You're Only Pretty As You Feel...

Original released on LP Grunt FTR 1001

(US, September 1971)

Dealing with the album "Bark" is a difficult one at best.  It’s complex, beginning with the cover. What you see today on a CD is not what appeared when the album first came out. The album came in a brown paper bag, the size of a grocery shopping bag, with the letters JA boldly emblazoned, the logo taken from the A&P Grocery Store chain. Inside of this bag, on the cover of the sleeve, was a print of a dead fish, as if it had been wrapped in this bag. It was also a nod to the work Andy Warhol was doing with his soup cans, and everyday objects as art. But more then that, was the term of the day ‘my bag.’  By having this, one was in effect saying "I’m into your bag, your trip, I’m on your side." And all three of those statements were presented on this record. If I’m not mistaken, this was the first album released under the Jefferson Airplane’s new "Grunt" Label. Most people didn’t get what "Grunt" meant. A grunt was a foot soldier, and they were called grunts because of the sound they made when attempting to stand up under the heavy load of their backpack [actually we called it an Alice Pack, if you were in the war], and the Airplane saw, or at least wanted to present themselves as the foot soldiers in the war against the Nixon Administration. This was one of the first ultra-thin flexie discs, the vinyl was very thin and flexible compared to the heavy discs that came before.  But the concept didn’t work very well, and later albums were released on much heavier vinyl.

The album had no contextual feel to it, as the others did, either in the music or the message. "Pretty As You Feel" was the hit, but even that song held disguised meanings. One might be that the band was only as good as they felt they were, and they certainly didn’t feel really good about themselves as they were on the verge of breaking up. A change of name for the band to The Jefferson Starship was in the workds; hoping to reflect a newer, swifter vision of themselves and their music. The track "Law Man" stands the test of time, where Grace representing the band takes their last political stand against the powers that be. "Rock And Roll Island" is a great rockin’ song, though it foreshadows a lonely place, were rock and rollers might go, separating themselves from the world. "Wild Turkey" is amazing, but not as a Jefferson Airplane song, it showed what was to come with the side project of Hot Tuna.  The Airplane was crashing, San Francisco was falling apart, the counter culture had become mainstream, the war ragged on, and serious drugs use had infected the band, not to mention the dissolving of Grace’s personal relationship. The band was moving in two directions, and this was tearing it apart. On one hand there was Grace Slick and Paul Kanter, and on the other was Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen. The band could not be relied upon to show up, or worse, be in shape to perform live. There was an event in Germany where Grace just railed the audience for being the losers of the World War II [Nazi’s] because she was so drunk and high. Everything seemed to be crumbling, getting high was no longer fun, it was serious. Dark drugs and rip-offs were more common then ever, it was the winter of Flower Power and there would never be a spring to bring it all back to life. Even with all of this, the music is tight, well thought out and constructed in a considered manner. Some of the best results come from hearing the beginnings of Hot Tuna ... man, they were a great jamming band. While the good songs could have just as easily been placed on either the previous or next record, the body of work stands on it’s own merit, and is a reflection of the times that must be viewed in its contextual nature and atmosphere of the times. (in RateYourMusic)