![](\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/thumb\/f\/f2\/Jefferson_Airplane.jpg\/220px-Jefferson_Airplane.jpg\")
Four live albums include original vocalist Signe Anderson\u2019s farewell show and Grace Slick\u2019s first show, both at the Fillmore in 1966<\/p>\nFour live albums include original vocalist Signe Anderson\u2019s farewell show and Grace Slick\u2019s first show, both at the Fillmore in 1966<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
LOS ANGELES, Calif. \u2014 The argument rages on, but for many music fans in the \u201960s, the best live band from the Bay Area was Jefferson Airplane. Formed during the summer of 1965 in San Francisco, the group triumphed in 1967 with Surrealistic Pillow, one of the key recordings of the Summer of Love, containing the hits \u201cSomebody to Love,\u201d \u201cWhite Rabbit\u201d and \u201cToday.\u201d The Airplane featured three master instrumentalists (Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady and Spencer Dryden) and three vocalists: Grace Slick (replacing original singer Signe Anderson in 1966), Marty Balin and Paul Kantner. The Rock \u2019n\u2019 Roll Hall of Fame inductees made a total of eight studio albums and released a smattering of live albums including 1969\u2019s Bless Its Pointed Little Head.<\/p>\n
But what most fans don\u2019t know is that there are vast reserves of never-released live material by Jefferson Airplane capturing key moments in their history. On October 26, 2010, Collectors\u2019 Choice Music Live will release four previously unreleased live albums: Live at the Fillmore Auditorium 10\/15\/66 Late Show \u2014 Signe\u2019s Farewell, Live at the Fillmore Auditorium 10\/16\/66 Early & Late Shows \u2014 Grace\u2019s Debut, Live at the Fillmore Auditorium 11\/25\/66 & 11\/27\/66 \u2014 We Have Ignition, and Return to the Matrix 2\/1\/68. <\/p>\n
The first three releases document the astonishing growth of the band, and follow the near-seamless absorption of Grace Slick\u2019s voice and material into the Airplane\u2019s sound just as they were entering the studio to record Surrealistic Pillow. The fourth release captures the group triumphantly returning to their home turf at Marty Balin\u2019s club The Matrix for a relaxed, exploratory set in an intimate setting, performing material from their first four albums, including Crown of Creation, seven months before its release. Taken together, the four releases confirm that at its best, when Jorma was soaring, Jack rumbling and the three voices joining in ecstatic melisma, no other band could ascend to the heights attained by the Airplane. Hand-picked by a team of devotees, annotated by frequent Airplane flyer Craig Fenton (author of the book Take Me To A Circus Tent: The Jefferson Airplane Flight Manual), and featuring rare photos inside handsome digi-packs, these concerts distill and express the dream and promise of the Haight-Ashbury scene.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Live at the Fillmore Auditorium 10\/15\/66 Late Show \u2014 Signe\u2019s Farewell: The Grace Slick era of the Airplane has understandably received most of the attention paid the band over the years. But they had released a good album (Jefferson Airplane Takes Off) and were already a powerful live outfit before Slick came aboard. The 10\/15\/66 release not only marks the first appearance on CD of a live recording featuring Signe Anderson with the band, but also her very last show. Both Marty Balin and the Fillmore\u2019s Bill Graham give her shout-outs. Songs include \u201c3\/5ths of a Mile in Ten Seconds,\u201d \u201cTobacco Road,\u201d \u201cMidnight Hour,\u201d \u201cHigh Flyin\u2019 Bird\u201d and \u201cChauffeur Blues\u201d (which Grace never performed out of respect for Signe, who\u2019d made the old blues tune her own). It was the end of an era. But a new one was about to begin the very next day, and is the subject of the 10\/16\/66 release.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Live at the Fillmore Auditorium 10\/16\/66 Early & Late Shows \u2014 Grace\u2019s Debut: The 10\/16\/66 volume chronicles the first set of concerts featuring Grace Slick as a member of the Airplane, a mere day after Signe Anderson officially left the band. The band has yet to add the material Slick brought to the band (\u201cSomebody To Love\u201d and \u201cWhite Rabbit) to the set list, but Grace\u2019s harmony work with Marty and Paul is impressive, and you can literally hear her confidence growing from the first set to the second. The album contains \u201cThe Other Side of This Life,\u201d \u201cLet Me In,\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t Let Me Down,\u201d \u201cRun Around\u201d and \u201cHigh Flying Bird,\u201d plus versions of \u201c3\/5ths of a Mile in 10 Seconds\u201d and \u201cTobacco Road\u201d with the new line-up, and Leiber & Stoller\u2019s \u201cKansas City,\u201d which has never appeared on any Airplane studio or live album. Surrealistic Pillow photographer Herbie Greene contributes photos. Things would never be the same for the band or for \u201960s rock.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Live at the Fillmore Auditorium 11\/25\/66 & 11\/27\/66 \u2014 We Have Ignition: CCM Live subtitled these shows \u201cWe Have Ignition\u201d as they believe this is when the Airplane transformed from a high-flying bird into a psychedelic spaceship (but not yet a Starship.) It\u2019s difficult to believe, when comparing these November shows with Grace\u2019s live debut on 10\/16\/66, that only six weeks have elapsed. Not only has the band (particularly guitarist Jorma Kaukonen) progressed as musicians, but the infusion of Surrealistic Pillow material some four months before the album hit the stores shifts the focus of this folk-rock band to rock. Included are \u201cPlastic Fantastic Lover,\u201d \u201cHigh Flyin\u2019 Bird,\u201d \u201cBringing Me Down,\u201d \u201c D.C.B.A-25,\u201d \u201cMy Best Friend,\u201d \u201cGo to Her,\u201d \u201cShe Has Funny Cars,\u201d \u201c3\/5ths of a Mile in 10 Seconds,\u201d \u201cSkip Spence\u2019s \u201cJ.P.P. McStep B Blues,\u201d \u201cWhite Rabbit,\u201d \u201cToday\u201d and more. Two rarities are a mind blowing, 9:45-minute version of \u201cThe Other Side of Life\u201d (performed for a photo session) that neither its author, the folk singer-songwriter Fred Neil, nor the band could ever have anticipated, and the only known recording of an instrumental known in some quarters as \u201cMy Grandfather\u2019s Clock.\u201d This is the Airplane at its early apex.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Return to the Matrix 2\/1\/68: The Airplane returned to the first club they ever played, the Matrix, in 1968 for a 103-minute show at the height of their commercial prowess. They band premiered two songs from the Crown of Creation album (which was months away from being released): \u201cShare a Little Joke\u201d and an instrumental version of \u201cIce Cream Phoenix.\u201d They also performed \u201cBlues From an Airplane,\u201d a song from its first (pre-Slick) album. Also here: \u201cSomebody to Love,\u201d \u201cYoung Girl Sunday Blues,\u201d \u201cShe Has Funny Cars,\u201d \u201cTwo Heads,\u201d \u201cMartha,\u201d \u201cKansas City,\u201d \u201cOther Side of this Life,\u201d \u201cToday,\u201d \u201cWon\u2019t You Try\/Saturday Afternoon,\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s No Secret,\u201d \u201cWatch Her Ride,\u201d \u201cPlastic Fantastic Lover,\u201d \u201cBallad of You and Me and Pooneil,\u201d \u201cWhite Rabbit,\u201d \u201cFat Angel\u201d and \u201c3\/5ths of a Mile in 10 Seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n