commercial success, had been just a litte TOO commercial for this hippie band. Marty Balin sings "3/5 of a Mile In 10 Seconds" and "Plastic Fantastic Lover" like he's on fire. And the instrumentals are equally ferocious--with Jack's patented rumbling bass and Jorma's frenzied leads dancing around like a hot electrical wire. The polished PILLOW takes, recorded under the tutelage of an RCA house producer, are almost sterile by comparison. And of course, stuff from an even earlier era such as the previoiusly unreleased "Other Side of this Life" and TAKES OFF's once tentative sounding "It's No Secret" benefit from the band's newfound assuredness and boldness.
But boldness was precisely what the band's third record AFTER BATHING AT BAXTER'S did NOT lack for. In fact, when pressed to choose my own favorite Airplane record, I can never quite decide between their most experimental studio release (BAXTER'S) and their vibrant live release (POINTED HEAD). Had the group opted to include live versions of the two BAXTER cuts now offered here as bonus tracks, it would have been a real artistic mistake. "Watch Her Ride" and "Saturday Afternoon" are in no sense superior to the studio versions, and while I welcome having them now (completist that I am), they actually would have undercut the album's strengths in 1969).
In fact, I would encourage any Airplane "newbie" who gets ahold of this version of the CD to ignore the last three tracks the first time through. Abbreviated though it was, there was something magical about BIPLH's flow originally. In some ways, it really SHOULD end with the largely improvised (but brilliantly so) "Bear Melt." That track is a highligt for both Grace (who does a brilliant improvised vocal for the first half of the track) and for the instrumentalists who then turn it into an equally brilliant jam, ending with Grace coming in for the briefest of what Hendrix might have called "slight returns."
Hear it as it was--then go back for the bonus cuts. Best way to relate to them is to pretend that they're a welcome encore to an almost perfect set.
Description of Bless Its Pointed Little Head
Japanese pressing. Limited edition reissue of the 1969 original release will include the bonus tracks 'Today', 'Watch Her Ride' & 'Won't You Try'. Comes packaged in a paper sleeve. RCA. 2005.Classic Rock CDs
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