I’ve never heard After Bathing at Baxter’s, the album between Jefferson Airplane’s Surrealistic Pillow and Crown of Creation, but I hear that it was a marked departure from the folksy noodling on Surrealistic Pillow in favor of for straightforward rock. But, one rock album must have been enough for them, because Crown of Creation is nowhere near the acid rock fest you might expect from Jefferson Airplane’s reputation (or the album cover–they’re inside of a nuclear blast! Come on!).

The first distorted guitar appears on Star Track, the fourth song, but even then most of the rock comes from the moving, overdriven bassline instead of fiery riffs, guitar feedback, or pounding drums. There are rock songs here, but it’s far from the squelching, straightforward rock of Somebody to Love.

Instead, the record expends its energy creating winding, flowing psychedelia (like the creepy instrumental Chushingura), choosing to mark its success in distance travelled rather than mashing the gas pedal and riding out the highway. The band is mostly subdued through Share a Little Joke, unlike Marty Balin’s howling. And such is the case of most of the material here. These songs rock the way (pre-free jazz) John Coltrane rocks. The guitar freakout, the drums may fly through fills, the bass may pummel the rhythm for the duration of the tune, but rarely all at the same time. One of the most difficult elements of composing music is creating space between the instruments, and on Crown of Creation, Jefferson Airplane does this better than just about anyone.