This concert recording from JA's "salad days" features their first female lead singer, Signe Anderson, in her swan song—a powerful "Chauffeur Blues." (Anderson wanted to raise a family, so Grace Slick disbanded the Great Society and joined the group.) Other songs include covers of Donovan's "Fat Angel" and Wilson Pickett's "In the Midnight Hour."
"Jefferson Airplane Takes Off gave the impression of a somewhat lightweight folk-rock ensemble, but from the opening nine-minute instrumental 'Jam,' the live Airplane heard here is much closer to the style of the other San Francisco bands playing the city's ballrooms around the same time. It is also very much a band led by Balin, whose high-tenor wail dominates … notably on a version of the yet-to-be-recorded '3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds' that is slower than the one soon to appear on the second Airplane album, Surrealistic Pillow."—All Music Guide
