This is Jefferson Airplane's New Year's Eve show, with Quicksilver and Big Brother and the Holding Company opening. This recording is incomplete and starts in progress. Quite likely this is the last 45 minutes of their set.
Unfortunately, the entire set was not recorded, but what is here is quite interesting. Due to the New Year's Eve circumstances (and probably mind altering substances), this is inferior quality to those opening sets.…entire summary
Grace Slick - vocals, organ
Marty Balin - vocals, percussion
Paul Kantner - vocals, guitar
Jorma Kaukonen - lead guitar
Jack Casady - bass
Spencer Dryden - drums
This is Jefferson Airplane's New Year's Eve show, with Quicksilver and Big Brother and the Holding Company opening. This recording is incomplete and starts in progress. Quite likely this is the last 45 minutes of their set.
Unfortunately, the entire set was not recorded, but what is here is quite interesting. Due to the New Year's Eve circumstances (and probably mind altering substances), this is inferior quality to those opening sets. However, this recording is still quite fascinating to Jefferson Airplane fans as the majority of the set list is taken from After Bathing At Baxter's. Several of these songs, like "Two Heads," "Young Girl Sunday Blues" and "Watch Her Ride" were only performed around this time period and were dropped from live performances shortly thereafter.
Following sets by Quicksilver Messenger Service, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and Jefferson Airplane, a free form jam ensued, featuring members of all three bands.
The first jam is loosely based on "Baby What You Want Me To Do." Jorma's and Cipollina's guitars are distinguishable and future QMS lead singer, Dino Valenti, is the primary vocalist, with Marty Balin helping out here and there.
The second jam is where the fun really begins. This 26-minute improvisation features plenty of dense jamming. Dino and Marty handle vocals and both seem easily capable of improvising, along with the instrumentalists. At one point, Marty begins singing the lyrics to the Airplane's "Don't Let Me Down," and the band falls in behind him to play the song in a relatively straightforward manner.
Unfortunately, by the final jam things are beyond chaotic and the poor quality of the recording is almost unbearable. Janis Joplin's screaming can be deciphered, but this track is interesting for historical purposes and not much else.
Written by Alan Bershaw
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