Jefferson Starship

I love the old Jefferson Starship - Blows Against the Empire, and even other 'revolutionary' themed offerings from Paul Kantner and Grace Slick (Sunfighter, Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra), so was thrilled when I had heard they had released a 'new' old themed CD - if there were ever times that screamed for some type of protest, it's got to be the last 8 years of Republican controlled government (the Democrat controlled congress is a moot point if they can't override a veto), anyway - I thought, "cool, my sixties revolutionairies are back .... hooray". But when I got this, they just sounded old and dated. Maybe it's me, but I just didn't find what I was looking for with this CD. Is it 'revolutionary', well .... at times, but mostly, it just struck me as a lament for old days by a bunch of once great, but now dated artists. Cathy Richarson, who that takes the Grace Slick vocal slot, does a fine job - and can hold her own with Grace Slick in her prime, but there's no passion in these songs. They seem like half-hearted, folksy ditties that don't measure up to their predecessors. Sometimes, it's not a good thing to look back. Marty Balin is on this, but his voice is gone. Paul Kantner sounds familiar, but older, and overall, kind of washed up. If you're a die hard and want to complete a collection, then go ahead and get this, but if you're looking for something like Blows Against the Empire, or for that matter - any other Jefferson Starship Cd, you'll probably find this lacking.

I am a fan of Airplane/Starship from all the way back to the late 60's and early 70's. The late Starship stuff was pretty insipid, nothing I could recommend. I hope this is a genuine rebirth...but I am cautious. How about providing old fans with some samples??

Wow! Paul Kantner and friends travel all the way around, back to the beginning, then break through to a new dimension! This is amazing, heartfelt stuff, drawing upon myriad influences from the early days. Yet it's not for Kantner to look backwards without looking forward. One could call it interplanetary folk music. Further!

I did it to myself again. I read about this new disc of protest/folkish songs by the resurrected Starship and siad this sounds like it could be great. Maybe it could have but lordy. lordy this sucks. Someday I will learn that you can never go home.

I really liked the Airplane (despite a stint back stage with the truly unlikeable Grace Slick in the 60s); still do. The Starship had their moments but did begin to get a little too pop oriented. Nonetheless, most of their music was on the plus side.

Well, something went dreadfully wrong. It took days to finish listening to all the cuts once. Then it immediately was taken out of the jewel case and put into a plastic sleeve and taken to the basement where maybe my heirs will give it a spin. I will never listen to it again.

Thomas Jefferson is rolling over

It's nice to see a band remain not only active but relevant for more than 40 years. I'm always excited when the Jeffersons (Airplane/Starship) come out with something new. I wish it happened more frequently.

'Jefferson's Tree of Liberty' goes back to the sounds and songs of protest of the late '50's into the '60's. As Paul Kantner has said, sort of a reverse (electric to acoustic) of the route Bob Dylan went. The timeliness of these older songs having come full circle back to relevancy is almost eerie. The times now, the political and economic climate today almost demand an album like this.

There are 19 songs in all. The 19th, 'Surprise, surprise (look what's goin' down)' is not even listed but is one of my favorites, featuring the single song return of Grace Slick. Her voice still has the same magical qualities. My favorite song which I've heard hundreds of times now is 'Chimes of Freedom.' The harmonies are exquisite. The rest of the album has a range of styles, messages and singers from thoughout the Jeffersons' history. Marty Balin is even on a couple of tracks. The messages carry more weight than the sounds of these other songs, which for the most part, I could take or leave myself, but just hearing something fresh from Starship was refreshing enough for me.

After the disintegration of San Frncisco's Jefferson Airplane (they didn't really make a successful transision into the 70's from being a prime 60's psychedlic band), some of the latter day members (particularly Grace Slick and Paul Kantner) regrouped as Jefferson Starship. Their first ablum "Dragonfly" was a an improvement over the last few Airplane albums. For this, the second album, original Airplane founder member Marty Balin rejoined and his song "Miracles" gave the Starship a massive hit with both the song and this album. In many ways the high point of Jefferson Starship's career (before they became known as simple "Starship following Paul Kantner's departure), in many otherways just classy MOR. More exciting songs are to befound on the aforementioned "Dragonfly" (and the follow up "Spitfire"), but here there is a greater sophistication (whether or not this is a good thing is open to debate).

As most of you know, the moat outside my castle has a sea serpent. For the most part he behaves. However, every so often he becomes very revolutionary, shouts anti-conventional epithets with youthful rebellion. Refuses to cut his hair and follows heros like Che. Yes, it's disturbing. What's worse is trying to pick out cuisine for him at the fish market. I've never seen so many lobster claws thrown back at me!

Anyway, I figured a good way to temper his mood was to get a playmate for him. So I went down to the local pet store and saw a sale - Octopus 50% Off. Never one to pass up a bargain, your Metamorpho investigated this. Sure enough, there they were; blue ones, yellow ones, orange ones, red ones. But a very coy red one caught my eye by batting her lashes (does an octopus have eyelashes? who cares?), so I bought that one and brought it home. The sea serpent was thrilled and they played badmitton almost immediately. I was most happy. But that leads to this review of "Red Octopus".

I remember the Jefferson Airplane and the chemistry they had. What a band. And it wasn't so much that the music was precise, which, at times, it wasn't. It was the fact that they exhibited creative freedom. It was chaos that jelled. It was whatever they felt it should be. And that spark is what drove the music into a special arena.

What happened eventually was that they were all not on the same page. Members left and the Airplane material had less spice. Unfortunately they crash landed. But, certain members still got along and decided to reconstruct- only this time they built a starship. Sleek, sturdy, ready to take off towards a new century. However, new, in this case, doesn't mean better. We shall see why.

Well, we still had Grace, Paul and Marty from the old band, but they filled in the line-up with Craig Chaquico (a young, ace guitarist), Pete Sears (keyboardist/bass extraordinaire as well as David Freiberg), John Barbata (drums) and Papa John Creach (who plays wicked violin). They were then set to take on the world. Mind you, all of these musicians were outstanding in their expertise, but there is just something, oh, I don't know, that doesn't sit right in my complicated mind. Let's see if I can figure it out.

We have the miraculous "Miracles", Marty Balin's smooth love ode that is vying for the honor of world's most overplayed song. Still, it is a calling card for the music contained herein. Grace's "Fast Buck Freddie" is still a great tune with vast musical runs. "Hold a dollar bill up to the mirroir"-oh yeah. Her "Al Garimaso" is a nice pop ballad done in her inimitable way. Even Grace can be calmed down ---sometimes. He co-written tune, pop-friendly "Play On Love" contains one of my favorite lines by her; "Who's been telling you about perfection? And how did he get in here, that's the question". And, that is the question.

Aside from this, we have the bubbling fiddle instrumental "Git Fiddler",the obligatory Marty Balin tunes "Sweeter than Honey" (rocker) and "Tumblin" (saccharin love ballad). Also, a space rocker, "I Want to See Another World" (the reason for building a spaceship, I suppose), the pleasant, varying moods in the instrumental "Sandalphon", and the pleasant groove of "There Will Be Love" (whereby Marty, Grace and Paul actually sing in unison!).

The rest of the c.d. gives you live extras of most of the tunes. While mostly well done - Grace goes flat in quite a few places. That is not a complaint. That is just Grace. In all, a nice respectable pop album. I suppose what was so difficult for me was the fact that Airplane changed and went to a more glossy, contemporary sound. It was a nice winning formula as history has proved. However, I still wonder if this went against the grain of their true nature? From revolutionaries to capitalists. Or, maybe the RCA executives finally got wise and made some demands. Who knows? But, it is a good c.d. after all.

In any event, the red octopus I bought had a hard time surviving in the turbulent water in my moat. The sea serpent did not mix well with her either. He is a picky one. Anyway, I finally took the red octopus out and brought her to a river. She hugged me with her tentacles and was happy to be released into the main stream. After all- that's where she belongs.

squidding on thin ice - as always --Metamorpho ;)

The best!! Great to hear the classics again, so glad I got it!!!

Blessings to All
Deb

I don't know if I'd call myself a big Jefferson Starship fan, because most of their music besides this album hasn't really caught my attention, but Red Octopus RULES. I LOVE this album. Every song.

Maybe it's the meaningful vocal melodies with lots of emotion, or maybe it's the guitar playing. Whatever it is, I love this baby.

"fast buck freddie" seems like a song that goes all OVER the place the first time you listen to it, without any of the vocal melodies really catching on. However, listen to it a few more times, and find out that it really IS a good song. Of course "miracles" is a classic, especially the longer version. Great song. A great way to blend female and male vocals, too. I won't argue with anyone who says it's the best song on the album.

"git fiddler" is another highlight. I love instrumentals and this is a really good one. "tumblin" is a typical 70's ballad, but who cares? "I want to see another world" is a strange one. A song that really stands out from the rest of the album. It's loud, sounds important, and you won't forget how the chorus goes. The chorus is great. "saldalphon" sounds SO MUCH like a Procol Harum song. It must be the slow-building keyboards that help me come to this conclusion. Very soft, beautiful, memorable song. "there will be love" is the song that carefully blends great emotional singing with emotional guitar playing. What a song this one is.

But do you want to know which song makes the whole thing near perfect? It's "Al Garimasu (there is love)" POWERFUL, slow-building, flawless female vocals. BEST SONG EVER. I'm serious. PLEASE listen to Red Octopus. "AHHHHHHH, I want to FE-EL YOUR LO-O-OVE" You don't realize how good this song is.

There's no denying that Red Octopus is one of the most successful commercial albums ever produced by a previously counterculture band. On this second official release of Jefferson Starship, Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, Marty Balin and company boldly toss off the last vestiges of the Jefferson Airplane era and stride boldly into the world of mid-70s corporate rock. And as much as I truly despise that genre, I'd have to say that Red Octopus manages to achieve that rare intersection of broad commercial appeal and quality.
What song is more symbolic of an era than Miracles? Perhaps only the reconstituted Fleetwood Mac of the early Buckingham-Nicks era comes as close to commercially evoking the mid-70s spirit of album oriented rock radio. As blatantly commercial the appeal of Miracles is, I still like it. The line "I had a taste of the real world (just a drop of it), when I went down on you girl" was one of the most daringly suggestive lines of the day and also one of the most pointedly passionate. It still sounds that way today and the full version of Miracles is a song of which I never tire.
By and large, the rest of Red Octopus is a very enjoyable album. Never has Grace Slick's voice rang out with more confidence and authority. In addition to Miracles, my favorites are Fast Buck Freddy, Al Garimasu, Play On Love, I Want To See Another World, and the instrumental Sandalphon which is briefly evocative of Procol Harum. I enjoy the bonus tracks as well, although the shortened version of Miracles just doesn't do it for me. The play of Papa John Creech and the musicality of Pete Sears add much to the aural appeal of Red Octopus.
I agree with the reviewer from Florida who feels that Red Octopus constitutes the apex of creativity for Jefferson Starship as a band. It was all downhill from here and it was especially painful to hear the depths to which they ultimately sunk with the execrable "We Built This City".
If I had to recommend one album by Jefferson Starship, Red Octopus is the only one to which I give an enthusiastic recommendation. Not only is it good, but it is at a bargain price as well. Now that I've rediscovered it, it will never gather dust.

Jefferson Starship's music is legendary. Featuring members such as Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, Mickey Thomas and David Freiberg, they produced some classic pop rock throughout the 1970s and 1980s. And, their music is simply incredible.

Featuring former members of the legendary 1960s group Jefferson Airplane, you get 12 essential Jefferson Starship tracks on this set in RCA's series 'Platinum & Gold Collection.'

'Jane,' 'Ride The Tiger,' 'Stranger,' and 'Miracles are all here on this set for your listening pleasure. And, the sound quality is excellent!

You also get album tracks and fan favorites, such as 'Hot Water,' which features great vocals from Slick.

So if you're new to Jefferson Starship, do check this set out. You'll get your money's worth with this set. Highly recommended. ENJOY!!!

Well at least the "BMG Heritage" series did it right when it put out three seperate discs one for each phase of the band's lifespan. Yet each one comes up short of actual hits in favor of a mix of hit singles and album tracks. This one omits "With Your Love"(1976), "Find Your Way Back"(1981) and "Be My Lady"(1982), and instead substitutes them with lesser-known or non-hit tracks like "Hot Water" and "Freedom at Point Zero"?

Although no greatest hits compilation will have EVERY song you might want on it, this one comes close, including several I didn't even realize WERE by this amazing group of artists. Even though it does have a song I must regretfully admit to loathing ("We Built This City"), I give this item the HIGHEST marks!

It's a little hard to believe that the trippy Jefferson Airplane became the rocking Jefferson Starship only to disintegrate into the sappy Starship, but the transformation is right here on these two CDs. The songs you'd expect to find on a hits collection of these three bands are here -- Somebody to Love, White Rabbit, Miracles, Caroline, Jane and We Built This City, to name a few. For me, this compilation is worth having for the full version of Miracles, which was edited for radio play back in the 70s but is more passionate and amazing at its full length! While this set is satisfying, I'd like to see a boxed set someday...

I've been reading the reviews on this collection, and quite frankly, the name of this package is HITS...not what some people regard as their favorites maybe, but all the hits are there from all three incarnations of this band between 1967 and 1990. I've always been of the train of thought that band members come and go for reasons, and they chose the ones they thought would serve them the best. I don't see any of the changes this band made as any kind of sellout at all...hey, no one held a gun to their heads and said "You will make THIS type of music..." they wrote and performed the songs that were on these albums, and the ones they didn't write were ones they liked enough to record. Grace Slick and Marty Balin sounded great together...and when I had the chance to see the band in 1985, she sounded great together with Mickey Thomas...and in 2002 when I caught Mickey Thomas's Starship on tour with Eddie Money, he still sounded great doing all the Starship tunes associated with him. Every song is someone's favorite, and a lot of mine are on this collection. If you don't want to spend tons of money to get all their hits in one place, buy this collection. If, on the other hand, you prefer one period of this band's varied history over another...then go buy the best of collection from that period, or collect the albums they put out during that period. Hits collections seem to take it on the chin for not including one person's favorites or inevitably another person has to ask "how could they NOT include...?" (like the track "Winds of Change", but I already have that on another CD, it's not like I can't listen to it). All in all, great collection, comprehensive...
and affordable.

Jefferson Airplane - "Hits" (Rock & Roll, Hard Rock, Psychedelic, Folk-Rock, Arena Rock) : Firstly it should be mentioned that this extensive compilation compiles the vast majority of the best / Most popular tracks from the 3 incarnations of Jefferson Airplane.....so that includes the bands transitions from "Jefferson Airplane" to "Jefferson Starship" through to just "Starship" (Which contained none of the founder members, and thus explains the radically different sound in the bands transitions).

Seeing as this is a "Hits" album, the vast majority of their most popular & critically applauded songs throughout the various transitions of the band are complied here. From the Jefferson Airplane side, the 60's rock and psychedelic rock & Folk-rock that they made their name on, is faithfully represented here, with the excellent inclusions of "Somebody to Love / White Rabbit / Plastic Fantastic Lover".....which (for me) are amongst some of the strongest tracks featured here on this 35 track double album. Jefferson Starship gradual shift away from 60's/Psychedelic rock, to a more Area based rock, and Album oriented rock, lists their best achievements in "Caroline / Miracles / Count on me / With your love", and yet again prove themselves to be fantastic songs in their own right. The transition of their sound was complete with the move to "Starship", which had a completely different line-up of musicians and saw them embrace 80's rock/ Soft rock (not to dissimilar to 'Fleetwood Mac'), and Pop/Rock crossover....with "Sara / Nothings gonna stop us now / It not over (Til it's over)", and the anthemic "We Built this City".

Seeing as the band went through three personality changes since it's inception, its not hard to audibly hear the transition of sound, where the band change direction musically. And herein lies the problem.....if you only like one or indeed two, of the bands incarnations, then you're going to have difficulty sitting through the tracks of the period of the band that you don't like.......and because it's one of the only albums to give a complete overview of the band, this is really only aimed at people that liked all three incarnations (irrespective of the wildly different sound), so if you are one of those people, than you'd be far better served, picking up a individual collection album of the period of the band that you like.

For those of us, that do appreciate Jefferson's multiple musical & line-up changes, this is as exhaustive & thorough a compilation as you could possibly hope for, and serves to be an illuminating overview of the band, and a balanced portrayal of their wildly varying music. And if you can handle listening to '60's Folk-rock', through to 'Arena / Album oriented rock'....culminating in 80's soft rock (although undeniably catchy), this is the finest catalogue of a band with over 20 years of hits......and highly recommended.

I was somewhat amused by another reviewers description of this collection as being "bizarre". I would concur that this is an apt description as this is one group that changed personnel and musical directions so frequently that it would make your head spin. But in the final analysis, this outfit left us with a pretty impressive body of work. This two CD set released in 1998 is no doubt the best collection that has ever been offered. RCA/BMG has included a generous 35 tracks beginning with the best work of Jefferson Airplane from the late 60's. Aside from the obligatory "Somebody To Love" and "White Rabbit", selections include "Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil" as well as the title cuts from two of their popular albums of the day "Crown of Creation" and "Volunteers".
For me, the group did it finest work in the mid to late 70's when they were known as Jefferson Starship. All of the hit singles are here including "Miracles", "With Your Love", Count On Me" and one of my personal favorites "Runaway" from 1978. Another terrific tune, 1984's "No Way Out" is also included.
The group had another metamorphisis in 1985 when they emerged as simply Starship. And much to my amazement, the group scored with several of its biggest hits ever including "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now", "Sara" and of course "We Built This City". All three of those tunes reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
While I enjoyed the music, Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship/Starship was never among my very favorite bands. There are really more tracks here that I required. But as a practical matter this package remains the best collection available. The remastering job is excellent and the 12 page booklet that is included is OK. All in all, a pretty good deal.

When vocalist/rhythm guitarist Paul Kantner and vocalist/pianist Grace Slick finally figured out (after two years!) that Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady weren't coming back to the Jefferson Airplane, they recruited a couple of players that had played on sessions for their outside projects (lead guitarist Craiq Chaquico and Pete Sears on bass and keyboards) and the rest of the final incarnation of the Airplane (violinist Papa John Creach, drummer John Barbata, and David Freiberg on vocals, keyboards and bass) to form Jefferson Starship.

Although JS developed a bad reputation later, this first proper band release by them ranks with the very best Airplane material. It's far better than the final two Airplane studio albums (the disastrous "Bark" and "Long John Silver"), and less self-indulgent than outside projects like "Sunfighter" or "Manhole". Kantner, Slick and Freiberg had begun moving towards this sound on their "Baron Von Tollbooth and the Chrome Nun" album. Short on lengthy instrumental jamming, weird sound effects or experimentation, which made some JA fans unhappy. But we have a cohesive yet diverse collection of catchy idiosyncratic pop/rock songs, played well and tightly. New producer Larry Cox imposed more discipline on the group, without having them descend into the sappier commercial sounds which they would indulge in later.

Like all of the JS/JA albums, this is a democratic affair. Everyone except Barbata gets at least one songwriting credit. There's a lot of variety, but everyone is on the same page. Freiberg writes and sings a collaboration with Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter called "Come to Life", driven by a funky Pete Sears bassline. I think he also sings lead on Chaquico's "That's for Sure", with lyrical musings by one Jerry Gallup on birth and death. The lead vocal is a bit flat, but the playing and harmonies lift the song up.

Slick writes the lyrics and sings lead on three songs. Her solo song, "Be Young You" (the title a play on the name of her tennis instructor, Byung Yu), is the first of a series of piano ballads that she would contribute to the next few Starship albums. But none of the others would have such inscrutable lyrics. "Devils' Den", music by Creach, seems to be about political corruption, and features another cool bass line from Pete. Sears also provided the music for the lovely "Hyperdrive", a long ballad with nice keyboard textures from him and Freiberg. Slick's vocals, as they are throughout the album are very effective, but her sci-fi metaphors for aging are delivered in her most moving performance.

Paul Kantner brought in some of his best songs ever. He sings lead on the one totally outside composition, "All Fly Away", by folkie Tom Pacheco. The childlike fantasy visions fit well with Paul's own songwriting style. Paul got some lyrical help from Slick and Byung Yu for "Ride the Tiger", the album's first single. A strong rock track, Paul's second song dealing with his fascination with China ended up being one of the band's most popular songs. Finally, JA founder and vocalist Marty Balin returns after several years to write and sing the lyrics to Paul's "Caroline". This, not "Miracles", is Marty's classic rock ballad. Twelve string guitar, harpsichord, piano, mellotron, alternate with Chaquico's dynamic rock guitar, Marty's soaring lead vocal, terrific harmonies and great lyrics. Marty would never top it.

Although the album had a more commercial sound than those from the Airplane, the band's individuality was still intact, without the corny pop pandering that was coming up. Your intelligence won't be insulted if you pick this one up, but you'll still be entertained. Get it!

'Dragon Fly' is a pretty interesting album. It features an early Jefferson Starship at their finest. For all I know, this could easily be a Jefferson Airplane album. It is also significant because it reunites Paul Kantner and Grace Slick with former Jefferson Airplane vocalist and founding member, Marty Balin.

At the time this was released, in 1974, Balin wasn't an official member. He wasn't even considered a member at all. Although he did sing lead on the brilliant 'Caroline,' he would not become an official member of Jefferson Starship until early 1975.

The rest of the album is pretty good as well, although I will say now that 'Caroline' is the standout. 'Ride The Tiger' features a heavier side of Jefferson Starship, and also contains a solo from the legendary fiddler, Papa John Creach.

'Devil's Den' is the other great song here. It's not one of Jefferson Starship's best songs, but it's definitely a highlight on this album, no doubt.

Overall, if you are die-hard Jefferson Starship fan or a collector, or you are a Jefferson Airplane fan trying to start a Jefferson Starship collection, I strongly recommend this album. For casual fans, however, stick to buying the compilations, or if you want a studio album, buy 'Earth' or 'Red Octopus.'

Recommended for the Jefferson Starship collector.

So, what makes this bargain not a bargain? Read on...the mastering/re-mastering is EXACTLY the same as the 1997 version (I compared both versions several times to verify the sound quality). The 1997 CD has a beautiful variation of the original inner sleeve art on the disc itself, in 2008 we get plain blue with album/group name and song titles/lengths. The 2008 case does have a clear jewel tray, but the picture underneath artistic squiggles, in variations of blue. Last, but unfortunately THE LEAST is the travesty done to the 1997 art and booklet. The 1997 version has a faithful reproduction of the original album jacket on both sides of the enclosed booklet. The back tray liner features a color reproduction of the original inner sleeve art. The booklet itself is 8 pages, 3 of which contain a helpful and informative summary of the groups origins and the album itself written by David Cohen. Song information and further well-reproduced artwork variations round out the rest. Not only does the 2008 version only have a 4 page booklet with 2 blank inside, the back of the booklet and the back liner tray only contains song tiles, times and credits. I've saved the worst for last, which is the shody reproduction of the original front cover artwork. Not only is it blurry and lacking detail compared to the 1997 version, they don't even use the original font! All in all not even worth the lower price. Sony/BMG has recently re-released what seems to be at least a hundred different older or out-of-print titles under the "Custom Marketing Group" imprinture, many that in the past had excellent booklets chock-full of informative information and photos. I can only STRONGLY recommend that if given the choice between a 2008 lower price "Custom Marketing Group CD", or the actual original it is meant to replace, don't think twice. As more and more music lovers catch on to this latest "major label" scam, the prices wanted for the superior originals are bound to skyrocket. Don't say I didn't warn you......

Wow! No one has written a review for the SBME SPECIAL MKTS label of Jefferson Starship's "Dragon Fly", so here's what you can expect. There are absolutely NO notes or any kind of additional information whatsoever about the band members. No pictures, no information, no song titles, NOTHING but a blank white empty piece of cardboard. That explains why the price for these discs are so cheap.

However, what the liner notes lacks in information, the disc itself makes up for in *excellent* sound quality. The sound of the music is VERY clean, crisp, and I think it's about as perfect as you can possibly expect. I figured since many people are selling the disc for a cheap price, there HAS to be something wrong with this version. Such as lackluster sound quality. Never fear- apparently these SBME SPECIAL MKTS discs are totally worth owning for the amazing sound alone. Just don't expect to see any kind of band photos or booklets or a written history of the band or any kind of information like that.

NOW, with that out of the way, let's talk about the actual music. Jefferson Starship's debut is surprisingly underrated. I thought more people would have reviewed the album than what we have so far. To me that's kind of disappointing because the music this band was making on this album was unique. Sure, it's basically a continuation of Jefferson Airplane with an updated 70's sound and without the hard rock punch that made the Airplane so memorable. But the quality of the songwriting has remained.

You have Grace Slick's amazing vocal style where she can allow her voice to soar and elevate to new heights, and the guy lead singer who has TONS of emotion packed in his vocal style. "Caroline" is a good example of that. The best song on the album that features a verse melody similar to "Miracles". His ability to sing meaningful vocal melodies is really unbelievable. Looking back, he's probably in the top 10 greatest singers of the 70's. What a perfect voice.

You have a guitarist who has some of the best solos I've ever heard (seriously, I mean that). Some moments remind me of Jeff Beck from the Blow By Blow album. Some of the funky guitar playing on Dragon Fly is similar to a couple songs from that Beck album.

"Hyperdrive" sounds like the bands approach of trying space rock and it works really well, especially Grace's vocals that totally amaze me. It's almost like post-psychedelic space rock, and the lyrics are really adventurous too "That's for Sure" is the most underrated song on the album because of the emotional vocals that dominate it. "Be Young You" may be one of Grace Slick's finest moments as a lead singer. Not many people can sing like she did back in the 60's and 70's. "Come to Life" has a looping guitar riff that rules a lot. Just a perfect album really.

I love every single song. I can't believe some people only listen to the album for a couple songs. I listen to it for EVERY song. A must own album. Not as good as Red Octopus, but a close second.

As the author of the Jefferson Airplane book "Take Me To A Circus Tent" and a former radio disc-jockey, I am often asked to write and or discuss various music supplies and recordings from the 60's and 70's.

1974 saw the release of "Dragon Fly" and it was obvious that the plane would now fly in another direction. The project obviously without Hot Tuna's Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady did encompass original Airplane members Paul Kantner and Marty Balin along with Grace Slick who was present for the entire journey excluding the debut record. An additional dose of J.A. flavor is sprinkled with Papa John Creach (An Airplaner since 10/5/70), David Freiberg (Joined the Airplane after the start of the 1972 tour), and John Barbata (Became part of the fold during 7/72).

Craig Chaquico (guitar) known by the band for his work on Jack Traylor's (Long time friend of Paul) 1973 Steelwind album and Pete Sears (bass and keyboards) friend of the band since his appearance on the 1971 Papa John Creach self-titled LP were never asked to emulate Jorma and Jack. There mission was to play in a new unit with a much different vision.

The idea of a different vision would alienate some of the older Airplane fans but the door would be open to create their own niche.

"Ride The Tiger" to this day remains as one of the finest Jefferson Starship compositions in any of their terrific incarnations. The riff is memorable from the initial listen and the words a powerhouse.

"Be Young You" could stop a herd in their tracks. Grace's inflection and vocal style make everything in the outside world superfluous for 3:46.

"Caroline" demonstrates that in any era Marty Balin's ability to take a ballad to escalating heights can never be questioned. It gave the band what they needed the radio exposure for the hit oriented crowd to go with the airplay of "Ride The Tiger" for the Album Rock segment.

"Come To Life" is a tune I specifically asked Craig about in "Take Me To A Circus Tent." The sound of his guitar is perfect. He told me that between John Barbata (Drums) and Jorma's brother Peter (Guitar) they had instilled upon him the importance of the right equipment for the specific song. He had met Peter in a previous session. To this day "Come To Life" is one of the most underrated tunes the band would ever pen.

"Hyperdrive" with the longest playing time of any of the eight tracks closes the album. The tune written by Sears and Slick takes us in every direction for nearly eight minutes. Grace's vocals resonate with passion and the band jelled as if they had done this for decades. It's a tune people listen to over and over to soak up every nuance they could fine.

There could be only one Airplane but the Jefferson Starship has flown a different fight path and has done it well. Paul Kantner can be proud to carry the torch for the 40th Anniversary of the Summer Of Love!


Enjoy the music and be well,
Craig Fenton
Author of the Jefferson Airplane book "Take Me To A Circus Tent"

Jefferson Starship's 1976 album 'Spitfire' was an interesting album. It's one of my personal favorites. It showcases the talents of Grace Slick, guitarist Craig Chaquico and Marty Balin. The album features some key love songs, several of which would become hits for them.

'Love Lovely Love' was a romantic song, but unfortunately never became hit. The song was written by Balin, and showcases his romantic side, but it's rare to hear it on the radio.

'With Your Love' was a massive hit for Jefferson Starship. It was a regular radio hit in 1976, and it's not hard to see why. The song contains great lyrics from Balin, and Kantner, Slick, and keyboardist David Freiberg do a great job singing backup vocals.

One thing I've always admired about both Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship was the cover art on their albums. 'Spitfire' has very unique cover art, very eye catching. It looks like Japanese art, with a girl riding a dragon, which I've always found to be very creative and eye-catching.

Also here is Grace Slick's 'Hot Water.' This song is always left in the dirt, and I never understood why. It has made appearances on hit compilations before, and rightfully so. "You get what you give/You give what you get" are the opening lyrics, and boy are those lyrics true!

The last love song on the album is 'St. Charles.' This song is another very underrated song and is almost always overlooked in favor of other Jefferson Starship love songs, and I've never understood why.

Overall, if you haven't bought 'Spitfire' and you like Jefferson Starship, buy it. You will appreciate this album. Sure, it's no 'Red Octopus,' but it's still great.

Highly recommended for any Jefferson Starship fan. You won't regret buying this album.

ENJOY!!!

For those people who tend to view Airplane/Starship history as one long ongoing rivalry between Grace Slick and Marty Balin, the mid-70s might be considered a turning point. Marty was not only back in the fold (a fold that he had been instrumental in founding) but HE was the one now turning into a hit factory. If interloper Slick had captured the public imagination and supplied the Airplane's earliest chart toppers ("Somebody To Love" and "White Rabbit," as if they needed any mentionign), Marty's romantic balladeering and more AOR sensibility seemed now poised to steer the group into the not-so-psychedelic soft rock of the Seventies.

And for Balin fans, that was a kind of poetic justice.

But even though it had long been a critical trope of sorts to blame any or all Airplane shortcomings on Balin's reduced, post-PILLOW role, his ascendency in the revived Starship brought about its own set of criticisms--namely that Balin was turning into a neo-lounge singer of the sappiest variety. "Miracles" was fine, they said, if overlong. But it led to a string of copycat singles beginning with this successor album's "With Your Love" (and would continue with "Count On Me" and his solo "Hearts"). There were jokes about how Marty always really wanted to be a soul balladeer but he was really turning into a Schlockmeister plain and simple.

You can't win for losing in life, or especially, in the music biz. As a fan of the ENTIRE group, I have always been willing to concede that, yes, the singles were getting a bit formulaic, but then again, they were just singles after all. If you wanted to know what the group was up to as a whole, or even what Marty Balin was up to within the context of the entire oeuvre, you still had to listen to the albums.

Interestingly enough, Marty has both this album's opening AND closing tracks, and neither is "Miracles II." "Cruisin'" is a bit funkier than your average JA/JS fare, but it would be unfair to say that Balin is coming off as a soulman wannabe. He and the band are just having fun. The track is a bit of a goof, a soul-inflected "car song" with a bit of bounce and a bit of wit (it offhandedly quotes the Beatles' "Drive My Car"). "Love Lovely Love," the album's closer, is a lushly romantic number, but more uptempo and urban than the hit ballads he was accused of starting to churn out even then.

For her part, Grace was continuing a trend begun on RED OCTOPUS. She was writing her own brand of oblique, quirky love songs that were tight, taut and brimming with irony. Songs with titles like "Switchblade" and "Hot Water" may address, in their own quirky way, matters of the heart, but no one is going confuse them with "You Light Up My Life" (even though Grace actually claimed to be a FAN of that last tune--and by gum, I can't think of anyone else's take on it that I'd rather hear). Grace is as steely and as cryptic as ever, but it's pretty clear that "Switchblade" is addressing the topic of romantic rivalry while the snakey, sensuous "Hot Water" seems to tie in romantic love, caritas and agape in a striking, sweeping way. As per usual with Grace, you can't exactly write a precis on what she's saying. And of course, you'd scarcely want to.

Grace's two self-penned originals are as strong as her typical two or three song contribution to any previous Airplane album, and that's saying something. In fact, she is being as true to HERSELF here as Marty is to HIMSELF. It was around this time that Balin gave his (somewhat notorious) interview to CRAWDADDY, in which one of the least offensive things he said was that the Starship was basically a "variety show." Well, yeah, but what variety!

Now,of course, in any discussion of the group, there is always the Paul Kantner question to consider. Speaking of magazine interviews, there had been one a few years before in which Grace admitted to Lester Bangs that, yes, on the one hand, she understood how people could find Kanter to be bombastic and overbearing--but she also understood what he was trying to do. I could relate to that comment, even though objectively, there probably IS no excuse for overbearing bombast. Still there was always something, I dunno, almost touching about Kantner's attempts to say something more than the typical rock song, to inspire and evoke a sense of community that was scarcely existent by 1976 (or, for that matter, by 1969).

And what I liked best about SPITFIRE was that the Paul Kantner songs really AREN'T all that heavyhanded. For one thing, he co-wrote most of them with either Grace or Marty or both (with a little contribution from the then five-year old China Wing Kantner to boot). I was a fan, but I would often hold my breath a bit upon hearing a new Kantner song. Would it cross the line into pomposity and grandiosity. Well, the delightful thing about his efforts on this album was that they really did not. "Dance With the Dragon" continues the bounce that Marty's "Cruisin'" set up, and if it seems to be addressing more exotic concerns (with that Oriental thing going on), it doesn't portentously declaim the difference between, say, Chinese and Western tears (a la earlier tracks like "Ride the Tiger").

And "St. Charles" and "Song To the Sun: Oxymandias/Don't Let It Rain" (which while true group efforts have all the hallmarks of Kanter epics) actually do achieve something of the grandeur Paul Kantner was always trying for. I'll always remember a time I started to doze slightly while listening to "St. Charles" and finding it a near-perfect dream song.

So, yeah, in the grand old Airplane tradition, everybody gets to do a bit of their thing on SPITFIRE, and while some complain that that even includes drummer John Barbata's toss-off "Big City," I don't even mind that one. It's a bit of an echo to (the original Side One's) "Cruisin'" and reminds us that all was not solemn and arty in the Airplane/Starship camp. And while some find SPITFIRE a lesser work than OCTOPUS, I can't help but wonder if they were already looking back nostalgically at "Miracles." This is a more song-oriented album (remember that OCTOPUS had not one, but two just OK instrumentals), and the singers are all in good form. For those of us, who see the best Airplane/Starship work as a synergy (and NOT as a rivalry), SPITFIRE was maybe their last great collaboration.

there are some great tunes on this release, St. Charles, Song to the Sun, With Your Love, Love, Lovely Love. Overall a very stong release that seems to have missed a lot of the attention it deserves.

It was great hearing this oldie once again. It's been about 25 - 30 years since I last heard it. Sound was great and brought back great college memories of the dorm room!

SPITFIRE was Jefferson Starship's third great album in a row. The songs "Dance With The Dragon" and "Song To The Sun" have a political/mystical slant similar to the old Airplane, but the rest of the album is mostly love songs, albeit very good ones. Aside from the two aforementioned songs, the only other real rocker here is the John Barbata-written-and-sung "Big City." The fact that several band members, past and present, believe that the young Australian tourist jailed in Indonesia since 2005 on drug-smuggling charges was unjustly convicted makes SPITFIRE an essential purchase for both your ears AND your conscience.

1978's 'Earth' was an interesting Jefferson Starship album. It was the end of Marty Balin's four year tenure with the band, and it was also the last of "element" records ('Spitfire' represented fire; 'Red Octopus' represented water; and 'Dragon Fly' represented wind).

The album cover is very interesting. The lettering reminds one of the 'Star Wars' logo, and the globe just fits in perfectly with the album cover and the cool but highly bizarre lettering.

But the music here is superb. Of course, 'Count On Me' is here, which was one of the band's biggest hits, and the romantic 'Runaway' is also here.

Other great but highly underrated songs here are 'Skateboard,' 'Love Too Good,' 'Take Your Time,' 'Crazy Feelin' and 'All Nite Long,' all of which have become fan favorites, but not radio hits, which is a shame, because they are all great songs.

Of course, Marty Balin departed after the release of this album to focus on a solo career. He was replaced by Elvin Bishop Group singer Mickey Thomas. Also, Grace Slick left the band after the release of this album to focus on her drug and alcohol addiction. She was not replaced.

Overall, this is highly recommended for any Jefferson Starship fan. It's not their best album, but it's still a great record and one of the best in their catalog.

Highly recommended for the Jefferson Starship fan. It's a great album. Not the best, but it's great.

ENJOY!!!

This is the final album of the 4 that the main line-up of Jefferson Starship would release. Not every track is great. Skateboard isn't all that great, but most of the rest is great. The 3 singles (Count On Me, Crazy Feelin' and Runaway are great songs! (Although the shorter version of Crazy Feelin' on the 45 always seemed more cohesive, it edited out the slow midsection which seems to kill the momentum of the song) 2 of the album cuts Love Too Good and Take Your Time are fantastic songs. Fire and All Night Long are pretty darn good while we're at it. The rest is forgettable with the exception of Skateboard which is just plain dumb.

All in all well worth a listen if you enjoy any of their other 3 releases (Dragonfly, Red Octopus or Spitfire) or like Classic Rock or old 70's AM radio sounds!

1978's "Earth" marks the end of an era for Jefferson Starship--both Marty Balin and Grace Slick would leave the band prior to the next album, 1979's "Freedom At Point Zero", which lead to a definite stylistic shift for the band.

It's sort of ironic then that "Earth" very much plays like solo albums from Slick and Balin on shuffle play. Paul Kantner's prescence is barely detectible apart from the album-closing "All Nite Long"--credited to the whole band and Jesse Barish, it rocks out quite nicely, and is an excellent demonstration of Kantner's characteristic long-and-winding anthemic style.

Sonically, the trademark mid-'70s Starship sound is in full force on "Earth", and with the song material being terrific, this ends up being an irresistible, vastly underrated album.

Balin had seemingly become more interested in finding top-flight material from other songwriters--particularly his friend Jesse Barish--than writing his own, something that would continue with his solo career in the '80s.

And Barish delivers the goods. The breezy, feel-good lite rocker "Crazy Feelin'" is well-crafted and top-tappingly catchy. The Top 10 hit "Count On Me" is a lovely, easy-going soft-rock ballad, although I think they went overboard with the amount of reverb on Balin's lead vocal--stripping some of that away would have added an appealing intimacy to the song.

Balin has two more lead vocal features, both of which are terrific. "Fire" is a hilarious, over-the-top hysterical rocker with Balin singing his head off, endlessly wailing the song's title. And the Top 20 hit "Runaway", written by Balin's former Bodacious D.F. bandmate Greg Dewey, is a dreamy, spine-tingling ballad punctuated by a couple of slightly rocked-up bridge sections where Balin adopts a weird, nasally vocal approach.

Grace Slick is in peak form here as well. She sings lead on 4 songs, two of which she co-wrote--"Take Your Time", co-written by keyboardist Pete Sears, is an awesomely tuneful introspective ballad with a brilliantly-nuanced Slick vocal. The rocking "Skateboard", co-written by lead guitarist Craig Chaquico, is an exciting rocker with a marvelous singalong chorus. The album-opening "Love Too Good" finds the Starship slipping into a seductive, extended funky groove and getting great mileage out of it. Slick also offers "Show Yourself", a raging, impassioned anthemic ballad that just can't be denied.

In the end, "Earth" really is NOT just a non-chalant rehash of previous albums as many seem to think--it's a must-have.

EARTH marked the end of an era for Jefferson Starship, being the last album to feature the original lineup. Grace Slick bottled out of the band during the tour that followed the album's release, and Marty Balin would leave several months after that; in fact, three of the four songs he sings here were written by outsiders, and he had never signed the management contract that the others had, which meant that his participation was never a certainty. However, despite all of the confusion in the band when it was recorded, the band members' belief that the young Australian tourist jailed in Indonesia since 2005 for drug smuggling was unjustly convicted makes EARTH an essential purchase for both your ears AND your conscience.

This was the first record I bought as a child or teen that wasn't a compilation of various top 40 songs but instead was a record comprised of songs solely from one band. It sounded so good I was motivated enough to spend 8 bucks for the 8-track which was a lot of money for me at the time.

This record had a profound effect on me from 1978 when I bought it until about 1984 when other rock music inspired me . I first heard "Love Too Good" on the radio during the late summer of 1978 and had a crushing feeling because the song sounded so incredibly good back then and I was lucky enough to find out who the artist was back when they wouldn't announce on the radio who they just played. I heard "Runaway" & "Count On Me" months earlier on the radio & liked both songs, but didn't know it was from the same artist that made "Love Too Good" which I heard months later. Even the pictures and artwork on this cd are still supercool. I felt cool just owning & liking a record like this.

This is one of those few records where every song was good .Few of these recordings exist. My favorite is "All Night Long." It was progressive, spacey-acid rock with a polished production which incorporated a dreamy, fantasy-like style into it which made this song a rock solid music gem of what late 1960s psychedelic should have appropiately progressed to during the days dominated by glossy disco. Not one thing could be inproved on "All Nite Long" except maybe Grace Slick's singing parts being louder.

There is a production flaw on this cd where one of the songs sounds like it was recorded from a damaged master tape(Crazy Feelin'.) After I bought this record, Grace Slick was my favorite woman rocker until 1985 when Ann Wilson took over that title.

Grace Slick's powerful singing is on the scale of Donna Summer's "Macarther Park" or Ann Wilson's "What About Love" and she was too underrated for her singing at a time when dull singers like Linda Ronstat and Cystal Gayle dominated any female music which wasn't disco. This was the best rock recording of the 1970s and also the best progressive rock recording of the 1970s and also the absolute best dreamy, spaced-out, polished rock of the 1970s or what acid psychedelic rock became and should have progressed to by the late 1970s. At least a few songs were anyway in repect to the psychedelic sound.

Because of Earth's radio hits, it was the best semi-mellow rock of the 1970s when the mellow rock was really dull, if not always dull. This record was the best of every category that existed during the 1970s except the dance/disco category.

The way they made the "All Nite Long" sound is total genius. They all sound like they are on a LSD trip yet they are making all sorts of sounds with different instruments and using different singing tricks with Grace really belting out her voice even though it's in the background yet the song is unequivocally a cohesive hard rock song.

"Love Too Good" sounded just too good compared to the dullness of people lie Linda Ronstat. Being that the artists within JS had their roots established back in the 1960s Vietnam era I always thought this song was about a returning Vietnam veteran with PTSD as it goes: "spread your wings, you've been too long in a cage, feeling a range of abuses."

"Skateboard" is a good rocker too and I was surprised to learn that it was simply about a skateboarder and not some deep meaningful idea about life... more proof that J-Starship can make a simple-themed idea into a polished rocker which added another gem added to this jewel box of rock hits.

"Fire" Marty Balin really knew what "angst" & " raw male emotion" were long before these no-talent, raunchy grungers usurped this style only to ruin it.

"Show Yourself" Dramatic singing by Grace. She's at the top of music history's power rocking women along with Ann Wilson.

"Take Your Time" Beautiful power song by Grace.

This recording is a gem and 30 years later I can't see too much that could have been improved except adding more of the brilliant bizarre sound that "All Nite Long" had and removing some of the jazz and lounge music elements. I'm sure if there was a big national tour to support this record it would have been at the top of the best-selling concerts/albums of the 1970s. This was dreamy, polished rock from the 1970s and was a heck of a lot better than the freak show fraudster rockers like Aerosmith or KISS or the dullness of Linda Ronstat or the repetitive Bee Gees or extremely dull Eagles and "laid back" Southern California rock of the time. This was one h*ll of a gem and all of J-Starship should be very proud of this gem. Overall, I think this was too unrecognized at the time and maybe this was because J-Starship was having too many personal/personnel problems at the time to promote it or radio thought JS was too 1960-ish compared to the lesser skilled (and dull) bands at the time.

The fact that JS had quite a bit of success a short time later in the early and mid 1980s proved their rock music was very good but that they needed more radio play and more name recognition among younger music fans.
The later successes during the 1980s also proved Marty Balin wasn't as important to the band, and at this point in 2008 I think he probably dragged the band down during the mid 1970s with the un-energized, lounge type music which didn't have the spacey sound that was appreciated by many JS fans and that might have been why JS wasn't getting enough radio and viewed as a relic of the late 1960s to too many radio programmers by the time Earth came out in 1978.

If Grace Slick would have been on late JS's late 1979 release Freedom At Point Zero I think that recording would have been a masterpiece. I love Paul Kantner's music but don't like his voice when it dominates a song.

On my turntable this sounds as good as it did in the day. I recently re-discovered my LP's. This is record is always at hand. How come no body ever talks about Craig C. the guitar player?

I ordered this because it indicates it was a 2008 pressing but instead I got a cd that was pressed in 1998. Sounds awful compared to the cassette which I still have. I bought a different greatest hits from JS on cd and "Count On Me" on this other greatest hits cd sounds better than the "Count On Me" on this 1998 pressing of Gold. I played both on the same car cd player and boombox at home so I know this sound on Gold is lacking quality.

"Love Too Good" is the extended version on the cd unlike the truncated verion on the cassette.

For fans looking for a collection with some of their later songs like 'Find Your Way Back,' 'Jane,' 'Layin It On The Line,' etc., you're going to be disappointed. 'Gold' is a collection of Jefferson Starship's earlier songs, back when Marty Balin was member of the band.

Among the highlights here are 'Ride The Tiger,' 'Caroline,' 'Hyperdrive,' 'Runaway' and 'Miracles.' But every song here is great.

While many reviewers put down 'Gold,' I can't. I love Jefferson Starship, and I find this CD very enjoyable.

Highly recommended for any Jefferson Starship fan. This is the pre-Mickey Thomas era, and it sounds great, even today!

Highly recommended. ENJOY!!!

the worst sound ever on ride the tiger. can do without the long version of miracles and light the sky on fire. the best long versions i like are caroline, st.charles,love to good, runaway and hyperdrive. i have compared the 1991 digitally remaster release compared to the 1998 remaster. the 91 sound way alot better. except for a little tape hiss and cut versions of the songs.

This CD brings back some great memories! Great song in the late 70's and still great (fav. Runaway)

I've long been a fan of all things Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship/Starship, but I've also been aware of a definite two-camp war among their fans: Marty Balin vs. Mickey Thomas. I don't feel the need to choose sides. I think all eras of JA/JS/S produced great music, and the unique vocal style of Grace Slick ties the whole collection together. Added to which, this is (or, I guess I should say, was) a dirt cheap price for a two-disc, 35-song collection spanning more than 20 years, from the Woodstock days of "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit" to the middle years of "Ride the Tiger" and "Miracles" to the hit-laden period of "Sara" and "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now."

Yes, "We Built This City" has aged very poorly, but if you set aside your Balin/Thomas differences and check this out, I'm willing to bet you'll make some pleasant discoveries on both sides of the fence. After all, isn't that what the authors of "Volunteers" would want? Peace.