Surrealistic Pillow
Studio album by Jefferson Airplane
Released	February 1967
Recorded	October 31, 1966 – November 22, 1966
Genre	Psychedelic rock, folk rock
Length	33:40
Label	RCA Victor
Producer	Rick Jarrard
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Rolling Stone link
Jefferson Airplane chronology
Jefferson Airplane Takes Off (1966) Surrealistic Pillow (1967) After Bathing at Baxter's (1967)

Surrealistic Pillow is an album by American psychedelic band Jefferson Airplane, released in February of 1967. Original drummer Alexander 'Skip' Spence had left the band in mid-1966, replaced by a jazz drummer from Los Angeles, Spencer Dryden. Singer Signe Toly Anderson departed soon after, and by the Fall of 1966 the group hired new singer Grace Slick, who brought from her previous band The Great Society the two songs that would become the Airplane's biggest Top 40 hits, "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love," the latter composed by her then-brother-in-law. Both Slick and Dryden debuted with the band on records with this album and its attendant singles, thus completing the best-known line-up of the group, which would remain stable until Dryden's departure in 1970. It's also considered to be one of the quintessential albums of the counterculture movement/social revolution. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (900x900, 252 KB) Licensing This image is of a music album or single cover, and the copyright for it is most likely owned by either the publisher of the album or the artist(s) which produced the music or artwork in... A studio album is a collection of studio-recorded tracks by a recording artist. ... Jefferson Airplane is an American rock band from San Francisco, a pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement. ... is the 304th day of the year (305th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. ... is the 326th day of the year (327th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that attempts to replicate the mind-altering experiences of hallucinogenic drugs. ... Bob Dylans folk-rock album, Blonde on Blonde Folk-rock is a musical genre, combining elements of folk music and rock music. ... In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. ... Sony BMG Music Entertainment is the result of a 50/50 joint venture between Sony Music Entertainment (part of Sony) and BMG Entertainment (part of Bertelsmann AG) completed in August 2004. ... In the music industry, a record producer (or music producer) has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes. ... Rick Jarrard was a staff producer for RCA Records during the 1960s. ... The All Music Guide (AMG) is a metadata database about music, owned by All Media Guide. ... Image File history File links 5_stars. ... This article is about the magazine. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Jefferson Airplane is an American rock band from San Francisco, a pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement. ... Jefferson Airplane Takes Off is the debut album of San Francisco rock band Jefferson Airplane released on RCA Victor Records in 1966. ... Alternate cover UK release After Bathing at Baxters was released in 1967 and is the third album by the San Francisco rock band Jefferson Airplane. ... Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that attempts to replicate the mind-altering experiences of hallucinogenic drugs. ... Jefferson Airplane is an American rock band from San Francisco, a pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement. ... Alexander Lee Skip Spence (April 18, 1946 – April 16, 1999) was a musician and singer-songwriter. ... Spencer Dryden (April 7, 1938 – January 11, 2005) was an American musician who was best known as the drummer for Jefferson Airplane, New Riders of the Purple Sage and The Dinosaurs. ... Signe Toly Anderson was born in Seattle, Washington and is one of the founding members of Jefferson Airplane. ... Grace Slick (born Grace Barnett Wing on October 30, 1939) is an American singer and songwriter, who was one of the lead singers of the rock groups Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, Starship, and as a solo artist, for nearly three decades, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s. ... The Great Society was a 1960s San Francisco rock band in the burgeoning Haight Ashbury folk-psychedelic style pervasive during the time of its existence, 1965 to 1966. ... Top 40 is a radio format based on frequent repetition of songs from a constantly-updated list of the forty best-selling singles. ... White Rabbit is a psychedelic rock song from Jefferson Airplanes 1967 album Surrealistic Pillow. ... Somebody to Love is a well-known rock song by 1960s folk-psychedelic band The Great Society. ... // The counterculture of the 1960s was a social revolution between the period of 1960 and 1973[1] that began in the United States as a reaction against the conservative social norms of the 1950s, the political conservatism (and perceived social repression) of the Cold War period, and the US government...

Jefferson Airplane's fusion of folk rock and psychedelia was original at the time, in line with musical developments pioneered by The Byrds, The Mamas & the Papas, and Bob Dylan. Surrealistic Pillow was the first blockbuster psychedelic album by a band from San Francisco, announcing to the world the active bohemian scene that had developed there starting with The Beats during the 1950s, extending and changing through the 1960s into the Haight-Ashbury counterculture. Subsequently, the exposure generated by the Airplane and others wrought great changes to that counterculture, and by 1968 the ensuing national media attention had precipitated a very different San Francisco scene than had existed in 1966. San Francisco photographer, Herb Greene photographed the band for the album's cover art. Bob Dylans folk-rock album, Blonde on Blonde Folk-rock is a musical genre, combining elements of folk music and rock music. ... Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that attempts to replicate the mind-altering experiences of hallucinogenic drugs. ... The Byrds (formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964) were an American rock band. ... The Mamas & the Papas (credited as The Mamas and the Papas on the debut album cover) were a leading vocal group of the 1960s. ... This article is about the recording artist. ... The term beat generation was introduced by Jack Kerouac in approximately 1948 to describe his social circle to the novelist John Clellon Holmes (who published an early novel about the beat generation, titled Go, in 1952, along with a manifesto of sorts in the New York Times Magazine: This is... Corner of Haight and Ashbury The Haight-Ashbury is a district of San Francisco, California, USA named for the intersection of Haight and Ashbury Streets, commonly known as The Haight. ... Cover of Herb Greenes photobook on the Grateful Dead, Book of the Dead. ...

Some controversy exists as to the role of Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia in the making of the album. His reputed presence on several tracks is not corroborated by RCA paperwork and is denied by producer Rick Jarrard. But when performing Comin' Back to Me live with Jefferson Starship, Marty Balin almost always introduced the song with a reference to the Surrealistic Pillow sessions, mentioning Garcia as playing the guitar parts on the original studio version. This article is about the band. ... Jerome John Jerry Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician, songwriter, and artist best known for being the lead guitarist and vocalist of the psychedelic rock band the Grateful Dead. ... Rick Jarrard was a staff producer for RCA Records during the 1960s. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Marty Balin (born Martyn Jerel Buchwald, January 30, 1942, in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American musician. ...

Surrealistic Pillow was originally released as RCA Victor LPM/LSP 3766, and peaked at #3 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart, driven by "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love," which peaked at #8 and #5 respectively on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The album was mixed in both mono and stereo, and both mixes are available on a November 2001 reissue, initially as part of the Ignition^{[disambiguation needed]} box set; another stereo reissue appeared on August 19, 2003, with seven bonus tracks, including the mono A-sides of "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit." The 2003 reissue was produced by Bob Irwin. Sony BMG Music Entertainment is the result of a 50/50 joint venture between Sony Music Entertainment (part of Sony) and BMG Entertainment (part of Bertelsmann AG) completed in August 2004. ... Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry. ... “Hot 100” redirects here. ... Label for 1. ... Stereophonic means having two channels of audio. ... “B-Sides” redirects here. ... Sundazed Records is a record label based in Coxsackie, in the Catskills of New York. ...

In 2003, the album was ranked number 146 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. This article is about the magazine. ... The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time is the cover story of a special issue of Rolling Stone magazine published in November 2003. ...

Track listing

Side one

1. "She Has Funny Cars" (Marty Balin / Jorma Kaukonen) – 3:12
2. "Somebody to Love" (Darby Slick) – 2:58
3. "My Best Friend" (Skip Spence) – 3:01
4. "Today" (Marty Balin / Paul Kantner) – 2:59
5. "Comin' Back to Me" (Marty Balin) – 5:18

She Has Funny Cars is a rock song by 1960s written by Marty Balin and Jorma Kaukonen from the band Jefferson Airplane. ... Marty Balin (born Martyn Jerel Buchwald, January 30, 1942, in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American musician. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Somebody to Love is a well-known rock song by 1960s folk-psychedelic band The Great Society. ... Alexander Lee Skip Spence (April 18, 1946 – April 16, 1999) was a musician and singer-songwriter. ... Today is a folk rock ballad written by Marty Balin and Paul Kantner from the band Jefferson Airplane. ... Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band from San Francisco, a pioneer of the LSD-influenced psychedelic rock movement. ...

Side two

1. "3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds" (Marty Balin) – 3:41
2. "D.C.B.A. -25" (Paul Kantner) – 2:37
3. "How Do You Feel" (Tom Mastin) – 3:31
4. "Embryonic Journey" (Jorma Kaukonen) – 1:53
5. "White Rabbit" (Grace Slick) – 2:30
6. "Plastic Fantastic Lover" (Marty Balin) – 2:37

Embryonic Journey album Relix 1994 Embryonic Journey, composed by Jefferson Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, originally appeared as the ninth track on Jefferson Airplanes second album, Surrealistic Pillow, but has been often anthologized and multiple takes of it was released as an album entitled (not surprisingly) Embryonic Journey. It is... White Rabbit is a psychedelic rock song from Jefferson Airplanes 1967 album Surrealistic Pillow. ... Grace Slick (born Grace Barnett Wing on October 30, 1939) is an American singer and songwriter, who was one of the lead singers of the rock groups Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, Starship, and as a solo artist, for nearly three decades, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s. ...

2003 Reissue bonus tracks

1. "In the Morning" (Kaukonen) – 6:21
2. "J.P.P. McStep B. Blues" (Spence) – 2:37
3. "Go To Her" (Kantner, Irving Estes) – 4:02
4. "Come Back Baby" (trad. arranged Kaukonen) – 2:56
5. "Somebody to Love" (mono Single mix) (D. Slick) – 2:58
6. "White Rabbit" (mono Single mix) (G. Slick) – 5:20
7. "D.C.B.A. -25" (Kantner) (instrumental - hidden track) – 2:39

The gold CD edition of the album features both the mono and stereo versions of the album on the same disc. A 24 Karat Gold CD A gold CD is one in which gold is used in place of the super purity aluminum commonly used as the reflective coating on regular CDs. ...

Alternate track listing

The cassette and 8-track versions had a different track listing from the original vinyl issue, which is as follows: Typical 60-minute Compact Cassette. ... The 8-track cartridge or Stereo 8 is a magnetic tape technology for audio storage, popular from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s. ...

1. "She Has Funny Cars" (Balin, Kaukonen)
2. "Comin' Back to Me" (Balin)
3. "Somebody to Love" (Slick, Slick) (credited to D. Slick only in later reissues)
4. "My Best Friend" (Spence)
5. "D.C.B.A. 25" (Kantner)
6. "Today" (Balin/Kantner)
7. "3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds" (Balin)
8. "Embryonic Journey" (Kaukonen)
9. "How Do You Feel" (Mastin)
10. "White Rabbit" (Slick)
11. "Plastic Fantastic Lover" (Balin)

On some cassette versions, the transfer of "My Best Friend" runs noticeably slow, putting the song in the key of D-flat (instead of D). Embryonic Journey album Relix 1994 Embryonic Journey, composed by Jefferson Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, originally appeared as the ninth track on Jefferson Airplanes second album, Surrealistic Pillow, but has been often anthologized and multiple takes of it was released as an album entitled (not surprisingly) Embryonic Journey. It is... White Rabbit is a psychedelic rock song from Jefferson Airplanes 1967 album Surrealistic Pillow. ...

Personnel

• Marty Balin - Vocals / Guitar
• Grace Slick - Vocals / Piano / Organ / Recorder
• Paul Kantner - Rhythm Guitar / Vocals
• Jorma Kaukonen - Lead Guitar / Vocals
• Jack Casady - Bass / Fuzz Bass / Rhythm Guitar
• Spencer Dryden - Drums / Percussion

Marty Balin (born Martyn Jerel Buchwald, January 30, 1942, in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American musician. ... In music a singer or vocalist is a type of musician who sings, i. ... For other uses, see Guitar (disambiguation). ... Grace Slick (born Grace Barnett Wing on October 30, 1939) is an American singer and songwriter, who was one of the lead singers of the rock groups Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, Starship, and as a solo artist, for nearly three decades, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s. ... A short grand piano, with the lid up. ... Organ in Katharinenkirche, Frankfurt am Main, Germany The organ is a keyboard instrument played using one or more manuals and a pedalboard. ... Various recorders The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes — whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle and ocarina. ... Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band from San Francisco, a pioneer of the LSD-influenced psychedelic rock movement. ... Rhythm guitar is a guitar that is primarily used to provide rhythmic and harmonic accompaniment for a singer or for other instruments in an ensemble. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Lead guitar refers to a role within a band, that provides melody or melodic material, as opposed to the rhythm of the rhythm guitar, bass, and drums. ... Jack Casady (born John William Casady, April 13, 1944 in Washington D.C), is an American musician considered one of the foremost bass guitarists of the rock music era. ... A sunburst-colored Precision Bass The electric bass guitar (or electric bass; pronounced , as in base) is a bass stringed instrument played with the fingers (either by plucking, slapping, popping, or tapping) or using a pick. ... Spencer Dryden (April 7, 1938 – January 11, 2005) was an American musician who was best known as the drummer for Jefferson Airplane, New Riders of the Purple Sage and The Dinosaurs. ... A drum kit (or drum set or trap set) is a collection of drums, cymbals and sometimes other percussion instruments, such as a cowbell, wood block, chimes or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single drummer. ... Percussion redirects here. ...

Additional personnel

• Jerry Garcia, musical and spiritual adviser, guitars
• Rick Jarrard, producer
• David Hassinger, engineer
• Carole Davis, Studio Musician

Jerome John Jerry Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician, songwriter, and artist best known for being the lead guitarist and vocalist of the psychedelic rock band the Grateful Dead. ... Rick Jarrard was a staff producer for RCA Records during the 1960s. ... David Hassinger was a sound engineer at RCA Studios in Los Angeles. ...

See also

• The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

Promotional Book Cover The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time was the cover story of a special issue of Rolling Stone magazine published in November 2003. ...

Charts

Album

Single It has been suggested that Billboard be merged into this article or section. ...

Certifications