Surrealistic Pillow

Surrealistic Pillow
Studio album by Jefferson Airplane
Released February 1, 1967 (1967-02-01)[1]
Recorded October 31 – November 22, 1966
Studio RCA Victor's Music Center, Hollywood, California
Genre
Length 34:48
59:03 (2003 reissue)
Label RCA Victor
Producer Rick Jarrard[4]
Jefferson Airplane chronology
Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
(1966)Jefferson Airplane Takes Off1966		 Surrealistic Pillow
(1967)		 After Bathing at Baxter's
(1967)After Bathing at Baxter's1967
Singles from Surrealistic Pillow
  1. "Somebody to Love"
    Released: April 1, 1967
  2. "White Rabbit"
    Released: June 24, 1967
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic [5]
The Village VoiceB+[6]

Surrealistic Pillow is the second album by American rock band Jefferson Airplane, released on February 1, 1967, by RCA Victor (LSP-3766 [stereo] and LPM-3766 [mono]).[1] It is the first album by the band with vocalist Grace Slick and drummer Spencer Dryden. The album peaked at number three on the Billboard album chart and has been certified a gold album by the RIAA.[7]

Original drummer Alexander "Skip" Spence had left the band in mid-1966. He was soon replaced by Dryden, an experienced Los Angeles jazz drummer and the half-nephew of Charlie Chaplin. New female vocalist Slick, formerly with another San Francisco rock band the Great Society, joined the Airplane in the fall of 1966. Slick, Dryden, male lead vocalist Marty Balin, guitarist-vocalist-songwriter Paul Kantner, lead guitarist (and occasional vocalist) Jorma Kaukonen, and bassist Jack Casady formed the core of the best-known line-up of the group, which remained stable until Dryden's departure in early 1970.

The song "Today" was covered by jazz saxophonist Tom Scott for his 1967 album The Honeysuckle Breeze; this version was sampled in the song "They Reminisce Over You" by Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth.

The album is considered to be one of the quintessential works of the early psychedelic rock and 1960s counterculture eras.[8][9][10][11]

Production

Jefferson Airplane's fusion of folk rock and psychedelia was original at the time, in line with musical developments pioneered by The Byrds, The Mamas & the Papas, Bob Dylan, The Yardbirds, and The Beatles, among other mid-1960s rock bands. Surrealistic Pillow was the first blockbuster psychedelic album by a band from San Francisco, announcing to the world the active bohemian scene that had developed there starting with The Beats during the 1950s, extending and changing through the 1960s into the Haight-Ashbury counterculture. Subsequent exposure generated by the Airplane and others wrought great changes to that counterculture, and by 1968 the ensuing national media attention had precipitated a very different San Francisco scene than had existed in 1966. San Francisco photographer Herb Greene photographed the band for the album's cover art.[12]

Some controversy exists as to the role of Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia in the making of the album. His reputed presence on several tracks is denied by producer Rick Jarrard,[13] but he is credited on the RCA label copy[13] and received credits on the Flight Log compilation[14] and the Jefferson Airplane Loves You box set.[15] In his sleeve notes for Early Flight, a 1974 compilation album of previously unreleased material, manager Bill Thompson writes only that Garcia was "listed as 'spiritual advisor' on the album cover [and] played one of the guitars" on "In The Morning," a Kaukonen composition that was released on Early Flight and subsequently included on the 2003 reissue of Surrealistic Pillow. Garcia himself recalled in a mid-1967 interview that he played the high lead on "Today" in addition to playing guitar on two other songs ("Plastic Fantastic Lover" and "Comin' Back to Me") and rearranging "Somebody to Love." He also played on "J.P.P. McStep B. Blues" (included on Early Flight and the 2003 reissue) and may have played on "How Do You Feel." Kaukonen has opined that Garcia was essentially the producer who arranged the songs for the group. A comment by Garcia about the music being "as surrealistic as a pillow" also reportedly inspired the album title.[16][17]

Mixing

The album was mixed in both mono and stereo. The stereo version includes heavier echo effects not present on the mono version.

Singles and reissues

Two singles were released from the album later in the year, "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit", peaked respectively at number five and number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and are the band's only Top 40 hits on that chart. Both mono and stereo mixes are available on two 2001 reissues, an RCA Gold CD edition and as part of the Ignition box set. Another stereo reissue appeared on August 19, 2003, with six bonus tracks, including the mono A-sides of "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit". The 2003 reissue was produced by Bob Irwin. The original United Kingdom version of the LP was a mish-mash of the United States version and their first LP, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off. "Today" was not released as a single but was played repeatedly on college radio and underground Classic rock stations across the nation repeatedly during the summer of love 1967 and remains one of their most popular songs to date.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 146 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time."[18]

In January of 2017, "Somebody to Love" received a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America, while "White Rabbit" received a platinum certification.[19]

Track listing

Side one
  1. "She Has Funny Cars" (Jorma Kaukonen, Marty Balin) – 3:14
  2. "Somebody to Love" (Darby Slick) – 3:00
  3. "My Best Friend" (Skip Spence) – 3:04
  4. "Today" (Balin, Paul Kantner) – 3:03
  5. "Comin' Back to Me" (Balin) – 5:23
Side two
  1. "3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds" (Balin) – 3:45
  2. "D.C.B.A.–25" (Kantner) – 2:39
  3. "How Do You Feel" (Tom Mastin) – 3:34
  4. "Embryonic Journey" (Kaukonen) – 1:55
  5. "White Rabbit" (Grace Slick) – 2:32
  6. "Plastic Fantastic Lover" (Balin) – 2:39
2003 reissue bonus tracks
  1. "In the Morning" (Kaukonen) – 6:21
  2. "J.P.P. McStep B. Blues" (Spence) – 2:37
  3. "Go to Her" (Version two) (Kantner, Irving Estes) – 4:02
  4. "Come Back Baby" (traditional, arranged Kaukonen) – 2:56
  5. "Somebody to Love" (Mono single version) (Darby Slick) – 2:58
  6. "White Rabbit" (mono single version) (Grace Slick) / "D.C.B.A.-25" (instrumental; hidden track) – 5:21

1967 UK release

Side one[20]
  1. "My Best Friend"
  2. "3/5 Of A Mile In 10 Seconds"
  3. "D.C.B.A. - 25"
  4. "How Do You Feel"
  5. "Embryonic Journey"
  6. "Don't Slip Away" (Balin, Spence)[n 1]
Side two[20]
  1. "Come Up The Years" (Balin, Kantner)[n 1]
  2. "Chauffeur Blues" (Lester Melrose)[n 1]
  3. "Today"
  4. "Comin' Back To Me"
  5. "Somebody To Love"
  1. 1 2 3 These tracks were originally issued in the US on Jefferson Airplane Takes Off.

Personnel

Additional personnel

Charts

Album

Year Chart Position
1967 Billboard 200 3[22]

Single

Year Single Chart Position
1967 "My Best Friend" Billboard Pop Singles 103
1967 "Somebody to Love" Billboard Pop Singles 5
1967 "White Rabbit" Billboard Pop Singles 8

Certifications

Organization Level Date
RIAA – USA Gold July 24, 1967

References

  1. ↑ Fox, Penelope (2012). Daisy in a Gun Barrel: Peace & Freedom, Love & War, Rock & Roll, the 1960s. Xlibris. ISBN 978-1-4535-4260-6.
  2. ↑ Surrealistic Pillow at AllMusic
  3. ↑ "Welcome to the Studio". jeffersonairplane.com. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
  4. ↑ Eder, Bruce. "Jefferson Airplane: Surrealistic Pillow > Review" at AllMusic. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
  5. ↑ Christgau, Robert (December 20, 1976). "Christgau's Consumer Guide to 1967". The Village Voice. New York. p. 69. Retrieved June 22, 2013.
  6. ↑ "Gold & Platinum - RIAA".
  7. ↑ Nick Talevski (7 April 2010). Rock Obituaries - Knocking On Heaven's Door. Omnibus Press. pp. 144–. ISBN 978-0-85712-117-2.
  8. ↑ Martin Charles Strong (2006). The Essential Rock Discography. Canongate. pp. 559–. ISBN 978-1-84195-860-6.
  9. ↑ Eder, Bruce. "Jefferson Airplane: Surrealstic Pillow". allmusic.com. All Media Network, LLC. Retrieved 2014-06-11.
  10. ↑ James E. Perone (2004). Music of the Counterculture Era. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 117–. ISBN 978-0-313-32689-9.
  11. ↑ Surrealistic Pillow (Vinyl back). Jefferson Airplane. New York City: RCA. 1967. LSP-3766.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Tamarakin, Jeff (2003). Got a Revolution: The Turbulent Flight of Jefferson Airplane. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-671-03403-0.
  13. 1 2 Flight Log (Vinyl booklet). Jefferson Airplane. San Francisco: Grunt Records. 1977. CYL2-1255.
  14. 1 2 Jefferson Airplane Loves You (booklet). Jefferson Airplane. New York City: RCA. 1992. 61110.
  15. ↑ Ashes, Light Into (28 December 2010). "Grateful Dead Guide: Jerry Garcia & Surrealistic Pillow".
  16. ↑ Jgmf (21 December 2010). "Jerry Garcia's Middle Finger: Garcia on Jefferson Airplane, Surrealistic Pillow".
  17. ↑ "The RS 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone: 2. Archived from the original on 14 December 2006.
  18. ↑ https://www.riaa.com/gold-platinum/?tab_active=default-award&se=Jefferson+Airplane%2FStarship#search_section
  19. 1 2 UK issue of Surrealistic Pillow at Discogs.com
  20. 1 2 Early Flight (Vinyl gatefold). Jefferson Airplane. New York City: RCA. 1974. CYL1-0437.
  21. ↑ "Billboard". Google Books. Google. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
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