Like walking by a young, fresh faced girl with long hair, bare feet and a fringe jacket, soaked in patchouli oil, on a sunny day just after a morning rain... totally delicious flashback... oh, sorry... back to the present... After so many dreadful bio-docs about our favorite bands of yesteryear (especially the Big Brother "900 Nights" abomination, see my previous reviews), "Fly Jefferson Airplane" is a sheer delight. Great full length performances, pretty good to superb musicianship throughout, and genuinely insightful interviews (with nobody whining about how tough life has been,) this is a feast for Airplane fans. Three things stand out - one, the intelligence of these musicians and how well they've aged, two - what an important platform the Smothers Brothers show was in the Sixties (and how explosive was the effect of the Airplane's appearances there), and three - what a gutsy, inventive vocalist Grace was. The Airplane were a genuinely revolutionary act who had deep influence on the street. Lyrics like "We cannot tolerate their obstruction" and "Tear down the walls, mo*th*er******" had tangible effect on us at the height of the war and on the pervasive "us versus them" mood of the day. I'm sure that sounds naive to a young reader of this review but believe me, in terms of steering cultural change and an ability to trigger political action, they were the most powerful band in the country. Nobody else came close. You had to be there, I'll admit, but when you watch Grace's killer performance of "White Rabbit" on the Smothers show, try and grasp that no one had EVER seen anything like it on American television. And when she appeared on that show in blackface, phew, it was like a minor earthquake, it was so shocking that people talked about it for months. This is fine piece of filmmaking, treating the band with the immense respect it deserves, and it's a nice send off to Spencer Dryden who just left us. Sweet guy, hell of a drummer. Hell of a band. Hell of a time!

I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of video and audio it was very high quality. The DVD covers the years form 1965 to 1970 with the exception of the performance at the 1996 Rock and Roll ceremony in New York City in which Jorma Kaukonan plays a wonderful version of Embryonic journey.

This is not so much a documentary of the band's personal lives but more the bands reflections of the music, what went into the songs and the time period of the mid to late sixties in the San Francisco music scene.

There are several great live videos of the band playing their hits in full length. It's no secret 1966 Fillmore auditorium (with Signe Anderson). The video is over-dubbed with the studio recording of It's no secret, Somebody to love and Flying high at the 1967 Monterey pops festival, White rabbit, Lather and Crown of creation performed on the Smothers brothers comedy hour, Martha from a Perry Como special (this is not a live performance but a video of the band that appears to be filmed in Golden Gate park just clowning around), House at Pooniel corners performed from the roof of a building in Manhattan in 1968 (the video also shows the New York city police department arriving to break up the show), The ballad of you and me and pooniel performed at "a night of the family dog" in 1970, We can be together performed at Woodstock (I believe that this was also over-dubbed with the studio version), Plastic fantastic lover, a powerful and moving version of Volunteers from the Go ride the music video.

The DVD also includes interviews with Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, Jack Casady, Jorma Kaukonan, Spencer Dryden (rest in peace), Marty Balin, Bill Thompson (band manager) and Joey Covington (replaced Spencer Dryden in 1970) There is only a little mentioned about Signe Anderson and nothing mentioned about Skip Spence (the bands first drummer who later was the guitarist for Moby Grape)until you get into the bonus features which is made up of more interviews.

Oh sweet and loving God, thank you, thank you, THANK-YOU!!! Jefferson Airplane have finally done it!!! One of the most beautiful, mysterious, profound and revolutionary rock bands in history has finally been properly and gloriously documented on DVD.

Could there be a Holier Grail for any lover of the REAL music of the `60's than this DVD, which is absolutely chock full of nearly every significant bit of Airplane performance footage in existence? This isn't a reunion, this isn't a comeback. This is genuine vintage footage; real, authentic, edgy, brilliant, fiery, psychedelic and soul-tattooing and I LOVE IT!!!

For twenty years after the end of WWII, mainstream society tried to find a way to get comfortable with the Atomic Bomb. Somehow, it was thought, "normalcy" could still prevail. We thought that if we were out grilling red meat in the backyard one evening and suddenly saw a surprise sunrise, that we'd all just calmly go down into the concrete bunker next to the cabana, taking along our little umbrella drinks and making sure to help mom in her cocktail dress and heels. We'd just buy a big can of radiation-reflecting hairspray and cake on the SPF 10,000 sun block with a trowel, and everything could go on just like before, right? After all, the white men with crew cuts and dark blue polyester suits had everything under control and were going to take care of us. How could anything bad happen?

By 1965, there were masses and masses of people who were whispering, saying, shouting and finally screaming, "F-K THAT!" and Jefferson Airplane was one of the beacons, one of the lighthouses that these people turned to in search of new ways to think and new ways to be. They were anti-establishment and counter-culture by choice and by conscience, because the "establishment" had brought everyone to the brink of incineration with the cooperation of a straight culture that was really just an attempt to normalize the official madness of the cold war. I believe that, whether they know it or not, Jefferson Airplane and others like them helped prevent a nuclear "exchange" between Russia and America, and I also think that they and their peers played a large part in ending the crime against humanity that was happening in Vietnam.

It doesn't matter who you are, you need to own this DVD. It is a musically beautiful, socially relevant, mind-blowing image of a band that was fighting for all of our lives, and that was calling on all of us to have the courage to love without fear, love without hesitating, love without keeping score and most of all to love ourselves enough to demand peace and justice.

I was always pleased to see great rock groups come out with documentaries and video collections, but always wondered " When is Jefferson airplane ever going to come out with one?" Due to a busy work schedule, i didnt get around to buying it until right before christmas ( a present to myself)Its a collection of Tv appearances and live performances. Its excellent and a must have for any airplane fan like me.

This DVD is a great fix for die hard Airplane fans. While some of the music appears to be dubbed in from original recordings, it contains some rare footage from some great performances. Some of the video is not of the highest quality, but is what might be expected from the technology available during this era. The DVD also gives some good historical and personal perspectives from the band members.

If you are a hard core Airplane fan, you have to own this DVD. You won't be disappointed.