Paul Kantner, Grace Slick & David Freiberg – Baron von Tollbooth & The Chrome Nun (1973) Review | At the Waystation Between the Airplane and the Starship
Kronomyth 3.0: Two is company and three is nun.
I love the sound of the mellotron. In fact, you could read me my Miranda rights with the mellotron playing and I’d groove to it (in the least incriminating way possible, of course). About half the songs on Baron von Tollbooth & The Chrome Nun feature mellotron (courtesy of David Freiberg), which totally makes this record for me. Without it, you’re basically listening to Blows Against the Empire or Sunfighter v3. But that mellotron sends me to a higher plane, where Paul Kantner’s psychedelic trips and Grace Slick’s spellbinding songs are further elevated. The album otherwise marks a transitional waystation between Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship, featuring members of both factions on one album including Jack Casady, Jorma Kaukonen, John Barbata, Craig Chaquico, Papa John Creach and, of course, Freiberg. That said, this music doesn’t really have a blessed thing to do with Jefferson Starship and is pretty far-out even by the Airplane’s standards. Propelled by the twin creative engines of Kantner and Slick, with an extra turbo boost from Freiberg and frequent Airplane passenger Jack Traylor (whose Flowers of the Night is a highlight), BvT & TCN is a wild ride. The Ballad of the Chrome Nun gets things to a rollicking start, followed by Slick’s gospel-influenced Fat, the aforementioned Traylor track, a breezy number with Jerry Garcia on banjo (Walkin) and Kantner’s journey into the cosmos, Your Mind Has Left Your Body. Heavy stuff, and that mellotron gives it just the right amount of proggishness. Side two features the even stranger White Boy (Transcaucasian Airmachine Blues), a pleasant waltz with words by Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter (Harp Tree Lament), Slick’s hymn to a dead god (Fishman) and the epic Sketches of China. I wouldn’t call Jefferson Airplane a progressive rock band (I don’t think anyone would, actually), but the presence of the mellotron brings Kantner and Slick closer to the progressive camp than any other album in their collective oeuvre. You won’t find the answer to life’s questions here, but life is just one long question anyway. You’ll have to wait until the end for the answer.
The Product
A1. Ballad of the Chrome Nun (David Freiberg/Grace Slick) (3:59)
A2. Fat (Grace Slick) (3:13)
A3. Flowers of the Night (Jack Traylor) (4:13)
A4. Walkin (Paul Kantner/Grace Slick) (2:31)
A5. Your Mind Has Left Your Body (Paul Kantner) (5:45)
B1. Across the Board (Grace Slick) (4:34)
B2. Harp Tree Lament (David Freiberg/Robert Hunter) (3:34)
B3. White Boy (Transcaucasian Airmachine Blues) (Paul Kantner) (4:13)
B4. Fishman (Grace Slick) (2:40)
B5. Sketches of China (Paul Kantner/Grace Slick) (5:13)
Original 8-track version
A1. Flowers of the Night
A2. Your Mind Has Left Your Body
B1. Ballad of the Chrome Nun
B2. Harp Tree Lament
B3. Walkin
C1. White Boy (Transcaucasian Airmachine Blues)
C2. Fat
C3. Fishman
D1. Across the Board
D2. Sketches of China
The Players
David Freiberg (piano, vocals, keyboard), Paul Kantner (rhythm guitar, vocals, 12 string guitar, glass harp), Grace Slick (vocals, piano), John Barbata (drums, percussion), Chris Ethridge (bass), Jerry Garcia (steel guitar, lead guitar, banjo) with Jack Casady (bass on A5/B3/B4), Craig Chaquico (lead guitar on A1), Papa John Creach (violin on A4), David Crosby (vocals on A1), Mickey Hart (gongs & water phones on A5, gongs on B5), Jorma Kaukonen (lead guitar on A5), The Pointer Sisters (vocals on A2), Jack Traylor (acoustic guitar & vocals on A3, vocals on B3/B5). Produced by Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, David Freiberg; production coordinated by Pat Ieraci (Maurice); recording engineered by Bob Matthews, Betty Cantor and Jim Gaines; mixdown engineered by Al Schmitt, Bob Matthews and Betty Cantor.
The Pictures
Illustrations by Drew Struzan, Bill Garland. Eye photography by Jim Marshall. Album design by Pacific Eye & Ear.
The Plastic
Released on elpee, cassette and 8-track in May 1973 in the US and the UK (Grunt, BFL1/BFK1/BFS1-0148) with lyrics innersleeve. Reached #120 on the US charts.
- Re-issued on elpee in the US (Grunt, AYL1-3799).
- Re-issued on remastered compact disc in 1997 in the US (RCA, 67418-2).
- Re-issued on remastered compact disc in 2020 in the UK (Esoteric, QECLEC2713).
