Jefferson Airplane -- 14 September 1970   Have You Seen the Saucers? -- 14 Sep 1970 Taken from a performance at the Fillmore West (the former Carousel Ballroom) in San Francisco, California. With a capacity of around 3000, this was Bill Graham's premier venue at the time. "Have You Seen the Saucers" was recorded in February 1970 and was released in May on a 45, backed with "Mexico". Neither cut was released on LP until the Early Flight compilation in 1974. "Saucers" was a better song than many of those on Volunteers and Bark , the LPs bookending its release. For me, the four Kantner / Slick collaborations ( Blows Against the Empire, Sunfighter, Manhole, Baron Von Tollbooth and the Chrome Nun ) are better than the last three Jefferson Airplane studio albums. But imagine if the band had released just one Jefferson Airplane LP per year, 1969-1973, with a selection of the best of all the Airplane, Kantner / Slick, and Hot Tuna records in those years. Th...

  Won't You Try / Saturday Afternoon -- Jefferson Airplane  "The Be-In was a great long stare in the mirror for the psychedelic community, both at the event and in the awed coverage given it by the news media -- everybody was impressed by the fact that the notorious Hell's Angels had stood guard over the generator for the PA system. The temptation to admire the image was too great."   -- Charles Perry, Rolling Stone  #207  26 February 1976 The above Ralph J. Gleason column published 55 years ago today in the San Francisco Chronicle, reports on the Gathering of the Tribes / Human Be-In on the Polo Field at Golden Gate Park, Saturday 14 January 1967. The hyperbolic, if good-natured, review of the event reflected the view of many in the new-generation Hip community (derisively named "Hippies" by the previous paragons of Hip, the "Beat" generation) who saw this event as the heralding of a new utopian era. But it marked instead the high-water mark of a...