"Che bei tempi quelli del vinile!" verrebbe da dire ascoltando questa raccolta dei Jefferson Airplane. Affermazione che non racchiude alcun istinto luddista nei confronti del cd, bensì due dati che mi sembrano difficilmente confutabili. Da una parte, il fatto che sul vinile ci potessero stare solo una quarantina di minuti di musica, impediva che gli artisti ne incidessero un'ora e più, come avviene oggidì sul supporto digitale. Con inevitabili riempitivi e momenti di stanca. Un tempo, solo quando si aveva qualcosa di importante da dire si superavano i sessanta minuti. E così si sono prodotti quella decina di dischi doppi, da "Electric Ladyland", ad "Exile...", a "Blonde on Blonde", l'elenco lo conoscete, che hanno fatto la storia del Rock. La conseguenza è che le raccolte di inediti su Lp, come quella dei Jefferson di cui parliamo qui, avevano veramente un senso ed un valore, perché i brani che le componevano avrebbero potuto apparire tranquillamente sugli album dell'epoca, senza sfigurare.

"Early Flight " fu stampato nel 1974, poco dopo la fine dei Jefferson quale aereoplano e prima della reincarnazione in astronave, ed è importante anche storicamente perché è una delle prime raccolte di inediti in assoluto in ambito rock americano.

Il primo trittico di brani proviene dalle sessions del dicembre del 1965 di "Takes off", con Signe Anderson ancora alla voce femminile, poi sostituita da Grace Slick. Il primo di questi pezzi "High Flyin' Bird", cantato da Marty Balin, è un gioiello di dimensioni assolute. I Jefferson, non è dato sapere perché, non la inserirono nel disco d'esordio, ma la amarono anche negli anni a venire, e la suonarono spesso dal vivo. Se ne può sentire una versione live infatti nel concerto al mitico Festival Pop di Monterey del 1967. Ne esiste una cover assolutamente efficace in un disco, "No Polyestere Please", di un gruppo di epigoni dei nostri, "Illiterate Beach", che consiglio a tutti i fan dei Jefferson.

Proseguendo in "Early Flight" ci imbattiamo in tre canzoni facenti parte delle sessions di registrazione di "Surrealitic Pillow", siamo nel novembre del 1966. Mentre "In The Morning", nonostante la partecipazione di Jerry Garcia, dei Grateful Dead, è solo una jam blues, con temi che saranno cari più agli Hot Tuna, "J.P.P. McStep B. Blues" e "Go to her" sono due altre piccole perle. La prima, scritta e suonata da Skip Spence pochi giorni prima di lasciare il gruppo, è una delizia pop che anticipa la "Summer of Love". La seconda, un incrocio tra l'inno degli Airplane "Somebody To Love" e "Love Her Madly" dei Doors, si dice non fu inserita in "Surrealistic..." perché i Jefferson non erano contenti della sua rendition in studio rispetto alla potenza che riuscivano a darle dal vivo.

Gli ultimi tre brani sono stati registrati nel 1970. "Up Or Down" uscita dalla penna di Paul Kantner, probabilmente all'epoca di "Blow Against The Empire", mi ricorda moltissimo certe cose di Stephen Stills, che aveva suonato pochi mesi prima con i Jefferson in "Volunteers". Vi sono infine i due lati di un 45 giri, "Mexico" e "Have You Seen The Saucers", che sono due classici pezzi alla Airplane: la prima contiene un attacco a Richard Nixon, l'allora Presidente degli U.S.A., ed al suo tentativo di bloccare l'ingresso di marijuana dal Messico, tant'è che fu censurata da molte radio statunitensi.

In definitiva un disco da recuperare per tutti gli amanti dei Jefferson Airplane, giusto compendio ai quattro capolavori in studio che sfornarono dal 1966 al 1969.

Elenco tracce testi e video

01   High Flyin' Bird (02:32)

There's a high flyin' bird, flying way up in the sky,
And I wonder if she looks down, as she goes on by?
Well, she's flying so freely in the sky.

Lord, look at me here,
I'm rooted like a tree here,
Got those sit-down,
can't cry Oh Lord, gonna die blues.

Now the sun it comes up and lights up the day,
And when he gets tired, Lord, he goes on down his way,
To the east and to the west,
He meets God every day.

Lord, look at me here,
I'm rooted like a tree here,
Got those sit-down, can't cry
Oh Lord, gonna die blues.

Now I had a woman
Lord, she lived down by the mine,
She ain't never seen the sun,
Oh Lord, never stopped crying.

Then one day my woman up and died,
Lord, she up and died now.
Oh Lord, she up and died now.
She wanted to die,
And the only way to fly is die, die, die.

There's a high flyin' bird, flying way up in the sky,
And I wonder if she looks down as she goes on by?
Well, she's flying so freely in the sky.

Lord, look at me here,
I'm rooted like a tree here,
Got those sit-down, can't cry,
Oh, Lord, gonna die blues.

02   Runnin' 'Round This World (02:22)

We've running round this world too much girl
Trying not to see but now were free of them
I understand what I understood before
But loving you has made me understand much more
Is it the music in your heart I love so much
Is it the rainbows of your smile I love to touch
There are red flowers in each kiss upon your lips
The times I've spent with you have been fantastic (Trips)
Well I've seen you in a thousand dreams,
Many many days
Without your love around
I'm gonna loose my way and you'll loose yours
You know what's happening you can't sleep or think now
Shadows they are lifted off off you
We can walk here love where we want to.
(Break)
Well I've seen you in a thousand dreams,
Many many days
Without your love around
I'm gonna loose my way and you'll loose yours
You know what's happening you can't sleep or think now
Shadows they are lifted off off you
We can walk here love where we want to

03   That's Alright (02:14)

04   In the Morning (06:26)

05   J.P.P. McStep B. Blues (02:50)

06   Go to Her (04:00)

Go to her
She waits
She lies
Beating for you

Go to her
She waits
She lies
Screaming for you

I never thought I'd see the day
When the shadow would move up and say

Go to her
She lay
Waiting for you

Go to her
She waits
She lies
Longing for you

Go to her
She waits
She lies
Only for you

There's something in my bed
So help me lord I'm afraid

Go to her
She lay
Waiting for you

I can still remember the day
When he first won my heart
On a hillside where we lay
He said we would never part

So help how was I to know
My leaving would hurt her so

Go to her
She lay
Waiting for you

Go to her
She lay
Waiting for you

Help how was I to know
My leaving would hurt her so

Go to her
She lay
Waiting for you

Go to her
She lay
Waiting for you

Help how was I to know
My leaving would hurt her so

Go to her
She lay
Waiting for you

Go to her
She lay
Waiting for you

Go to her
She waits
She lies
Beating for you

Go to her
She waits
She lies
Screaming for you

Go to her
She waits
She lies
All for you

Go to her
She lay
Dying for you

Go to her
She lay
Crying for you
Go to her
Go to her

07   Up or Down (06:19)

08   Mexico (02:06)

by Grace Slick

Owsley and Charlie, twins of the trade,
Come to the Poet's Room
Talking about the problems of the leaf,
And yes, it'll be back soon

There used to be tons of gold and green
Comin' up here from Mexico
A donde esta la planta, mi amigo, del sol?
[The translation is: "Where is the plant, my friend, of the sun."]

But Mexico is under the thumb
Of a man we call Richard
And he's come to call himself king
But he's a small-headed man
And he doesn't know a thing
About how to deal for you

How to deal for you
There are millions of you now
I mean it's not as if you were alone
There are brothers everywhere
Just waiting for a toke on that gold
And God knows how far it can go

But thanks Uncle Charlie
For your Mexican smoke
You're a legend Owsley
For your righteous dope

There were a half a million people on the lawn
And we sang to the faces in the dark
How long must that damn race
Wait for the jailer's time to end?
How long must the Panther race
Wait for the iron bars to bend?
And no no no no no nobody waits

09   Have You Seen the Saucers (03:37)

have you seen the saucers?
have you seen the saucers?
do you know the people out there
who aren't happy with the way that we care
for the Earth Mother.
have you seen the saucers.
Tranquility Base
there goes the neighborhood
american garbage dumped in space and no room left for brotherhood
have you seen our saucers?
see our lights in your western skies, California?
The rainbow skies
The government tells you another missle is flying
have you any idea why they're lying to you?
to your faces
did they tell you?
have you seen our saucers?

your mother needs you, now she's getting old
her face was pretty, but you let her go
have you seen our saucers?
star children on the back road to salvation
children of the forest, child of the woodstock nation
have a care for the needs of your planet
catch the dawn that once was there
first-born atomic generation
open the door, don't you know what it's for
come and join us on the other side of the sun

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