There is a reason why the Jefferson Airplane was the first nationally renowned proponent of San Francisco rock. As much as they bucked establishment values, the sextet offered a musical mixture of California folk-rock and white blues that was nevertheless easier to digest than the sounds of their contemporaries. TAKES OFF, their debut recording, made before Grace Slick joined the band, goes to great lengths to establish them as the obvious next step on a pop staircase of the Beatles, Byrds, and Rolling Stones. Signe Anderson and Marty Balin's distinctive, folky harmonies give TAKES OFF a lived-in warmth and a loved-in counterculture vibe that defined the times. Covers of John D. Loudermilk's infamous "Tobacco Road" and The Youngbloods' '60s anthem "Let's Get Together" may have symbolized their community's alienation from their parents' values, but the Airplane versions were less calls to arms than sympathetic pats on the back. However, Jorma Kaukonen's boppy R&B guitar leads and Jack Casady's free but steady bass lend the Airplane's debut some heavy rock muscle.
Yes, on Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, the group unquestionably was learning to fly, and it was only a matter of time before the band would soar to the highest of heights. Granted, the album isn’t necessarily essential nor is it widely considered a classic, but it’s still a vital piece of history about the band and the Bay Area that holds together quite well in retrospect.





Bitten by the '60s San Francisco bug of extended musical explorations, the Jefferson Airplane flew into song-suites on AFTER BATHING AT BAXTER'S. But rather than being an organic jam-fest, BAXTER'S took the Airplane's singular white R&B jams and bled them into one another. The "Streetmasse" suite, for instance, combines two typically electrifying Airplane performances: "The Ballad Of You & Me & Pooneil" and "Young Girl Sunday Blues," both of which give off the adrenaline of an Americanized early Who with female harmony vocals through a warped pastiche of vocal and percussive noodling ("A Small Package Of Value Will Come To You, Shortly"). San Francisco's cultural evolution didn't just affect the structure of the songs on AFTER BATHING AT BAXTER'S. No longer hiding behind the metaphors of the first two albums, the Airplane were now openly voicing the thoughts of their constituency. "There is a new way of thinking," sings Paul Kantner on his "Wild Tyme," and the very title of the "Hymn To An Older Generation" suite speaks for itself. "Spare Chaynge" is a nearly ten-minute instrumental led by Jorma Kaukonen's spaced-out guitar, the closest the Airplane had yet come to the musical free-for-all of their San Francisco brethren.