This week on Sunday Spins, I exit the roots/Americana highway and begin to travel the psychedelia parkway. Jefferson Airplane’s Surrealistic Pillow record turned 54 this week, which is a lot older than me, but it still bops. It contains two generation-defining tracks that are still widely played today. So, let’s all eat some shrooms and take a journey.

Jefferson Airplane

Surrealistic Pillow

1967

Commentary

Not a lot can be said that has not already been said about this LP. Jefferson Airplane’s Surrealistic Pillow was foundational for the burgeoning free love and hippie movement in San Francisco, and is one of the go-to albums when one thinks of the Summer of Love. Filled with psychedelic journeys and straight rockers, from start to finish, it really is a generational masterpiece.

I am obviously not of that generation, however, my parents jammed to enough classic rock in my day to be sure I got the full gamut of 60s-80s music. One of the more special things about this album is the mysterious inclusion of Jerry Garcia on the album sleeve as “Musical and Spiritual Advisor.” Much has been written and discussed about what part he played during the making of this album. Some say he laid down some guitar on some of the tracks, some say his contributions were purely medicinal, others think he was an uncredited producer.

No one really knows for sure, however, the finished product is awesome. According to one biographer, Garcia described the music as being “surreal as a pillow is soft,” hence the album title: Surrealistic Pillow. As far artwork goes, it is pretty simple, but since the music on the record is so iconic, so is the album cover.

My copy is a bit worn. The wax sounds good, but the jacket has definitely seen some better days. I think this was a thrift store or Half-Price Books pickup from back my early days of collecting. One of these days, I am gonna do 5000 words on vinyl collecting. You’ve been warned.

Track by Track

1. She Has Funny Cars

A fun opener with dueling vocals, Grace Slick and Marty Balin. At its core it is a song about advertising and materialism. Big themes for that time and that (counter)culture. Anyway, there is just enough fuzz on the guitar and some big time drums to make this a groover.

2. Somebody to Love

Of course, “Somebody to Love” is one of two big time hits from this record. Interestingly enough, Darby Slick, who was Grace Slick’s brother in-law wrote this song for another band they were all in prior to Grace joining Jefferson Airplane, The Great Society. That original version is much more laid back, and a bit more of a hippie song rather than the straight rocker that Jefferson Airplane created from it.

3. My Best Friend

Speaking of hippie songs, this one is a departure from the hard rockin’ “Somebody to Love.” It is a fun song, and you can tell it has some of Jerry Garcias’ fingerprints on it. Before “Somebody to Love” and “White Rabbit,” this song was released as the first single, and it did not do quite as well.

4. Today

When you hear the lead guitar in this song, you instantly know that it is Jerry Garcia playing. It is a folksy song and once again, not exactly a rock n’ roller, although it starts to rise to a more epic ending. At its core, it is a straight love song.

5. Comin’ Back to Me

Like “Today,” this is another folksy love song written by Marty Balin. It also features Jerry Garcia on acoustic guitar. It is kind of plodding and slow, but if you give it a deep listening you can hear the emotion that Balin puts in the vocals. There’s even a little bit of recorder in there, played by Grace Slick.

6. 3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds

Couldn’t tell you what this song is actually about, drugs maybe? It’s really good though, and catchy too. One of the reasons I love my record collection so much, is that I can switch gears from something like last week’s spin, to this classic psychedelia. I read an article once that said the title was derived from a newspaper headline.

7. D.C.B.A.-25

This song is a smooth rocker that sounds suspiciously like “My Best Friend.” It features dueling vocals again, and it really makes you feel like you’re sitting next to a pool in 1967 with a cold drink in hand and not a care in the world.

8. How Do You Feel

Some smarmy music journalists think this is somehow a response to Dylan when he sings “How does it feel” on “Like a Rolling Stone,” however, the lyrical content in both songs is starkly different. it’s really just the ultimate secret admirer song. Borderline creepy, but at the same time the singer is yearning to know the girl he just saw/met.

9. Embryonic Journey

A wild inclusion on this album is this all-acoustic guitar instrumental track by lead guitarist, Jorma Kaukonen. It is a fast two minutes of picking that I think would have been better served in the middle of the album somewhere.

10. White Rabbit

What more can I say about Jefferson Airplane’s biggest hit? If you want to listen to Alice in Wonderland, instead of watching it, go ask Alice.

11. Plastic Fantastic Lover

A fractured ode to color television. This is an extremely underrated song, and I feel as though ol’ Jerry Garcia had a hand in helping arrange this song too. Despite hippie culture being somewhat of a counterculture and/or Avant Garde movement, Marty Balin still loved to watch programming on color television