''Jefferson Airplane'' is the eighth and final

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

rock band Jefferson Airplane, released on

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

in 1989.

Marty Balin Martyn Jerel Buchwald (January 30, 1942 – September 27, 2018), known as Marty Balin (), was an American singer, songwriter, and musician best known as the founder/leader and one of the lead singers and songwriters of Jefferson Airplane and J ...

Paul Kantner Paul Lorin Kantner (March 17, 1941 – January 28, 2016) was an American rock musician. He is best known as the co-founder, rhythm guitarist, and vocalist of Jefferson Airplane, a leading psychedelic rock band of the counterculture era. He con ...

Grace Slick Grace Slick (born Grace Barnett Wing; October 30, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter, artist, and painter. Slick was a key figure in San Francisco's early psychedelic music scene in the mid-1960s. With a music career spanning four decades, ...

Jorma Kaukonen Jorma Ludwik Kaukonen, Jr. (; ; born December 23, 1940) is an American blues, folk, and rock guitarist. Kaukonen performed with Jefferson Airplane and still performs regularly on tour with Hot Tuna, which started as a side project with bass ...

and

Jack Casady John William "Jack" Casady (born April 13, 1944) is an American bass guitarist, best known as a member of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna. Jefferson Airplane became the first successful exponent of the San Francisco Sound. Singles including " S ...

all returned for the album and supporting tour, though

Spencer Dryden Spencer Charles Dryden (April 7, 1938 – January 11, 2005) was an American musician best known as the drummer for Jefferson Airplane and New Riders of the Purple Sage. He also played with Dinosaurs, and the Ashes (later known as the Peanut B ...

did not participate. The album and accompanying tour would mark the last time Jefferson Airplane would perform together until their 1996 induction to the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...

Overview

Paul Kantner, Marty Balin, and Jack Casady had toured as the

KBC Band KBC Band (also sometimes referred to as The Kantner Balin Casady Band) was formed in 1985 by former Jefferson Airplane (later Jefferson Starship) members Paul Kantner (guitar and vocals), Marty Balin (vocals and guitar) and Jack Casady (bass). O ...

and released an eponymous album in 1986. Grace Slick had recently left Starship after performing lead vocals on their album '' No Protection'' in 1987, and planned to retire from music. Jorma Kaukonen had been performing solo work and performing live with Jack Casady as Hot Tuna. Kantner left KBC Band in 1987 but joined Hot Tuna on stage for the 1987–1988 tour. Kaukonen invited Slick to play a concert at

the Fillmore The Fillmore is a historic music venue in San Francisco, California. Built in 1912 and originally named the Majestic Hall, it became the Fillmore Auditorium in 1954. It is in Western Addition, on the edge of the Fillmore District and Upper Fillm ...

with Hot Tuna in 1988 where she performed harmony vocals on "Third Week in the Chelsea" and lead vocals along with Kantner for " Wooden Ships". In 1989, Slick was convinced to join the band again and the five members finally got together to discuss a reunion tour and album. Joining Jefferson Airplane for the tour along with

Kenny Aronoff Kenny Aronoff (born March 7, 1953) is an American session drummer. Early life Aronoff grew up in Stockbridge, Massachusetts He developed an interest in music at an early age and gravitated to the drums as "drumming was one hundred percent ener ...

on drums were

Tim Gorman Tim Gorman is an American pianist, composer, arranger and record producer. Gorman studied music composition at the University of Portland in Oregon, under Philippe De La Mare, himself a former student of Nadia Boulanger. Biography Gorman graduat ...

– who had played with KBC Band – on keyboards, Randy Jackson on guitar, and Jorma's brother

Peter Kaukonen Peter Kaukonen (born Benson Lee Kaukonen on September 23, 1945) is an American guitarist/multi-instrumentalist/songwriter based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is the younger brother of Jorma Kaukonen from Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna. Peter Ka ...

also on guitar. Gorman and Jackson did not participate on the album. Aronoff joined the band as drummer for the tour and in the studio. The album was produced by

Ron Nevison Ron Nevison is an American record producer and audio engineer. He started his career in the early 1970s as an engineer on ''Quadrophenia'' by the Who and Bad Company's debut album. He eventually became a producer, working with artists including ...

, who had previously produced the Jefferson Starship albums ''

Freedom at Point Zero ''Freedom at Point Zero'' is the fifth album by Jefferson Starship and was released in 1979. It was the first album for new lead singer Mickey Thomas, and the first after both Grace Slick and Marty Balin left the previous year (Slick rejoined the ...

'', '' Modern Times'' and ''

Nuclear Furniture ''Nuclear Furniture'' is the eighth album by American rock band Jefferson Starship, released on May 30, 1984 through Grunt Records. It was the last album released by the band until 1998's ''Windows of Heaven'', and was also the final album by the ...

'', as well as Slick's solo album ''

Software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

''. Kaukonen was displeased with Kantner and Slick's methods in the studio; "Their approach to recording was not the way we used to do it in the old days. It was very much the modular, sequenced LA way of recording. It works for some people but not me. It just wasn't even fun. It was well done but not very passionate." The first music video made to promote the album was for the Kantner-penned "Planes". The video helped the single rise to #24 on the Billboard charts for mainstream rock, although the album itself only rose to #85 on the Billboard 200. "Planes" had previously been performed live by KBC Band, and the first studio version was made for this album. Balin's song "Summer of Love" had also been performed live with KBC Band, and was first recorded in the studio for this album. The song did not have a music video but rose to #15 on the adult contemporary charts. Steve Porcaro and David Paich of Toto wrote the final single, "True Love", and also appeared on the song along with bandmate

Mike Porcaro Michael Joseph Porcaro (May 29, 1955 – March 15, 2015) was an American bass player known for his work with the rock band Toto. He retired from touring in 2007 as a result of being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). He was t ...

. The music video for "True Love" saw less airtime than the video for "Planes". The Kaukonen compositions "Ice Age" and "Too Many Years" had previously been recorded in acoustic versions for the Kaukonen solo album '' Too Hot to Handle'', and received a multi-instrumental treatment here. Kaukonen wrote one more song for the album, the instrumental "Upfront Blues." At least two songs were written but rejected for the album: Balin's "Let's Go" and Slick's "Harbor in Hong Kong". After the album was released, Hot Tuna signed to Epic and released '' Pair a Dice Found''—their first studio album in fourteen years.

Track listing

Personnel

;Jefferson Airplane *

– vocals, keyboards *

– vocals, guitars *

– vocals *

– bass *

– vocals, guitars ;Additional personnel *

– drums, percussion * David Paich – keyboards * Michael Landau – guitars *

Nicky Hopkins Nicholas Christian "Nicky" Hopkins (24 February 1944 – 6 September 1994) was an English pianist and organist. Hopkins performed on many popular and enduring British and American rock music recordings from the 1960s to the 1990s, most notably ...

– keyboards *

Flo & Eddie Flo & Eddie is a comedy rock duo consisting of Mark Volman (Flo, short for Phlorescent Leech) and Howard Kaylan (Eddie). The two were the original founding members of the Top 40 mid-to late 1960s rock and pop group The Turtles. After the Turt ...

– background vocals * Charles Judge – keyboards * Efrain Toro – percussion *

– guitars *

– bass * Steve Porcaro – keyboard programming ;Production *

– producer, engineer, mixer *Greg Edward – producer, engineer, mixer *Jefferson Airplane – producer *Recorded at The Record Plant, Los Angeles *Jim Mitchell & Rumbo Recorders, Los Angeles – assistant engineer *Gina Immel – assistant engineer *Mixed at Can-Am Recorders, Los Angeles *Toby Wright – assistant mixer *Trudy Green – management *Lynda Lou Bouch – production coordinator *Paul Jamieson – drum technician *Don Barlow – guitar technician *Billy Goodman - equipment mganager/tour *John Danaher - keyboard technician/tour *Pre-Production: The Power Plant *Carl Studna – photography

Charts

Album Singles

Singles

*"Summer of Love" (1989) (single only, no video) *"Planes" (1989) *"True Love" (1989)

Notes

References

{{Authority control 1989 albums Albums produced by Ron Nevison Albums recorded at Record Plant (Los Angeles) Epic Records albums Jefferson Airplane albums