Surrealistic Pillow

Solid album. You know where they came from and you know what's coming next. There is a certain importance with this band.

A good album with a couple of big hits, and other good songs as well. Favourites: White Rabbit, Somebody To Love, Today

Vaguely psychedelic, on occasion eerily threatening.

Oli se ihan okei. Bluesvibarokkia. Laulajatypy veti hienosti. Mutta wanhaahan se oli.

Aivan viihdyttävä psykerokkilevy. Tuttuja biisejä muutama, mutta ei säväyttänyt sen kummemmin. Decent/viis.

A few cool songs.

Psykadelisk med bra låtar och två hits.

Three-leaning-four

Just alright.

Somebody to Love and White Rabbit. A few dull tracks, but overall nice listening

Great album!!

Some very memorable songs and a good sound overall. Hadn’t listened to much of their stuff before but this was good.

Surrealistic Pillow is a great example of what distinguishes a good vocal performance from a great one. The opener “She Has Funny Cars” and the following track “Somebody to Love” are both very competent garage rock songs. However, only one of them became an international smash hit. It’s quite obvious why: on “Somebody to Love,” Grace Slick takes the vocals. While the male vocalists on this record do a good job, Grace is much more expressive. Personally I like the timbre of her voice a bit better, but what really sets her apart is her vocal range and her more effective use of inflection and vibrato. I’m sure “Somebody to Love” would have been a fine song without her. However, her performance lifts the track from fine to legendary. Her singing on “White Rabbit,” the other hit single (which, no surprise, also features her out front), is especially impressive. While the genre blend of tango and rock is interesting on its own, the song is carried by her voice. She reminded me a bit of Florence & the Machine on this track; a band that would form 40 years later. I’m not saying the male vocalists are doing a bad job. Take “In the Morning” as an example. It’s a very traditional blues-rock leaning track. For a song like this to stay interesting, the execution has to be strong, since the musical ideas are rooted so deeply in tradition that they’re hardly exciting by themselves. In other words: here the male vocalist has to do some heavy lifting. I enjoyed the song, which is a testament to the musicianship on display. Still, while it is good, it is not as great as “Somebody to Love” or “White Rabbit.” I also don’t want to undersell what the band is delivering instrumentally. It’s very tastefully done classic rock that excites through its competent execution. The production is also very nice: raw enough for that “garage” feel, while clean enough that everything can be heard clearly - which, given the recording tech at the time, is an achievement in itself. I get that it was probably a risk to give a female voice the lead in a rock band at the time. I just wish they had dared to take that risk more often. Overall it’s a decent classic rock album with a few standout tracks. For me a decent to strong 3.

Surprised by how many songs I knew, was pretty good, recognised one they did on glee lol

Probably the biggest Woodstock act I’m not really familiar with. Pretty alright.

Bland

Hard to believe this album came from a band that would later inflict We Built This City on an unsuspecting world.

Decent. I feel like this is the second of theirs I've heard, but this one was pretty good. For some reason, I thought White Rabbit was like 7 minutes long. Huh.

Great album, deservedly a psych classic

a solid 4 that could err on a 5 but the core of the album underwhelms compared to the stand-out tracks. but golly, stand-out tracks they are!! and the ones that i didn't know, that i wound up liking, too-easily became ear-worms for the rest of the day. great stuff!! highlights - she has funny cars, somebody to love, today, 3/5 of a mile in 10 seconds, white rabbit, plastic fantastic lover, come back baby

I went into this album only knowing "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit," two songs I've always loved. I even got to hear them performed live when I saw Starship at Mohegan Sun just before the pandemic. Mickey Thomas still sounded incredible, and the female vocalist did Grace Slick justice. What surprised me most about this album was how much it reminded me of the Mamas & the Papas and The Byrds. The layered vocal harmonies, folk-rock melodies, and psychedelic touches made for a really enjoyable combination. "She Has Funny Cars" kicked things off beautifully with a cool beat and terrific vocal layering. "My Best Friend," "D.C.B.A.-25," and "How Do You Feel" continued that wonderful '60s folk-rock vibe. "3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds" brought some welcome energy, while the short acoustic instrumental "Embryonic Journey" reminded me of Lindsey Buckingham's guitar playing. Of course, "White Rabbit" is still incredible. The way it builds to that huge crescendo is brilliant. And "Plastic Fantastic Lover" was a great way to close the album. The only songs that didn't do much for me were "Today" and "Comin' Back to Me." Both were a little too slow and didn't hold my attention. I also listened to the bonus tracks on Spotify. "Go to Her" really rocks, and I enjoyed the blues-rock sound of "Come Back Baby." Those were nice additional discoveries, although I'm basing my rating on the original 11 tracks. Overall, this was a terrific surprise. I came in knowing two classics and walked away appreciating a whole lot more of Jefferson Airplane's music. There's great musicianship, excellent harmonies, and enough variety to keep things interesting. 4/5 stars. Vinyl verdict: BUY!

I have heard of the band and listened to one song before today. I kind of get why I haven't heard more of them before. While not bad it seems very much like an album that fit well in the 60s while in both style and mixing. I had an okay time listening today but at the end I was kind of done and feeling like I wouldn't choose to listen again in the future, so many other bands and songs that I would rather pick.

Quite good.

Worth more listens. Always loved White Rabbit.

First time listening to this album... fantastic portrait of a moment in time. The music, lyrics and production really set you in a summer of love vibe throughout the whole album. Somebody To Love and White Rabbit are obvious and gigantic songs emblematic of this era and pretty timeless. The rest of the album moves briskly but has a lot of relistenability, short catchy songs and an amazing instrumental that sets the mood for Alice to go down the rabbit hole

Good album, white rabbit and somebody to love are psych rock classics of course but there's some boring stuff here

Нормально, понятно что хиты Somebody to Love и White Rabbit качают, но в остальном достаточно типичное звучание.

Silly band name. Silly album name. Silly first song name (“She has Funny Cars” is kind of an all timer for that) There are two big reasons to listen to this album, and the biggest is that intense banshee vibrato vocal of Grace Slick on “Somebody to Love”. It's a simple song that becomes hypnotic, one of the most important female vocal takes in modern music. “White Rabbit” is its own little joy, but it is much more regimented, like a drugged march. Translating Alice in Wonderland into this sort of musical piece is peak, pure psychedelia, leading up to that pristine wail of “feed your head.” You could give that song to an actual rabbit and it would create psych on its own from the template. The album on the whole suffers the way so much psychedelia does. You're following Somebody to Love with the doofy “My Best Friend”, trading that drugged out swirling for a drugged out half-asleep vibe. Some songs walk a tightrope between both sides, like “today,” which has some lovely textures but ultimately feels sleepy. Lots of these are general psych, group vocals, standard guitars. It's weird that there isn't as much highlighting either Jorma's guitar nor Grace's voice. There are some nice harmonies on “How Do You Feel,” and great guitar on the interlude track Embryonic Journey. But it just doesn't stay consistent in anyway. Sadly par for the course with the style and era. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

2/5 some okay songs but it's just so bland and forgettable

3.5 mid pleasant to listen to

A little bit f daddy / champagne socialist. They were a great band. The politics were dumb.

This record sounds fresh relative to other relics of psychedelic San Francisco in 1967. The sound of West Coast rock wasn't all that up to speed until the mid-70s for the most part (outside of CSNY-types), if you're asking me. That all said, there's a three-song run in the middle of this that is fantastic - Embryonic Journey, White Rabbit and Plastic Fantastic Lover - all great tunes, killer jams, 60s rock or otherwise. White Rabbit deserves a special place in the annals of pop music. It feels like getting smashed into a brick wall whenever I hear it. Starts out soft and alluring and a minute and a half later you're freaking out in insanity of what's happening to the song, to your ears and your mind. Then poof - song over. Like a DMT hit or the first wave of a nitrous balloon - freak out - then over. Anyway, most of the record sounds dated, but Grace Slick has a fantastic voice and the Airplane deserves a lot of credit as the leaders of a scene and movement that probably got beaten and battered so that those that followed them out of SF in the 60s (the Dead, Santana, Creedence, Steve Miller, etc.) could fly.

Ahh the San Francisco Sound. Today is my favorite song on the album.

Classic

Good psychedelic rock, which feels like a big ask.

Bit of a mixed bag. The album shifts between rock, blues, folk and psychedelic. Not all successfully. Some nice riffs. femaile singar has a great voice - shame we dont hear her more. White rabbit reamins the standout followed by somebody to love. 3/5

'Somebody to Love' is probably the most exciting and emblematic song of the 60s and the hippie era. It's one of those songs that sound timeless but are unequivocally of a different era of humanity. Then there's 'White Rabbit,' which is a relentless storm of awe and weird. These two songs are enough to put 'Surrealistic Pillow' among the best records ever released, but the rest of the album doesn't disappoint either. Funnily enough, the lead single 'My Best Friend' was a flop, probably because sounds like a The Beatles ripoff, and 'Today' turned into a hit without ever being a single. All in all, in this album Jefferson Airplane manage to do in 2:30-3 minutes what many other artists can't achieve with much longer songs. Honestly, I'd loved it to have more Grace Slick songs than it does, but that's fine.

Very nice

Really good rock album

3.5/5. I’ve always primarily been aware of Jefferson Airplane through the two big hits “Somebody to Love” and “White Rabbit” which are both movie soundtrack staples (anytime I hear somebody to love I just think of the cohen brothers film “a serious man.”) Those are both great songs of course, but there’s also some solid deep cuts here like “My Best Friend” or the fingerpicked instrumental “Embryonic Journey.” Though some of the track list is fairly standard (but not bad) 60’s psych-rock that doesn’t stand out too much compared to its contemporaries. But this was a fun listen all around, enjoyed my time with it.

It sucked bum

It’s a very long album didn’t end up finishing it but enjoyed the music

Decent album, obviously 2 stand out tunes, but the rest seems like a bit of a mixture, I listened on Monday afternoon with the Hens in the Garden.

A band I have come across now and then from that era but not really listened to very much. Their sound prompted me to find out more about the band history and influences. This album had a couple of their recognisable hits and can see how interest in them grew. An enjoyable listen.

This is a wonderful album, but I have always been a tad underwhelmed by the slower tracks here. My best Friend, How Do you feel, Today. They’re earworms. But all I really wanna do is hear Somebody to Love, White Rabbit, 3/5 of a Mile (although there’s better live versions of this one), and Plastic Fantastic. Love me some Jefferson Airplane. Underrated band

Classic album. Somebody to Love is an all-time song, so, so good. This is a really rangy album. Some of it is folksy, some psychedelic. Currently too sober to listen to this album the way it was intended! Embyonic Journey and White Rabbit are also classic tracks (White Rabbit maybe more classic, I just recognized the instrumental somehow. Must have been in a movie, much like White Rabbit.)

Surrealistic Pillow by Jefferson Airplane had a few standout, iconic tracks that I recognized, but as a whole, I didn't really blow me away.

Notable Textzeile: When the truth is found to be lies And all the joy within you dies Don't you want somebody to love? Normalerweise bleibe ich an eher obskuren Textzeilen hängen, aber hier liegt die grandiose Einfachheit, Klarheit und Tiefe fast direkt neben der grandiosen „White Rabbit“ Verrätselung. Dazwischen ist ganz schon viel Füller, der gar nicht so psychedelisch ist, sondern eher harmloser Flower-Folk-Pop-Rock. Aber ich nehm ihnen das jetzt nicht übel, weil das Album eben trotzdem gut gebaut und abwechslungsreich ist und viele Songs nicht so ausufernd sind. Die beiden Überhits und ihr mannigfaltiger Einsatz in diversen Filmen reichen mir hier für eine hohe Wertung, zu Recht kulturell sehr significant.

Middle of the (psychedelic) road.

I love white rabbit and somebody to love but the rest not as much

More like a 7 out of ten. I’ve owned this album for over thirty years but have never spent much time with it. It’s never quite lived up to the high expectations for me.

3.5

3.5

A few standouts - Somebody to Love, Embryonic Journey, White Rabbit. The rest was good but not too memorable. 3 1/2 rounded up for how good of a song White Rabbit is.

Good album with quite the variety

Pretty solid album. Mix of folk, blues, and psychedelic rock. Contains probably their two biggest hits, but the b-sides are good too.

psychadelic

A classic 60s record, with bangers like White Rabbit and Somebody to Love.

Thoughts before listening: Jefferson Airplane is pretty good. You'd expect them to be more of a Grateful Dead style jamband, but they really aren't on their albums. Sure there are some psychedelic leads from Jorma Kaukonen, but this is ultimately psychedelic pop rock that would eventually evolve into the arena rock of Starship. In many ways, this band was leaning into the sounds of each era they worked through and to their credit, they created iconic songs for each of those eras. I much prefer this album and their hippie 60s era to what would come later for the band. Review: Yeah so this is psychedelic folk rock ala the Byrds with some extra psychedelia thrown in that became a major selling hit thanks to "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit". Outside of these massive, era-defining hits, there are some other gems on this album such as the lovely instrumental "Embryonic Journey" and the rocking opener "She Has Funny Cars". Overall, I can dig this album for sure although, I do prefer Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady's work with Hot Tuna which fits more into the jammy blues rock sound I would expect from the Airplane. The version of this album I am listening to is an expanded release that includes unreleased bonus material, and the band is at their best on these tracks. I especially like when they ramp up the distortion and rock out a bit, with some of my favorite songs being "Go to Her" and "Come Back Baby". There is an almost proto-punk/garage rock quality to those tracks that really connects with me, and I love the extended psych guitar work. A lot of that version of the Airplane was stripped out of the original release to allow it to focus more heavily on the more polished, radio friendly songs. I'll give this 4-stars

Não tem como avaliar abaixo de 5 estrelas, não só pela qualidade do disco mas pelo impacto cultural que teve no final dos anos 60 e toda a contracultura. White Rabbit é um hino psicodélico, e a trilha sonora mas cliché possível em cenas envolvendo entorpecentes. Somebody to Love também é clássico. Particularmente, Today e Embryonic Journey são os pontos altos, essa ultima me lembra Anos Incríveis.

Very nice :) Got some songs i already loved and will continue to love. (4.2/5)

The cold side, as always.

I really really enjoyed this

Released in 1968, "it is considered to be one of the most influential and quintessential works of the early psychedelic rock era and 1960s counterculture." This is based on the music as well as the drug references. Some songs are more folk than rock but all have that trippy vibe. This band was really talented with two great singers in Grace Slick and Marty Balin in addition to Jorma Kaukonen lead guitar (classic sound), Paul Kanter and Jack Casady. Also, Jerry Garcia played on a few songs. I knew their classic top two songs but I really like the others on this album. Top songs for me are: She Has Funny Cars Somebody to Love Today Comin' Back to me White Rabbit

Definitely an album of the 60's, but perversely, not sounding completely dated. Yeah, I liked it. Definitely a high 3, wouldn't quite make it a 4

Nice. Enjoyable bit of flower power.

This was a lot better than I thought it would be. The two singles are the standout tracks, but the rest was of a high standard for Psychedelic folky stuff. It would have been my thing I have been my dad's age. In fact he rated them highly. Just a shame he never played them more!

Outside of the hits, I found this a little underwhelming.

Woooooooooooooahhhh

Grace Slicks rules this album. Unfortunately, most of the other tracks, barring the instrumentals, are a bit lame to modern ears. 2 stars + 1 star for White Rabbit alone.

Interesante. Me gusta el pase de folk clásico a un rock más psicodelico. Decente

Probably the album that made me listen to more 60s stuff.

Absolutely essential album on the list no doubt! However, a bit embarrasing to admin, but I have never listened to the whole thing! Only know 2 big hits like Somebody to Love and White Rabbit so this should be an interesting journey, for sure at least 3 based on the hits alone. After listening to this, "Today" is sick track as well and album has a general great psyuchedelic vibe and is classic for a reason, probably at least 3.5 RYM and I will be generoius here and most likely round up to 4 stars.

Other than the two singles, this is some really middling to cringe-worthy early rock music. Some of those rhymes are really clumsy.

Good!

Liked it more than expected. Has some Byrds and Mommas and Papas sounds. 4/5

The songs with the female lead are really good, the rest are solid but didnt make me feel too much. I think this album is suffering from coming after Superfly which had a similar sound but a lot more energy and some extra years.

"Feed your head"

Jefferson’s first incarnation and certainly its best this is one of the defining albums of the psychedelic wave of the late 1960’s

El Nil ho tenia en vinil i potser ho haviem escoltat abans. Jo, personalment, em vaig sorpendre al arribar a la de White Rabbit dient: “Ah! Son ells!” Un álbum molt i molt bó, per fumar, per conduir, o per sentir-ho al vinil a casa amb un incens i un gatet a les teves cames.<3

I love a lady singer :-)

Pretty obvious to everyone except the band that Grace should’ve been main vocals full time

Really classic psychedelic late 60's sound.

Enjoyed the whole album, although not all of it stuck in memory. White Rabbit and Somebody to Love <3

nice sound i like it

To me it sounds like a more raw version of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Although I prefer them, still good though.

Some bangers and some really interesting instrumentation and experimentation going on here. Jefferson Airplane is my favourite iteration of this series of bands.

Some good songs but not enough to carry the album 3

Not a bad one

Some really good songs on here, some that I’m not too fussed on. I can see why it’s on this list

I've seen a lot of people praising "Surrealistic Pillow" as one of the most underrated psychedelic rock albums. Personally? I don't care for it as much as I maybe should. I'm a fan of a lot of psychedelic music, so when I saw people hyping it up THIS much, I was pretty excited to listen to it. It sat on my list until today, when I rolled it on the 1001 albums generator. There are some good pop rock songs on here, such as "My Best Friend" and "Plastic Fantastic Lover." And the more folky songs such as "Comin' Back to Me" and "Embryonic Journey" are really beautiful. But when it comes to the "main attractions" of this album, the psychedelic rock, I was just left wanting more. They felt a little plain. This was my introduction to Jefferson Airplane, so I could be wrong about this, but it seems they're much better at folk rock than psychedelic rock. I'm definitely curious to hear what else they put out, though I can't guarantee I would love it. I think this is a decent album, but one of the most underrated psych albums? Maybe not. ----- #0002 Heard on: 14 Sep. 2026 Rating: ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆ (171 / 324) Favorite track: Comin' Back to Me Least favorite track: She Has Funny Cars

meh

Some real classics on this album! Love a couple of tracks, but wouldn’t listen to album again

It should've been generated one day earlier

Havent heard this before (FALSE)

It’s been awhile since I listened to this one, and it’s better than I remember. The slower songs are just alright, but when they really gear into the psych rock it’s something special. Great opening song, “Somebody to Love” and “⅗ of a Mile” rip, and “White Rabbit” is a true all-timer; what a haunting, cathartic song. I never get tired of the way it builds. (And Grace Slick is one of the coolest women ever.) The mixing is pretty dated. It sounds like it was recorded in someone’s garage. It kind of adds to its charm.

Rate: 8.5/10.

I find the stereo mix of this distractingly bad and wish the mono version was on my streaming service. Nonetheless, this is deservedly considered a classic record. It kinda shows how psychedelic rock sprouted out of folk rock. There are very stereotypically late ‘60s songs here, but also some very pretty and (if my using the term may be forgiven) groovy moment here, too. Very much an album of its time. Nothing wrong with. It ain’t bad. It ain’t bad at all, the mix aside.

Lovely, cannot believe I haven't listened to them more! Reminded me of the Mamma's and the Papa's, which I love.

This was all over the place, pockets of brilliance into twee shite. On the whole forgettable, but rescued from 2 by *those songs*.