SURREALISTIC PILLOW

The late 60s were upon the world and with it, the popularity of psychedelia bloomed to new heights. The early forms of psych rock in the 60s were in their infancy, with many elements that are taken from folk, blues, and jazz, being precursors to many traits genres like Neo-Psychedelia, Krautrock, and Progressive Rock would utilize. Psych could be considered the precursor to many of those genres, especially concerning albums like The Psychedelic Sounds of The 13th Floor Elevators, Electric Ladyland, and The Doors' self-titled release. While those are influential throughout the world, it should also be noted that in these early days the more pop-centered rock was still in a state of a high, especially if we take into account the popularity The Beatles and The Rolling Stones had on the world through this decade. This meant that in a confused state, psychedelic rock and psychedelic pop were almost indistinguishable, however, after the 70s we would see the separation be made, especially about acts like Pink Floyd, and Gong. With that, it'd go without saying that this release by Jefferson Airplane has a striking influence on the whole of psych rock, while also on the whole of psych-pop.

She Has Funny Cars start the album off proper, and with it, we get that classic 60s pop rock in full. Lots of vibrant guitars and melodies shape the song into a sparkling mass of feel-good emotions. By this time in the 60s, this type of music was still fresh in people's minds since when this was recorded, The Beatles would release their album, Revolver, and The Beach Boys would release Pet Sounds, so this more typical pop rock music would still be all the rage. In it, we do get a sort of peak in that style of music, where you can tell that they are still within the blindfolds of the eccentric pop era, but they start to see out the window more and see more of the world's colors. A fun, yet still a bordered-up song of this era.

This album contains 2 hits, with Somebody To Love being the first one. This is more of a lovey-dovey-type song that is meant to all feel good. Out of the 2 hits on this album, this is the weakest one. Not that it is bad, it's super fun and has a great melody and chorus, but it is meant to be exceptionally commercial. The commercial doesn't mean it's bad, but it does mean some artistic liberties have been lost.

Besides rock, psychedelic music has had some folk influences, and this stays true with the track My Best Friend. The lack of electric guitars does make this a fairly interesting listen, since when I think of psych rock and psych-pop I think of more distorted guitars and wild and crazy sounds, but here when it is set back a bit with more acoustic instruments we get a new flavor of the psyche that I also enjoy. A very lush and pretty sound that does make for an instantly more enjoyable experience.

That is only the bridge to the more folk adjacent sound since Today carries it even more. The only thing here in the instrumentation is the acoustic guitar, with only a few percussion instruments in the back. This is where the band lets their voices soar. Lush Beatles-like vocals take you back into the fresh hippie era of the United States. Back when Woodstock was fresh in people's minds and the best way to experience music is to puff a blunt and let your mind soar. It isn't nostalgic for me since I wasn't born into that era, but I can get the feeling that might've been when that type of stuff was going on. Super well made, and I think it is the highlight of this record.

Comin' Back To Me is also a more folky song, heck in the same caliber. There are two sides to this record, not in the literal sense but there are the more rock-oriented songs and the folk-oriented songs. This leaves the band having two different moods, the calm and cool folk and the bouncy rock. These were sort of the mindsets the 60s era of rock had where bands were experimenting with different genres to produce different sounds, this is as evident with acts like The Doors. It doesn't have the same punch that Today has, but it still is a pretty folk song that I do think can have a good deal of love and appreciation in it.

We get back into the pop-psych with ⅗ of a Mile in 10 Seconds. This song I noticed does allow the instruments to talk the talk so to speak more than not, with a mini guitar anthem after the middle part. It is fully developed too, not just a one-note thing but something that takes a few seconds to develop, and honestly, I like this about Jefferson Airplane. They know how to make some stellar poppy but great songs that can develop into something even more stellar.

We get more of this stellar portrayal of music with D. C. B. A.-25. This bizarre title of a song is another of the band's highlights. How the song starts slow and starts to go faster and faster, not too fast to be intense, but fast enough for you to notice and groove along to. Not only that but the more bluesy atmosphere this song radiates makes it even more fun, and unique. Weird how the album is a bit more bottom-heavy, but that is a no-brainer when most record companies would put the more poppy songs upfront on the records before the ones with the most uniqueness.

We get back to the folk territory, now mixed with some of the blues with How Do You Feel. We get some interesting guitar strumming and vocalizations from the singers of the band. It radiates a sort of worker song that people would sing for hours and hours on end, breaking their back to labor after labor. It is a song that can be used effectively in a setting like that, and I think it does work for what it is intended to be. It is vibrant, yet almost melancholic song that I think works incredibly well. It can also be considered a melody with the short 1-minute guitar strumming song of Embryonic Journey being right after, having a similar feel yet with no lyrics. It is short and sweet but does deliver the feels quite nicely.

It would be a shame to not talk about the starlight of this album, White Rabbit. This Alice in Wonderland, drug and insane trip of a song has a chokehold on me at the current moment. I am surprised this song still sounds so relevant even today, despite the production being less clean. It holds so much in so little time and how it just evolves into more and more brilliance elevates this song for me. I can say it is one of psychedelic rock's many masterpieces throughout the years and one that is a no-brainer for being the band's most popular and influential song.

The album end's on a pretty high note with Plastic Fantastic Lover. Ending with a more bluesy song is a good choice in my opinion since it expresses all three of the key features this album deploys. The fun rock songs, the calm folk twists, and the psychedelic wonderlands end up creating a pretty great experience overall. At the end of the day, Plastic Fantastic Lover does a good job of being a good song and a good ending to this good album.

One of the key bands of the psych-rock movement, Jefferson Airplane is one that I did not expect to find so enjoyable. Their work will influence more generations of psychedelic fans to come, and while this is an imperfect album, it does leave a lot to enjoy. Some really good stuff on here, despite it being more bottom-heavy on the record.