OH, LET ME IN
I WANNA BE THERE
YOU SHUT THE DOOR
NOW IT AIN'T THERE
WITHOUT A WORD TO ME
WITHOUT A LOOK AT ME
YOU TURNED ME DOWN
WITHOUT A CARE
Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
is the debut
studio album
by the American rock band
released on
August 15, 1966,
by RCA Victor.
The personnel differs
from the later
"classic" lineup:
Signe Toly Anderson
was the female vocalist
and
Skip Spence
played drums.
Both soon left the group
Spence in May 1966,
Anderson in October
and were replaced by
Spencer Dryden
and
Grace Slick,
respectively.
By late 1965,
Jefferson Airplane
had caught the attention of
"virtually every record label of significance".
The band,
as well as their associated nightclub,
had already achieved
relative popularity with
the general San Francisco public;
however, their profile was
raised significantly when
Ralph J. Gleason
of the San Francisco Chronicle
wrote favorably of them in his
"On the Town" column,
remarking,
"I don't know who they will record for,
but they will obviously record for someone."
Original bassist
Bob Harvey later recalled,
"After Ralph Gleason did that column
there was pandemonium.
I never believed that
a newspaper column
could have that kind of effect
until I actually saw it happen."
Under the guidance of manager
Matthew Katz,
the group turned down
recording offers
from Capitol,
Valiant,
Fantasy,
Elektra,
and London.
They considered pursuing
a deal with Columbia Records,
who had already signed
Bob Dylan and the Byrds,
but they were rejected
after sending in
a demo recording;
"Columbia didn't like us",
reflected Paul Kantner,
"because we weren't in their model.
The Byrds
were much more orderly ...
We were a little anarchic musically."
Katz was first invited to
check out RCA Victor
by the recently signed
Rod McKuen,
who had written some songs
he hoped to give to the band.
McKuen introduced Katz
to the label's A&R manager
Neely Plumb,
who sent
Al Schmitt
to San Francisco
to hear the band.
Schmitt was pleased
with the group,
and soon
Plumb and Katz
began negotiating a contract.
The deal was solidified
when RCA offered
a then unheard-of advance of
US$25,000,
five times more than what
Capitol offered,
as well as
"good production money".
The band officially
signed with
RCA on
November 15, 1965.
Recording
The album was produced by
Tommy Oliver
and engineered by
Dave Hassinger.
Oliver had previously worked with
various mainstream pop singers
such as
Doris Day,
while Hassinger
was specifically requested
by the band due to
his work on
the Rolling Stones' song
"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction".
The recording sessions began on
December 16, 1965.
The first songs to be recorded were
"Runnin' 'Round This World"
and
"It's Alright",
neither of which appeared
on the final record.
The band continued through
December 18th
before returning to San Francisco
for the holiday season
. They recorded again on
February 19–28, 1966,
and
March 16–21.
A total of 14 songs
were recorded over
the three sets of sessions.
Music and lyrics
Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
is regarded as being more grounded
in straightforward folk rock
than the band's
subsequent releases.
Music critic
Jim DeRogatis
noted that the album is
"dominated by Balin's simple folk ballads",
which he observed
"were tarted up by
Anderson's fetching harmonies
and the dexterous playing
of Casady and Kaukonen."
Katz dubbed the band's sound
"fo-jazz",
which Anderson described as
rock with
"folk roots [and] jazz chords".
Balin wrote or co-wrote
all of the original material
on the album and sang
most of
the lead vocals,
leading William Ruhlmann
of AllMusic to state that
Jefferson Airplane at the time
"was still Balin's group",
before Grace Slick joined
and became the group's
"vocal and visual focal point".
Kantner and Anderson
provided backup
vocals and harmonies,
showcasing the three-part,
male-female vocal work
that would continue
to be staple of the
band's sound after
Anderson's departure.
According to band biographer
Jeff Tamarkin,
"although Jefferson Airplane
had every intention of
being successful,
they let it be known
from the outset that they
would not pander to get there."
At the time of
the band's formation,
many acts in pop music
such as the Beatles,
Bob Dylan,
the Byrds,
and
the Rolling Stones
had begun developing
more mature approaches
to their songwriting,
and Tamarkin noted
that many of
Jefferson Airplane's
early original works
also exhibited
"a sophisticated lyrical outlook
and progressive
instrumental arrangements".
Although the majority of the album
consists of love songs,
music journalist
Richie Unterberger
observed that their lyrics
were written from an unusual
"young adult"
perspective that was
"not as immediately accessible"
to teenagers,
who were generally
considered pop's
target audience.
In his book
Jefferson Airplane: every album, every song,
Richard Butterworth
describes the lyrics on
Takes Off as
"optimistic"
and exhibiting a
"growing social awareness"
of the era's music.
Comparatively,
Unterberger noted that the
band's cover version of
Chet Powers'
"Let's Get Together",
later made famous by
the Youngbloods,
was foretelling of a
"communal idealism that
transcended boy-girl relationships."
Release
Shortly before the album's release,
RCA demanded that the band
return to the studio and
change the lyrics of
"Let Me In"
and
"Run Around".
The label's executives
had become concerned that
certain lines in the songs
would cause controversy due
to them being
sexually suggestive
or making supposed
references to drugs.
The original rendition of
"Let Me In",
a song about sexual frustration,
included the line
"Oh, let me in, I wanna be there /
I gotta get in, you know where",
which was then substituted with
"Oh, let me in, I wanna be there /
You shut your door, now it ain't fair".
In the same song,
the line
"Don't tell me you want money",
possibly alluding to prostitution,
was changed to
"Don't tell me it's so funny".
Similarly,
the original version of
"Run Around"
"You lay under me",
the latter part of which was changed to
"that sway as you stay here by me".
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