After Bathing at Baxter's

After Bathing at Baxter's
After Bathing at Baxter's
Studio album by Jefferson Airplane
Released	November 27, 1967
Recorded	June–October 1967
Studio	RCA Victor (Hollywood)
Genre	Psychedelic rock[1]
Length	43:38 (original); 67:53 (2003 reissue)
Label	RCA Victor
Producer	Al Schmitt
Jefferson Airplane chronology
Singles from After Bathing at Baxter's
	"The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil"; Released: August 1967; "Watch Her Ride"; Released: December 1967[2];

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.

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
The Daily Vault	A−[4]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[5]
The Great Rock Discography	7/10[6]
Music Story	[7]
MusicHound Rock	2/5[8]
Record Mirror	[9]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[10]

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 a 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.[11] The band's singles never again crossed the halfway mark in the Hot 100.[11] 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.

Cash Box said that the single "Watch Her Ride" had a "hard rock beat with a backup centering on electrified workouts from lead guitar," "grand imagery" and "fine vocals."[12]

Title and artwork

The album's title was derived from a poem written by the band's friend Gary Blackman. Kantner explained that the title translates to "After Taking LSD", "Baxter" being the group's code word for the drug.[13]

The cover art was designed by Ron Cobb, then a political cartoonist for the Los Angeles Free Press.[13] The front cover depicts the band as a World War I-era triplane with the body of a San Francisco townhouse.[14][15] Cannabis plants are shown growing out of the house's flower boxes.[15][16] The artwork is framed with a red bar on the bottom and a blue bar with white stars on the top, signifying the United States flag.[14] The plane, painted in full color, dispenses confetti[16] while flying over a black and white landscape – suggesting the white of the flag – with billboards reading messages such as "CONSUME!" and "DRINK IT",[14] parodying American consumerism.[17] The illustration continues onto the back cover, revealing an scrapheap followed by a pile of empty beverage cans. A banner attached to the plane displays the album's title.[14] In 2008, Cobb's original painting sold at auction for $24,000.[18]

The gatefold artwork consists of a handwritten track listing and photographs taken by Alan Pappé of each band member.[19] Author Ken Bielen writes the lack of a group portrait highlights the members' individuality.[14] The inner sleeve features Blackman's poem and drawings by the band and their friends, one of which was almost rejected by RCA on fear it would be misinterpreted as a vagina.[20][nb 1]

Track listing

Side one

Streetmasse
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"The Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil"	Paul Kantner	4:29
2.	"A Small Package of Value Will Come to You, Shortly"	Spencer Dryden, Gary Blackman, Bill Thompson	1:39
3.	"Young Girl Sunday Blues"	Marty Balin, Kantner	3:33

The War Is Over
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
4.	"Martha"	Kantner	3:26
5.	"Wild Tyme (H)"	Kantner	3:08

Hymn to an Older Generation
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
6.	"The Last Wall of the Castle"	Jorma Kaukonen	2:40
7.	"Rejoyce" ([n 1])	Grace Slick	4:01

Side two

How Suite It Is
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
8.	"Watch Her Ride"	Kantner	3:11
9.	"Spare Chaynge" (instrumental)	Jack Casady, Dryden, Kaukonen	9:12

Shizoforest Love Suite
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
10.	"Two Heads"	Slick	3:10
11.	"Won't You Try / Saturday Afternoon"	Kantner	5:09

2003 CD reissue Bonus Tracks
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
12.	"The Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil" (long version from Jefferson Airplane Loves You)	Kantner	11:04
13.	"Martha" (single version B-side RCA #9389)	Kantner	3:26
14.	"Two Heads" (alternate version)	Slick	3:15
15.	"Things Are Better in the East" (demo version)	Balin	2:31
16.	"Young Girl Sunday Blues" (instrumental; hidden track)	Balin, Kantner	3:59

Notes

All lower-case information according to album notes.

Personnel

Jefferson Airplane

Grace Slick – piano, organ, recorder, vocals, lead vocals on "rejoyce" and "Two Heads"
Marty Balin – rhythm guitar, vocals, lead vocals on "Young Girl Sunday Blues"
Paul Kantner – rhythm guitar, vocals, lead vocals on "The Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil", "Martha", "Wild Tyme", "Watch Her Ride" and Won't You Try / Saturday Afternoon"
Jorma Kaukonen – lead guitar, sitar, vocals, lead vocals on "The Last Wall of the Castle"
Jack Casady – bass
Spencer Dryden – drums, percussion, horn arrangement

Additional personnel

Gary Blackman – vocals
Bill Thompson – vocals

Production

Jefferson Airplane – design, notes, song arrangement
Al Schmitt – producer
Richie Schmitt – engineer
Ron Cobb – album cover, artwork
The Walking Owls – album title
Alan Pappé – photography
Recorded at RCA, Hollywood

Chart positions

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1967	Billboard Pop Albums	17

Single

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1967	"The Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil"	Cash Box Top 100	24
1967	"Watch Her Ride"	Cash Box Top 100	37
1967	"The Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil"	Billboard Pop Singles	42
1967	"Two Heads"	Billboard Pop Singles	124
1967	"Watch Her Ride"	Billboard Pop Singles	61

Notes

Tamarkin and Butterworth write the drawing in question was what resembled an exclamation point with an eye at the bottom,[20] while Slick said it was a tracing Kantner made of the bottom of a cupcake.[21]

References

Citation

"Acoustic Guitar Sessions Presents Jorma Kaukonen". Acoustic Guitar. January 8, 2015. Retrieved July 25, 2016.
Strong, Martin Charles (1995). The Great Rock Discography. p. 430. ISBN 9780862415419.
Eder, Bruce. "After Bathing at Baxter's Review". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 7 December 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
Clutterbuck, Jeff (23 August 2009). "After Bathing At Baxter's". The Daily Vault. Archived from the original on 23 May 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
Larkin 2006, p. 604.
Strong 2004, p. 780.
"After Bathing At Baxter's". Music Story. Archived from the original on 7 December 2009. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
Selvin 1999, p. 599.
Jopling & Jones 1968, p. 8.
Evans 2004, p. 426.
Jefferson Airplane biography, Rolling Stone
"CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. December 2, 1967. p. 22. Retrieved 2022-01-12.
Tamarkin 2003, p. 155.
Bielen 2021, p. 91.
Wimpfheimer, Seth (September 2022). "Unsung | The Book of Seth | Jefferson Airplane - After Bathing At Baxter's". Head Heritage. Archived from the original on 3 October 2022. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
Kesler, Jenell (21 August 2018). "From The Vault: Jefferson Airplane - "After Bathing At Baxter's" (1967)". It's Psychedelic Baby! Magazine. Archived from the original on 10 November 2022. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
Butterworth 2021, p. 48; Bielen 2021, pp. 90–91; Tamarkin 2003, p. 155.
"A Jefferson Airplane original painting created by artist Ron Cobb for their album jacket "After Bathing at Baxter's," 1967". Bonhams. 16 June 2008. Archived from the original on 18 May 2022. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
Bielen 2021, p. 91; Tamarkin 2003, p. 155.
Tamarkin 2003, p. 155; Butterworth 2021, p. 48.
Fong-Torres, Ben (12 November 1970). "Grace Slick With Paul Kantner: The Rolling Stone Interview – Page 2". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 11 December 2022. Retrieved 11 December 2022.

Bibliography

Bielen, Ken (2021). Portraying Performer Image in Record Album Cover Art (ebook ed.). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. ISBN 978-1-79364-073-4.
Butterworth, Richard (2021). Jefferson Airplane: every album, every song (on track ...). UK & US: Sonicbond Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78952-143-6.
Evans, Paul (2004). "Jefferson Airplane". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). New York, NY: Fireside Books. ISBN 978-0-7432-0169-8.
Jopling, Norman; Jones, Peter (6 April 1968). "Rapid Reviews" (PDF). Record Mirror: 8.
Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 4 (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-531373-4.
Selvin, Joel (1999). "Jefferson Airplane". In Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (eds.). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide (2nd ed.). Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. ISBN 978-1-57859-061-2.
Strong, Martin C. (2004). The Great Rock Discography (7th ed.). New York, NY: Canongate Books. ISBN 978-1-84195-615-2.
Tamarkin, Jeff (2003). Got a Revolution!: The Turbulent Flight of Jefferson Airplane. New York, NY: Atria Books. ISBN 978-0-671-03403-0.

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[rejoyce-23] All lower-case information according to album notes.

[22] Tamarkin and Butterworth write the drawing in question was what resembled an exclamation point with an eye at the bottom,[20] while Slick said it was a tracing Kantner made of the bottom of a cupcake.[21]

[1] "Acoustic Guitar Sessions Presents Jorma Kaukonen". Acoustic Guitar. January 8, 2015. Retrieved July 25, 2016.

[2] Strong, Martin Charles (1995). The Great Rock Discography. p. 430. ISBN 9780862415419.

[3] Eder, Bruce. "After Bathing at Baxter's Review". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 7 December 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022.

[4] Clutterbuck, Jeff (23 August 2009). "After Bathing At Baxter's". The Daily Vault. Archived from the original on 23 May 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022.

[FOOTNOTELarkin2006604-5] Larkin 2006, p. 604.

[FOOTNOTEStrong2004780-6] Strong 2004, p. 780.

[7] "After Bathing At Baxter's". Music Story. Archived from the original on 7 December 2009. Retrieved 8 December 2022.

[FOOTNOTESelvin1999599-8] Selvin 1999, p. 599.

[FOOTNOTEJoplingJones19688-9] Jopling & Jones 1968, p. 8.

[FOOTNOTEEvans2004426-10] Evans 2004, p. 426.

[jeff-11] Jefferson Airplane biography, Rolling Stone

[cb-12] "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. December 2, 1967. p. 22. Retrieved 2022-01-12.

[FOOTNOTETamarkin2003155-13] Tamarkin 2003, p. 155.

[FOOTNOTEBielen202191-14] Bielen 2021, p. 91.

[:1-15] Wimpfheimer, Seth (September 2022). "Unsung | The Book of Seth | Jefferson Airplane - After Bathing At Baxter's". Head Heritage. Archived from the original on 3 October 2022. Retrieved 10 December 2022.

[:2-16] Kesler, Jenell (21 August 2018). "From The Vault: Jefferson Airplane - "After Bathing At Baxter's" (1967)". It's Psychedelic Baby! Magazine. Archived from the original on 10 November 2022. Retrieved 10 December 2022.

[17] Butterworth 2021, p. 48; Bielen 2021, pp. 90–91; Tamarkin 2003, p. 155.

[18] "A Jefferson Airplane original painting created by artist Ron Cobb for their album jacket "After Bathing at Baxter's," 1967". Bonhams. 16 June 2008. Archived from the original on 18 May 2022. Retrieved 10 December 2022.

[:3-19] Bielen 2021, p. 91; Tamarkin 2003, p. 155.

[:6-20] Tamarkin 2003, p. 155; Butterworth 2021, p. 48.

[21] Fong-Torres, Ben (12 November 1970). "Grace Slick With Paul Kantner: The Rolling Stone Interview – Page 2". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 11 December 2022. Retrieved 11 December 2022.