Maps of Music

Baron von Tollbooth & the Chrome Nun (1973)

Where the lyrics of Baron von Tollbooth & the Chrome Nun take you, and where it was really made.

The title came from nicknames David Crosby gave Kantner and Slick, and the album charted lower than any earlier Airplane or Kantner/Slick release.

Key places

Where the sessions began (1973)

Recording site Soapbox West — Sessions for the album began here in November 1972. The pin sits at San Francisco's city centre. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Baron von Tollbooth & the Chrome Nun: collaborative studio album by Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, and David Freiberg
• All three were members of Jefferson Airplane
• Released May 1973 as Grunt BFL1-0148
• Released at the same time as the final Jefferson Airplane album, the live Thirty Seconds Over Winterland
• Third Kantner/Slick collaboration, after Blows Against the Empire (1970) and Sunfighter (1971)
• Freiberg had recently joined Jefferson Airplane as vocalist, which expanded the duo into a trio
• Producers: Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, David Freiberg

Background

• Jefferson Airplane had finished touring behind Long John Silver in summer 1972
• The band went on hiatus while the trio began a new record at the end of 1972
• Although the Airplane was on hiatus, all current members contributed in some capacity, along with future Jefferson Starship members
• The Airplane was expected to re-form the following year, but Casady and Kaukonen were increasingly focused on Hot Tuna

Recording

• Sessions began November 1972 at Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco
• Kantner, Slick and Freiberg produced the album
• Jerry Garcia played lead guitar on most tracks, and Chris Ethridge played bass
• The Pointer Sisters sang backing vocals on Fat
• Mickey Hart played gongs and water phones on Your Mind Has Left Your Body

Cover

• Cover illustrated by Drew Struzan
• Psychedelic drawing of three figures stripped of skin, standing before a snow-capped mountain with a leopard crouched in front

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Grace Slick (born Grace Barnett Wing, October 30, 1939) is an American musician and painter.
• Early in her career she performed with the Great Society, a band she formed in San Francisco in 1965.
• She was a prominent figure in San Francisco's psychedelic scene from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s.

Career

• Slick became lead singer of Jefferson Airplane in late 1966 after Signe Toly Anderson left the band.
• Surrealistic Pillow (1967) included "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love", both top-ten US Billboard hits.
• She formed Jefferson Starship with Paul Kantner in 1974 and released several solo albums, including Dreams.
• With Starship she sang co-lead on two number-one hits, "We Built This City" and "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now".
• She retired from music in 1990 and continues to work as a visual artist.
• In 1996 she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Jefferson Airplane.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Rolling Stone gave a negative review upon release, with reviewer Ben Gerson saying the album's contents fit the caricature of its title
• The same review said the intensity of the two writers' beliefs made them more thunderingly irrelevant
• That review singled out the title track and Fat as the best songs on the album

Reappraisal

• AllMusic's William Ruhlmann wrote that, despite the all-star cast, the compositions were second-rate
• He suggested more outside songwriting should have been used
• David Bowling of The Daily Vault gave the album a B+, calling the music strong with a haunting, even beautiful quality
• Jürgen Legath in the German magazine Sounds was enthusiastic and praised David Freiberg's contribution, which added new aspects with Mellotron and synthesizer

Records

• Peaked at number 120 on Billboard, charting much lower than any earlier Airplane or Kantner/Slick release
• Released in May 1973, the same month as Thirty Seconds Over Winterland

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · de.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The title came from nicknames David Crosby gave Paul Kantner and Grace Slick.
• Kantner was given a German-style nickname, while Slick was cast as a shiny, modern nun who protects herself.
• Slick wrote three of the ten songs alone and co-wrote three more with Kantner or Freiberg.
• The album was released at the same time as Thirty Seconds Over Winterland.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · de.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org · it.wikipedia.org

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