CROWN OF CREATION

After becoming America's most popular band in 1967--an achievement fueled by their significant contributions to their own West Coast's "Summer of Love": a rigorous schedule of touring, two Top 20 Album releases (one platinum selling) and four top 60 singles (two Top 10)--the band was able to continue to create and serve at this peak level with this, their one and only album release of 1968 (and two minor hit singles). A whole-band collaborative effort, almost all the songs were composed or arranged as a collective though some outsiders were allowed in (David Crosby, Tim Davis, Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention, Gary Blackman, Bill Goodwin) for their valued contributions.

1. "Lather" (2:55) the B-side to the album's second single release, the album's title song, it is based in acoustic guitar and electric bass with a rather unusually vulnerable vocal from lead singer and composer Grace Slick. "Nose" player Gary Blackman presents his unusual talents after the first verse. Grace's feigned Irish accent is fine but the constant stream of theatric musique concrète voices and effects going on beneath are not only distracting but diminishing to her own performance. (8.875/10)

2. "In Time" (4:10) acoustic guitars highlight this Paul Kantner and Marty Balin composition while Marty sings the lead with some insistence. This is the second song in a row that feels as if the band are trying to emulate folk rockers from the British Isles--here SPIROGYRA (Martin Cockerham) or COMUS (Roger Wootton). (8.875/10)

3. "Triad" (4:50) a wonderfully-nuanced acoustic guitar-based folk-rock song about polyamorous relationships (composed by The Byrds' David Crosby but rejected by his own band) with a great Grace Slick performance as the lone vocalist. My favorite song on the album. (9.5/10)

4. "Star Trek" (3:08) back to the electric side of things, with Paul Kantner getting extensive play on his newly-acquired wah-wah pedal. Fair but nothing so very remarkable (even considering the title and implied subject matter). Marty Balin's lead vocal is just too dull. (8.66667/10)

5. "Share A Little Joke" (3:07) the B-side to the album's first single release, "Greasy Heart," the Balin-penned song gets a nice vocal performance from its composer and some interesting multi-motif music. Those toms that Spencer Dryden has been hammering for the past two songs are getting very annoying. In fact, his drums in general are recorded a little too brightly or forward or something. Still, I like the song shows a little of the band's experimental side, which I like--and its ending. (9/10)

6. "Chushingura" (1:16) Paul Kantner's response to the Japanese film of the same name. Oscillators, hand drums, manipulated guitar strings. (4.25/5)

7. "If You Feel" (3:21) another Marty Balin contribution--this time with friend Gary Blackman's help--it sounds almost as if he's trying to create an anthemic song for some kind of human potential rally or church revival. The drums are overboard, the bass rather loose, and too much leeway is given to Paul Kantner's play on his new toy (the wah-wah pedal). (8.33333/10)

8. "Crown Of Creation" (2:53) the second single release. Unfortunately, the song is trying too hard to be driven more by its high-brow philosophical human-potential ideas rendered in obtuse Jon Anderson-like lyrics than melodies or earworm hooks. Horribly sloppy drumming, disappointingly simple bass and rhythm guitar work with okay lead guitar work and nice multi-voice vocal performances and arrangements just don't all gel the way one would hope. (8.75/10)

9. "Ice Cream Phoenix" (3:02) a song that feels as if the band is "going back" to its blues- and folk-rock roots shows a little maturity and experience but at the same time suffers from the pervasive anti-establishment attitudes of the zeitgeist of San Francisco in 1968. I wonder what the band members would think when they listened to these songs in their middle and elder ages. Probably a lot of embarrassed cringing. (8.66667/10)

10. "Greasy Heart" (3:19) the first single released from the album. It and its companion song, "Lather," were recorded in February at RCA studios, while the rest of the album's songs were more carefully pieced together between March and June in the new basement studio of the band's newly acquired communal home, called "The Mansion," located directly across from San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. The song sounds very much as if Grace is trying to capture the power and force that she projected in her breakthrough performances from Surrealistic Pillow. (8.75/10)

11. "The House At Pooneil Corners" (5:48) striving for more return to the heavier side of rock 'n' roll the band turn on (and up) the amps and fill the sonic field with controlled chaos and multiple voice vocals from the famed tandem of Grace and Marty. The lyrics seem to express a kind of prophetic/apocryphal vision that is probably intended to raise anti-war sentiment. Not a bad song made better for the lyrics. (8.875/10)

Total time 37:49

B/four stars; a collection of diverse songs from a fully-functioning if slightly-fogged collective of rock stars riding high on their newly acquired fame. Not for everyone--and not much of a forward contribution to the birth of progressive rock music--but a satisfactory representation of its time.