Jefferson Airplane Covered a Byrds Tune

firstbassman · Post by **firstbassman** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 9:47 am

Ran out of the house quickly today to run an errand and grabbed a bunch of CDs to listen to on the way. One of the CDs was an old concert * from the Airplane..

And lo and behold, one of the songs was Feel A Whole Lot Better. I had completely forgotten about that.

Here is a listen (available for only seven days of course):

http://download.yousendit.com/892534BD66428EF4

The quality was pretty bad but hey, JA had only been together for a few months at this time.

* January 15, 1966, Vancouver, Canada.

jimk · Post by **jimk** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 5:39 pm

That was interesting. I take it that the recording was made before Grace Slick joined JA.

JimK

firstbassman · Post by **firstbassman** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 5:19 am

Oh, yes, by quite a while, Jim.
Grace's first show with the Airplane wasn't until ten months later (October of '66).

jimk · Post by **jimk** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 4:14 pm

Yeah. I was certain the female vocal wasn't Grace's voice.

JimK

firstbassman · Post by **firstbassman** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 6:54 pm

Yes, the first signer was Signe (Sig-nee) Anderson:

Unfortunately Signe has had several health problems over the years and more recently severe financial problems too. It's a shame.

8mileshigher · Post by **8mileshigher** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 1:25 pm

Mark -- thanks for posting the link. Nice to have it for posterity even though it is a "rough" performance.
Regards - Rich F.

rick36 · Post by **rick36** » Sun Sep 09, 2007 7:01 pm

Another (un-released) Byrds track that the Airplane covered was "Triad" on the 1968 "Crown Of Creation" LP.
A little more polished - with Crosby on guitar.

mcd220 · Post by **mcd220** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 7:37 am

I've always REALLY REALLY liked the "Takes off" album with Signe. Very folky, etc.

If Surrealistic Pillow" was'nt so amazing, I think more folks would remember this first album. Not you guys of course, just the mainstream obviously.

Christian

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firstbassman · Post by **firstbassman** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 11:39 am

Oh, absolutely, Chris.
This is going to turn into more of a JA thread than a Byrds thread but I remember the first time I heard Takes Off. I had borrowed it from the Donnell Library in NYC. I was floored. As you say, great folksy stuff.
I have always wondered what path the Airplane might have taken had Signe not left the band. Among JA fanatics I’m in the minority in not being a huge Grace Slick fan. Great voice but I grew tired of that drunken smart___ act a very long time ago.

mcd220 · Post by **mcd220** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 9:54 pm

Great point. I'm in the middle concerning Grace as well. The good and the bad. Without question, hearing "White Rabbit" for the first time must have been really something.

I'm too young to recall, as I was only 6 in 1967, but yeah, fascinating stuff!!