Track Listing

1. Mau Mau (Amerikon)
2. Baby Tree
3. Let�s Go Together
4. A Child Is Coming
5. Sunrise
6. Hijack
7. Home
8. Have You Seen The Stars Tonite
9. XM
10. Starship
11. Let�s Go Together (Alternate Lyrics) (Bonus Track)
12. Sunrise (Grace�s Acoustic Demo) (Bonus Track)
13. SFX - Jerry Garcia & Mickey Hart
14. Starship (Live At The Fillmore West, September 14, 1970) (Bonus Track)
15. Hijack (Paul�s Acoustic Demo) (Bonus Track)
16. Blows Against The Empire Radio Spot 1 (Hidden Track)
17. Blows Against The Empire Radio Spot 2/Blows Against The Empire Radio Spot 3 (Hidden Track)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18286 in Music
• Released on: 2005-09-12
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

CD Description
Jefferson Airplane guitarist Paul Kantner's first solo album is also credited to Jefferson Starship. Though the Jefferson Airplane was still active and popular in 1971, Kanter presaged the band's transformation into the Starship by four years. Members of the Airplane do appear, but the group here is more a loose aggregate of friends including David Crosby and Graham Nash, members of the Grateful Dead and QuicksilverMessenger Service, and assorted others.
A sci-fi fan, Kantner had the idea of constructing an album around the idea of a group of radicals hijacking a spaceship and taking off to colonize the galaxy. Though the concept is fleshed out only loosely, the album was a success critically and commercially. Highlights include the slower acoustic melodies such as"A Child Is Coming" and "Have You Seen The Stars Tonite". Musically interesting and noteworthy for the collaborative energy from some of the San Francisco scene's leading musical lights, BLOW AGAINST THE EMPIRE is an intriguing, overlookedearly-'70s treasure.

Customer Reviews

First, I was irreidescent, then I bacame transparent...
First of all, acknowlegements for the use of part of a line from Starship written by Kantner, Slick, Balin and Blackman. In the liner notes, Paul Kantner tells of how he wrote to Robert Heinlein to ask permission to use some of his ideas in the project to which Heinlein replied with some astonishment that his ideas had been used many times before but only Kantner had written for permission.

Secondly, Amazon has the tracklist wrong to the extent that the radio slots for the album are at the end and not the beginning.

Thirdly, I do not want to duplicate my review of the first CD release of this album which can be found on Amazon's pages and which I pretty much stand by today.

Fourthly, I think that this remastering is truly excellent. I say this first and foremost because of the sound. The first time around sounds dark and murky in comparison but here the sound is pristine revealing much more in the process and giving the vocals a lot nore clarity in particular. And, if you never knew why Paul Kantner appreciated Grace Slick's vocals so much you sure do here. Listen to the bonus track of her demo version of Sunrise it is astounding. The Garcia contributions also benefit enormously from the remastering and it makes one wonder how awesome he would have become as a pedal steel guitar player if he had chosen that particular route had he not preferred to go back to the regular (sic) guitar. All of the instruments and vocals are greatly improved.

Next the bonus tracks. Although they do not add per se to the original album as new songs they certainly elaborate on their development. Let's Go Together is presented with alternative lyrics but after several plays I must confess to preferring the original album. I could be getting old and conservative I guess which may account for that. The two demos, Sunrise and Hijack show how the album versions evolved and the remaining two SFX and Starship are valubale too but in different ways. I can only speculate as to whether Garcia and Hart actually called the track SFX but the first thing that came to mind was San Francisco International as in airport or perhaps Space Station. Regardless the effects are great and particularly so on headphones. Finally the live version of Starship is particularly welcome if only because it is an official live version very reminiscent to my ears, of the sound on Bless It's Pointed Little Head. It certainly is a positive indication of what the sound might be if the whole thing were performed live. There are two secret tracks, which Amazon had listed as the first two tracks of Radio Spots for the album which i find cute but also a liitle sad as reminders of the gestation of the Starship from the Airplane but otherwise do not detract from the overall excellence.

Finally the packagaging. Reproducing the original booklet is a nice plus although at my age and with glasses it is a little hard to read. Thank the deity it is not a mini-disc version. But again it is really nice to have and also I really enjoyed the liner notes. Not to do down Jeff Tamarkin, who did a sterling job on the other albums, these liner notes are a little more in keeping with the times in which the album was recorded. More like a insider orientation with subjective aspects, they are a little more rebellious and open and esoteric.

All in all I really really think that this album has stood the test of time even though popular music has changed so much. Releasing it at this time with it's conjunction of the second major diaster of the Bush presidency (three if you count Iraq) may be accidental but it does draw on some parallels with it's original release during the closing years of the Vietnam war. However, the anti-war movement is more divided and muted now than it was then. I was struck by the irony of the line Amerika hates her crazies as I dropped my teenage daughter off at school this morning (what sort of music do you call this she asked as she got into the car)when conformity is the order of the day in the new millenium.

Finally I have to mention the artwork which always impresses me.

FIVE STARS PLUS (please Amazon - just this once can I give it 6 stars?)

Fabulous Album!
I've always been a fan of Jefferson Airplane - and this album with the wonderful haunting vocals from Grace Slick has not disappointed. Close your eyes and you are right back their in those haedy days of the late 1960's - reveloution, vigour and dreams.This is all about science fiction - when rock opera was relativley new, this is up there with SF Sorrow, Tommy and all the greats.

1st phase of the transition from Airplane to Starship
Lovely album. BUT! I don't know why it's this album that gets all the plaudits from the transition period of Paul and Grace's Jefferson Airplane offshoot that eventually became Jefferson Starship. Of the transition period albums ( this, Sunfighter, Baron von Tollbooth..., and debateably Dragonfly)this is the album I listen to least . There are no songs that stick in my mind, that I want to play again and again, although it has a lovely dreamy feel, a great concept, stunning singing and playing; it's a bit like a dream with nothing to jolt you awake. But it's still better than almost everything. So 5 stars and let those who love it more than me sing its praises.