Paul Kantner Albums (5)
'A Guide Through the Chaos (A Road to the Passion) Spoken History of the Jefferson Airplan'
Release Date 1/1/1996
Tracks 34
Label Monster Sounds
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What The Critics Say
The second in a (woefully brief) series of spoken word double-CD sets that would have gracefully brought the art form into the 1990s and beyond, Monster Sounds' recording of Paul Kantner's history is an absolute joy. Kantner proves to be an excellent speaker, and producer/interviewer Harvey Kubernik is also a great "guide" here. The story of the Jefferson Airplane is a complex and thorny one, yet on this set the history is laid out in a colorful and easy to digest form. As an added bonus, Kantner delivers an excellent new composition, "Which Side Are You On?," which shows his writing and performing skills undiminished. Whether due to business screwups or financial problems, the fact that this series wasn't continued (after this and a fabulous Ray Manzarek set as well) is a true catastrophe. However, these two collections do exist -- although they may be hard to find -- and they are well worth seeking out. ~ Matthew Greenwald, All Music Guide
'The Planet Earth R'n'R Orchestra'
Release Date 1/1/1983
Tracks 13
Label RCA
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What The Critics Say
Thirteen years after his first solo album, Blows Against the Empire, Paul Kantner delivered this sequel, named after the loose affiliation of Bay Area musicians who had played on Blows and subtitled, The Empire Blows Back. Like the first album, this one was a science fiction concept album about a commune/rock band eventually fleeing into outer space to escape right-wing oppression. Though the participants this time were limited mostly to Kantner's family (his son, daughter, and ex-wife, Grace Slick, all sing) and his band, Jefferson Starship, and though it was a bit harder rocking than its predecessor, the album shared Blows's vague idealism and complicated arrangements. Kantner remained an electrified folkie with a cosmic edge, and you needed the inserted page of liner notes to follow the story line. But Grace Slick, especially, was in good vocal form, and certain tunes, notably Kantner's collaboration with Jerry Garcia, "The Mountain Song," were among the strongest material he'd come up with lately. But this album was a swan song for Kantner as a solo: After its release and commercial failure, he quit The Starship (taking "Jefferson" with him) and launched the short-lived KBC Band. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
'Baron Von Tollbooth & the Chrome Nun'
Release Date 1/1/1973
Tracks 10
Label Grunt
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What The Critics Say
Credited to Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, and David Freiberg, Baron von Tollbooth & The Chrome Nun was the first album made by these erstwhile members of Jefferson Airplane since the breakup of that group. Like such other spin-off projects as Blows Against the Empire and Sunfighter, this one featured a supporting cast of San Francisco Bay Area musicians including present and former members of a variety of groups, such as The Grateful Dead (lead guitarist Jerry Garcia, percussionist Mickey Hart, and lyricist Robert Hunter, who wrote the words to "Harp Tree Lament"), Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (singer David Crosby), and The Flying Burrito Brothers (bassist Chris Ethridge), as well as other former members of The Airplane and future members of Jefferson Starship. The Pointer Sisters even guested on one track. Despite the co-billing, the album's guiding force was Slick, who sang on every track and wrote or co-wrote six of the ten songs, though there was still room for the unbilled Jack Traylor to write, play acoustic guitar, and sing lead vocals on the song "Flowers of the Night," a celebration of monarchial overthrows throughout history. Perhaps more outside songwriting should have been employed, since the compositions here were second-rate. The public was catching on, too: Kantner's Blows Against the Empire had reached the Top 20, but Baron von Tollbooth didn't come near the Top 100. The team would attempt one more splinter project, Slick's "solo" album Manhole, then re-organize as Jefferson Starship in 1974 with the notable return of singer/songwriter Marty Balin. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
This is something of a family album, co-credited to Paul Kantner and his wife, Grace Slick, and featuring on its cover a photograph of their infant daughter, China. It also features the family of San Francisco Bay Area musicians, including David Crosby, Graham Nash, Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, and other current members of Jefferson Airplane and future members of Jefferson Starship. Its style of loosely arranged acid rock music and radical left political lyrics is similar to such recent albums as the Kantner/Starship Blows Against the Empire (December 1970) and the Airplane's Bark (August 1971), which were made by most of the same players. But Kantner and Slick's usual stridency is not counterbalanced by substance as much as on earlier efforts, perhaps because they were making too many albums too quickly to keep up the quality of their songwriting. Still, anyone who enjoys the sweet-and-sour unison singing of X's John Doe and Exene Cervenka should listen to Sunfighter to see where they got it from. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Paul Kantner's debut solo album actually was credited to "Paul Kantner/Jefferson Starship," the first use of the "Starship" billing, predating the formation of the group with that name by four years. Kantner used it, extrapolating on the name of his current band, Jefferson Airplane, to refer to Blows's science fiction concept: A bunch of left-wing hippies closely resembling his San Francisco Bay Area compatriots hijack a government-built starship and head off to re-start the human race on another planet. Kantner had presaged this post-apocalyptic colonization idea on "Wooden Ships" on the last Airplane album, Volunteers, and here he expanded it out to album length with the help of members of The Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Crosby, Stills and Nash, plus assorted others, a shifting supergroup informally known as PERRO, The Planet Earth Rock And Roll Orchestra. (Kantner later would borrow that name for a subsequent solo album.) Blows actually was a little loose as concept albums go, seeming as concerned with the arrival of Kantner and Grace Slick's baby as with the departure of the starship. Kantner employed often dense instrumentation and complex arrangements, but there were enough hooks and harmonies to keep things interesting. Blows eventually went gold, and it was even nominated for a science fiction award usually reserved for novels. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
