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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsI can't think of a band with greater amounts of genius AND crap than Jefferson Airplane / Starship
Jefferson Airplane Takes Off: An interesting beginning
Surrealistic Pillow: Time capsule-worthy era classic
After Bathing At Baxters: The Airplane's response to The Dead's "Anthem Of The Sun," an attempt to capture an acid trip in the studio
Crown Of Creation: I'm guessing Kantner had final vote on most of these tracks since they display his best and worst tendencies
Volunteers: One more classic before retiring the brand
Bark: Shit, held aloft by Jorma's contributions
Long John Silver: Somewhere between shit and acceptable. More interesting songs on this one than on "Bark"
30 Seconds Over Winterland: Dying band limps across the finish line
Dragon Fly: No Jorma or Jack but Marty is back, "Caroline" is a tour de force, and the remaining tracks are pretty damned solid
Red Octopus: Despite "Miracles" having been played to death, this is the Starship equivalent of "Surrealistic Pillow."
Spitfire: The soft overtakes the hard, the pop pap settles in
Earth: An even softer version of "Spitfire." Pop shit.
Freedom At Point Zero: Interesting...Starship pretends they're Journey but they're rocking their asses off
Modern Times: Grace is back, "Stairway to Cleveland" was interesting, so was "Stranger" in an 80s pop disco sort of way
Winds Of Change: Title track was nice and tough, but it becomes apparent that Pete Sears is the pop villain in this band
Nuclear Furniture: Kantner's last stand. "Layin' It On The Line" was a nice disposable hit single
Knee Deep in the Hoopla: "We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll"
No Protection: What selling your soul sounds like
Love Among the Cannibals: ALL of the "Jeffersons" are now gone. Mickey Thomas vocals, Craig Chaquico guitars, Donny Baldwin drums, backing vocals, Mark Morgan keyboards, Brett Bloomfield bass, backing vocals...all making music no one wanted to hear.
Kantner successfully sued the band and regained control over the "Jefferson Starship" brand...I was driving through Vegas LAST WEEK and saw a billboard for an upcoming performance. He made additional albums after the "Starship" debacle, some pretty interesting. I haven't bothered to find out who, other than Kantner, is in the current lineup. I think David Freiberg...who returned a couple of years ago after being fired...might still be around. But as far as the "core" albums above are concerned, you definitely need a road map before shelling out your hard-earned dollars.
Mr.Bill
(24,365 posts)(Can't remember where)
They asked her if she could relive the 60s, would she do it anything differently?
She said "I'd like to try it with blonde hair and big tits."
Miles Archer
(18,837 posts)...is that Grace did it all first. She was the queen of outrage. By her own account, she spent "quality time" with EVERY member of Jefferson Airplane EXCEPT Marty Balin. She appeared on the Smothers Brothers show in blackface, and wearing the same makup and giving a "power to the people" salute on the cover of "Teenset" magazine. Sometimes half the fun of either the Airplane OR Starship was watching out for her next train wreck.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)Read her autobio a few years back and she came across as a very smart, tough, funny dame, in an almost 40s sense of that term. Absolutely her own woman. She'd be a blast to have a couple of belts with.
wyldwolf
(43,873 posts)I wish to hell I had Mickey Thomas' voice.
Miles Archer
(18,837 posts)If you listen to "Fooled Around And Fell In Love" or the entire Freedom At Point Zero album, it's no harm no foul for Mickey. It was the songs themselves I grew to loathe. With tougher material, they might have had fewer "hits," but they would have been a lot more enjoyable...for me, anyway.
benld74
(9,911 posts)admittedly, back in 87 twernt many good ones playing on the radios. But we liked that one
Le Taz Hot
(22,271 posts)but I think these two are probably my absolute favorite out of their entire catalogue:
and
Wolf Frankula
(3,605 posts)Last edited Sun Jul 19, 2015, 01:29 AM - Edit history (1)
Blows Against the Empire was a wonderful album. And Bark had also 'War Movie' that my late friend Jose Miren Etxeberria said inspired the last third of 'Irrintzia'. JS/A did a compilation in 2008 that was superb. Gracie sang on it. She was wonderful.
BTW I have met both Grace Slick and Paul Kantner. Sober, Gracie is a wonderful person. Paul Kantner is a perfect jaun in person.
Wolf
Miles Archer
(18,837 posts)...and I think that's because I learned guitar at an early age, and Jorma was one of my heroes, and he wasn't on "Blows," so at the time, I dismissed it.
Jeff Tamarkin's Airplane / Starship bio "Got A Revolution" was wonderful and backs up what you said about Grace. There are some amusing tales about her having had a little too much to drink during the Jefferson Starship days. Tales of rock excess often go to guys like Keith Moon but Grace was also a force to be reckoned with. It's nice that she survived. So many others didn't.
ghostsinthemachine
(3,569 posts)Would you like to go up on A Deck and look at them with me......"
Love that album.
MADem
(135,425 posts)Miles Archer
(18,837 posts)...originally released as a single CD, later the entire concert was reissued on CD as "Deeper Space, Extra Virgin Sky." This is the Kantner-fronted band, after he sued Mickey Thomas & Co and got the name back. Grace makes a guest appearance on three songs, one of which is "Wooden Ships"...when they get to the "purple berries" line and she sings "Probably keep us both aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive" and just lets out that HOWL, every hair on the back of your neck and arms and elsewhere will stand straight up. She easily has one of the single greatest voices in rock history. She didn't do what Janis did at all but I consider her to be every bit as significant / important / whatever as she was.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)The only singer other than Grace with that kind of steel in her voice is/was Siouxsie Sioux.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)How in the name of The Great Jack Casady himself could you forget "Bless It's Pointed Little Head"? Jayzus, that is a monstrously GREAT live album! Jack and Jorma really tear it up, down and every other direction on that classic.
Miles Archer
(18,837 posts)And only named "30 Seconds" because it was...using the words King Crimson fanboys used to describe "USA," which came at the end of the Wetton / Bruford lineup...a "cardboard tombstone, a cheapskate epitaph." Although it has one of the funniest moments of the band's career in "Crown Of Creation," when Kantner sings the line "they cannot tolerate our minds" and Grace snorts "I can't either."
cemaphonic
(4,138 posts)On the one hand, he's got these absolutely perfect pop masterpieces like "Superstition" and "Higher Ground."
But then, there's total dreck like "I Just Called to Say I Love You" and "Ebony & Ivory.
kwassa
(23,340 posts)once in a movie theater in Cleveland converted to concert venue. The loudest concert of my entire life. Late 60s.
Once at the Akron Rubber Bowl, where several thousand fans got tear-gassed, including me, and the police arrested Grace and Kantner.
I also love "Bless It's Pointed Little Head" which I played endlessly.