The Planet Earth Rock’n’Roll Orchestra (PERRO)
The story of the Hippies in the late Sixties has never been told with such emotion and clarity as this fantasy album of 1970. From the rise of the Haight-Ashbury community in San Francisco to the desperation of the Chicago riots, the crowning pinnacle of Woodstock, the tragedy of Altamont, and the fall of the Haight, this sequence of songs encapsulates the period.
The story is about stepping off of the grid, stepping out from under government control, refusing to participate in the horrors of the Vietnam war, and rising up in an LSD-induced communal effort to hijack the government’s starship. When the counter-culture revolution inevitably fails, the protagonists recognize their failures, find new ways to love, and move back to the land.
This six-record (three CD) fantasy album brings together the collaborations that were at the heart of two highly influential albums (and includes both albums): Blows Against The Empire by Paul Kantner and Grace Slick (using the name Jefferson Starship for the first time), and If I Could Only Remember My Name…. by David Crosby. It was a grand collaboration among the most prominent Hippie icons, collectively bracing for the inevitable death of the Sixties.
The collaborators were the members of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver, and Santana. Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane deemed them The Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra (PERRO). It remains to this day the most amazing collaboration of superstars ever recorded.
Here are the sides in Apple Music/iTunes, and in Spotify:
Apple Music Playlists
Side 1 | Side 2 | Side 3 | Side 4 | Side 5 | Side 6
Spotify Playlists
Overall Copyright (c) 2019-2024 by Tony Bove (for Rockument.com).