Volunteers is the fifth studio album by American psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane, released in 1969 on RCA Records. The album was controversial because of its revolutionary and anti-war lyrics, along with the use of profanity.

This was the last album with the group for both founder Marty Balin and drummer Spencer Dryden (although they did both appear on the June 1970 single "Mexico" and its B-side "Have You Seen the Saucers?"), signifying the end of the "classic" lineup. It also turned out to be the group's last all-new LP for two years as Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen devoted more of their energy to their embryonic blues group Hot Tuna, while Paul Kantner and Grace Slick released Blows Against the Empire and Sunfighter with various guest musicians and celebrated the birth of their daughter China in January 1971.

Background

Jefferson Airplane took a break from all touring and recording activity in the first three months of 1969, to allow Grace Slick to have surgery to remove nodes in her throat.

Songs and recording

Volunteers was the group's first album recorded entirely in San Francisco, at Wally Heider's newly opened state-of-the-art 16-track studio. The sessions were held late at night, with Heider's assistant Ginger Muse noting that "they'd start drifting in around six in the evening when I was leaving, and they'd still be there when I came in at nine the next morning", with the janitor often having to vacuum around Grace sleeping on the studio couch.

The album was marked by strong anti-war and pro-anarchism messages, particularly in the opening "We Can Be Together" (with provocative lines like "we are obscene, lawless, hideous, dangerous, dirty, violent...and young") and the joint Crosby/Kantner/Stills composition "Wooden Ships" which describes the struggle for survival in the aftermath of a nuclear war. The title track was inspired by a Volunteers of America (a religious charity similar to the Salvation Army) truck that woke singer Marty Balin one morning, which he and Kantner repurposed into a revolutionary anthem using the same strident riff as "We Can Be Together". "Eskimo Blue Day" was also a point of contention with RCA, with its chorus line "the human name doesn't mean shit to a tree" repeated throughout, but the offending profanity (like that in "We Can Be Together") was kept in the album intact. The front cover art featured a shot of the band in costume for the filming of a promotional video for "Martha" in October 1967, which was aired on the Perry Como Holiday Special later that year. The gatefold displayed two halves of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, while original copies also included an 11"x22" folded paper insert with lyrics, credits, and info on one side and a mock newspaper titled "Paz Progress" on the other side.

Release

The album was set for an August 1969 release but delayed until November over fights with RCA regarding the lyrics and album artwork. Despite these controversies, the album was a commercial success. It peaked at No. 13 (becoming the band's fifth Top 20 record) on the Billboard album chart and received an RIAA gold certification within two months of its release. It also became the band's first album to chart in the UK, peaking at No. 34.

In addition to the usual two channel stereo version, a specially remixed four channel quadraphonic version of the album appeared in 1973. This was released on LP using the Quadradisc system. It was also released in quad reel-to-reel and 8-track tape tape formats. The quad mixes are different from stereo: "Hey Fredrick" features a different lead vocal along with different guitar lines and coda, "Volunteers" is a totally different recording, Kaukonen's guitar lines are different on "We Can Be Together", "Wooden Ships" lacks the opening sailboat sound effects and the backing vocals by Ace of Cups on "The Farm" are more prominent. A few tracks from the quad version were included in the three CD box set Jefferson Airplane Loves You, though on this release the four channel recordings are reduced to two channels due to the technical limitations of CD.

The 2004 CD re-release features five additional bonus tracks from the group's annual Thanksgiving concert at the Fillmore East, New York in 1969. The album was released again in 2009, along with the entirety of the group's live performance at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, as Jefferson Airplane Woodstock Experience.

Critical reception

Upon release, Ed Ward at Rolling Stone praised every track and concluded the members of the group were musical pioneers who "may raise the musical sophistication and complexity of rock and roll to new heights". Volunteers was omitted from the 2020 list.

In 2003, David Keenan included Volunteers in his The Best Albums Ever...Honest from the Scottish Sunday Herald.

Track listing

<small>Credits from original stereo and quadraphonic LPs.</small>

Personnel

Per liner notes.