All my friends stand up and cheer and say ‘Man, you’re old’

Posted on by brucehhackett

I once saw a posting on Facebook that said, “There is a time in one’s life when it’s appropriate to stop having birthday parties.  That age is 11.”

That seems a bit harsh.  There’s “Sweet Sixteen” (driver’s license time);  there’s 18 (voting age);  there’s 21 (drinking age);  there’s 30 (“over the hill” parties).  And you could make a case for 40, 50, and every decade thereafter as significant milestones.

But really, don’t we go a little crazy about the whole birthday thing?  It’s just another day on life’s journey, isn’t it?  Apparently not, say some folks, who relish the opportunity to shower friends and loved ones with loads of attention one day every year. And if it’s a milestone birthday, look out. Things are going to ramp up quickly to an excessive level.

At the risk of being inundated with social media attention, I must wearily announce I am turning 71 years old today. Too old to rock and roll? No way, man! Too old to attend Coachella, certainly; too old to stay up past 10 pm, probably. Not too old to play my music loud!

Birthdays are going to continue to be commemorated, so it’s always good to have some appropriate songs to mark the occasion.  I’ve taken the liberty of compiling an eclectic list of tunes — some hits, some obscure, some ancient, some fairly new, some joyous, some reflective — that can come in handy when you want to pay respect to, or reflect upon, turning another year older, the act of aging, or growing up.

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“Birthday,” The Beatles, 1968

Most of the 30 tracks that fill “The White Album” were written during the band’s retreat in India in early 1968, but “Birthday” was born in one night only weeks before the album’s release in November.   Lennon and McCartney had been listening to an old ’50s doo-wop birthday song and wanted to come up with something a bit more contemporary, more rock ‘n roll.  McCartney started banging out the basic chord progressions on the piano, and a few hours later, the whole gang reconvened to flesh it out and shout out the vocals in unison with great fervor.  It has earned classic Beatles status despite not being released as a single, but Lennon’s opinion of it a few years later?  “A load of rubbish.”

“My Back Pages,” The Byrds, 1967

This classic tune by Bob Dylan isn’t a birthday song, but it qualifies for this playlist because of its pointed line about aging: “Ah, but I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now.”  Many regard Dylan’s sentiment here as one of self-doubt and even regret regarding past life events and beliefs, which is something that happens to most of us as we get on in years. Dylan wrote it at the tender age of 23 for his 1964 LP “Another Side of Bob Dylan,” and it was recorded by a number of other artists, Monty notably The Byrds, who’s rendition reached #30 on US charts in 1967. An all-star cast including Dylan himself collaborated in 1994 on a live version of “My Back Pages” at a Madison Square Garden celebration that’s available on YouTube.

“Birthday,” Katy Perry, 2013

Considering Perry said this disco-ish hit single was inspired by Mariah Carey, you’d think this wouldn’t be my cup of tea, but lo and behold, I kind of like it. It’s certainly a festive tune; one critic called it “pure fun” and “the best thing on the ‘Prism’ album.” Another critic said it reminded him of Prince or Daft Punk, marked by “jerky breaks and synth washes.” Perry chose to spice it up with lyrics that amount to an invitation for sex: “Boy, when you’re with me, I’ll give you a taste, make it like your birthday every day… So let me get you in your birthday suit, it’s time to bring out the big balloons (Woo!)…” It reached #17 on US pop charts and #1 on the dance club chart in early 2014.

“Old,” Paul Simon, 2000

You could always count on Simon to come up with something either poignant or whimsical to say about pretty much any topic, and on his 2000 LP “You’re The One,” he didn’t disappoint. On the track “Old,” he found a way to be both wry and thoughtful in the same set of lyrics when he addressed the subject of birthdays: “Down the decades every year, summer leaves and my birthday’s here, and all my friends stand up and cheer and say, ‘Man, you’re old, gettin’ old, OLD, gettin’ old…’”  This is one of my favorite lesser-known Simon albums, and this track in particular always makes me smile.

“Birthday,” Kim Wilde, 2018

In the 1980s and 1990s, British singer Wilde charted several dozen Top 20 singles in the UK and other European countries, but her popularity in the US has been far more sparse, limited mostly to her huge #1 cover version of The Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” in 1987. Although she has curiously chosen to pursue a successful side career in horticulture beginning in 2001, Wilde has continued to have a minor presence in the music scene as well. From her 2018 LP “Here Come the Aliens,” I stumbled on yet another tune entitled “Birthday,” which features some uncharacteristically biting guitar work by Neil Jones and upbeat dance vibes: “You gotta jump like it’s your birthday, you gotta shout like there’s no tomorrow, /This is now, gotta show ’em how to party, the night is yours, /It’s your birthday!…”

“Done Got Old,” Buddy Guy, 2001

One of the most legendary blues guitarists of all time, Buddy Guy turns 89 years old this year, and he certainly knows a thing or two about aging and the limitations it brings, although you wouldn’t know it from listening to him perform, which he is STILL doing now and then. This track from his 2001 LP “Sweet Tea” — his eleventh out of 20 albums in 55 years — uses a simple acoustic Delta blues guitar and voice arrangement to sing these lyrics of resignation about life’s realities (that, frankly, hit a little close to the bone for me these days):  “I can’t look like I used to, I can’t walk like I used to, I can’t love like I used to, /Now things gone changed, and I done got old, I can’t do the things I used to do, ’cause I’m an old man…”

“Happy, Happy Birthday Baby,” Dolly Parton & Willie Nelson, 1982

The original recording of this slice of doo-wop from 1957 by The Tune Weavers reached #5 on the charts in the early years of the rock era.   It was written by Margo Sylvia and Gilbert Lopez, and Sylvia sang lead vocals on the track. The lyrics mourn the narrator’s recent breakup with her boyfriend and how much she wanted to be by his side on his birthday.  The original is a little too cheesy for my tastes, so I looked at some of the cover versions (Ronnie Milsap, Wanda Jackson, Sandy Posey) and decided to feature the duet by Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson, which appeared on the 1982 compilation LP “The Winning Hand,” which included 20 songs featuring Parton, Nelson, Brenda Lee and Kris Kristofferson.

“As I Come of Age,” Stephen Stills, 1975

Written by Stills in 1971, this fine tune has an interesting history. Stills recorded the basic piano track with Ringo Starr on drums during a session in London that year, then resurrected it in 1973, intended as the title track of a Stills solo LP. He overdubbed organ and bass, and Donnie Davis added guitar. The vocal harmonies are by Crosby, Stills and Nash, the first time they’d recorded again as a trio in four years. The threesome reunited with Neil Young in 1974 for a stadium tour, and they sometimes performed the song during those concerts. Finally, he released the song on his solo “Stills” album in 1975. The lyrics, which reflect on how emotions can ebb and flow with the passage of time, bemoan a young man’s loss of his love, made more painful with each passing year:  “Yes but it’s all over now, I’m a little bit older now, the lessons that I’m learning now are gonna make it easy somehow…”

“Advice for the Young at Heart,” Tears for Fears, 1989

This dreamy song about life lessons is one of my favorite tracks on the #8 LP “The Seeds of Love” by this excellent British pop-rock duo.  Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith made Tears for Fears a household name in the ’80s with “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” “Shout,” “Head Over Heels” and “Sowing the Seeds of Love,” but this deeper track always grabs me whenever I hear it. The lyrics depict an older, experienced person who offers a cautionary tale to a younger man of the importance of doing the hard work now to make a relationship successful, because, as they say, life is short:  “Soon we will be older, when we gonna make it work? /We’ve got the whole wide world in our hands…”

“Birthday Song,” Don McLean, 1972

When asked what his phenomenally iconic song “American Pie” means, he used to wink and say, “It means I never have to work again for the rest of my life.” While it’s true that royalties from that classic have continued to flow in every year for half a century, McLean wrote and released another 15 albums and scored a few other hits (“Vincent,” “Dreidel,” “Crying”) as well. On the downbeat “Don McLean” album that followed “American Pie” in 1972, McLean wrote a philosophical piece called “Birthday Song” in which he confessed it was hard to write songs from the heart: “All along, I loved the song, but I never learned it through, /But since the day you came along, I’ve saved it just for you… /’Life continues right or wrong when I play this birthday song…”

“Years,” Beth Nielsen Chapman, 1990  

“And I thought about years, how they take so long, and they go so fast…”  Wow.  Such a concise and profound statement about life, and aging, and the need to embrace each moment. Chapman, a gifted singer as well as songwriter, has more than a dozen albums full of songs with an extraordinarily wise lyrical viewpoint.  This song, with its aching melody and sober reflection on her childhood, is perhaps my personal favorite of hers, from her “Beth Nielsen Chapman” album in 1990.

“Growin’ Up,” Bruce Springsteen, 1973

This was one of two songs that Springsteen performed for Columbia Records honcho John Hammond in 1972 that won him his recording contract. It appeared on his debut “Greetings From Asbury Park” LP and has made regular appearances on his concert setlist for more than 50 years. Ironically, the fact that he still plays it in his 70s speaks to its emotional wallop as a nostalgic tribute to getting older. One critics said, “It deftly captures the unhinged joy, defiance, angst and frustration of turning from teen to young man.”  “I broke all the rules, strafed my old high school, never once gave thought to landing, /I hid in the clouded warmth of the crowd, but when they said, ‘Come down,’ I threw up, /Ooh, ooh, growin’ up…”

“Happy Birthday,” Stevie Wonder, 1980

Ever since Martin Luther King’s assassination in 1968, civil rights groups passionately called for his birthday to be commemorated as a national holiday. It took 15 years, but in 1983, President Ronald Reagan, of all people, approved the idea and established MLK Day as the third Monday in January. One of the key cheerleaders of the movement was Stevie Wonder, who wrote his tune “Happy Birthday” for his “Hotter Than July” album in 1980, with lyrics that wondered why anyone would oppose a holiday in honor of the chief spokesperson for the use of nonviolent activism to bring about societal change. It was not released as a single in the US, but in the UK and other countries, it reached the Top Five on pop charts, and it’s warmly regarded as one of Wonder’s signature songs.

“Reelin’ in the Years,” Steely Dan, 1972

Did they mean the years were being reeled in, like a fishing line?  Or did they mean we’re all dizzily trying to keep it together, just reeling as the years go by?  As usual, furtive composers Donald Fagen and Walter Becker wouldn’t say, but both interpretations offer interesting takes on what the lyrics to this classic tune from the band’s “Can’t Buy a Thrill” debut LP are really about.  Either way, the song evokes a certain wistfulness about the years slipping by as we get older: “Your everlasting summer, you can see it fading fast, so you grab a piece of something that you think is gonna last… /Are you reelin’ in the years?…”

“Grow Old With Me,” John Lennon, 1980/1984

Inspired by the poetry of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono each wrote songs based on favorite poems, then blended them into this endearing piece.  It was intended for the “Double Fantasy” comeback album, but instead they chose to hold it for the follow-up album, “Milk and Honey.”  Sadly, they could never make an official recording due to Lennon’s murder, but one of the rough demos they made appears on that pothumous LP.  They hoped it would become a standard, played in church weddings as inspiration for everlasting love.  Mary Chapin-Carpenter has a stunning cover version on the 1995 album “Working Class Hero:  A Tribute to John Lennon.”

“Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen,” Neil Diamond, 1993

In the late ’50s and well into the ’60s, Diamond was one of a whole stable of songwriters who worked for music publishers in the famous Brill Building in New York City, cranking out pop hits for dozens of artists. Some of these tunesmiths, including Neil Sedaka, Carole King and Diamond, went on to become successful performing artists in their own right. In 1993, Diamond chose to pay homage to his friendly rivals from those days by recording and releasing “Up on the Roof: Songs From the Brill Building,” on which he reimagined classics like “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” “Save the Last Dance for Me” and Sedaka’s frothy teenage anthem “Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen.” Little Feat’s Bill Payne provided the acoustic piano as Diamond offered a more mature vocal reading for the polished arrangement.

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Three other tunes of note:

“Happy Birthday Sweet Darling,” Kate Taylor, 1978

James Taylor’s little sister had herself a couple of albums out in the ’70s and performed throughout New England college towns, mostly, and in Vineyard clubs.  Her second LP in 1978 reached #49 on the charts, and brother James wrote this whimsical little tune for her to sing, which begins with original verses, then uses parts of “Happy Birthday to You” before concluding with a coda of “You’re a little bit older now, a little bit older…” Not sure why, but the album doesn’t show up on Spotify net her other releases, so it’s not on the playlist, but you can find it on YouTube if you’re interested.

“Happy Birthday Baby!,” Elvis Presley, 1974

This hard-to-find live recording from The King’s catalog is pretty much a speeded-up remake of the old Christmas blues tune, “Merry Christmas Baby,” which has been covered by dozens of artists.  In this one, Elvis manages to name-drop many of his hit song titles (All Shook Up,” “Love Me Tender,” “Burning Love,” “Hound Dog”) into the lyrics as he offers birthday greetings to his gal with lines like “you can have your cake and eat it too if you promise to be good” and “so blow out all them candles and let’s have a good time.” 

“Happy Birthday to You,” 1893/1912

The music for this “song,” allegedly the most recognized musical composition in the English language, was written in 1893 by Patty and Mildred Hill, two kindergarten teachers who were looking for a simple melody children could quickly understand and enjoy.  The original lyrics were “Good Morning to All,” and the song was used to greet youngsters as they arrived for school.  The lyrics “Happy Birthday” emerged in 1912, but authorship is somewhat murky, as a copyright wasn’t issued until 1935, to Preston Orem and Mrs. R.R. Forman. Consequently, there have been numerous copyright infringement lawsuits over its use in film and TV, so it is rarely ever used in its entirety.  Perhaps the most famous public performance of it was Marilyn Monroe’s scorching rendition for President Kennedy in 1962.  The song is also often sung at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings to mark a member’s successful year of sobriety.

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Like a bloodhound searching for a long lost friend

Posted on by brucehhackett

A few dozen times now, I have featured on this blog batches of songs that I have labeled “lost classics.” In this new age of AI, I thought I’d take a look at how AI defines that term:

“‘Lost classics’ are forgotten, overlooked, or out of print books (often 50+ years old) that possessed high artistic quality but failed to gain mainstream attention upon initial release.  They are deemed ‘masterpieces’ worthy of revival, frequently brought back to attention by small presses, specialized series, or literary critics. These are books that were ignored or disregarded when first published, often due to poor timing, niche subject matter, or lack of marketing. They are works with enduring quality that are rediscovered, rehabilitated, and championed by editors, authors, or small, independent publishers.” 

That’s pretty much precisely what I’ve been saying all along — with one important difference. AI chooses to use the term in reference exclusively to books, while I have been referring to music — songs and/or albums from decades ago that, in my opinion, have been hidden and neglected but are crying out for their moment in the spotlight.

I offer the dozen songs below as nuggets from the dustbin of rock music history that absolutely deserve your attention. Most of these are tunes by established artists on popular albums; they’re “deep tracks” that never got the radio exposure that would have made them better known to a wider audience. I trust that you’ll agree they merit a closer listen once you hear them on the Spotify playlist you’ll find at the end of the piece.

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“The Goodbye Look,” Donald Fagen, 1982

Steely Dan’s seven albums between 1972 and 1980 still hold up today as some of the smartest, most technically proficient and crisply produced albums in rock history.  Nearly a dozen hit singles dominated the airwaves throughout the decade, and the albums drew rave reviews and sold millions.  When wunderkinds Walter Becker and Donald Fagen complained of fatigue and burnout and parted ways in 1981, Becker went into hiding in Hawaii, but Fagen soon soldiered on alone, producing the excellent LP “The Nightfly,” which sounded pretty much like the next Steely Dan album.  While the single “I.G.Y.” got most of the attention, several other songs should’ve been hits in their own right, especially the snappy calypso track “The Goodbye Look.”

“Where to Now, St. Peter?” Elton John, 1971

At the beginning, one of the most successful songwriters of the century struggled to be noticed.  His 1969 debut album, “Empty Sky,” stiffed in the UK and wasn’t even released in the US until years later.  His second, “Elton John,” also saw sluggish sales upon its release in March 1970, but it went on to establish him in early 1971 on the strength of his signature tune, “Your Song.”  Meanwhile, his third album, “Tumbleweed Connection,” released in October 1970, was a marvelous collection of songs that evoked the American West.  It ultimately reached #5 on the US album charts but, incredibly, never produced a hit single.  Among the many excellent tracks FM radio chose to play was “Where to Now, St. Peter?,” a lovely piano-based piece in which lyricist Bernie Taupin posed the age-old question every soul asks as he approaches the pearly gates on Reckoning Day.

“Lady of the Island,” Crosby, Stills and Nash, 1969

These three exemplary musicians, pooling their talents after their departures from The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and The Hollies, each contributed three superb tunes, and Stephen Stills (nicknamed “Captain Manyhands”) played most of the instruments and oversaw production on the astonishing “Crosby Stills & Nash” debut LP. With iconic classics like “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” “Marrakesh Express,” “Guinnevere,” “Wooden Ships” and “Long Time Gone,” it was easy to overlook the quiet, unassuming Graham Nash ballad “Lady of the Island.”  Accompanied only by Stills’ simple acoustic guitar plucking, Nash sang his tender melody as vocal maestro David Crosby weaved in and around him with an intricate scat counterpart.  This is SUCH a beautifully delicate song.

“The Late Great Johnny Ace,” Paul Simon, 1984

In the wake of the hugely popular Simon and Garfunkel “Live in Central Park” reunion LP of 1982, the estranged duo embarked on a US tour, then began working on what was supposed to be a new S&G studio album. But the old tensions returned, and Simon sent Garfunkel packing, turning the ten songs instead into “Hearts and Bones,” another Simon solo work. It received lukewarm reviews and fan response, perhaps a victim of changing times and preferences in mid-’80s pop music (although that would change dramatically with 1986’s “Graceland”). Buried at the end of the LP was its best track, “The Late Great Johnny Ace,” which merged Simon’s musings about the underrated ’50s rock & roller with a wistful verse overtly referencing the 1980 murder of John Lennon.  The song proceeds through several moods before concluding with a cello-driven, hymn-like elegy mourning the loss of both men.  It was debuted among the songs performed at the Central Park show, but was held off the live album, making its first appearance here.

“You Make It Easy,” James Taylor, 1975

Picture this scenario:  A married couple fight and the husband storms out, heading down to a quiet bar somewhere to drown his sorrows and ponder his next move.  At this vulnerable moment, he is approached by an alluring woman and is sorely tempted to stray, even if only for that one night…“You make it easy, yes you do, for a man to fall…”   This hidden track from James Taylor’s popular “Gorilla” album in 1975 serves up a smoldering melody and confident lead vocal, coaxed along by David Sanborn’s sexy sax solo.  The man in the lyrics of “You Make It Easy” ultimately sends the woman on her way, concluding that he has too much to lose by jeopardizing his marriage. I rank this one among the Top 15 songs in Taylor’s voluminous catalog.

“Can’t Find My Way Home,” Blind Faith, 1969

Critics and fans alike anticipated great things when Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton, each recovering from the breakup of their popular bands Traffic and Cream, joined up to form Blind Faith in the spring of 1969.  The crushing hype and expectations doomed the group from the get-go, and they split after one brief tour, but the resulting album, which was greeted curiously at first, nevertheless reached #1 on US album charts and today ranks among the finest of its era. Winwood wrote most of the songs, with “Sea of Joy” and “Had to Cry Today” getting the bulk of the FM radio airplay. Clapton weighed in with the impressive spiritual piece, “Presence of the Lord,” and drummer Ginger Baker came up with the hypnotizing “Do What You Like,” which was extended into a 16-minute jam with guitar solo, bass solo and drum solo before a bizarre coda fadeout. The real jewel of the bunch was Winwood’s gorgeous acoustic guitar song, “Can’t Find My Way Home,” which both artists have included in different arrangements in their live solo repertoires in the decades since.

“Written in Sand,” Santana, 1985

After three explosively inventive albums in the 1969-1971 period, the original lineup of Santana broke up, and leader Carlos Santana chose to work with multiple collaborators (John McLaughlin, for one) and experimented with a variety of musical styles over the next decade — jazz fusion, samba, blues — with varying degrees of success.  In 1985, following a pair of commercially successful LPs with hit singles (“Winning” and “Hold On”), the album “Beyond Appearances” seemed to fall on deaf ears, comparatively speaking.  As often happens on albums like this, there were a couple of top-shelf songs buried deep in the track listing. The one that really grabs me is the dreamy “Written in Sand,” one of the all-time best night driving songs ever. Santana’s guitar work is astonishing here.

“Can You See Him,” Batdorf and Rodney,” 1971

The singer-songwriter genre was huge in the early ’70s, with Crosby, Stills and Nash, James Taylor, Carole King, Cat Stevens, Joni Mitchell and others leading the way.  With so many acts vying for a piece of the pie, inevitably some didn’t get the attention they so richly deserved.  Perhaps the greatest of these artists was the duo of John Batdorf and Mark Rodney, who offered up some of the best harmonies, acoustic guitar work and songwriting to ever miss the charts.  Just one listen to their debut album, “Off the Shelf,” is all it should take to convince you that the record-buying audience really missed the boat by overlooking these guys.  Joyous melodies, sharp production values, delightful harmonies abound on tracks like “Oh My Surprise,” “You Are the One,” “Let Me Go,” “One Day” and “Where Were You and I.”  But nothing can touch the sheer exuberance and majesty of the six-minute masterpiece “Can You See Him,” which some FM disc jockeys were savvy enough to play.  Do yourself a favor and check out this amazing song, album, and artist.  Batdorf, by the way, continues to write and record new music 55 years later.

“Guitar and Pen,” The Who, 1978

By 1978, the best work of Pete Townshend and The Who seemed to be behind them.  The music scene had splintered into either the raw insolence of punk or the effervescent sheen of disco, neither of which had room for the power chords and arena anthems of The Who.  Townshend struggled with depression and burnout, but he continued plugging away in his home studio, relying more and more on synthesizers in his songwriting.  Critics and fans were therefore delighted by the release of the album and song “Who Are You,” which put the band right back among the premier acts in the business.  Among the underrated autobiographical tracks that dominated the album was “Guitar and Pen,” Townshend’s incisive look at the songwriter’s predicament — the frustration of writer’s block and the inability to take fragments of musical and lyrical ideas and turn them into a finished track. The arrangement and Daltrey’s vocal performance carry the day.

“Don’t Interrupt the Sorrow,” Joni Mitchell, 1975

The ethereal songstress from the Canadian prairies had been turning heads since her arrival in 1968 with incredible poem-songs like “Both Sides Now,” “The Circle Game” and “Chelsea Morning.”  She reached a commercial peak in 1974 with the shimmering “Court And Spark” LP and its hits “Help Me” and “Free Man in Paris,” followed closely by the superb live album “Miles of Aisles.”  So fans were a bit perplexed by Mitchell’s next move — a significant turn toward jazz influences with her 1975 collection, “The Hissing of Summer Lawns.”  She retained the services of saxophonist Tom Scott and his L.A. Express musicians, and wrote boldly experimental songs and arrangements that fused folk, rock and jazz in memorable ways.  Reviews were mixed, but those in the know raved about the trailblazing work she was doing on tracks like “”Shadows and Light,” “Edith and the Kingpin,” “Harry’s House” and the wonderful groove of “Don’t Interrupt the Sorrow.”

“It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City,” Bruce Springsteen, 1973

Among the handful of artists who were saddled with the impossible-to-live-up-to label as “the new Dylan” was the scruffy, streetwise songwriter from Asbury Park, New Jersey.  His first two albums — chock full of fantastic story-songs overflowing with words and images of the hardscrabble life along the Jersey shore in the early ’70s — were met with profound indifference by the record-buying public and a cynical press skeptical of record company hype.  His incendiary live shows established his reputation as a game-changer, a restless maverick who would revitalize rock just when it needed it most.  Eventually his fans would revisit his early work, and they found the original (and better) version of “Blinded By the Light” and such diamonds as “Growin’ Up,” “For You,” “Spirit in the Night” and the amazing “It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City,” a regular part of his concert setlist during his rise to fame.

“Let’s Go Together,” Paul Kantner/Jefferson Starship, 1970

The Jefferson Airplane started running out of gas after its Woodstock appearance and heroic 1969 album “Volunteers.”  Although a few more half-baked Airplane albums were still to come, most of its members were trying various solo and spinoff projects, including Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady’s band, Hot Tuna.  Paul Kantner, meanwhile, collaborated with Grace Slick and some of the better musicians of the Bay Area, including Casady, Jerry Garcia and David Crosby, among others, and the stunning result was a sci-fi/prog rock classic called “Blows Against the Empire,” the first album that ever included the moniker Jefferson Starship.  The LP is brimming over with utopian lyrics, engaging melodies and vocals, and strong instrumental passages, particularly on songs like “Starship,” “Have You Seen the Stars Tonite,” “A Child is Coming” and especially “Let’s Go Together,” a counterculture call to arms carried by Slick’s and Kantner’s soaring lead vocals and harmonies.

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