Жетісүннің Тажы (Zhetisúnning Tajy)

Crown of Creation is the fourth studio album by the San Francisco psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane, released by RCA Victor in August 1968. The album saw the band continuing their development of psychedelic music, emphasizing acid rock with science fiction themes. It was voted number 591 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000).

Jefferson Airplane's third album, After Bathing at Baxter's, had received warm reviews from the underground press but was a relative commercial disappointment after Surrealistic Pillow, failing to reach gold record status. Just prior to recording the follow up, the group had their manager and promoter Bill Thompson purchase a large 20 room, three story, home at 2400 Fulton Street directly across from Golden Gate Park in San Francisco where the members would live communally. Costing $73,000, the home, known as "The Airplane House" or simply "The Mansion" included a refurbished basement with a built in recording studio. The band became a tight grouping and much of their composing began at their new headquarters. The combination of individuals continued the experimentation and visionary lyrical compositions that made them quintessential in the San Francisco psychedelic rock scene. Writing was generally equal among the group members as they all took part in one or more tracks, with Marty Balin returning to the songwriting fold after his near absence on After Bathing at Baxter's.

The band returned to RCA studios in February 1968 with producer Al Schmitt to record two tracks for their next single, Slick's "Greasy Heart" backed by Balin's "Share A Little Joke". "Greasy Heart" was a hard rock song with wah wah guitar work from Kaukonen that featured a lyric taking aim at phony socialites yet flopped on release that March, reaching #98 on Billboard and falling off the charts in just three weeks. Marty Balin wrote or co wrote four tracks including "Share A Little Joke", the funky, wah wah laden "If You Feel" (penned with band friend Gary Blackman and inspired by the German poet Rilke) and two songs with Kantner, "In Time" and the post nuclear closing epic "The House at Pooneil Corners", meant as a dark sequel to Kantner's earlier "The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil." In concert, the band would sometimes combine the two "Pooneil" tracks together for a medley sequence lasting nearly 20 minutes. Kantner also contributed the heavy acid rock of the title track, with lyrics borrowed verbatim from John Wyndham's sci fi novel The Chrysalids, now repurposed as a revolutionary counterculture anthem. Stylistically the album was their most diverse to date, combining the hard rock and studio experimentation of Baxter's with the more concise pop songwriting acumen of Pillow. Overall it was more tightly structured than their previous effort, while retaining a psychedelic feel. Track arrangements are complex and sophisticated, further explaining why the band had no hit ready singles. Sessions were completed in between their hectic touring commitments, so recording was prolonged since they only had brief periods in which to work.

The song "Crown of Creation" provided the album's title, which was taken with permission from John Wyndham's sci fi novel The Chrysalids and refers to man as the "crown" or highest level of creation. The album cover artwork featured the band members' images duplicated in slightly different positions. In the background, there is a mushroom cloud from an atomic explosion courtesy of the USAF, which references the post apocalyptic themes of the closing track "The House at Pooneil Corners". The design was produced by John Van Hamersveld in Los Angeles. The vinyl release included a "Brumus sheet", which offered song lyrics and credits along with an image of Robert F. Kennedy's dog, Brumus. The band had dined with RFK at his home in February 1968 after performing at a telethon he sponsored, and later attempted to perform a free show with The Grateful Dead at Speedway Meadows after his assassination, but were prevented from doing so by police. Thanks to the then new FM radio, the band received airplay for lengthier album tracks which kept them relevant, especially in the counterculture of the US. However, the group continued to struggle on the singles charts as the follow up to "Greasy Heart", the politically tinged title track, fared better but still only reached No. 64. When the band went on tour in Europe and America to promote the album that fall, many of the album's songs were initially included in the set list, including "Lather", "In Time", "Triad" and "If You Feel" but were dropped within weeks, never to be heard from again. However, "Star Track", "Crown Of Creation", "Greasy Heart" and "House At Pooneil Corners" stayed staples in their live shows through 1970. An expanded edition of Crown of Creation was released on compact disc on August 11, 2003. Four bonus tracks are included, one of which is "Would You Like A Snack? ", an avant garde piece cowritten by Frank Zappa and Grace Slick. Other tracks include the mono single mix of "Share A Little Joke", the previously unreleased eight minute song, "The Saga of Sydney Spacepig" and "Ribump Ba Bap Dum Dum", which is a combination of noises, sound effects, and pop culture catch phrases. Along with the four bonus tracks is a hidden track, an acoustic cover of Reverend Gary Davis' "Candy Man".