The Essential Jefferson Airplane is a compilation of music from the San Francisco

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

 rock band Jefferson Airplane

Jefferson Airplane

Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success....

 spanning its entire career, excluding the brief reunion in 1989 (despite that album now being under common ownership with the rest of the band's catalog).

It follows their development, in more-or-less chronological order, from their beginnings in folk-rock

Folk rock

Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...

, through psychedelia

Psychedelic music

Psychedelic music covers a range of popular music styles and genres, which are inspired by or influenced by psychedelic culture and which attempt to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues-rock bands in the...

, to conventional rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 genres.

Disc One

1. "Blues from an Airplane" – 2:12
2. "It's No Secret" – 2:39
3. "Come Up the Years" – 2:32
4. "She Has Funny Cars" – 3:09
5. "Somebody to Love
   Somebody to Love (Jefferson Airplane song)
   "Somebody to Love" is a rock song that was written by Darby Slick and originally recorded by 1960s folk rock band The Great Society and later by the psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane...
   
   " – 2:56
6. "Comin' Back to Me" – 5:15
7. "Embryonic Journey
   Embryonic Journey (instrumental)
   The acoustic instrumental Embryonic Journey composed by Jefferson Airplane / Hot Tuna guitarist Jorma Kaukonen originally appeared as the ninth track on Jefferson Airplane's second album Surrealistic Pillow but has been often anthologized, and multiple takes were released as an album also entitled...
   
   " – 1:54
8. "White Rabbit
   White Rabbit (song)
   "White Rabbit" is a song from Jefferson Airplane's 1967 album Surrealistic Pillow. It was released as a single and became the band's second top ten success, peaking at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100...
   
   " – 2:32
9. "The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil" – 4:32
10. "Martha (mono single version)" – 3:27
11. "The Last Wall of the Castle" – 2:42
12. "Watch Her Ride" – 3:17
13. "Lather
    Lather (song)
    Lather is a song by the American rock band Jefferson Airplane. It is the opening track on the 1968 album Crown of Creation and was the B-Side for the single of the same name.- Meaning :...
    
    " – 2:57
14. "Crown of Creation" – 2:54
15. "Greasy Heart" – 3:27
16. "Share a Little Joke (mono single version)" – 3:06

Disc Two

1. "3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds (live)" – 4:46
2. "Plastic Fantastic Lover (live)" – 3:51
3. "We Can Be Together" – 5:47
4. "Good Shepherd
   Good Shepherd (song)
   "Good Shepherd" is a traditional song, most known as recorded by Jefferson Airplane on their 1969 album Volunteers. It was arranged and sung by the group's guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, who described their interpretation of it as psychedelic folk-rock....
   
   " – 4:21
5. "Wooden Ships
   Wooden Ships
   "Wooden Ships" is a rock song written and composed by David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Paul Kantner in the late 1960s. The song was written and composed in Florida on Crosby's boat...
   
   " – 6:25
6. "Eskimo Blue Day" – 6:33
7. "Volunteers" – 2:04
8. "Have You Seen the Saucers?" – 3:36
9. "Mexico
   Mexico (Jefferson Airplane song)
   "Mexico" is a single released in May 1970 by the San Francisco rock band Jefferson Airplane, produced by the band at Pacific High Recording Studios with Phill Sawyer as the recording engineer...
   
   (single version)" – 2:09
10. "When the Earth Moves Again" – 3:56
11. "Pretty as You Feel" – 4:30
12. "Third Week in the Chelsea" – 4:36
13. "Long John Silver" – 4:26
14. "Twilight Double Leader" – 4:44
15. "Feel So Good" (live) – 11:23
16. "Milk Train" (live) – 3:28