PICTURE SLEEVE OF THE MONTH Jefferson Airplane White Rabbit/Plastic Fantastic Lover

RCA 5156 DJ US Copy 1967

Oh to be in San Francisco in 1967 just before it all went commercial and bus tours were laid on for the straight people to gawk at the freaks.

Ironically, it was this record, perhaps more than any other, which brought the tourists, the curious, the seekers, the freakers, the users, losers, two-time cheaters.

Originally written by Grace Slick for The Great Society she took it with her to Airplane. It was an instant and now, legendary paean to getting high; a celebration of altered states delivered like a manifesto to a marching beat; an anthem for the LSD shock troops of the army of revolution.

And look at now, a glorious 42 year later. A beautiful thing indeed, inspired as was so much of that time by the Art Nouveau graphics of the turn of the century and the Art Deco of the late 20s.

The band look fresh-faced, if not entirely innocent, peering back at a million kids hungry for an alternative to the American Dream of the 1950s; wanting to break free from the conventions of their upbringing. Here was the 7” single that gave them a route map out, over, above and beyond.

Many took the journey, some got lost along the way, others didn’t like the direction it was taking and turned back but other still found the hidden map to a new way of being. This was not mere pop – though it was that as well – this was a revolutionary record in all senses. A record to make your nostrils flare; to make you feel alive.

And of course, many of us never did forget what the dormouse said.