Volunteers

For the term "volunteer", see Volunteer. For other uses, see Volunteer (disambiguation).

Volunteers
Studio album by Jefferson Airplane
Released	November 1969 (stereo) September 26, 1973 (quadraphonic)
Recorded	April 1969 at Wally Heider Studios, San Francisco
Genre	Hard Rock, Country Rock, Psychedelic rock, acid rock
Length	44:13
Label	RCA Records
Producer	Al Schmitt
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Robert Christgau (B) link Rolling Stone link
Jefferson Airplane chronology
Bless Its Pointed Little Head (1969) Volunteers (1969) The Worst of Jefferson Airplane (1970)

Volunteers is a 1969 album by American psychedelic rock band, Jefferson Airplane. It was controversial at the time because of anti-war messages of certain songs.^{[citation needed]} The original title of the album was supposed to be Volunteers of Amerika, but pressure from RCA led to this name being dropped.

History

This was the sixth album recorded by the group and the first to be wholly recorded in San Francisco, at Wally Heider's then state-of-the-art 16-track studio. Guests included Jerry Garcia on pedal steel guitar, veteran session pianist Nicky Hopkins, future Airplane drummer Joey Covington on percussion, David Crosby, and Stephen Stills. It was one of the earliest 16-track recordings. The back cover of the album shows a picture of the MM-1000 professional 16-track tape recorder built by Ampex Corporation which was used to record the album.

The album was marked with strong anti-war and pro-anarchism songs. The theme of nature, communities and ecology was also explored with the songs "The Farm" and "Eskimo Blue Day". The title track was actually inspired by a "Volunteers of America" garbage truck that awoke singer Marty Balin one morning. The album provoked even more controversy with lyrics such as "Up against the wall, motherfucker" (from the song "We Can Be Together") which appeared on the opening track and "shit" which is said several times on "Eskimo Blue Day". Musically, the album is characterized by lead guitarist Jorma Kaukonen's razor-sharp guitar work (the dueling solos on "Hey Fredrick", plus "Good Shepherd" and "Wooden Ships") and the distinctive piano playing of Nicky Hopkins. It also featured that band dabbling in a country rock sound, particularly in"The Farm" and "Song For All Seasons".

Despite its controversies, the album was a commercial success becoming the band's fourth top twenty hit record and went gold within two months of its release.^[1]

This was to be both Jefferson Airplane's founder Marty Balin and drummer Spencer Dryden's last album with the group, (although they did both appear on the "Mexico" single released in 1970 and its B-side "Have You Seen the Saucers?") signifying the end of the best-remembered "classic" lineup. It was to be the last all-new LP for two years; Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen would now devote more of their energy to their embryonic blues group "Hot Tuna", while Paul Kantner and Grace Slick celebrated the birth of their daughter China in 1971.

Even though the album was released in late 1969, the cover photo dates back to 1967, and features the band wearing disguises, and was taken during the filming of a promotional film made for their single "Martha."

A specially remixed Quadraphonic (4 channel) version of the album was also released in 1973. The Quad version was available on LP Record, and Reel to reel, and 8-track cartridge tape. The Quad mixes are noticeably different than the usual (2 channel) stereo mixes (actually, "Hey Fredrick" has a completely different lead vocal, "Volunteers" is a totally different recording, and "The Farm"'s backing vocals by the Ace of Cups is brought up to front). A few tracks from the Quad version were included on the 3 CD box set Jefferson Airplane Loves You, however on the box set the 4 channel recordings have been reduced to 2 channels.

The 2004 CD rerelease features 5 additional bonus tracks from the group's annual Thanksgiving concert at the Fillmore East, New York in 1969.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 370 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

The album was released again in 2009 along with the entirety of the Airplane's live performance at the Woodstock Festival in 1969 as Jefferson Airplane Woodstock Experience.

Track listing

Credits from original Vinyl LP and Quadraphonic LP^[2]

Personnel^[2]

• Grace Slick – vocals, piano on "The Farm", "Hey Fredrick", "Eskimo Blue Day", and "Volunteers", organ on "Meadowlands", recorder on "Eskimo Blue Day"
• Paul Kantner – vocals, rhythm guitar
• Marty Balin – vocals, percussion
• Jorma Kaukonen – lead guitar, vocals
• Jack Casady – bass
• Spencer Dryden – drums, percussion

Additional Personnel^[2]

• Nicky Hopkins – piano on "We Can Be Together", "Hey Fredrick", "Wooden Ships", "A Song for All Seasons", and "Volunteers"
• Stephen Stills – hammond organ on "Turn My Life Down"
• Jerry Garcia – pedal steel guitar on "The Farm"
• Joey Covington – congas on "Turn My Life Down", chair on "Eskimo Blue Day"
• David Crosby – sailboat on "Wooden Ships"
• Ace of Cups – vocals on "The Farm" and "Turn My Life Down"
• Bill Laudner – lead vocals on "A Song for All Seasons"

Production

• Al Schmitt – producer
• Rich Schmitt – engineer
• Maurice (Pat Ieraci) – 16-track
• Gut – album design, ate PB * J
• Milton Burke – album design
• Jefferson Airplane – album design
• Jim Marshall – cover photo
• Jim Smircich – back photo
• Littie Herbie Greene – PB & J photo
• Produced at Wally Heider Recording Studio, San Francisco

Charts

Album

Single

References

1. ^ http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH_RESULTS&artist=Jefferson%20Airplane&format=ALBUM&go=Search&perPage=50
2. ^ ^{a b c} (1969) Album notes for Volunteers by Jefferson Airplane [Vinyl insert]. New York City: RCA (LSP-4238). Volunteers at MusicBrainz.