Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Paul Kantner and Jefferson Starship (Jefferson Airplane) - Blows Against The Empire (1970)

Year: November 1970 (CD 2005)
Label: RCA / Legacy Records (US), 82876 67974 2
Style: Folk Rock, Progressive Rock, Psychedelic Rock
Country: San Francisco, U.S. (March 17, 1941 - January 28, 2016)
Time: 70:03
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 397 Mb

Blows Against the Empire is a concept album by Paul Kantner, released in 1970 under the name Paul Kantner and Jefferson Starship. It is the first album to use the "Starship" moniker, a name which Kantner and Grace Slick would later use for the band Jefferson Starship that emerged after Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen left Jefferson Airplane. From a commercial standpoint, it performed comparably to Jefferson Airplane albums of the era, peaking at No. 20 on the Billboard 200 and receiving a RIAA gold certification. It was one of the first two albums to be nominated for a Hugo Award in the category of Best Dramatic Presentation.
Throughout the album, Slick's acoustic piano is highlighted. She has said that her chord-heavy technique at the time developed from watching session player Nicky Hopkins during his many recordings with the Airplane. Most of the tracks add standard rock instrumentation to her piano, including electric and acoustic guitars, drums and bass. Thick vocal harmonies backing Kantner and Slick in duet are a signature quality of many of the songs.
A notable exception is "The Baby Tree", which has Kantner singing to a solo banjo accompaniment by Jerry Garcia. "Sunrise" is Grace Slick's self-penned solo vocal showcase, in part a duet with herself thanks to multitracking. Here she is predominantly accompanied by Jack Casady playing bass in a series of overdubs. "Have You Seen the Stars Tonite?" features lush vocal harmonies over acoustic instruments with subdued electric guitar overlays. The acoustic parts throughout the second side are centered on Kantner's detuned 12-string guitar, using a tuning consisting of octaves and fifths of open C, which David Crosby has likened to the droning tones of bagpipes.
Two tracks of the side 2 suite consist entirely of sound effects simulating the starship engines and the flight through space. Scattered among the other songs of the Suite are heavily processed background vocal tracks and sound bites. During the hijack scene, an audio excerpt from the 1953 George Pal film version of War of the Worlds is used: a woman is heard to call out "Let me through!" followed immediately by the sound of a ray gun firing.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blows_Against_the_Empire)

01. Mau Mau (Amerikon) (06:37)
02. The Baby Tree (01:44)
03. Let's Go Together (04:23)
04. A Child Is Coming (06:19)
05. Sunrise (01:53)
06. Hijack (08:17)
07. Home (00:36)
08. Have You Seen the Stars Tonite (03:43)
09. X-M (01:24)
10. Starship (07:07)
11. Let's Go Together (Alternate Lyrics) (04:22)
12. Sunrise (Grace's Acoustic Demo Tk. 8) (01:21)
13. Hijack (Paull's Acoustic Demo Tk.5) (07:02)
14. Sfx (02:04)
15. Starship (Live) (13:04)

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