Jefferson Airplane - Volunteers (2LP, 45RPM, Ultra Analog, Half-speed Mastering)
ORDER LIMITED TO ONE ITEM PER CUSTOMER
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Grace Slick – vocals, piano on "The Farm", "Hey Fredrick", "Eskimo Blue Day" and "Volunteers", organ on "Meadowlands", recorder on "Eskimo Blue Day"
Bill Laudner – lead vocals on "A Song for All Seasons"
Marty Balin – vocals, percussion
Paul Kantner – vocals, rhythm guitar
Jorma Kaukonen – lead guitar, vocals
Jack Casady – bass
Spencer Dryden – drums, percussion
Additional personnel
Nicky Hopkins – piano on "We Can Be Together", "Hey Fredrick", "Wooden Ships", "A Song for All Seasons" and "Volunteers"
Stephen Stills – Hammond organ on "Turn My Life Down"
Jerry Garcia – pedal steel guitar on "The Farm"
Joey Covington – congas on "Turn My Life Down", chair on "Eskimo Blue Day"
David Crosby – sailboat on "Wooden Ships"
Ace of Cups – vocals on "The Farm" and "Turn My Life Down"
2 LPs, gatefold jacket
Numbered limited edition
Original analog Master tape : YES
Half-speed Mastering
Gain 2™ Ultra Analog
Heavy Press : 180g
Record color : black
Speed : 45RPM
Size : 12”
Stereo
Studio
Record Press : RTI
Label : MOFI
Original Label : RCA Victor
Recorded March 28–June 12, 1969 at Wally Heider Studios, San Francisco
Engineered by Rich Schmitt
Produced by Al Schmitt
Remastered by Krieg Wunderlich
Originally released in 1969
Reissued in 2016
Tracks:
Side A :
- We Can Be Together
- Good Shepherd
Side B :
- The Farm
- Hey Frederick
Side C :
- Turn My Life Down
- Wooden Ships
Side D :
- Eskimo Blue Day
- A Song for All Seasons
- Meadowlands
- Volunteers
Awards:
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time - Ranked 373/500
Reviews :
"Controversial at the time, delayed because of fights with the record company over lyrical content and the original title (Volunteers of America), Volunteers was a powerful release that neatly closed out and wrapped up the '60s. Here, the Jefferson Airplane presents itself in full revolutionary rhetoric, issuing a call to "tear down the walls" and "get it on together." "We Can Be Together" and "Volunteers" bookend the album, offering musical variations on the same chord progression and lyrical variations on the same theme. Between these politically charged rock anthems, the band offers a mix of words and music that reflect the competing ideals of simplicity and getting "back to the earth," and overthrowing greed and exploitation through political activism, adding a healthy dollop of psychedelic sci-fi for texture. Guitarist Jorma Kaukonen's beautiful arrangement of the traditional "Good Shepherd" is a standout here, and Jerry Garcia's pedal steel guitar gives "The Farm" an appropriately rural feel. The band's version of "Wooden Ships" is much more eerie than that released earlier in the year by Crosby, Stills & Nash. Oblique psychedelia is offered here via Grace Slick's "Hey Frederick" and ecologically tinged "Eskimo Blue Day." Drummer Spencer Dryden gives an inside look at the state of the band in the country singalong "A Song for All Seasons."
The musical arrangements here are quite potent. Nicky Hopkins' distinctive piano highlights a number of tracks, and Kaukonen's razor-toned lead guitar is the recording's unifying force, blazing through the mix, giving the album its distinctive sound. Although the political bent of the lyrics may seem dated to some, listening to Volunteers is like opening a time capsule on the end of an era, a time when young people still believed music had the power to change the world." AllMusic Review by Jim Newsom
Ultra Analog™ : The GAIN 2 Ultra Analog™ Series stems from the use of the Gain 2 system, mastered at half speed from the original master tapes where possible, capturing and uncovering as before undiscovered sonic information.
Half-speed mastering. In half-speed mastering, the whole process is slowed down to half of the original speed. A typical 33 1/3 rpm record is cut at 16 2/3 rpm. The source material is also slowed down (reducing the pitch in the process) meaning the final record will still sound normal when played back. Slowing the whole process down allows more time, which means the end result sounds better and is more efficient — allowing engineering to minimize the effects of inherent limitations within the vinyl format. The result is a more accurate and more open high-frequency response in the half speed vinyl when compared with a normal speed recording.
Ratings :
AllMusic : 4 / 5 , Discogs : 4,11 / 5