Hmm, you're missing Lynyrd Skynyrd and Jefferson Airplane. Otherwise, nice list. :D

Strangely enough, not too many people on this forum have an appreciation of Jefferson Airplane.

That's odd. I personally think Jefferson Airplane make brilliant music (<3 Grace Slick), so what might be the reason they aren't appreciated much here?

I`d say they either haven`t really listened to that much of their material or the bad image that the groups like Jefferson Starship and Staship have.

For the record, I think that the "Surrealistic Pillow" "Crown of Creation" and "After Bathing at Baxters" essential 60's albums and "Volunteers" to be one of the best albums of the late 60`s and early 70`s era. The group had a number of very talented individuals, but the stand out for me has to be Jorma Kaukonen.

I'm not a huge Jefferson Airplane fan either. =/

A big Classic/psychedelic recommendation I would give to anyone who doesn't know about them is Quicksilver Messenger Service. Their album 'Happy Trails' is amazing.
Quicksilver Messenger Service – Free listening, videos, concerts, stats, & pictures at Last.fm

I think "Happy Trails" and their debut album are great albums, and rank up there with some of the best stuff put out by their San Francisco contemporaries like Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead. But from the sheer jamming aspect that was typical of the QMS sound, I`d put them firmly in the Grateful Dead camp. I think things started to go downhill though, when Nicky Hopkins joined the band and even worse when Dino Valenti started to dominate.

Talking of San Francisco bands of that era, Moby Grape come to mind, as does what could have been...........

My favourite JA albums are Volunteers (Eskimo Blue Day is just awesome, Wooden Ships and Good Shepard are great too), After Bathing at Baxter's (Me, you & Pooneil (long version) is the standout) and Surrealistic Pillow in that order. Oh, and the standout for me is Grace Slick, what a magnificient voice.

On a different note, I think their albums are very poorly recorded. There is a constant hiss in the background which isn't usually there with other bands.

I think both Grace Slick and Marty Balin compliment each other perfectly.

Can`t argue with Volunteers, its an absolute classic.

As for the hissing, I can`t say I`ve ever really noticed that.........maybe its just your stereo system;)

Actually it became more prominent with my new DAC, while it removed the hiss from all my Pink Floyd, Led zeppelin, etc albums. So that leads to the conclusion that they are badly recorded albums. All albums are lossless btw.
Pink Floyd, otoh, have perfectly recorded albums, I can turn the volume all the way and no hiss at all.

i love listening to groups like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Steppenwolf etc.

It's like experiencing an era that i wasn't born into.