Editing Jefferson Airplane (section)

== ''Surrealistic Pillow'' (1967) ==

{| style="float:right; margin:0 0 1em 1em; border:1px solid #aaa; background:#f9f9f9; padding:8px; width:260px; font-size:0.9em; line-height:1.6em;"
|-
! colspan="2" style="background:#ccc; text-align:center; padding:6px; font-size:1.1em;" | Surrealistic Pillow
|-
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center; padding:6px;" | [[File:surrealistic_pillow.jpg|240px|Surrealistic Pillow album cover]]
|-
| style="font-weight:bold; padding:4px 8px;" | Artist
| Jefferson Airplane
|-
| style="font-weight:bold; padding:4px 8px;" | Released
| February 1, 1967
|-
| style="font-weight:bold; padding:4px 8px;" | Recorded
| November 1966
|-
| style="font-weight:bold; padding:4px 8px;" | Studio
| RCA Studio A, Hollywood
|-
| style="font-weight:bold; padding:4px 8px;" | Genre
| Psychedelic rock, acid rock, folk rock
|-
| style="font-weight:bold; padding:4px 8px;" | Length
| 34:19
|-
| style="font-weight:bold; padding:4px 8px;" | Label
| RCA Victor
|-
| style="font-weight:bold; padding:4px 8px;" | Producer
| Rick Jarrard
|-
| style="font-weight:bold; padding:4px 8px;" | Preceded by
| ''[[Jefferson Airplane Takes Off]]'' (1966)
|-
| style="font-weight:bold; padding:4px 8px;" | Followed by
| ''[[After Bathing at Baxter's]]'' (1967)
|}

'''''Surrealistic Pillow''''' is the second studio album by Jefferson Airplane, released on 
February 1, 1967 on RCA Victor. Produced by Rick Jarrard, it was the band's commercial and 
artistic breakthrough, reaching number 3 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart and remaining on 
the chart for over a year. It is considered one of the quintessential albums of the 
San Francisco psychedelic era.

The album's title was reportedly suggested by [[Jerry Garcia]] of the [[Grateful Dead]], 
who served as an informal musical consultant during recording. Garcia is credited as 
"spiritual advisor" in the liner notes.

=== Background ===

The arrival of Grace Slick from [[The Great Society]] was the catalyst for the album's 
distinctive character. Slick brought commanding vocal authority and two fully realised 
compositions that would become the album's signature tracks. The combination of Slick's 
and Marty Balin's contrasting vocal styles — her steely, almost operatic delivery against 
his warmer, more plaintive folk tenor — gave the album an unusual tonal range.

Recording took place at RCA Studio A in Hollywood in November 1966. The sessions were 
relatively tight by psychedelic-era standards, and the album has a more polished production 
feel than the free-form experimentation the band would pursue on subsequent records.

=== Track listing ===

==== Side one ====

{| style="border-collapse:collapse; width:100%; font-size:0.9em;"
! style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:6px; text-align:left; background:#eee;" | #
! style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:6px; text-align:left; background:#eee;" | Title
! style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:6px; text-align:left; background:#eee;" | Writer(s)
! style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:6px; text-align:left; background:#eee;" | Lead vocal
! style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:6px; text-align:left; background:#eee;" | Length
|-
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | 1
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | "She Has Funny Cars"
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | Jorma Kaukonen, Marty Balin
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | Balin, Slick
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | 2:39
|-
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | 2
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | "Somebody to Love"
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | Darby Slick
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | Grace Slick
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | 2:58
|-
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | 3
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | "My Best Friend"
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | Skip Spence
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | Balin
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | 2:02
|-
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | 4
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | "Today"
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | Balin, Kantner
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | Balin
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | 3:03
|-
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | 5
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | "Comin' Back to Me"
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | Balin
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | Balin
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | 5:00
|}

==== Side two ====

{| style="border-collapse:collapse; width:100%; font-size:0.9em;"
! style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:6px; text-align:left; background:#eee;" | #
! style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:6px; text-align:left; background:#eee;" | Title
! style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:6px; text-align:left; background:#eee;" | Writer(s)
! style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:6px; text-align:left; background:#eee;" | Lead vocal
! style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:6px; text-align:left; background:#eee;" | Length
|-
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | 6
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | "How Do You Feel"
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | Tom Mastin
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | Balin
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | 3:05
|-
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | 7
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | "Embryonic Journey"
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | Kaukonen
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | ''(instrumental)''
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | 2:05
|-
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | 8
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | "White Rabbit"
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | Grace Slick
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | Slick
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | 2:31
|-
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | 9
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | "Plastic Fantastic Lover"
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | Balin
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | Balin
| style="border:1px solid #ccc; padding:5px 8px;" | 2:36
|}

=== Notable tracks ===

==== "Somebody to Love" ====

Originally written and recorded by [[The Great Society]] under the title "Someone to Love", 
the song was composed by Grace Slick's then-brother-in-law Darby Slick. Jefferson Airplane's 
version, re-arranged and re-titled, was released as a single in April 1967 and reached 
number 5 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Grace Slick's forceful vocal performance transformed 
the song's folk-rock template into something far more urgent and electric. The song became 
one of the anthems of the Summer of Love.

==== "White Rabbit" ====

Written entirely by Grace Slick, "White Rabbit" draws on the imagery of [[Lewis Carroll]]'s 
''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' and ''Through the Looking-Glass'' as a vehicle for 
psychedelic allusion. The song builds from a quiet, bolero-like opening — influenced, 
Slick has said, by [[Miles Davis]]'s ''[[Sketches of Spain]]'' — to a climactic final line 
delivered at full force. Released as the B-side to "Somebody to Love" before becoming a 
hit in its own right, it reached number 8 on the Hot 100.

The song's use of Carroll's imagery — mushrooms, pills, talking animals — was widely 
understood as an endorsement of drug use, and it was among the first rock songs to deal 
with the subject using literary metaphor rather than direct reference.

==== "Embryonic Journey" ====

A solo acoustic guitar piece by Jorma Kaukonen, "Embryonic Journey" stands apart from 
the rest of the album in both texture and intent. A piece of intricate fingerpicking 
in an open tuning, it demonstrates Kaukonen's roots in acoustic blues and anticipates 
the direction he and Jack Casady would pursue with [[Hot Tuna]].

=== Reception and legacy ===

''Surrealistic Pillow'' was both a critical and commercial success on release, reaching 
number 3 on the ''Billboard'' 200. It has since been consistently cited as one of the 
most important albums of the 1960s. ''Rolling Stone'' magazine placed it among the 
500 greatest albums of all time in multiple iterations of their list.

The album is widely credited with bringing the San Francisco psychedelic sound to 
mainstream American audiences, predating the Summer of Love by several months and 
helping to shape the cultural climate of that year.