Jefferson Starship Albums (12)
'Mick's Picks, Vol. 2: Cavern Club, Liverpool 03/23/04'
Release Date 7/15/2008
Tracks 17
Label Voiceprint
See Album Tracklist and Review
'Across the Sea of Suns'
Release Date 11/6/2001
Tracks 22
Label Zebra
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Since Paul Kantner reorganized Jefferson Starship in 1991 following the demise of Starship, this is the most ambitious recording the band has undertaken. The unit, also featuring Kantner's long-term partner, Marty Balin, with whom he formed Jefferson Airplane in 1965, is a seasoned group also boasting guitarist Slick Aguilar, who has been with the principals since their 1985 manifestation as the KBC Band, and drummer Prairie Prince, who has been onboard since 1991. Diana Mangano has been handling the female vocals formerly essayed by Grace Slick since 1994, while keyboardist Chris Smith was added later. As demonstrated here, the band is a Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship repertory group who ranges around the musical history of the groups Kantner and Balin led in the 1960s and '70s. The bulk of this two-hour-plus double-CD live set, recorded mostly in clubs and theaters in June 2001, consists of material from the Jefferson Airplane albums Surrealistic Pillow and Volunteers and the Jefferson Starship albums Dragon Fly and Red Octopus. There are also obscure songs from the bands' catalogs, as well as numbers from Kantner and Balin's solo efforts. The versions are looser than the studio originals, and Balin's smooth tenor has acquired some grit as he approaches his 60th birthday. A sleeve sticker describes the album as the "first live release of many," but the Airplane/Starship never had quite the concert reputation (or repertoire) of their fellow San Franciscans the Grateful Dead, and this band is more of re-creation than the real thing, so it remains to be seen whether they can develop a similar audience for a series of live recordings, especially if those recordings are going to be new ones instead of vintage performances. This initial release reveals their approach to be competent and somewhat dated, not magical. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
'Windows of Heaven'
Release Date 2/9/1999
Tracks 12
Label CMC International
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Original Jefferson Starship bandmembers Marty Balin, Jack Casady, and Paul Kantner were back with some songs about the millennium, protests, and life in general on 1999's Windows of Heaven. Guest vocalist Grace Slick, who sings on one track, makes the album almost a full-scale reunion. New bandmates Prairie Prince (the Tubes) and T. Lavitz (Dixie Dregs, Jazz Is Dead) add even more spice to the mix, as the offshoot of one of San Francisco's finest '60s psychedelic bands prepared itself for the 21st century. Vocalist Diana Mangano sounds remarkably similar to her predecessor, and helps to create a very Jefferson Airplane-ish vibe. This may not be the best album from the Starship/Airplane catalog, but it served as a stunning reminder that, as of 1999, much of the '60s psychedelic subculture was still alive and well and standing at the Windows of Heaven. ~ Michael B. Smith, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Nuclear Furniture, like the other Jefferson Starship albums of the early '80s, is a competent but rather forgettable collection of radio-friendly dual guitar/keyboard period pop tunes. It holds up better than previous efforts Modern Times and Winds of Change, though, due to improved songwriting and the temporarily revitalized presence of Paul Kantner (who would acrimoniously leave the band, taking the "Jefferson" with him, after this album). Kantner's three efforts -- "Connection," "Rose Goes to Yale," and "Champion" -- paint an intriguing and sometimes humorous picture of sifting through a post-apocalyptic Earth. "Champion," in fact, perfectly synthesizes his dual roles as unapologetic idealist hippie and aging storyteller/mythmaker. The remaining tracks are largely mid-tempo rockers, sounding much like Foreigner filler. "No Way Out" became a Top 40 hit with its catchy keyboard riff, but on most of the other cuts, bandmembers Craig Chaquico, Pete Sears, David Freiberg, and Donny Baldwin are content to go through the motions. The usually thought-provoking Grace Slick commits the almost unpardonable sin of applying cheesy synth drums to her composition "Magician," but acquits herself on the smart, intense "Showdown," one of her finest moments of the '80s, both lyrically and vocally. All told, Nuclear Furniture is most notable in the Jefferson lexicon as the album that made permanent the schism between Paul Kantner's lingering political punditry and Mickey Thomas's desire for disposable arena rock. The tension between the two angles makes for an intriguing if uneven album. ~ Joseph McCombs, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
This second edition of the Mickey Thomas-era Jefferson Starship/Starship polished '80s rock is actually a weird hybrid which you could call psychedelic metal. For fans of the fragments that were Sunfighter, Baron von Tollbooth & The Chrome Nun, Manhole, and other experimental Airplane offshoots, this material is much too mainstream for its own good. But it isn't the eminently dislikable Mickey Thomas who is the major culprit as much as it is producer/engineer Ron Nevison, whose homogenization of records from Ozzy Osborne to Heart displayed a glaring lack of creativity, inspiration, or sense of anything remotely resembling art. Yes, Marty Balin actually practiced "Jane" with the group prior to his leaving the Freedom at Point Zero sessions, and had he stayed onboard, the approach may have been a more progressive folk-rock. It was Larry Cox who engineered from Dragon Fly to Spitfire, co-producing the music with the very capable band. Minus Balin and Cox, the true evolution of the Airplane sound is mutated and muffled on Modern Times. Critic William Ruhlmann noted that "Stairway to Cleveland" is "as gutsy a statement of purpose as any in rock," but that tune and the title track, two ofPaul Kantner's three contributions, are the only ones with elements that stay true to the band's original mission. "Stairway to Cleveland" follows the dramatic and techno-orchestrated "Alien," which at least is better than the generic "Free" preceding it, or the second cousin to "Jane," which is "Mary." It means you have to sift through the Mickey Thomas/Ron Nevison sterilization to find the advertised product: Jefferson Starship music. "Mary" is a far cry from what the Jefferson Starship name implies and belonged on a Mickey Thomas solo disc. Rather than continue the natural evolution of the Airplane sound, both "Jane" and its follow-up, "Find Your Way Back," lead off their respective albums and borrow heavily from Foreigner's 1978 hit, "Hot Blooded" (itself a nick of David Bowie's "Jean Genie"). "Find Your Way Back" went Top 30 in the Spring of 1981, and is a decent arena-rocker from the pen of Craig Chaquico that the guitarist sometimes opens his jazz shows with. Considering where Chaquico went after Starship's breakup, a jazzier direction for the group may have been more worthwhile than arena rock and could have had more staying power. The liners proclaim, "And introducing Grace Slick," and that's humor the album needed more of. Slick's presence enhances the LP, Pete Sears and wife Jeannette Sears creating in "Stranger" a precursor to "We Built This City" where Slick and Mickey Thomas blend their voices, but that's the future. Paul Kantner's "Wild Eyes" would work better in the previous settings of "Red Octopus" and "Earth," for here it has that psychedelic metal sound again which is just too overdone to matter to longtime fans of the group. This disc has become a bit of a collectible on eBay, GEMM, and other Internet sales sites with both the LP and the 1990 CD out of print at the beginning of the new millennium. Modern Times was used as an album title by a variety of artists from jazz to folk to country. Al Stewart, Johnny Paycheck, Tracy Schwarz, Mike Seeger, and others packaged their sounds under the same moniker, and despite its moments, this Modern Times, its predecessor Freedom at Point Zero, and its successors, Winds of Change and Nuclear Furniture, became the antithesis of the works of art which are Dragon Fly, Red Octopus, Earth, and Spitfire. Ron Nevison produced three of the four 1980s hard rock albums by this group: Draw your own conclusions. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Freedom at Point Zero is not a great Jefferson Starship album; the wonder is that it is as good as it is. Since the band's previous album, the Top Ten, million-selling Earth, the group had lost its two lead singers, Grace Slick and Marty Balin, and they had been replaced by Mickey Thomas. "Jane," released as a single in advance of the album, displayed the result: even before Thomas' soaring tenor entered, it sounded like Foreigner. But it also made the Top 20, which helped the album into the Top Ten and to a gold record award. Reluctant leader Paul Kantner came back to the fore, and, at least on the energetic "Girl with the Hungry Eyes" (a chart single), that was a good thing, though the more typically discursive, rhythmically static songs like "Lightning Rose" and "Things to Come" (on which Thomas, through the magic of overdubbing, replaced Slick and Balin) slowed things down. Other songwriting contributors such as bassist Pete Sears and guitarist Craig Chaquico brought in generic arena rock bombast like "Awakening" and "Rock Music," making this a typically uneven effort. Although Freedom at Point Zero demonstrated that the group could soldier on, the band without its quirky individualists was ultimately too generic, which made Slick's return on the next album welcome. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Jefferson Starship had figured out how to craft high-octane, high-gloss AOR rock with Red Octopus, a highlight of mainstream hard rock in the '70s. Earth found the group replicating this formula, and while it isn't as successful as Red Octopus, which was a masterpiece of sorts, it does deliver enough power ballads and hard-hitting, polished rock to make it of interest to the Starship's dedicated followers. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Spitfire was Jefferson Starship's 1976 follow-up to the chart-topping Red Octopus (1975), and it found the band in a cooperative mood. All seven bandmembers earned writing credits on at least one of the nine songs, along with eight outsiders, and even drummer John Barbata got a lead vocal on the simple rock & roll song "Big City." But the three main power centers in the group remained in place. Singer/guitarist Paul Kantner continued to turn out his lengthy, complex songs with their exhortatory, vaguely political lyrics (the five-minute "Dance with the Dragon" and the seven-minute "Song to the Sun: Ozymandias/Don't Let It Rain"). Singer Grace Slick contributed her own idiosyncratic compositions, simultaneously elliptical and passionately stated ("Hot Water" and "Switchblade"). And singer Marty Balin, whose romantic ballad "Miracles" had fueled the success of Red Octopus, wrote (or located) and sang more songs of love and pleasure ("Cruisin'," "St. Charles," "With Your Love," and "Love Lovely Love"). Weaving the three styles together were the fluid lead guitar work of Craig Chaquico and the alternating bass and keyboard playing of David Freiberg and Pete Sears. The result was an album that quickly scaled the charts, spending six consecutive weeks at number three in Billboard and going platinum. That it didn't do better on the band's considerable career momentum can be put down to the relatively disappointing nature of the material. There was no "Miracles" on the album, to begin with. Grunt Records released the more modest "With Your Love" as a single and got it into the Top 20, but the closest thing to "Miracles" was really "St. Charles," a song that certainly had some of the same elements but lacked the kind of direct emotional statement that made "Miracles" a classic. Similarly, "Dance with the Dragon" was no "Ride the Tiger" (from Dragon Fly [1974]), and while "Switchblade" was an unusually clear statement of romantic intent from Slick (whose "lyrical wordplay is...not easily accessible yet compelling and thought-provoking," as 2004 reissue annotator Jeff Tamarkin generously says of "Hot Water"), its provocative title made it an unlikely choice for an adult contemporary hit. Spitfire was more than the sum of its parts, boasting the sort of vocal interplay and instrumental virtuosity that had always been the hallmarks of Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship. If the band had taken more time to write and find better songs, it might have matched the sales and quality of its predecessor. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Technically speaking, Red Octopus was the first album credited to Jefferson Starship, though practically the same lineup made Dragon Fly, credited to Grace Slick/Paul Kantner/Jefferson Starship. The difference, however, was crucial: Marty Balin was once again a fully integrated bandmember, writing or co-writing five of the ten tracks. And there can be little doubt that it was Balin's irresistible ballad "Miracles," the biggest hit single in the Jefferson Whatever catalog, that propelled Red Octopus to the top of the charts, the only Jefferson album to chart that high and the best-selling album in their collective lives. This must have been sweet vindication for Balin, who founded Jefferson Airplane but then drifted away from the group as it veered away from his musical vision. Now, the collective was incorporating his taste without quite integrating it -- "Miracles," with its strings and sax solo by nonband member Irv Cox, was hardly a characteristic Airplane/Starship track. But then, neither exactly was Papa John Creach's showcase, "Git Fiddler," or bassist Pete Sears' instrumental "Sandalphon," which sounded like something from an early Procol Harum album. Slick has three strong songs, among them the second single "Play on Love." Like Dragon Fly, Red Octopus reflected a multiplicity of musical tastes; there were ten credited songwriters, seven of whom were in the band. If there is any consistency in this material, it is in subject matter (love songs). The album is more ballad-heavy and melodic than the Airplane albums, which made it more accessible to the broader audience it reached, though "Sweeter Than Honey" is as tough a rocker as the band ever played. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Credited to "Grace Slick/Paul Kantner/Jefferson Starship," Dragon Fly was the transitional album between the various shifting aggregations Slick and Kantner had been recording with as Jefferson Airplane dissolved in the early '70s and the new Jefferson Starship (which essentially was the Airplane with a new guitarist and bassist -- Craig Chaquico and Pete Sears). But where such preceding efforts as Sunfighter, Manhole, and Baron Von Tollbooth and the Chrome Nun had suffered from indulgence and a lack of focus, Dragon Fly, from the first note of its rocking leadoff track, "Ride the Tiger" (a chart single), was a unified effort. Like much of the Airplane catalog and all of the Starship albums to follow, the album suffered from the band's communal approach to song selection (the eight tracks credited 12 writers, half of them bandmembers), leading to an unevenness in the material. But unlike the recent Kantner/Slick/etc. albums, it sounded like the work of a seasoned band. (It didn't hurt that the album was cut just after a tour, instead of before one.) Especially notable was Chaquico, who on such tracks as "All Fly Away" and "Hyperdrive" demonstrated that he was a distinctive lead guitarist able to define the Starship sound just as the very different Jorma Kaukonen had the Airplane. But what turned Dragon Fly into an artistic and commercial triumph (it was the most popular album any of these people had been involved with in five years) was the return, for one song, of former Airplane singer Marty Balin, since that one song was the epic power ballad "Caroline," which became a radio favorite and remains one of the best songs the Airplane/Starship ever did. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
