Jefferson Airplane
Crown of Creation
(RCA/BMG Heritage)
The Music Box's #7 specialty package for 2003
First Appeared at The Music Box, September 2003, Volume 10, #9
Written by John Metzger
Crown of Creation, Jefferson Airplane’s fourth album in two years,
found the group mired in a state of transition, pulling back somewhat from the
freak-out of After Bathing at Baxter’s, but not really mirroring the
impeccable pop sensibility of Surrealistic Pillow. At the time, Paul
Kantner had begun to wrestle with dark, science fiction-oriented themes, and
these pop up within both the title track as well as the thunderous closer
House at Pooneil Corners. Increasingly political in nature, the band spent
much of Crown of Creation exploring themes and ideas that would come more
fully to fruition on later projects, leaving the album sounding, at times, a
little bit disjointed. That’s not to say that the collection wasn’t a good one
for it certainly contained many terrific songs. Lather explored the loss
of innocence; If You Feel injected a bit of levity with its funky bounce
and "live in the moment" lyrics; the title track was a powerful indictment of
American culture as well as a call for change; and In Time served as an
intoxicating precursor to Wooden Ships. As for Grace Slick’s rendering of
the David Crosby-penned Triad — it was dead-on perfect. Nevertheless, the
tracks just didn’t hang together quite as well as those on the band’s previous
two efforts, and Crown of Creation instead sounded more like a collection
of songs than a fully cohesive album. Unfortunately, the bonus tracks featured
on the new release aren’t really essential: a monophonic single rendition of Share a Little Joke, the aural collages Ribump Ba Bap Dum Dum and Would You Like a Snack?, and the previously unreleased oddity The Saga of
Sydney Spacepig. 
Crown of Creation is available from Barnes & Noble.
To order, Click Here!
Jeff Tamarkin's biography Got a Revolution! The Turbulent Flight of
Jefferson Airplane is available from Barnes & Noble. To order, Click Here!
Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2003 The Music Box