Blows Against the Empire by Paul Kantner (CD, Sep-2005, RCA Records USA)

I am not willing to accept the fact that I am the first to review this album. It came out in 1970. It's brilliant. It's psychedelic. It's science fiction. It has the whole San Francisco crowd - Kantner, Slick, Freiberg (QMS), Crosby. Even Jerry Garcia! WHERE ARE THE REVIEWERS?

If the musicians aren't enough, how about "Story By Heinlein," complete with a dramatization of Andrew Jackson Libby's space drive? This album pushed every button of my hippie younger-self, and it can still do it today. WHERE ARE THE REVIEWERS? Doesn't anybody know this record?

It was the first of the Jefferson STARSHIP albums, closely followed by Sunfighter and then Baron Von Tollbooth and the Chrome Nun. It begins with Grace:

"Sunrise Surprise...
Civilized Man, you were keeper to me,
Now your animal is free, and you're free to die!
You're old, and your hand is grey,
You're old, go home and stay,
We've all heard your dirty stories,
Two thousand years...
Two thoudand years...
Two thousand years... of your God-damned glory."*

And continues to the stars.

I've seen Grace do this bit song live - the most dramatic moment ever in Rock and Roll for me, and I've got the pictures to prove it. I've seen Darby Gould do this live with the current version of Starship. Yes, it's still their opening. And Darby is just as dramatic, although Mr. Spotlight Guy often doesn't get it.

If you lived in the 60's you need this record. If you didn't, you need it even more.

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This review and all the words in it were written without my looking up anything. I may have a mind like a steel sieve, but some things I rememeber.

I was a manic fan of the Jefferson Airplane. This album represented a real turning point in everything. With Jerry Garcia, David Crosby, and an all star entourage on board Paul Kantner takes us on a trip through the cosmos where "babes can wander naked through the cities of the Universe." From "Mau Mau Amerikon" we are hijacking a starship for the sake of Love, Justice, Peace, and Sanity itself. And just in time.
The Jefferson Starship evolved later into a monster hit making musical dream machine. This album, especially along with the added bonus features, gives us an X-ray of the skeletal structure while it was being built. Personally I find the new features to be fascinating. I listened to the cd every day for two weeks after I got it. The last time I owned it was on 8 track tape. (Yeah I'm old.)
I was drafted into the Viet Nam war. This was one of the albums that helped to save my sanity. While I was learning how to fire torpedos and sink what would come to be known as the "Red October" this album gave me faith and inspired me.
I had already seen the Jefferson Airplane perform (at the Allentown Fair Grounds) in 1970. "Gun Mouth" Grace socked it to some loud mouth in the front row by saying "Listen Mister... Just because you're wearing a peace sign doesn't mean you can do whatever you want." Some people can't even behave properly at a rock concert without an authority figure telling them what to do. And Grace was always equal to the task. Then she turned and pointed at me. I was standing on my chair in the fifth row with my arms folded across my chest and she said "That man there looks like he's having a good time." I turned around to see who she was pointing at and everybody laughed. "She's talking about YOU man!" somebody said. At which point I fell out of my chair and several people caught me. Grace Slick knocked me over without ever even touching me.
"Blows Against the Empire" is as revolutionary as an album gets. Grateful Dead fans are always amazed to find Jerry Garcia on pedal steel guitar making this truly eclectic album an experience in transcendental musicological eloquence. With Paul Kantner at the helm revving the engine into Ultra Phenomenological Supersonic Overdrive and Grace Slicks voice pervading every single vertebrate you can feel your spine being thrust into G-force MultiMetaPhysical Astral Hyperspace. It's a REAL good album.