In memory of Paul Kantner

In memory of Paul Kantner, a Jefferson Airplane co-founder, singer, and guitarist who passed away yesterday, I recommend these three tracks from the "Volunteers" album:

• We Can Be Together (Kantner wrote the band's best song, in my opinion.  This tune has the band's most appealing blend of vocal harmonies and summarizes the generation gap in 1969--and the way his generation was often perceived at the time--as well as or better than any other tune of its era.  It's an impressive album opener...)
• Volunteers (...and segues well with the album's closing track, which Marty Balin and Kantner co-wrote.  The tune serves as a call to protest the Vietnam War and uses the word "volunteers" ironically.)
• Wooden Ships (The excellent Crosby, Stills & Nash version still gets most of the radio airplay, but Jefferson Airplane recorded it, as well.  Kantner co-wrote it with David Crosby and Stephen Stills, and the way it details the consequences of nuclear war shouldn't leave any listener's mind easily.  It's an effective stop-and-think set of lyrics, in the same league as Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth.")

Kantner's most gripping contributions came from a specific time and set of circumstances, and the sentiments he expressed in those three songs deserve their due--and airplay.