Customer Reviews

Hits

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

As double disc antholgies go, it doesn't get more truly bizzare than "Hits," by the ever evolving combo from San Francisco which, by the time they had been reduced to merely a Starship, contained exactly ZERO original members (Grace Slick was not part of JA's debut album). Stylistically, the journey from the hippie spaciness of the twin classics "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love" to the utterly vapid 1980s video hits "We Built This City" and "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" is an epic worthy of the Enterprise.

That said, if you're a casual fan who liked the JA-S in all of their many incarnations, it's nice to have all of the best stuff in one economically priced package. My only quibble is that it contains only one selection (the smash single "Miracles") from the studio album "Red Octopus," easilly the best from the Jefferson Starship period. The collection is also heavilly weighted with Airplane tracks, which is to its credit. Still, as the two hours-plus unfold, the transformation (read: commercial sellout) of this once-cutting edge band is nothing short of stunning.

Overall, an economically priced and sensibly chosen double disc anthology for the casual fan.

Though I was born after Jefferson Airplane and before Jefferson Starship, I happen to like all three incarnations of the band. I know this will offend many fans, but it's true. Pop is pop especially if it's good. Great songs like "White Rabbit", "Somebody To Love", "Miracles", "Count On Me", "Jane", "Stranger", "Find Your Way Back", "Be My Lady", "Layin' It On The Line", "No Way Out", "We Built This City", "Sara", "Tomorrow Doesn't Matter Tonight", "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now", "It's Not Over Til It's Over" and "It's Not Enough" all make this band what it was. They're all here, digitally remastered, plus great non-hits as well. Some fans will scratch their heads in disbelief that someone like myself could like all incarnations of this band since they changed drastically over the years. Sure, Airplane stood for something entirely different than Starship. Things change. This two disc compilation is a very good one because it has everything a non-fan would like to own from this band. The fans can collect each album individually. This compilation is a must have for any rock collector.

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...

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'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.

I'm surprised to see people complaining that this 2-CD collection is too much songwise. As an avid music lover, I think it's a shame that too many people crave only the obvious hits, or can't handle hearing the psychedelic, acid-folk of the Airplane coupled with the polished 80's pop of Starship. This is by far the best all around Jeffersion Airplane/Starship collection available and I like how it provides a greater insight into the earlier Jefferson Airplane material -- more than might be expected. Sure there are always songs that would have been nice to include like Airplane's "3/5 Of A Mile In 10 Seconds" or the superb non-hit "Save Your Love" from 1981's MODERN TIMES, but this pretty much hits the nail on the head for a two disc anthology.

I only knew a little of Jefferson Airplane/Starship and initially only purchased this album for a few memorable songs. I had heard Somebody to Love, White Rabbit, We Built this City, and Nothing's gonna stop us Now, and wanted these songs very much. So what do you do when you want the most reknowned songs from a group and dont want to collect every album to get them? You do the wise thing and save you self a buck and possibly some bad songs by buying a greatest hits album. Note: sometimes this doesn't end in the desired result as you wished it did.

I was not disappointed in this compilation! Not only did it inlcude the four songs I knew of and loved, it also included many songs I had never heard before that were also highly enjoyable. This CD accurately documents the rise, fall, and transition of Airplane/Starship--with two discs, each full of wonderful songs. The first disc is the Jefferson Airplane one, and is full of their best psychedelic music from the late 60's. Besides the very memorable White Rabbit and Somebody to Love, the first disc contains other great songs such as Lather, Ride the Tiger, Caroline, and Volunteers.

The second disc is the Jefferson Starship version, and has many great hits from that era of their career. Besides We Built this City, and Nothing's Gonna Stop us Now (featured in the movie "Mannequin"), this disc also contains Miracles, With your Love, Count on Me, and Sara. You basically get two different compilations for the price of one. On one disc you get Jefferson Airplane's trippy psychedelic 60's era music. But if that doesn't suit you or if you get tired of it, just put in the other disc and listen to some soft ballads and pop-rock songs from the Jefferson Starship era. As a final note--if you want something that will take you back to the flower-power generation of the late 60's or the pop-rock generation of the 70's and 80's, buy this album. And if you only know of a few good songs from this group, buy it anyway, because you'll discover more great songs like I did.

This is a great collection of Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, and Starship music. This set does a nice job, with help from the liner notes, showing the band's music and personnel go through many changes in three decades of rock music. Who would have ever thought that the anti-commercial, psychedelic rock band of the 60's would eventually turn out 80's pop ballads that hit the top of the billboard. All of the bands' staples are found here: "Somebody To Love", "White Rabbit", "Volunteers", "Miracles", "Jane", "We Built This City", "Sara", and "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now", plus some other great selections including one of my favorite Airplane songs "Wooden Ships." One fault that I find is that they don't include any songs, like "Fast Buck Freddie", showcasing Grace Slick from the Jefferson Starship era. Plus if you want to find any of Jefferson Starship's new material, you'll have to get "Windows of Heaven." Still, this is a great set for any Airplane/Starship fan.

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.

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!