Surrealistic Pillow

Description

From the opening, hard-edged chords of She Has Funny Cars, it is apparent that SURREALISTIC PILLOW, Jefferson Airplanes sophomore effort, is a far more spiky beast than the bands debut. The public must have felt that as wellthe album became not only San Franciscos soundtrack to the Summer Of Love, but all of Americas. It spawned two Top-10 classics (Somebody To Love and White Rabbit) and established the Airplane as one of the main pop voices of the cultural revolution. Some of the newfound dynamism can be attributed to personnel changes. Singer-keyboardist Grace Slick, who joined the Airplane following a stint in the mildly successful Great Society, had a unique artistic gleam her predecessor, Signe Anderson, never possessedboth of the aforementioned hits were songs shed written for her former band. And new percussionist Spencer Dryden could make the music shake with heretofore unseen polyrhythms, or walk a straight line with militaristic precision. SURREALISTIC PILLOWs other strengths lay in the bands boldly diverse sound. Effortlessly gliding from twisted Motown (the electrified 3/5 Of A Mile In 10 Seconds), to Dylanesque rock (Balins Plastic Fantastic Lover) to an acoustic, psychedelic bluegrass instrumental (Kaukonens Embryonic Journey), the Airplane proved themselves able to at once interpret the cultural tide and make it radio-friendly.