Paul Kantner and Grace Slick' forerunner to the Jefferson Starship starts with Silver Spoon, where Spanish castanets rattle but Slicks' modal wailing owes more to the East, as the song heads into a piano led verse its unmistakable as she sings about picking up the food by hand over a silver spoon; the way food has been traditionally eaten since start of civilisation in Asia and the middle east. We're not even a full minute into the album and Slick begins to show off her powerful vibrato warbler as she did in White Rabbit's epic climax. Papa John Creach' electric violin screeches and dazzles in shrieking fills over guitar feedback and a repeating piano note. The violin in its thin creaky tone is pushed to the max with octave jumping slides while the distorted guitar drones aimlessly in sparse coils to merely colour the Elton John-esque ballad. We get short snippet of a folk rocker called Diana Part 1 that segues into the title track; an ecological and very hippie-esque ode with swirling flute and aggressive muted horns pipping up and butting in, Kantner voice clearly pales in comparison to his partner Slick's, though it does work on Diana Pt 1. The raga tinged blues slide licks and Spaghetti western operatic backing vocals live up to its title and the terribly photoshopped cover image of a baby held out from the sparkling crimson waves as a half Jaffa sun dips into the horizon.
Sound engineer Phil Sawyer takes a track all for himself, the eerie haunting ghost track called Titanic which mixes sound effects of all kinds reminding me of Pink Floyd's Echoes middle section. In the palette are an oscillating pulse running through the whole thing as rushing waves break, foghorns blare ominously, ship' tackle crackle, a siren cries and whines while a steady wall of sound and volume collide as sound collages drum up the intensity.
Look at the Wood is a silly bluegrass ode to a carpenter with a heavy guitar solo and acoustic hammer on chord progression rolling on. When I was a Boy I Watched the Wolves..no that's not a personal statement but the next song title, here mandolin and more raging guitar feedback ping and pong with a knotty acoustic picked rhythm line. Slick and Kantner go back to those ill advised Appalachian two part harmonies which don't mix with their cringey Utopian lyrics. Again Kantners' dour folk rock vocal shouldn't be given such prominence as its Slick' haughty, sonorous voice that is much stronger and fits the dramatictrack where rough piano keys are plonked and guitar notes struck.
Million is a weak plea to reignite the San Francisco commune-ity for one last chance at a peaceful world as the 60s dream dies. A Moog warping underneath and country picking creeps up in the intro and finale. There is of course more thundering piano keys and Kantner dominated droning harmonies while a teenage Craig Chaquico again plays like his life depends on it; the middle section follows a chord progression very similar to Sultans of Swing...just an observation.
The next is a sweet tune named after Paul and Grace' child China who appears as the baby on the album cover with one hand being Grace and one hand by Paul it's a beautiful image and the rousing march carries a Hey Jude or Aretha Franklin styled gospel structure. While Earth Mother is another hippie bluegrass picker about the joys of parenthood, Diana Pt 2 continues the 'do-right' hippy "goody two shoes" preaching and more catty Moog notes whine off like the lyrics into nothing. Universal Copernican Mumbles is what the title suggests, as the second instrumental of the album we are treated to watery synth oscillations over a standard jazz piano, as the tension racks up and Kantner employs some Pink Floyd vocals that ping off each other with their dark intoning half-speak like the British band were famous for.
The closing track to this mixed album and mixed collaboration doesn't at first seem to feature Grace at all, aside form the first few tracks this is a Paul Kantner solo album and not in a good way, lacking the electricity Slick's voice would bring if given the spotlight and freedom to soar. A joyous piano and more rigid folk humming vocals from Kantner espouses some cosmic lyrics as if birthing Starship right then and there; the song is basically a longwinded jazz blues guitar jam...though the piano part in the middle does sound an awful lot like the melody to I Fought the Law and the Law Won.. again just an observation;)
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