KBC Band "KBC Band" 1986***

I just read on MOJO magazine's obituaries about the death of Jefferson Airplane co-vocalist and songwriter Marty Balin. He started as a minor teen idol before co-founding Airplane, getting gradually marginalized in his own group by the flamboyant personality of co-singer Grace Slick and radical political direction pursued by bandmate Paul Kantner. This  album isn't among his best, but deserves to be rescued from oblivion nevertheless. It comes from 1986, a bad year for music - as well as for hairstyles, fashion and whatnot. Not as bad, though, as 1985, the year that the Airplane's successors, Starship, had hit big with "We Built This City" - a tune that often tops "worst songs ever" lists. It supposedly celebrates "real rock" as opposed to playing "corporation games" - a song nevertheless propelled by heavy rotation on MTV, and written by hired guns for a band that had started as 60's counter-cultural icons Jefferson Airplane. By that time, of course, only Grace Slick was left from the original Airplane - her former boyfriend and bandmate Paul Kantner having quit, disappointed by the commercial direction of it all. Pretty soon he joined his former bandmates Marty Balin and Jack Cassady in new band KBC. Their (sole) album contains three Kantner/Balin compositions where they share the vocals and which partly revive the rebel spirit of the 60's with their anthemic choruses and harmonies, as well as with their lyrics. Opener "Mariel" sports some upbeat percussion and a rocking guitar solo (lead guitarist Mark Aguilar is a big asset for the band), but the lyrics speak about the murder of Chilean songwriter Victor Jara at the hands of a CIA-backed dictatorship, and warn that "if we don't care now/Chile could happen here". Likewise "America" echoes the call-to-arms of 1969's "Volunteers" (albeit with shiny 80's studio sheen), the dream of a U.S. without fear, poverty and warmongering. It's actually a catchy, uplifting tune with a strong chorus and nice guitar and sax solos. Their 3rd co-write "Dream Motorcycle" is a melodic rocker marred by the excessive use of sax and synths. The rest of the album was written by outside collaborators. The best of these songs is lead single "It's Not You, It's Not Me", which sports a strong vocal performance by Balin and music reminiscent of contemporary hits by Asia, Boston, Journey etc. It's no coincidence that Boston producer John Boylan co-produced AOR tracks "No More Heartaches" and "When Love Comes". Despite Kantner's professed disappointment with Starship's commercial direction (but then again, Balin was always more commercial-oriented) KBC utilizes all of the studio and songwriting tricks of the time to obtain a hit: big choruses, danceable rhythms, cheesy synths - it even often (e.g. "Wrecking Crew") veers close to disco. The obligatory power ballads (3rd single "Hold Me", Sadistic Mika Band cover "Sayonara") are also here. For whatever reason, this album wasn't the success they must have hoped for and Kantner, Balin and Cassisy soon joined Grace Slick in an almost full reunion of the original Jefferson Airplane, even cutting an album under that moniker. KBC are largely forgotten now, but if you are a fan of 80's AOR music you'll find there's a lot to like here. It certainly holds up much better than the more successfull Starship LP's of that era...  P.S. this is probably the only LP I have where the sleeve is also printed on the inside. You'd have to tear it at the seams to open it and see what the picture inside is. I didn't, but internet search reveals it shows a car floating down a desert highway with a sign in the distance saying "Life is a test. Had this been a real life, you would have been told where to go and what to do". Ha! 

**** for Mariel, It's Not You It's Not Me, America

*** for Hold Me, No More Heartaches, When Love Comes, Dream Motorcycle, Sayonara

** for Wrecking Crew

Paul Kantner & Jefferson Starship "Blows Against The Empire" 1970****

Paul Kantner's passing last January went relatively unnoticed as music fans were still striving to come to terms with another loss, that of David Bowie a few days earlier. I guess that was to be expected as Kantner's heyday lasted mere years instead of decades - but for a time in the late 60's no U.S. band was more important or influential than Jefferson Airplane, the group he formed with Marty Balin and co-fronted with then-girlfriend Grace Slick. Together they became countercultural icons and came to personify the whole flower power movement. Kantner, the most political group member, was instrumental in turning their 1969 masterpiece "Volunteers" into a revolutionary hippie manifesto, something that alienated some of the other band members. "Blows Against The Empire", credited to Jefferson Starship before the group of that name even formed, is him taking his revolutionary ideas even further in the form of  a science fiction concept album, the first musical work to be nominated for SF's Hugo Award. It's basically an escapist fantasy based on the work of SF writer Robert A. Heinlein with Kantner projecting the fight between hippies and the Establishment in the future. The story culminates with the new generation hijacking a starship and leaving to start their own utopia in the stars. Opener "Mau Mau (Amerikon)" is a driving hard rocker with dual vocals by Kantner and Slick, followed by "The Baby Tree", a folky fantasy with Woody Guthrie-ish banjo. "Let's Go Together" is similar to Volunteers' "Wooden Ships", with great backing vocals by Slick and banjo by The Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia. "A Child Is Coming" is a country-ish tune with great vocal harmonies by Kantner, Slick, and David Crosby. "Sunrise", composed and sung by Grace Slick, is a short but impressive showcase of her vocal prowess. "Hijack" tells of the hippies' plan to steal the Starship "...And our babes'll wander naked thru the cities of the universe/Free minds, free bodies, free dope, free music". It sounds a bit cluttered with a lot of words, acoustic guitars, pianos and intricate harmonies, but somehow it all works out. "Home" is an effects-ridden prelude to the centrepiece of the album "Have You Seen The Stars Tonite" a folk-rock ballad reminiscent of CSN & Y, guesting David Crosby from that group, as well as The Dead's Mickey Hart and Jerry Garcia. It's followed by another effects piece ("X-M") and closer "Starship", another psychedelic rocker with great vocal harmonies. Once more, members of the San Francisco hippie community  (Crosby, Nash and Quicksilver's David Freiderg) join in the chorus. Purely on musical terms, "Blows..." sounds like a softer companion to "Volunteers" and it's probably stronger than the Jefferson Airplane albums that followed it. At times it strains to accommodate enough words to propel the story, but its ambition is more than commendable. As a distillation of the hippie ideal into a musico-literary work of art, it is priceless. Remarkably, its SF storyline speaks more about the past than about the future: If anyone goes off to explore the stars it will be a conglomeration of big corporations and military, dragging the new generation with them as debt-ridden salaried slaves. Somewhere along the line Kantner's generation fucked up, though he remained the free-thinking idealist until the end.

***** for A Child Is Coming, Have You Seen The Stars Tonite

**** for Let's Go Together, Sunrise, Hijack, Starship

*** for Mau Mau (Amerikon), The Baby Tree

** for Home, XM

Jefferson Airplane "Takes Off" 1966****

I was preparing to present Paul Kantner's "Blows Against The Empire" as a small tribute to the recently departed guitarist/singer/songwriter of Jefferson Airplane. Then, while compiling a list of musicians that died in 2016, I found out that another former member had perished, coincidentally on the very same day. It was Signe Toly Anderson, co-singer of the band's first incarnation. She was later replaced by the much more flamboyant Grace Slick, but still left her mark on the first Jefferson Airplane LP. So I decided to present that album instead and dedicate it to both of them.

Yes, I know you don't recognise this cover. That's because this LP is a German reissue from 1974. It happened sometimes, European record companies releasing albums with alternate covers. I don't know what possessed them to do it - exactly how does a cover like that boost sales? Maybe they thought it'd look Floydian what with the cows and everything. Maybe they were trying to pass it off as a new release - their last album ("30 Seconds Over Winterland") had come out in '73. Ex-members had in the meanwhile formed Jefferson Starship, as in "an evolved, better, version of the old band" but some fans could have been fooled by the appearance of a "new" Airplane record in the stores. If they did, they'd be in for a surprise. This is a different band to the one that made "Surrealistic Pillow" and "Volunteers" - a lighter one, both musically and lyrically. It was formed in August 1965 by a couple of folkies, Marty Balin and Paul Kantner. They were soon joined by vocalist Signe Anderson, blues guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, versatile jazz bassist Jack Casady and singer/drummer Skip Spence. An incredible collection of talent, as most of them would prove to be great singers, guitarists and songwriters. Yet on this first album, Balin is definitely the leader, co-writing most of the songs and assuming most of the lead vocals. His tenor voice doesn't have much power or range but he sings the high notes with ease and forms beautiful harmonies with the other members. Opener "Blues From An Airplane" is a brooding piece of psychedelia with ragga-like guitars and intricate harmonies. Before its time, as the album was recorded between December '65 and March '66. "Let Me In" and "Bringing Me Down" are more typical '66 garage folk. The former features a great Kantner lead vocal and Kaukonen guitar solo, but fell victim to the censors who cut half the song, convinced that the title was a clear invitation for sex. "It's No Secret" is another excellent psychedelic love song and "Tobacco Road" a rolling blues number. "Come Up The Years" is an aching love song with Byrds-y harmonies and inventive instrumentation using glockenspiel. "Run Around" is more proto-psychedelia while "Let's Get Together" is an early version of the Dino Valenti folk song that became later famous by The Youngbloods and came to be regarded by hippies as a sort of national anthem ("Hey people now/Smile on your brother/Let me see you get together/Love one another right now"). "Don't Slip Away" is a fantastic jangly folk rocker and a touching plea for love. "Chauffeur Blues" is the sole pure blues of the collection as well Signe's only solo spot - and she brings down the house, proving she was every bit as powerful a vocalist as her celebrated successor. Not to be outdone, Balin delivers a gut-wrenching performance in the bluesy "And I Like It" which closes the album. By the time the album hit the market (4 months after its recording, what with the censorship problems and all) Anderson was heavily pregnant and unable to tour with the group, so they appropriated the lead singer from another local group, Great Society. That was Grace Slick who proved to be a dynamic vocalist as well as the ultimate poster girl for the hippy generation. With the further replacement of Skip Spence (a talented singer/songwriter but amateurish drummer) by Spencer Dryden, the airplane was ready to soar even higher...

***** for Blues From An Airplane, It's No Secret

**** for Let Me In, Bringing Me Down, Tobacco Road, Come Up The Years, Let's Get Together, Don't Slip Away, Chauffeur Blues, And I Like It

*** for Run Around