Surrealistic Pillow

Surrealistic Pillow is the second studio album by the San Francisco psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane, released on February 1 , 1967, by RCA Victor. It is the first album by the band with vocalist Grace Slick and drummer Spencer Dryden. The album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and has been certified Platinum by the RIAA. It is considered one of the quintessential works of the early psychedelic rock and 1960s counterculture eras.

Background

Original drummer Alexander "Skip" Spence had left the band in mid-1966 and was soon replaced by Spencer Dryden, an experienced Los Angeles jazz drummer and the half-nephew of Charlie Chaplin. When Grace Slick joined Jefferson Airplane in 1966 as a replacement for original vocalist Signe Toly Anderson, she brought with her two songs she had performed in her previous band, the Great Society: "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit."

The album's distinctive title has an unlikely origin: a comment to Marty Balin by Jerry Garcia about the music being "as surrealistic as a pillow" inspired the album title. Garcia, whose own band the Grateful Dead were close associates of the Airplane on the San Francisco scene, also contributed to the sessions as a musician.

Recording

Recorded in only two weeks , sessions took place at RCA Victor Studios in Hollywood. Jerry Garcia served as "musical and spiritual advisor" and played guitar on "Today", "Comin' Back to Me", "Plastic Fantastic Lover", "In the Morning", and "J.P.P. McStep B. Blues".

The album was initially released on LP by RCA Victor in both stereo (LSP-3766) and mono (LPM-3766) editions. The stereo mixes include heavier use of reverberation effects than the mono. The mono version was deleted in the late 1960s and remained unavailable until 2001.

The first United Kingdom release replaced some original songs with tracks from the band's first US LP, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off.

Music and style

With Jorma Kaukonen's sinewy guitar, Jack Casady's probing bass, and Spencer Dryden's inventive drumming swirling around Slick and co-vocalists Marty Balin and Paul Kantner on songs like "She Has Funny Cars" and "3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds", Surrealistic Pillow virtually defined the communal spirit of Summer of Love hippiedom.

Marty Balin lends vulnerable lead vocals to the medieval folk twinges of "Comin' Back to Me" and the Mamas & the Papas-esque "How Do You Feel", and "Embryonic Journey" shows off the fluid fingerpicking of future Hot Tuna guitarist Jorma Kaukonen.

"Today" was not released as a single but was played often on college radio and rock stations and remains one of the band's most popular songs. The track features achingly pretty lyrics and an intriguing use of ambience that set it apart from the album's more propulsive rock material.

Release and reception

"My Best Friend" was released as the first single in January 1967 but reached only #103 on the Billboard Bubbling Under chart. The album was initially slow to take off until the release of "Somebody to Love" in March. Heavy radio play took the song into the Billboard Top 5, aided by the group's first national TV appearances on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on May 7 and American Bandstand on June 3, the former featuring a facsimile of the group's swirling light show — the first time the average American had seen such effects.

The album entered the Billboard Top 10 in May and peaked at number three on August 5, with the help of the follow-up single "White Rabbit". "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit" peaked respectively at number five and number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and remain the band's only Top 40 hits.

Surrealistic Pillow was the first blockbuster psychedelic album by a band from San Francisco, announcing to the world the active bohemian scene that had developed there starting with the Beats during the 1950s, extending through the 1960s into the Haight-Ashbury counterculture. Subsequent exposure generated by the Airplane and others wrought great changes to the counterculture. By 1968, the ensuing national media attention had precipitated a very different San Francisco scene than had existed in 1966.

In retrospect, the album has attracted near-universal acclaim. Music historian Jeff Gold, writing in the book 101 Essential Rock Records, lauded the album's musicianship — particularly the playing of Kaukonen and Casady — and stated his belief that Jefferson Airplane "remade pop history" with the album.

Reissues

The first compact disc releases were in Japan in 1987 and the United States in 1988. A 2001 reissue by RCA was released as a limited edition gold CD and contained both the stereo and mono recordings. Another stereo reissue appeared on August 19, 2003, with six bonus tracks, including the mono A-sides of "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit." The 2003 reissue was produced by Bob Irwin.

Track listing

#	Title	Writer(s)	Lead vocal
1	"She Has Funny Cars"	Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady	Marty Balin, Grace Slick
2	"Somebody to Love"	Darby Slick	Grace Slick
3	"My Best Friend"	Skip Spence	Marty Balin
4	"Today"	Marty Balin, Paul Kantner	Marty Balin
5	"Comin' Back to Me"	Marty Balin	Marty Balin
6	"3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds"	Marty Balin	Marty Balin
7	"D.C.B.A. – 25"	Paul Kantner	Paul Kantner, Grace Slick
8	"How Do You Feel"	Tom Mastin	Marty Balin
9	"Embryonic Journey"	Jorma Kaukonen	(instrumental)
10	"White Rabbit"	Grace Slick	Grace Slick
11	"Plastic Fantastic Lover"	Marty Balin	Marty Balin

Personnel

Grace Slick — vocals, piano
Marty Balin — vocals, guitar
Paul Kantner — rhythm guitar, vocals
Jorma Kaukonen — lead guitar, vocals
Jack Casady — bass guitar
Spencer Dryden — drums, percussion

Additional musicians

Jerry Garcia — guitar on "Today", "Comin' Back to Me", "Plastic Fantastic Lover", "In the Morning", and "J.P.P. McStep B. Blues"; musical and spiritual advisor

Production

Rick Jarrard — producer
Dave Hassinger — engineer

External links

Surrealistic Pillow at Discogs