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Comin' Back to Me


j45nick

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Marty Balin of Jefferson Airplane has died at 76.

 

His "Comin' Back to Me", off Surrealistic Pillow, was probably the first rock ballad I ever picked up back in the mid 1960s. I still play it almost every day, and leave my old J-45 semi-permanently tuned down a half step for the song, just like the Airplane did.

 

 

He co-wrote a fair number of the Airplane's early songs, and was an early mover behind San Francisco's psychedelic rock scene with his music cafe , Matrix. The clear high tenor you hear on Surrealistic Pillow is Marty at his best.

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Marty Balin of Jefferson Airplane has died at 76.

 

His "Comin' Back to Me", off Surrealistic Pillow, was probably the first rock ballad I ever picked up back in the mid 1960s. I still play it almost every day, and leave my old J-45 semi-permanently tuned down a half step for the song, just like the Airplane did.

 

 

He co-wrote a fair number of the Airplane's early songs, and was an early mover behind San Francisco's psychedelic rock scene with his music cafe , Matrix. The clear high tenor you hear on Surrealistic Pillow is Marty at his best.

Love the song - miss the era - sad to see/hear when we lose another contemporary - we were supposed to be kids forever, and so were they....

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Love the song - miss the era - sad to see/hear when we lose another contemporary - we were supposed to be kids forever, and so were they....

 

We're still 18 at heart, ain't we, Cowpoke? It's just the body and mind that are seven decades old.

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He will be missed. The Airplane was a big part of my life. I must have seen them 10 or so times between 1967 and 1971. Their traditional Thanksgiving Show at the Fillmore East was not be missed. I happened to be in Oklahoma City at the now infamous "bust" show when the venue expected the band to abide by the midnight curfew ordinance which the band refused to do so kept playing along with voicing a few choice words for the authorities.

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For those too young to have seen the Airplane I would recommend the documentary "Go Ride the Music." It was a live in the studio performance filmed in 1970 shortly after Spencer Dryden left the band and was originally aired on PBS. I am pretty sure the entire show is available on Youtube.

 

Here is a taste. Make Love and Revolution.

 

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We're still 18 at heart, ain't we, Cowpoke? It's just the body and mind that are seven decades old.

Yep. Especially the body! Used to be a prime muscular specimen - now I tell people I'm a prime specimen of old manhood...my doctor gets a chuckle out of that.

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Yep. Especially the body! Used to be a prime muscular specimen - now I tell people I'm a prime specimen of old manhood...my doctor gets a chuckle out of that.

 

 

Delusions fueled by copious amounts of drugs. Better living through chemistry. I have found though Docs have no sense of humor. Whenever mine comes up with the whatever I did that took 10 years off my life I will come back with something like - well, it ain't the best 10 years or what am I going to miss, drooling?

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Love Jefferson Airplane. Used to live in the Bay Area, Crown Of Creation, Baxter's and Volunteers is great albums.

 

 

My first wife loved "Triad" on Crown of Creation. It was her fantasy. That should have told me something, but hey, it was the 70's. Never mind that it was sung by Grace; it was written by Croz, which changes things. She wouldn't have liked it so much if he had sung it.

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That's pretty much what Neil's current opinion of his old bandmate is.

 

Anyway, Nick was talking about his first wife. His current squeeze is more likely to go for the angular, weathered, manly type...like a cross between Clint Eastwood and the Gorton's sea captain, except toting a J45 instead of a .357.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Anyway, Nick was talking about his first wife. His current squeeze is more likely to go for the angular, weathered, manly type...like a cross between Clint Eastwood and the Gorton's sea captain, except toting a J45 instead of a .357.

 

 

 

 

How did you get that picture of me?

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"Comin' Back to Me" was the cut where I was most likely to lift the needle off the LP. I thought it was kinda cheesy. The best part was Grace's recorder. "Its No Secret" off the first LP though was a Balin tour de force. That guy could sing up a storm. And as the years went by his vocal duels with Grace just seemed to get more volatile.

 

Baxters and Crown were freakin' amazing LPs. Those were the LPs which convinced me that it was Casady who set the Airplane apart from all others. That bass of his sounded like a formation of B-52s coming in.

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That bass of his sounded like a formation of B-52s coming in.

 

It did cut through, for sure. It needed to, for those noisy venues like the Fillmore(s). Not to mention that little outdoor gathering of a half million in upstate NY in 1969. Casady's playing is a lot more subtle than it at first appears. You have to listen carefully to even hear the triplets in the famous intro to White Rabbit, which is one of the most instantly recognizable intros in rock. And Jorma's pure psychedelic riff on the ES 345 that starts off the fifth measure makes it clear what this is, if anyone had any doubts.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WANNqr-vcx0

 

Ain't Jorma too cool for school in this version on the Smothers Brothers? I love the "dead fish" draped over Casady's bass.

 

 

By the way, those two are still out there touring, right now, after more than 50 years of playing together.

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It did cut through, for sure. It needed to, for those noisy venues like the Fillmore(s). Not to mention that little outdoor gathering of a half million in upstate NY in 1969. Casady's playing is a lot more subtle than it at first appears. You have to listen carefully to even hear the triplets in the famous intro to White Rabbit, which is one of the most instantly recognizable intros in rock. And Jorma's pure psychedelic riff on the ES 345 that starts off the fifth measure makes it clear what this is, if anyone had any doubts.

 

Ain't Jorma too cool for school in this version on the Smothers Brothers? I love the "dead fish" draped over Casady's bass.

 

 

By the way, those two are still out there touring, right now, after more than 50 years of playing together.

 

Yes they are. I once read Grace's autobiography and she laid a bit of the blame (certainly not all) for the Airplane's demise on Hot Tuna. She basically just said Jorma and Jack simply preferred playing with Tuna. At the time Burgers came out though I had already been fingerpicking blues on an electric in an on and off again band for a couple of years, sometimes even picking up the fiddle. I was leaving my '58 Tele at home and had picked up a non-reverse Firebird for those gigs. When the LP came out though I started getting accused of stealing Jorma's act so I pretty much stopped.

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Delusions fueled by copious amounts of drugs. Better living through chemistry. I have found though Docs have no sense of humor. Whenever mine comes up with the whatever I did that took 10 years off my life I will come back with something like - well, it ain't the best 10 years or what am I going to miss, drooling?

😂 I've encountered a few sour medicos along the way. Delusions? 😒

Ah, sure - it's all due to the 70's. Speaking of the decade + the age + a stubborn nature☺

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