After Bathing at Baxter’s Songs Ranked
After Bathing at Baxter’s is the third studio album by the San Francisco psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane, released in 1967 as RCA Victor LSO-1511 (stereo) and LOP-1511 (mono). The cover art is by artist Ron Cobb. Due to the lack of a breakout hit, the experimental album was significantly less successful than its predecessor from a commercial standpoint, peaking at number 17 on the Billboard album chart and failing to attain an RIAA certification. Paul Kantner’s composition “The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil” was released as a single in August 1967, with him as lead singer and Grace Slick and Marty Balin harmonizing, and reached number 42 on the Billboard charts. The band’s singles never again crossed the halfway mark in the Hot 100. It was voted number 595 in Colin Larkin’s All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000). John Hartford referenced the cover art from After Bathing at Baxter’s as the inspiration for his song “Steam Powered Aereo Plane” from his album Aereo-Plain. Here are all of After Bathing at Baxter’s songs ranked.
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11. Rejoyce
“Grace Slick’s “Rejoyce” is really worth noting, because it finds the band exploring prog rock (in an era when prog rock were considered bands like the Moody Blues or Procol Harum), and of course the Airplane is not associated with that scene.”
10. Won’t You Try / Saturday Afternoon
“The last piece, “Won’t You Try/Saturday Afternoon” is an incredible closer, the lyrics are rather hippie influenced (no surprise there, giving the band the Airplane was).”
9. Spare Chaynge
“Perhaps the one song that most alienated listeners is “Spare Chaynge”. It starts off with Jack Casady noodling on his bass, but then the music gets more intense once Spencer Dryden’s drums start kicking in and Jorma Kaukonen gives us some great guitar work.”
See more: Jefferson Airplane Albums Ranked
8. The Last Wall of the Castle
“The Last Wall of the Castle” wail as hard as anything Hendrix was doing at the time. This is the sound of an unleashed band freely experimenting with expressive rock, creating the American psychedelic canon as if by accident.”
7. Martha
Paul Kantner’s “Martha” is a totally wonderful acoustic piece with Grace Slick providing some nice use of recorder (like she did on “Coming Back to You”). “Martha” refers to the notorious, legendary Martha Wax, the very very underage runaway daughter of the Sausalito mayor who the Airplane sheltered and moved around to keep her from the juvenile authorities.”
6. A Small Package of Value Will Come to You, Shortly
“It didn’t always work — Spencer Dryden contributed to a sound collage called “A Small Package of Value Will Come to You, Shortly,” that featured bodily-function noises and a rather pointless joke as a tagline.”
5. The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil
“On “The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil”, you almost don’t know what Balin and company are singing about, but somehow it makes perfect sense, in a most visionary sort of way.”
See more: Jefferson Airplane Songs Ranked
4. Young Girl Sunday Blues
“Young Girl Sunday Blues” is a real rouser and he contributes lively vocals throughout, but his role in the group was already on the wane. On the group’s subsequent releases, he would average two actual lead vocals and share others with Grace and Paul Kantner.”
3. Wild Tyme
“This album was truly a marking point for the band. With the first album being a huge success under their belt, it sounds like they felt they could let the listener into their heads a bit. From start to finish this album is a friendly reminder that experience is what life is about.”
2. Watch Her Ride
“Amidst all the chaos here is “Watch Her Ride”, an excellent track by Kantner, that if it were released as the first single would have given the band another huge hit single. “
1. Two Heads
“Two Heads” is Grace Slick at her angerest and scariest–listen to the creepy little guitar noise that ends these song. It is one of those FM sounds, if you are now in your sixites, you may have thought you heard in 1967 in the middle of the night, but were not sure.”
