3-12-13 Paul Kanter
Happy Birthday, Paul Kanter (of Jefferson Airplane / Starship), born 1942. On 3/12/66 the Yardbirds 45 “Shapes Of Things” charts at No. 3 in England. Charlie Parker croaks, 1955.
Always been a fan of Jefferson Airplane, especially their first 5 or 6 albums. In the early 70’s, the one that caught my attention (for the final time?) was “Blows Against The Empire”, a record I still really enjoy.
This is an album that I’ve bought several variants of, over time. Not that there are all that many Paul Kanter solo titles to concern oneself with!
LP BLOWS AGAINST THE EMPIRE (UK) RCA UK SF 8163
1971 10 TRKS Jefferson Starship
LP BLOWS AGAINST THE EMPIRE (US) clear RCA US LSP 4448
1971 10 TRKS booklet, clear vinyl
CD BLOWS AGAINST THE EMPIRE re RCA US 67974.2
1970 15 TRKS (5 x bonus tracks) (’05 issue)
LP BLOWS AGAINST THE EMPIRE re-issue RCA LEGACY US 33567.1
1970 10 TRKS (’08 issue)
7″ CHILD IS COMING, A / LET’S GO TOGETHER (PS) RCA US 74-0426
1971 2 TRKS with pic sleeve
7″ CHILD IS COMING, A / LET’S GO TOGETHER promo RCA US 74-0426
1971 2 TRKS no pic sleeve, promo
CDx2 GUIDE THROUGH THE CHAOS, A MONSTER US MSE-1017
1996 34 TRKS spoken word
LP PLANET EARTH ROCK AND ROLL ORCHESTRA RCA US AFL1-4320
1983 12 TRKS insert; Ron Nagle
LP RADIO SPECIAL Vol. 21 promo-only RCA US DJL1-4857
1983 2 TRKS insert; promo-only
For Blows Against The Empire: black vinyl LP, clear vinyl LP, UK LP, and 2008 re-issue LP; original CD, re-mastered CD – so I’ve bought this one six times. Really like the 45 for this album, so it does not trouble me to own both a stock copy and a promo – and a picture sleeve!
A Guide Through The Chaos is a books-on-tape event with the nervous-sounding Mr. Kanter describing his assorted illicit antics.
Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra is not a follow-up to Blows against The Empire, but rather – a new beginning to essentially the same story. The Radio special LP is meant to illuminate that premise, but…I haven’t played it in years! And some co-writes with Ron Nagle! Doesn’t get any better than that!
Ronkanefiles's Blog 
Happy Birthday to Paul! I’m also a fan of the Airplane and like “Blows” too. In January I saw Jefferson Starship in San Francisco playing all of “Surrealistic Pillow” in sequence followed by side 2 of Blows against the Empire (starting with Sunrise) to an audience of about 200. It was amazing but the event was poorly promoted and many people bought the $60 tickets thinking they would hear the later (lamer) music, and one person said “worst show ever” because they played things she did not know and did not play the Starship rubbish. No accounting for taste… When the SF Examiner ran a story about it they called the album “Blows Against the Machine” – and this was in the band’s home town!
BTW, I saw Nik Turner at the Echoplex last Sunday and thought you might be there too. Hope we cross paths again sometime.
-Rob
Incidentally, Paul’s birthday is cited most places as March 17, 1941 making him almost a year younger than Nik Turner.