Massive goosebumps from this video!! Grace’s soaring voice and Marty with his velvety voice and the guitars of Jorma and Paul back and forth with Jack♥️♥️😎😎💪🏻💪🏻
@@blue-fj9ky And ... LOUD. !! saw him at Princeton Univ. in 73 with Hot Tuna ..wow super Loud. . With Papa John Creech on electric violin. ...and Cassady of course, Great Bass player of all time.
@@michaelcelani8325 I agree 100%! Hot Tuna was the loudest band I ever saw. Zeppelin and The Who didn't come close! After one concert at Constitution Hall in Washington DC I was in pain and everything sounded muffled for hours! I loved the Airplane and Hot Tuna and saw them several times in the late sixties.
I saw Jorma & Jack, Hot Tuna, the Airplane, and solo Jorma almost a dozen times, but never was he loud. Not even in tiny venues. I guess loud Jorma is better than no Jorma. Peace.
Top of their game. Love how Grace switches to from lead to backing/harmony and lets the men sing their asses off. Jorma simply shredding. What a performance. Thanks, Findusam.
100 % agreed man . JK was a beast of Axe . They were in the pantheon of greats . Jack still alive and well too . ( I think ) Now impress me and get to a Jinjer Gig . Cheers / The Ancient Metal Guy .
No. It was the Grateful Dead. They LASTED. And their music never stopped. Who is playing Airplane covers today? That's right, nobody. Hot Tuna goes on, but it's a different groove.
@@DrMitchMedina I love the Dead, but I prefer the Airplane. Admittedly, though, the Dead carried the torch a lot longer and didn't turn into the embarrassment that the Starship became.
@@kevinjoseph517 The Dead didn't really have hits with Hunter-Garcia songs, much less anybody else. But the music never stopped -- there are dozens of cover bands that play it, every day, somewhere. And I agree about the unique excellence of Robert Hunter's lyrics.
This was part of a film broadcast on WGBH (public tv) in Boston Mass in 1970, and probably nationwide. There was also some concert footage (Woodstock?)included. I was 14 then but I still remember the line "she's loose" to this day.
Can’t believe I’m 51 years old and just now hearing this song for the first time! It was amazing. Long and winding with some unique chord transitions, powerful and immediate. Almost sounded like a precursor to 1990’s indie rock.
I first heard it under the influence of California sunshine in a caravan by the sea when I was 17. I’m 49 now and that is firmly engraved in my psyche. Very loud too!
I agree. Covington was a more conventional driving rock drummer, but Spencer was better. Spencer mostly played it straight but infused a subtle jazz-rooted syncopation that reall helped them. The "classic", best lineup was: Slick, Kantner, Balin, Cassady, Kaukonen and Dryden.
Captured at their peak- the guitars and vocals never sounded better. Kaukonen just rips. More passion and power than an ipod full of the music today that serves to distract and titillate, but rarely to inspire.
I had the great pleasure of working (woodwork:rebuilding the top of a boat he had in Sausalito) in the early 70's - Joey was a great soul, with a huge grin, and a n equally large assortment of appetites: i enjoyed my time with him immensely! Requiescat In Pacem, Joey baby!
Jack Casady is great because he's a team player and that makes everyone else better. Tat's what a great musician does, makes everyone else better, not that the other guys aren't fantastic, mind you.
My first " favorite band" when I heard them in the mid sixties and still my favorite band in 2018 when I'm 68. It's great to read the comments to see how many others feel because I always felt alone in school in northeast Ohio, where this was not the most popular sound or lyrics. But it was clearly what I wanted and needed to hear. I wish that all this great(est) music was still played by cover bands, or that some FM station would play it all day and all night; not just the Airplane, but other bands that felt the same way. And I was thinkung while I was listening to Gracie sing that she sounds ao much like Janis did when she sang with enormous passion.
@@willinnewhaven3285 greetings Youngstown, NE Ohio and Holland - born & raised in Dayton, Cincinnati area, saw the Airplane in Dayton 1971. We are obscene lawless hideous dangerous dirty violent and young.
Well spoken ChefMozart. If anyone will once more ask me to explain what happened in the late 60s, or rather what we hoped to get going I will play this song... For most of us it was not about politics or drugs. It was about how to live life. It was about how to get out of what these amazing musicians described so well in The House at Pooneil Corners: "You and me we keep walking around and we see all the bullshit around us". And we failed miserably... because the bullshit got even worse...
Talleyrand most of us just wanted to be able to do our own thing. Getting shot at was serious shit and many decided that revolution in the streets wasn’t wear it was at. That would take serious long term commitment, effort and planning. A lot didn’t have that energy. So, IMO, many re-enlisted in the mainstream. Many disappeared into the ether. Many kept trying. Life and obligations caught up with me and I put on my brown shoes but always tried to be an example of the counter way. Here we are today (2019) and it seems we have to start over again.
Jorma's guitar style was so unique. He was 'lead' guitar but more then that, he kind of took his lead notes and made them rhythm too. And of course Jack was there the whole time.
thanks so much airplane, this was the soundtrack for almost a year of working on The Carolina Plain Dealer, an underground newspaper of the day... you sang to our hearts as we cut, pasted, typed up and drew our contribution to the cultural struggle that continues to this day...
Bar none, the best version of this song ever done. Balin's and Slick's vocals are perfect; neither out sings the other. Kaukonen is an animal, each riff is exquisite . Casady is a bit overshadowed, but still wonderful. Covington is so funny at the start " she's loose; we're ready!"
@@bjaded1 Grace kind of took the spot as lead singer and Marty Balin resented Grace because of this Slick slept with every guy in the group except Marty Balin because of the tension between the two and if you don't believe me look it up
@@johntoomey357 yep Marty gradually withdrew when Grace joined. he should have been grateful that the 2 songs she brought with her made them all famous and got them out of San Francisco.
@@ThreeSixNineNature i didn't mean it as harsh. Grace said in an interview "never mind the counter-culture, we didn't think anything we wrote was going to get us out of San Francisco."
Bass players don't need to be out front, getting the acclaim and recognition of the audience, to feel good about what they do. The power and precision of the foundational rhythm that they lay down is sufficient reward in itself. I'm writing in general of, course, and there are exceptions, as you have mentioned.
Inspired performance of the quintessential song of revolution from a time when it was in the air and lots of bands vaguely evoked it. The Airplane was the real deal -- true musical and political visionaries.
A person can listen to this nostalgically, but I am all ways amazed at how timeless it is. I read the inside liner notes of Flightlog years ago when it came out, it talked about JA fans as a brand new ethnicity, I agreed.☮️
Joey Covington replaced Spencer Dryden, their drummer since 1966, only weeks before this performance. Rock music was getting heavier, so they needed a drummer with more power. He certainly strikes the drums with great force, but he keeps time nicely too. I love those opening beats, after he say, “she’s loose man, we’re ready”. The whole band is talented, and they’re in great for here.
Spence Dryden drumming was best for the psychedelic era of rock music but I felt like once he left there wasn’t that spark that the Jefferson airplane had in their heyday of the mid to late 60s.
Note to catergary: Interesting comment...but I'm not sure that tight, blending harmonies were what they wanted. After all, Crosby, Stills Nash and (occasionally) Young and other groups had that sewn up pretty well. What amazes me about JA is the way they managed to blend, DESPITE the cacophony. Take a thunderstorm, a tornado, an earthquake and a stampede and make them blend. Lots of misses...but when they nail it, they nail with a railroad spike. CARRY THE FIRE!
Very perceptive observation. I think one of the really unique talents and brilliance of Grace was her ability to improvise, weaving in and out of the primary vocals. In fact, the whole group approach was very improvisational in a sense. I doubt they ever played any song the same twice. Jack and Jorma were definitely about playing creatively and not just playing a “part”.
What a voice! Overshadowed maybe a little by Janis Joplin in that era, but she's also a multi-instrumentalist (like most of her former Airplane bandmates).
It was an amazing era for rock music. The Airplane were such an accomplished band, without being slick, theatrical or flashy. Paul Kantner Grace Slick and Marty Balin were all so intelligent and articulate, too. Not that I think the other members were unintelligent, it’s just that I’ve seen more of the aforementioned members in interviews. I was three months old when this was recorded. You said “take me back” - were you old enough to be listening to them in 1970? if you don’t mind my asking.
Yes. 16. Grew up outside of Atlanta. They were my first intro into haight ashbury. That is the street alot of the groups lived on. A stones throw from Stanford university in san Francisco. I visited there years later. Nothing like the 60's though. Thanks for asking. I love the airplane even though most are gone
I love it! Joey added the joy and energy of a real rock drummer so much needed for the band. 2 guitars need a solid background of drums to work against & work with. The startups and transitions A-B-A parts executed by Joey gives a new dimension. Check out at 1:58, 3:03-3:06, 3:41-3:47, 4:00-4:12 and 5:14, and find a drummer in perfect timing & tune with the band. 3:10-3:37 is unique. Joey & Jorma sharing lead/solo/melody with drums/guitar in unison between vocals inserts.