First cd Suggestions?

[zombierock&blues]

Hey, I haven't been a JA fan for a really long time, but I was thinking of getting one of their cd's in the near future. Which one do you guys think is the 'essence of Jefferson Airplane'? The first Janis Joplin cd I got was Greatest Hits and I thought it was a good descision, so I was thinkin of Worst of..., but what do you guys who have probably been fans for longer think?
~zombie*rock*&*blues~

[Whenheco]

if you're going for an compilation, the new "essential Jefferson Airplane" sound like a good choice.

[frankbird]

I'd say "Bless It's Pointed Little Head", but I have a bias towards live performance.

[Pooniel]

Sadly, for an official website...this site does not have any of the best Airplane for sale. In my opinion, your best bet to hear the most inspired Airplane would be Sunfighter or Blows Against the empire. Although neither of these are actually under the name "Jefferson Airplane"(Sunfighter is under Kantner i think and Blows is under Starship). BVoth of these albums are quite rare and are kind of hard to find but if you put in the effort, i give u my personal guarantee that you will be as far from dissapointed that a person can be.

[zombierock&blues]

Do they all have Grace Slick singing lead? Her voice is what origionally drew me to them. It's so cool .

[jonestown]

Surrealistic Pillow

Just go buy it.

[knight of ni]

I would get After Bathing at Baxter's...This CD will either make you love the Airplane for life or decide that they're not the band for you! (Hopefully you'll choose the former.) If it's a "Greatest Hits" kind of CD you're looking for, I'd get the relatively new Best of Jefferson Airplane CD with the blue star on the cover (link here: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... c&n=507846) It has a good mix of songs, including two live ones.

[SurrealisticPillowChild]

I would definately buy surrealistic pillow first...
although the first Airplane album I bought was the very best of (with the blue cover) and I totally loved it. It also had a really good live versiom of "have you seen the saucers" on which rocked.

And as for the live biased guy, i agree, my favourite jefferson airplane album is the "Feed your'e head" live recordings, especially the live recording of "Plastic fantastic lover" which is out of this world!

Definately buy surrealistic pillow first though

[Pooniel]

Do they all have Grace Slick singing lead? Her voice is what origionally drew me to them. It's so cool .

indeed grace rocks it out in both Blows and sunfighter. In fact, Marty Balin (who i've always been marginally annoyed by) is not part of the band for either album, so it really gives grace the opportunity to shine.

[SurrealisticPillowChild]

Do they all have Grace Slick singing lead? Her voice is what origionally drew me to them. It's so cool .

indeed grace rocks it out in both Blows and sunfighter. In fact, Marty Balin (who i've always been marginally annoyed by) is not part of the band for either album, so it really gives grace the opportunity to shine.

I remember reading somewhere that Marty Balin and Grace Slick couldnt stand each other whatsoever.

Grace once said that she hates songs with the word "baby" in...so Marty Balin wrote a song (cant remember which, and i know i dont own it yet) with over 30 "babys" in

It is sad though, its really wierd to think that they hated each other... nobody is perfect i guess, but jefferson airplane ARE perfect

[ALSIN]

Bless it's Pointed Little Head I think is one of the great live albums of all time.Raw Energy! Jorma and Jack's guiters wailing, Grace and Marty singing not in harmony but around and over each other. Graces vocals on Somebody to Love and Bear Melt are awesome. This is the Airplane at their peak... Listen to Marty and Grace singing on Other Side of This Life, and It's No Secret. Definetely an original work of art. I bought this album in 1969 and still never get tired of listening to it. The Airplanes sound will never been duplicated.. They were the REAL THING.

[BayAreaBlues]

I'd say Surrealistic Pillow is the *one* album to get, but if you're looking for a retrospective, it sounds like the new Essential collection is pretty decent. I saw a nice review of it this morning at The Music Box: http://www.musicbox-online.com/ja-ess.html. They gave away a bunch of Airplane CDs a year or two ago.

[RememberWhat theDarmaSays]

Surrealistic Pillow

Just go buy it.

I totally agree with you. I think that I would start with "Surrealistic Pillow," because it is the start of their journey with Grace. Then, I would go from there. Chronologically wouldn't be a bad idea.

[Box Of Rain]

I'd get Surrealistic Pillow and then Crown of Creation. I think they're the most accessible - Baxter's is INCREDIBLE, but it's... strange... and Volunteers has some great stuff but some of the songs are just toooooooooooo loooooooooooooong. If you dig pillow and crown, then you know you're a fan, so you won't need to be told to get Baxter's and Volunteers.

I'd save the live album for last. Maybe I'm just odd, but I found it a little hard to swallow at first, cept for 3/5 of a mile, which is GREAT. the versions of it's no secret and other side of this life on there still give my headaches. Go figure.

[Guest]

I'm getting Surrealistic Pillow today than!