''Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra'' is the final solo album by
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 cont ...
and the only Kantner solo release to be solely credited to the singer-songwriter. The title comes from an unofficial name for
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 ...
artists who recorded on various albums in 1970–1973, also known as
PERRO
Perro may refer to:
* Perro (comics), a super villain in the Marvel Comics Universe
* Perro Aguayo (born 1946), Mexican wrestler
* Perro Aguayo, Jr. (born 1979), Mexican wrestler
* ''Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra'' (album), an album by ...
. "The Mountain Song" is dedicated "to David C, Jerry G, Graham N, Grace S, David F, Billy K and Mickey H and to one summer when all of our schedules almost didn't conflict," and was written during the 1970s recording sessions by Kantner and
Jerry Garcia
Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician best known for being the principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence ...
. On the album, Kantner utilizes many of his collaborators and family members to front an extended musical trip similar to his then-recent
Jefferson Starship
Jefferson Starship is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1974 by a group of musicians including former members of Jefferson Airplane. Between 1974 and 1984, they released eight gold or platinum-selling studio albu ...
efforts.
Novel
Kantner had intended this record to be a soundtrack to a novel he was writing at the time. The album is the sequel to Kantner's Hugo Award nominated 1970 album ''
Blows Against the Empire
''Blows Against the Empire'' is a concept album by Paul Kantner, released 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 J ...
'', and carries the sub-title "The Empire Blows Back." At the time of the album's release, the novel had not yet been completed but included with the album was an insert which explained the story. The insert describes a San Francisco band that develops
telepathic
Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...
amplification technology, which attracts the attention of various governments. The group attempts to escape to the safety of the Australian
Outback
The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a n ...
, and joins a self-sufficient settlement of over 1500 people. The US government agents track the band down and attempt to take the technology for use in the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
. The telepathic children assist in creating a shield around the settlement that then escapes into space.
Also included on the album insert were descriptions of what each song meant in the overall story. The full-length novel was later published by Kantner's own company, Little Dragon Press.
The novel includes notations for a full soundtrack which would have included (in the order indicated in the novel) :
# "America" (from ''
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). ...
'')
# "The Planet Earth Rock'n'Roll Orchestra"
# "She's a Telepath"
# "Teddy Bear's Picnic" (Bratton / Kennedy song, also covered by Jerry Garcia)
# "Circle Of Fire"
# "I'm An Asshole" (never written song, set of lyrics only in the novel, Kantner's notes indicate a
Ramones
The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United ...
-type punk song)
# "Teaching The Computers To Dream" (never recorded, played live by Jefferson Starship in 2000-2004, later recycled as "On The Threshold Of Fire" on ''
Jefferson's Tree of Liberty
''Jefferson's Tree of Liberty'' is the tenth album by Jefferson Starship, released on September 2, 2008.[] It is the band's first studio album since 1999's ''Windows of Heaven''. The new album includes cover songs from Irish, American, English, ...
'')
# "I Am Machine" (never written song, set of lyrics only in the novel)
# "Girl With The Hungry Eyes" (from Jefferson Starship's ''
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 (singer), Mickey Thomas, and the first after both Grace Slick and Marty Balin left the previous y ...
'')
# "Mount Shasta"
# "Lilith's Song"
# "The Three Oddest Words" (poem by Wislawa Szymborska)
# "Wooden Ships" (from
Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band based in San Francisco, California, that became one of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock. Formed in 1965, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the Bay Area to ac ...
's ''
Volunteers
Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...
'')
# "Transsubstantiation"
# "The Mountain Song"
# "Declaration Of Independence"
# "Underground"
# "I Came Back From The Jaws Of The Dragon" (from Jefferson Starship's ''
Winds Of Change'')
# "Good Shepherd" (from Jefferson Airplane's ''Volunteers'')
# "Fireball Chant" (never written experimental instrumental in the style of "Underground")
# "The Sky Is No Limit"
# "Planes" (from Jefferson Airplane's ''
Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band based in San Francisco, California, that became one of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock. Formed in 1965, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the Bay Area to ac ...
'')
# "Let's Go"
Track listing
Personnel
*
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 cont ...
– vocals, guitars, banjo, glass harmonica, synthesizers on "Circle of Fire", lead guitar on "Underground"
*
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, s ...
– vocals, piano on "The Mountain Song" and "The Sky Is No Limit"
*
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 " So ...
– bass
*
China Kantner
China Wing Kantner is an American actress in television, theatre and film. She is also a former MTV VJ, sometimes credited on-screen as China Slick Kantner.
Biography
Kantner was born in San Francisco, California, the daughter of two Jefferson ...
– vocals on "Declaration of Independence" and "The Sky Is No Limit"
*Alexander Kantner – vocals on "Underground"
*
Craig Chaquico
Craig Clinton Chaquico (or Chaquiço, ; born September 26, 1954) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and composer. From 1974 to 1990 he was lead guitarist for the rock bands Jefferson Starship and Starship. In 1993, he started a solo career as ...
– lead guitar
*
Pete Sears
Peter Roy Sears (born 27 May 1948) is an English rock musician. In a career spanning more than six decades, he has been a member of many bands and has moved through a variety of musical genres, from early R&B, psychedelic improvisational rock o ...
– piano on "The Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra", "Lilith's Song", and "Science Friction", bass on "Circle of Fire"
*
Aynsley Dunbar
Aynsley Thomas Dunbar (born 10 January 1946) is an English drummer. He has worked with John Mayall, Frank Zappa, Jeff Beck, Journey, Jefferson Starship, Nils Lofgren, Eric Burdon, Shuggie Otis, Ian Hunter, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Mick R ...
– drums
*
Scott Mathews
Scott Mathews (born July 25, 1955) is an American music producer, composer, performer, and entrepreneur. He has appeared as a musician, songwriter or producer on recordings with sales of more than 40 million units which earned more than 20 gol ...
– guitar, percussion, pedal steel guitar, Linn drums, glass harmonica, vocoder, synthesizers on "Circle of Fire", saxophones on "Circle of Fire" and "The Sky Is No Limit", vocals on "Esperanto", mandolin on "Esperanto", harmonica on "Esperanto", piano on "Esperanto", organ on "Esperanto", bass drum on "Esperanto"
*
Ron Nagle
Ron Nagle (born February 21, 1939) is an American sculptor, musician and songwriter. He is known for small-scale, refined sculptures of great detail and compelling color.
Nagle lives and works in San Francisco, California.
Life
Born in San Fr ...
– piano on "Esperanto", vocals on "Esperanto"
*The Dūrocs – sound effects on "The Mountain Song"
*
Ronnie Montrose
Ronald Douglas Montrose (November 29, 1947 – March 3, 2012) was an American guitarist who founded and led the rock bands Montrose and Gamma. He also performed and did session work with a variety of musicians, including Van Morrison, Herbie H ...
– lead guitar on "(She Is A) Telepath"
*
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 Turtl ...
– vocals
*
Mickey Thomas – vocals on "Circle of Fire"
*
David Freiberg
David Freiberg ( ; born August 24, 1938) is an American musician best known for contributing vocals, keyboards, electric bass, rhythm guitar, viola and percussion as a member of Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane, and Jefferson S ...
– synthesizers and vocals on "Circle of Fire"
*John Blakeley – 2nd rhythm guitar on "Let's Go"
Production
*Proud Pork Productions (Scott Mathews,
Ron Nagle
Ron Nagle (born February 21, 1939) is an American sculptor, musician and songwriter. He is known for small-scale, refined sculptures of great detail and compelling color.
Nagle lives and works in San Francisco, California.
Life
Born in San Fr ...
) – producer, engineer, additional production on "Circle of Fire", construction of "Crowded Village" central section on "Mount Shasta"
*Paul Kantner – director, additional production on "Circle of Fire"
*
Pat Ieraci (Maurice) – production coordinator
*Vicky Ieraci – assistant production coordinator
*Ken Kessie – mixing, remixing on "Circle of Fire"
*Maureen Droney – engineer, assistant mixing
*David Frazer – engineer
*Wayne Lewis – engineer
*Steve Fontana – engineer
*Artists & Friends, Inc. (Jim Welch) – art direction
*Bud Thon – illustration
*
Bill Thompson – management
*Recorded at The Automatt in San Francisco
*Additional music and sound effects recorded at The Pen, San Francisco
*Mastered by Jeff Sanders (sound recording) and Lindy Griffin at Kendun Recorders,
Burbank
Singles
*"The Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra" b/w "The Sky Is No Limit" (1983)
Notes
{{Authority control
1983 albums
Paul Kantner albums
RCA Records albums