Volunteers (Jefferson Airplane album)

Last updated
Volunteers
Jefferson Airplane-Volunteers (album cover).jpg
Studio album by
Jefferson Airplane
ReleasedNovember 1969
RecordedMarch 28–June 12, 1969 [1]
Studio Wally Heider (San Francisco)
Genre Psychedelic rock [2]
Length44:19
69:36 (2004 reissue)
Label RCA Victor
Producer Al Schmitt
Jefferson Airplane chronology
Bless Its Pointed Little Head
(1969)		Volunteers
(1969)		 The Worst of Jefferson Airplane
(1970)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [3]
Robert Christgau B [4]
The Daily VaultA [5]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [6]
Rolling Stone (favorable) [7]
The Rolling Stone Record Guide [8] Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg

Volunteers is the fifth studio album by American psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane, released in 1969 on RCA Records. The album was controversial because of its revolutionary and anti-war lyrics, along with the use of profanity. The original album title was Volunteers of Amerika, but it was shortened after objections from Volunteers of America, a religious charity.

Contents

This was the last album with the group for both Jefferson Airplane founder Marty Balin and drummer Spencer Dryden (although they did both appear on the "Mexico" single released in 1970 and its B-side "Have You Seen the Saucers?"). The album signifies the end of their "classic" lineup of musicians. It turned out to be the group's last all-new LP for two years. Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen devoted more of their energy to their embryonic blues group Hot Tuna, while Paul Kantner and Grace Slick released Blows Against the Empire and Sunfighter with various guest musicians and celebrated the birth of their daughter China in 1971.

History

Volunteers was the group's first album recorded entirely in San Francisco, at Wally Heider's state-of-the-art 16-track studio. Guest musicians included Jerry Garcia on pedal steel guitar, veteran session pianist Nicky Hopkins, future Airplane drummer Joey Covington on percussion, David Crosby and Stephen Stills. The album was among the earliest 16-track recordings, and its back cover shows a picture of the Ampex MM-1000 professional tape recorder used to record the album.

The album was marked with strong anti-war and pro-anarchism songs. The theme of nature, communities and ecology was also explored with the songs "The Farm" and "Eskimo Blue Day". The title was inspired by a Volunteers of America (a religious charity similar to the Salvation Army) truck that woke singer Marty Balin one morning. The original title was Volunteers of Amerika; spelling "America" as "Amerika" was a common practice used by leftists at the time to emphasize their dissatisfaction with the American government, as it usually references both German fascism and the Kafka novel Amerika . After Volunteers of America objected, the title was shortened to Volunteers. [9]

The album provoked even more controversy with lyrics such as "Up against the wall, motherfucker," which appeared in the opening song, "We Can Be Together". The offending word was mixed lower on the 45 RPM release of that track to partially obscure it, but it was still audible. However, the word "motherfucker" was censored on the album lyric sheet as "fred". [10] RCA Records had refused to allow the word "fuck" on the album until confronted with the fact that the label had already set a precedent on the Hair cast recording album. "Eskimo Blue Day" was also a point of contention, with its chorus line of "doesn't mean shit to a tree" repeated throughout.

The album is characterized by Jorma Kaukonen's lead guitar parts (the dueling solos on "Hey Fredrick", plus the traditional gospel-blues song "Good Shepherd" and "Wooden Ships") and Hopkins' distinctive piano playing. It also featured the band experimenting with a country rock sound, particularly on "The Farm" and "Song for All Seasons".

Despite its controversies, the album was a commercial success. It peaked at No. 13 (becoming the band's fourth Top 20 record) on the Billboard album chart album chart and received a RIAA gold certification within two months of its release. [11]

Release history

Though the album was released in late 1969, the cover photo dates back to 1967; it features the band wearing disguises and was taken during the filming of a promotional film made for the "Martha" single.

In addition to the usual two channel stereo version, a specially remixed four channel quadraphonic version of the album appeared in 1973. This was released on LP using the Quadradisc system. It was also released in quad reel-to-reel and 8-track tape tape formats. The quad mixes are different from stereo; "Hey Fredrick" has a completely different lead vocal along with different guitar lines and coda, "Volunteers" is a totally different recording, Kaukonen's guitar lines are different on "We Can Be Together", "Wooden Ships" lacks the opening sailboat sound effects and the backing vocals by Ace of Cups on "The Farm" are more prominent. A few tracks from the quad version were included in the three CD box set Jefferson Airplane Loves You , though on this release the four channel recordings are reduced to two channels due to the technical limitations of CD.

The 2004 CD re-release features five additional bonus tracks from the group's annual Thanksgiving concert at the Fillmore East, New York in 1969.

Legacy

In 2003 the album was ranked number 370 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and at 373 in a 2012 revised list. [12] Volunteers was omitted from the 2020 list.

In 2003, David Keenan included Volunteers in his The Best Albums Ever...Honest from the Scottish Sunday Herald. [13]

The album was released again in 2009, along with the entirety of the group's live performance at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, as Jefferson Airplane Woodstock Experience .

Track listing

Credits from original stereo and quadraphonic LPs. [14]

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Quadraphonic Mix LengthLength
1."We Can Be Together" Paul Kantner 5:565:48
2."Good Shepherd"Traditional; arranged by Jorma Kaukonen 4:214:21
3."The Farm"Kantner, Gary Blackman2:323:15
4."Hey Fredrick" Grace Slick 9:008:26
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Quadraphonic Mix LengthLength
1."Turn My Life Down"Kaukonen2:542:54
2."Wooden Ships" David Crosby, Kantner, Stephen Stills 5:506:24
3."Eskimo Blue Day"Slick, Kantner6:156:31
4."A Song for All Seasons" Spencer Dryden 3:283:28
5."Meadowlands" Lev Knipper 1:041:04
6."Volunteers" Marty Balin, Kantner2:212:08
2004 CD previously unissued bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
11."Good Shepherd" (live, recorded November 28–29 at Fillmore East)Traditional; arranged by Kaukonen7:20
12."Somebody to Love" (live, recorded November 28–29 at Fillmore East) Darby Slick 4:10
13."Plastic Fantastic Lover" (live, recorded November 28–29 at Fillmore East)Balin3:21
14."Wooden Ships" (live, recorded November 28–29 at Fillmore East)Crosby, Kantner, Stills7:00
15."Volunteers" (live, recorded November 28–29 at Fillmore East)Balin, Kantner3:26

Personnel

Per liner notes. [14]

Jefferson Airplane
Additional personnel

Production

Charts

Chart (1969-1970)Peak
position
Canada Top Albums/CDs ( RPM ) [15] 7
UK Albums (OCC) [16] 34
US Billboard 200 [17] 13

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA) [18] Gold500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

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References

  1. ↑ "Jefferson Airplane--Volunteers". Discogs. Retrieved 2018-08-27. Recording dates for each track are given in liner notes of CD release--see 14th image.
  2. ↑ Considine, J.D.; Coleman, Mark; Evans, Paul; McGee, David (1992). "Jefferson Airplane". In DeCurtis, Anthony; Henke, James; George-Warren, Holly (eds.). Rolling Stone Album Guide. New York: Random House. p. 148.
  3. ↑ Newsom, Jim (2011). "Volunteers - Jefferson Airplane | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 9 August 2011.
  4. ↑ Christgau, Robert (2011). "Robert Christgau: CG: Jefferson Airplane". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  5. ↑ Bowling, David (2019). "The Daily Vault Music Reviews : Volunteers". dailyvault.com. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  6. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0195313734.
  7. ↑ Ward, Ed (21 February 1970). "Records". Rolling Stone . No. 52. San Francisco: Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc. p. 46. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  8. ↑ Marsh, Dave; Swenson, John (Editors). The Rolling Stone Record Guide, 1st edition, Random House/Rolling Stone Press, 1979, p. 190, 599.
  9. ↑ Tamarkin, Jeff (2003). Got a revolution!: the turbulent flight of Jefferson Airplane. Atria Books. p. 197. ISBN   9780671034030 . Retrieved 6 December 2011.
  10. ↑ Doggett, Peter (2009). There's a Riot Going on: Revolutionaries, Rock Stars, and the Rise and Fall of the '60s. Canongate U.S. p. 362. ISBN   978-1847671936.
  11. ↑ "Gold & Platinum - March 19, 2010". RIAA. Retrieved 2010-03-19.
  12. ↑ "500 Greatest Albums of All Time Rolling Stone's definitive list of the 500 greatest albums of all time". Rolling Stone. 2012. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
  13. ↑ Keenan, David. "The Best Albums Ever...Honest (archived)". Sunday Herald. Archived from the original on 2006-01-12.
  14. 1 2 Volunteers (Vinyl insert). Jefferson Airplane. New York City: RCA. 1969. LSP-4238.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  15. ↑ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 6113". RPM . Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  16. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  17. ↑ "Jefferson Airplane Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  18. ↑ "American album certifications – Jefferson Airplane – Volunteers". Recording Industry Association of America.
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