The Three Best Songs By Jefferson Starship
Posted by: Fusion 45 in Three Best Songs, tags: jefferson starship
In between the horrendous 80s brand-building Starship and the 60s drug-drenched Jefferson Airplane came Jefferson Starship. Though the mid-career Jeffersons don’t have the music snob street cred of the Airplane or the mullett-wearing frat boy love of Starship — really? you liked We Built This City? — the 70s version of the band delivered some great songs.
While Red Octopus is likely their best and musically most consistent record (and the subsequent Spitfire a viable runner-up), it was 1978s Earth that delivered two of their best songs: Runaway and Count On Me.
Runaway, the lone hit written by an unknown named Nicholas Dewey, was arguably one of Marty Balin’s best vocal works, showcasing both his range and his West Coast soulfulness. Thankfully, Craig Chaquico’s future as a new age guitar noodler hadn’t quite arrived: his playing was once ballsy but subtle.
Also on that record was Count On Me, another tune written by the hired gun quartet of Jesse Barish, Jim Payne, Lucky Peterson and Don Reid. The beauty of Count On Me is it’s unapologetic poppiness: from the opening piano riff — which could have been a jungle on a country radio station — to the full-on West Coast sunshine vocals, it’s a brilliant as some of the best pop to come out of Southern California.
Freedom At Point Zero was a generally bad album for its inconsistency and lack of soul (due in no small part by the departure of Grace Slick and Marty Balin). But for all its faults, it did turn out a great pop song in Jane, Mickey Thomas’ introduction to JS fans. Yeah, it sounds like Foreigner and that disco thing in the middle was questionable but when Thomas moans “hmmm” just before the solo break, you’re stuck liking it (whether you like it or not).
Agree or disagree, these are the three best songs by Jefferson Starship.
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So, um, yeah, I do like “We Built This City.” It’s a guilty pleasure. As is the killer guitar solo in “Jane,” which I can otherwise do without.
[OK, so not everyone who likes "We Built This City" is a mullethead!
We are of one mind on that "Jane" guitar solo. Nice to hear from you. - Music Junkie @ F45]
Boy, I can take or leave “Jane.” But I gotta have me some “Miracles”! (Preferably the album version.)
Hi,
What about “Hearts”, which I take as one of Blain’s finest songs? I have a live record of this song by Jefferson Starship and I am very fond of it.
Thanks for this blog.
[Interesting. AllMusic says there's a Starship version of "Hearts" on an album called "Mick's Picks, Vol. 4: BB King's Blues Club 09/09/07". I wasn't aware of that -- it sounded nice from the little snippet I heard. Thanks for the tip... - Music Junkie at Fusion 45]
The spot in Miracles – the album version — where the vocals build is quite intense, I’ll grant you that. Balin and Slick were something else in their day. And, as I acknowledged,
MiraclesRed Octopus was far and away their best in the 70s. Yeah, it’s that guitar solo in Jane, right? I need to dig up my copy of Miracles and let ‘er rip. Would be a nice late night, chill-out listen.After having the vinyl of Dragonfly / Red Octopus / Spitfire, I bought on CD only Red Octopus. Gotta have Papa John Creach’s “Git Fiddler”.