A star-stuffed stop by Jefferson Starship at the Roswell UFO Festival offers new insight into the legends of Jefferson Airplane, the Dead and CSN, as well — along with a powerful reminder of that era’s deep sense of musical community.
Founding member Paul Kantner is joined here by longtime contributor David Freiberg and former Starship multi-instrumentalist Pete Sears, as well as special guests Tom Constanten, the Grateful Dead’s original keyboardist; and Barry Sless, a Phil Lesh sideman. (Cathy Richardson sits in for Airplane/Starship co-leader Grace Slick, now long retired.) Of course, this isn’t the first confluence of these legendary San Francisco bands: the first Jefferson Starship release, 1970′s Blows Against the Empire, featured Kantner, Freiberg (an alum of Quicksilver Messenger Service) and Slick along with the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann; and both David Crosby and Graham Nash from Crosby Stills and Nash. Members of all three bands would make key contributions on one another’s albums for years to come.
More recently, however, each of their legends have grown apart in the public consciousness, to the point where many have likely forgotten these long ago moments of shared music making, of a now-rare creative confederacy. It’s a spirit that runs powerfully through Tales from the Mothership, available for purchase here via Gonzo MultiMedia. This expansive new concert recording features two discs from Jefferson Starship’s June 3, 2009 performance at the UFO Festival in Roswell, New Mexico, plus a disc each devoted to rehearsals leading up to the show and the soundcheck.
Read on...
No comments:
Post a Comment