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 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 inspired by a "Volunteers of America" garbage truck that awoke singer Marty Balin one morning. The original title of the album was intended to be Volunteers of Amerika, a corruption of Volunteers of America, an American version of the Salvation Army charity; the term being in vogue as an ironic expression of dissatisfaction with America; however the charity objected so the name was shortened to Volunteers.
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. The offending word was mixed lower on the 45 RPM release of the track to partially 'obscure' it, but it was still audible. At the time, RCA Records was refusing to allow "fuck" on the album until they were confronted with the fact that they had already set precedent on the Cast Recording Soundtrack of "Hair". "Eskimo Blue Day" was also a point of contention with the chorus line of "doesn't mean shit to a tree" repeated throughout. 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.
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.
Read more about this topic: Volunteers (Jefferson Airplane Album)
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