Long John Silver - JEFFERSON AIRPLANE***

Long John Silver/Aerie (Gang Of Eagles)/Twilight Double Leader/Milk Train/The Son Of Jesus/Easter?/Trial By Fire/Alexander The Medium/Eat Starch Mom

Long John Silver was the last studio album released under the Jefferson Airplane name before regrouping under the Starship banner. A lacklustre offering it featured the gimmick of a cover that folded up into a replica of a cigar box. (US:20 UK:30)

“Riding on their familiar early 1970s west coast rock sound, rooted in blues-rock, tinged by psychedelia, without being either, Jefferson Airplane embarked on another record with meandering rock songs, where the guitars sound like they’d rather be jamming and the vocalists sing like they’d rather be performing live.”

“This one is super underrated. It's not their usual psychedelic folk-rock, but I find it pretty sweet to hear bands I love play in a different style than usual, and to hear Jefferson Airplane play this album of straight up rock and roll is pretty sweet.”

“Long John Silver is probably not the best introduction to the Airplane's recorded work. But it has a kind of fury to it that is just short of punk rage. I can't count the number of times I've come home from a long hard day at work and blasted Grace's Eat Starch Mom, a masterpiece of unfocused rage.”

“The problem with this album is that not a single song stands out as particularly good. There aren't any seriously bad songs, but it's a rather boring listen.”

“The last studio album by Jefferson Airplane is a noisy creature, packed with bad songwriting and too many guitars without purpose. The only song worth remembering is Easter.”

“Was this the worst Jefferson Airplane album? Yes, bad sound, bad songs and a bad trip. Eat Starch Mom is the worst Airplane song ever, and even at its best this just sounds like other songs re-made. Not a big surprise this was the last studio album under the Airplane name.”

“Grace is just horrible on the album. I've always had an appreciation for her siren style of singing. But here, instead of sounding like a siren in the operatic sense, she sounds more like an actual siren, screeching instead of singing.”