Jefferson Airplane

★★★ Sweeping Up The Spotlight – Live At The Fillmore East 1969 FLOATING WORLD. CD The dream was almost over, but San Francisco’s finest fight on ’til the bitter end. November 1969: Charles Manson is in jail, Altamont is days away and acid rock high-fliers Jefferson Airplane are unravelling and unhinged. Vintage Marty Balin-fronted gems from their 1966 set (Plastic Fantastic Lover; 3/5 Of A Mile In 10 Seconds) verge on the maniacal, like haunted solicitations from a once earthshaking scene now threatened with oblivion. Volunteers and Won’t You Try, both multi-voiced and reckless, represent the antithesis of CSNY’s pin-sharp harmonies, obligatory balm for the psychedelic comedown. Jorma Kaukonen, psych’s most attack-minded guitarist, comes of age with the serenityseeking Good Shepherd. Conversely, new band jam You Wear Your Dresses Too Short is crass and turgid. That leaves centrepiece The Ballad Of You & Me & Pooneil, always the cue for an extended trip into the sonic stratosphere, compelling evidence that head-mashing rather than trendy healing remained this disorderly, extraordinary band’s primary cause.