Jefferson Airplane - 2400 Fulton Street (1987)

This was the first serious effort to assemble the best and most interesting of the Jefferson Airplane's work from beginning to end. At the time, the group's catalog on CD was in a woeful state of disrepair, hastily mastered from LP production sources and sounding worse than original vinyl copies of many of the titles, and there was no comprehensive anthology, just the Worst of Jefferson Airplane compilation from 1970. 2400 Fulton Street isn't ideal, jumping around a little too much, but provides a look for the uninitiated into the evolution of the group's sound from a mixed electric-acoustic folk rock ensemble, not too different from the Mugwumps et al., into a high-energy rock band and, for a time, one of the more daring psychedelic outfits. Additionally, even longtime fans will appreciate most of the jumps that are made, for all of the essentials are here -- most of Surrealistic Pillow, along with highlights from the surrounding albums up through the end of the group's history (with a Levi's radio commercial featuring the band thrown in for good measure) and a few odd singles and B-sides that otherwise usually get overlooked. Moreover, the sound was a major improvement at the time (though it has since been outdone on the re-releases of the individual albums), and the notes contained what was, at the time, perhaps the best easily available account of the group's history.