The sky is no limit (Paul Kantner) (LP 949)

Paul Kantner  The Planet Earth Rock And Roll Orchestra (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1983) ***  

Genre: San Francisco rock/ Grunt Records (it's not on Grunt Records exactly but it would be strange to put it anywhere else).

Places I remember: Marbecks Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Lilith's Song (Paul dedicates it to Grace - the model of the witch Lilith, and to the memory of John Lennon - silver Beatle)

Gear costume: The Mountain Song (Kantner/Garcia song, sung brilliantly by Paul and Grace)

Active compensatory factors: A weird one, as again Paul taps into the San Francisco rock aristocracy for musicianship. The cast is large and esteemed.

It's only credited to Paul though, so it makes it his one and only solo album - and a sequel of sorts to Blows Against The Empire. It's also a kind of soundtrack to his science-fiction novel (also called, The Planet Earth Rock And Roll Orchestra).

Got all that? You can see why I didn't include it in Kantner's previous post looking at Blows, Sunfighter and Baron Von Tollbooth. It's just too complicated. Plus, we'll come to Grace's solo albums in due course so it's only fair that I separate this one out.

I love Paul Kantner and I love Grace Slick, so I'm not a very reliable commentator. Everything they do is worth hearing! Still, I wouldn't rate this an unconditional success. The concept Paul's hanging this on is okay as it goes (I haven't read the novel, but I need to) but you don't need to really follow the plot to enjoy the album.

As a sequel to Blows Against The Empire it's also a little un-convincing - it seems more of a stand alone album. This time out it's quite electric based where Blows was performed on a bed of acoustic guitars (which I like more).

It may be that I've heard Blows oodles of times, and Planet Earth only a few times, so Blows has more impact. Time will tell, because I need to come back to it again!

Where do they all belong? Back to Jorma when I return to Grunt Records.