JEFFERSON STARSHIP — Original Album Classics (1974-1979) 5xCD BOX-SET (2009) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Jefferson Starship was among the most successful arena rock bands of the 1970s and early '80s. Guitarist Paul Kantner and singer Grace Slick started Jefferson Starship after the disbandment of Jefferson Airplane, adding former Airplane vocalist Marty Balin not much later. Many Airplane fans decried the Starship's more mainstream musical direction, especially after Airplane singers Grace Slick and Marty Balin departed in 1978. But with shifting personnel still anchored by Kantner and bassist David Freiberg, Jefferson Starship managed to please its new fans and some old ones over a period of a decade before it shifted gears into even more overtly pop territory and changed its name again to simply Starship. William Ruhlmann
Albums:

Dragon Fly (1974)

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  
Tracklist :
1. Ride The Tiger 5:11
2. That's For Sure 5:03
3. Be Young You 3:50
4. Caroline 7:32
5. Devils Den 4:05
6. Come To Life 3:49
7. All Fly Away 5:28
8. Hyperdrive 7:42

Red Octopus (1975)

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 
Tracklist :
1. Fast Buck Freddie 03:30
2. Miracles 06:53
3. Git Fiddler 03:11
4. Al Garimasu (There Is Love) 04:17
5. Sweeter Than Honey 03:23
6. Play On Love 03:46
7. Tumblin' 03:29
8. I Want To See Another World 04:36
9. Sandalphon 04:11
10. There Will Be Love 05:08
Bonus Tracks :
11. Miracles 03:30
12. Band Introduction 01:15
13. Fast Buck Freddie 03:35
14. There Will Be Love 04:58
15. You're Driving Me Crazy 06:45

Spitfire (1976)

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  
Tracklist :
1. Cruisin' 05:32
2. Dance With The Dragon 05:03
3. Hot Water 03:19
4. St. Charles 06:43
5. Song To The Sun 07:19
Ozymandias
Don't Let It Rain
6. With Your Love 03:36
7. Switchblade 04:01
8. Big City 03:23
9. Love Lovely Love 03:33

Earth (1978)

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. Instead of being a launching pad to greater things, the album turned out to be the group's pinnacle, and in the years following its release, the group simply recycled its ideas. In the case of its sequel, Spitfire, that was acceptable, because they had enough hooks to make the similarity forgivable. On Earth, however, they had neither the melodies, hooks or style to make a second rewrite of Red Octopus tolerable. Earth has the form, but not the content, of Jefferson Starship's masterpiece -- it just sits there, lacking either hard rockers or sappy ballads. Arguably, it's the group's low point of the '70s. Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Tracklist :
1. Love Too Good 6:07
2. Count On Me 3:17
3. Take Your Time 4:14
4. Crazy Feelin' 3:40
5. Skateboard 3:22
6. Fire 4:46
7. Show Yourself 4:39
8. Runaway 5:24
9. All Nite Long 6:34

Freedom At Point Zero (1979)

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  
Tracklist :
1. Jane 4:14
2. Lightning Rose 4:39
3. Things To Come 4:46
4. Awakening 8:06
5. Girl With The Hungry Eyes 3:32
6. Just The Same 5:21
7. Rock Music 3:37
8. Fading Lady Light 3:42
9. Freedom At Point Zero 4:29