Bless Its Pointed Little Head

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Bless Its Pointed Little Head
BlessItsPointedLittleHead.jpg
Live album by
Jefferson Airplane
ReleasedFebruary 1969
Venue
Genre Psychedelic rock, acid rock, hard rock
Length52:48
Label RCA Victor
Producer Al Schmitt
Jefferson Airplane chronology
Crown of Creation
(1968)		Bless Its Pointed Little Head
(1969)		 Volunteers
(1969)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]
The Music BoxStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [3]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [4]

Bless Its Pointed Little Head is a live album by Jefferson Airplane recorded at both the Fillmore East and West in the fall of 1968 and released in 1969 as RCA Victor LSP-4133. The album reached #17 on the Billboard Top LP's chart in March 1969. [5]

Contents

The tracks were recorded during the tour supporting Crown of Creation , although no songs from that album or its predecessor After Bathing at Baxter's were included (however, the CD rerelease contains bonus tracks of several selections from After Bathing at Baxter's). Selections were taken from the band's first two albums and a number of covers that had been in their setlist since 1965-66 but not recorded in the studio. One of these, "Fat Angel", had been written by Donovan in the spring of 1966 and namechecked the band. Fred Neil's "The Other Side of This Life" is believed to have been in the setlist from Jefferson Airplane's first performance at The Matrix in August 1965. Jorma Kaukonen showcased his blues roots with a slow, heavy cover of the traditional "Rock Me Baby", a song that had been played by the band as early as 1966. Of the remaining selections, "Clergy" was an audio excerpt from the film King Kong that was used to introduce the band at their Fillmore shows, while "Turn Down the Lights" was a short, improvised number instructing the lighting crew to do its title's bidding. The closing "Bear Melt" had developed from a lengthy instrumental jam titled "Thing" that had evolved on stage through the years, now featuring an improvised vocal intro by Grace Slick. A version of "Thing" without Slick's vocal contribution can be heard on the archival release Live at the Fillmore East , taken from the group's May 1968 shows at the venue.

Many of Jefferson Airplane's recordings on the live album were longer than their studio performances, featuring greater use of improvisation, and most were played at a considerably higher speed. The performance emphasized the band's freewheeling, ping-pong vocal harmonies and revealed a harder-rocking group. Guitar and bass lines were deeper in their construction, forming complex instrumentals. Some of the band's hit singles, such as "White Rabbit", were not included, although a dramatically rearranged "Somebody to Love" appears. The album revealed a different focus in the sound of the band's live concerts compared to that of their studio work. [6] [7]

Bless Its Pointed Little Head received mixed reviews upon release although in the booklet to the box set Jefferson Airplane Loves You , it is noted as the only Jefferson Airplane album that all of the band members remembered with superlatives. "Plastic Fantastic Lover", which had become considerably funky compared to the studio recording, was released as a single in May 1969; while it failed to chart, it received positive reviews. Billboard described the single as "heavy hard rock" [8] while Cash Box wrote that it "features the team's more commercial-than-controversial style" and has "a solid instrumental track and very fine vocal." [9] Record World wrote that the song was one of the band's favorites. [10]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Clergy" (recorded November 28–30 at Fillmore East) Jefferson Airplane 1:37
2."3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds" (recorded October 24–26 at Fillmore West) Marty Balin 4:39
3."Somebody to Love" (recorded October 24–26 at Fillmore West) Darby Slick 4:15
4."Fat Angel" (recorded November 28–30 at Fillmore East) Donovan Leitch 7:36
5."Rock Me Baby" (recorded October 24–26 at Fillmore West)Traditional; arranged by Jefferson Airplane7:45
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."The Other Side of This Life" (recorded October 24–26 at Fillmore West) Fred Neil 6:48
2."It's No Secret" (recorded October 24–26 at Fillmore West)Balin3:31
3."Plastic Fantastic Lover" (recorded October 24–26 at Fillmore West)Balin3:53
4."Turn Out the Lights" (recorded November 28–30 at Fillmore East) Paul Kantner, Jack Casady, Jorma Kaukonen, Grace Slick, Spencer Dryden 1:24
5."Bear Melt" (recorded November 28–30 at Fillmore East)Kantner, Casady, Kaukonen, G. Slick, Dryden11:22
CD remaster bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
11."Today" (recorded November 5 at Fillmore West)Balin, Kantner3:50
12."Watch Her Ride" (recorded November 5 at Fillmore West)Kantner3:19
13."Won't You Try / Saturday Afternoon" (recorded November 5 at Fillmore West)Kantner5:30

On the back cover of the LP (RCA LSP-4133), "3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds" is identified as "3/5's Of a Mile in 10 Seconds".

"Clergy" contains an extract from the soundtrack of the 1933 film King Kong .

Personnel

Jefferson Airplane
Production

Charts

Chart (1969)Peak
position
Canada Top Albums/CDs ( RPM ) [11] 12
UK Albums (OCC) [12] 38
US Billboard 200 [13] 17

General references

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References

  1. ↑ Ruhlmann, William. "Bless Its Pointed Little Head". AllMusic . Archived from the original on June 21, 2012. Retrieved September 1, 2011.
  2. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0195313734.
  3. ↑ Metzger, John (October 2004). "Jefferson Airplane: Bless Its Pointed Little Head". The Music Box. 11 (#10). Archived from the original on 2006-03-25. Retrieved 2006-03-10.
  4. ↑ The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. pp. 426, 427.
  5. ↑ "Top LP's". Billboard . Vol. 81, no. 11. 1969-03-15. p. 72 – via Google Books.
  6. ↑ "Bless Its Pointed Little Head - Review". headheritage.co.uk. Archived from the original on January 28, 2015. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  7. ↑ Woodstra, Chris; Bush, John; Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (2007). Guide Required Listening. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN   9780879309176. Archived from the original on April 18, 2016. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Spotlight Singles" (PDF). Billboard. May 24, 1969. p. 76. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
  9. ↑ "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. May 10, 1969. p. 24. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
  10. ↑ "Single Picks of the Week" (PDF). Record World. May 10, 1969. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
  11. ↑ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 5975". RPM . Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  12. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  13. ↑ "Jefferson Airplane Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
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