Maps of Music

Sunfighter (1971)

Where the lyrics of Sunfighter take you, and where it was really made.

Craig Chaquico was 17 when he first recorded with Paul Kantner and Grace Slick on this album; he later became lead guitarist for Jefferson Starship.

Key places

Recording location: Wally Heider Studios (1971)

Recording site Soapbox West — The recording credit for Sunfighter points to Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco. The map pin uses the city center, not the studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Sunfighter: 1971 album created by Paul Kantner and Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane
• Released November 1971 (French Wikipedia)
• Second release on Grunt, the Airplane's own vanity label, distributed by RCA Records
• Released shortly after the Airplane album Bark
• Cover photo shows their baby daughter, China Wing Kantner
• Many Bay Area musicians perform, including the then-current Jefferson Airplane lineup

Background

• Kantner and Slick moved to Bolinas, California, after leaving San Francisco
• Their previous album, Blows Against the Empire, was credited to Paul Kantner and Jefferson Starship
• Relations within Jefferson Airplane had deteriorated when Grunt Records was formed
• The title song is dedicated to Marty Balin, who formed Jefferson Airplane with Kantner
• Part 1 of Diana responds to the story of Diana Oughton and the Weathermen; Part 2 responds to the Kent State shooting of the previous year
• Silver Spoon concerns cannibalism, conceived from pressure by vegetarian neighbors in Bolinas
• China is about their new daughter

Recording

• Musicians include members of the Grateful Dead, Crosby, Stills and Nash, and the horn group Tower of Power
• Craig Chaquico, aged 17, recorded with Kantner and Slick for the first time
• Jerry Garcia plays guitar on three tracks
• Credited engineers: Pat Ieraci and Phill Sawyer
• Recording credit: Wally Heider Studios, San Francisco (city-level point)

Cover

• A photograph of China Kantner, held up by two adult arms above the ocean at sunset

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.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

• No critic review appears in the available material; release facts are recorded instead
• Released November 1971
• Twelve tracks: six on side one, six on side two
• Longest track: Holding Together, 7:40
• Produced by Paul Kantner and Grace Slick; Slick also produced the libretto booklet
• Engineers: Pat Ieraci and Phill Sawyer

Reappraisal

• No reappraisal or critic score is recorded in the available material
• Universal Copernican Mumbles credits Pat Gleeson and John Vierra on keyboards and synthesizers

Records

• Billboard 200: peaked at number 89 in early 1972
• Copyright 1971 Grunt Records, printed in the U.S.A.
• Manufactured and distributed by RCA Records, New York

Sources: fr.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Craig Chaquico was 17 when he first recorded with Kantner and Slick; he later became lead guitarist for Jefferson Starship.
• The cover child, China Wing Kantner, was born in January 1971, and the song China is dedicated to her.
• Silver Spoon concerns cannibalism, a song Slick conceived out of frustration with vegetarian neighbors in Bolinas.
• Part 1 of Diana responds to the story of Diana Oughton and the Weathermen.
• The track Titanic features sound effects by Phill Sawyer.

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

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