Customer Reviews

Gold [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Best Of" albums are by definition hodge-podgey affairs. Yes, there are artists whose works are best represented by retrospective repackagings, but even Jefferson Starship's detractors (and the reviews below suggest that there certainly are some) would have to admit that the group was attempting more--even in their most commercial periods--than their singles alone might suggest. A "best of" is likely to only begin to suggest the range of the group's experimentalism, which WAS there even in the 70s.

As someone once said, any group that included a songwriter and singer as idiosyncratic as Grace Slick could never be a totally commercial venture. The Starship enterprise was certainly as commercial as a bunch of hippies could ever get, but neither Paul nor Grace were really capable of churning out the hits over the long haul. Sweet voiced Marty Balin finally received his due in the 70s (since, as is commonly noted, he felt justifiably frustrated in the 60s when the interloper Slick brought the Airplane their only real hits and got ALL the media attention). And who can deny that "Miracles" wasn't a deserving hit? For a while, he was being hailed as a white soul balladeer. But that proved to be a pretty shortlived phenomenon, and by the time of "Runaway" and "With Your Love," people were screaming "formula." Worse yet they were referring to him as a "lounge singer."

What are you gonna do? When Balin was in his prime, I could have listened to him sing the phone book. And the more uptempo numbers here, such as "Caroline" show him at his versatile best. But Balin himself once referred to the group that brought him stardom as essentially "a variety show." And that's a statement that you could take in a positive or negative light. (I gather he meant in negatively himself.)

Even more so than the Airplane before them, the Starship really did seem to be three or four songwriters all "on separate trips," as we used to say. You had Grace's cool obscurantism, Paul's sci-fi and poli-sci-fi tracts, and Marty's ardent love songs. Throw in a few instrumentals and one or two experiments and you had your typical Starship record circa '74 to '79. More than the sum of its parts? Less? Or just a strange assemblage of parts, sometimes coming together in a perfect fit and sometimes not? The last may be the best and most accurate way of viewing them.

So, in order to get the full flavor, it's still probably preferable to listen to the complete albums--even if you do find them flawed. On the other hand, if you have to have a "best of" collection, this is pretty much as good a one as you could hope for. Really, if I had been assigned the project (fat chance, but in my dreams), I would have selected pretty much the same Starship tracks: "Caroline" (a little long but still the JS track that recaptured some Airplane magic and likely convinced Marty to rejoin the group fulltime for RED OCTOPUS), "Ride the Tiger" (a little heavy handed but also as rocky as a Kantner opus is gonna get) and "Hyperdrive," (a favorite of mine, with Grace at her most elliptical) all from DRAGONFLY. The RED OCTOPUS tracks are what you would expect, "Miracles," "Play On Love," and "Fast Buck Freddie" (classic Marty, Grace at her most accessible). The EARTH and SPITFIRE tracks are also virtual musts in any Jefferson Starship collection. I know some would argue against the Balin ballads, but they WERE hits. "Love Too Good" is latter day Grace at her very best--one of her best vocals ever. And "St. Charles" is as good an example of a successful collaborative effort by the group's three main songwriters as you're going to find (from their entire oeuvre). And as I suggested, those collaborations were getting rarer and rarer by the late 70s.

Overall, then, it's as good a collection as you're gonna get, if you're not up to investing in a complete set of all the JS albums. The bonus track "Light the Sky On Fire" probably shouldn't be the decisive factor in anyone's purchasing decision. It's a nice non-ballad Marty vocal. He sounds a little strained, and the Kantneresque lyrics and arrangements don't quite work here for him. Not the way they do on "St. Charles" -- that track is the GROUP at their magical best.

One caveat: apparently the remastered edition of GOLD has the album length version of "Miracles." That's doubtless a plus for most listeners. Actually, though, since I also own RED OCTOPUS, I didn't mind having the single version as well. I knew that the hit version had been edited down, but since I didn't really listen to commercial radio back in the 70s, the 45 version was pretty much unfamiliar to me. It was interesting to see how it was skillfully edited down to a more "radio friendly" length. Doubtless some will even prefer the more stripped down version.

I just bought this rereleased disc, and I must say I was very pleasantly surprised to find out that the four tracks that had been edited for the original 1979 release (as well as the original CD release) have been replaced with the full-length album versions.

This collection features the hits and many of Jefferson Starship's classic songs from their four studio albums between 1974 to 1978. In the early 70's, after recording a couple of fine solo albums, legendary Jefferson Airplane members Paul Kantner and Grace Slick decided to start a new band, fittingly named Jefferson Starship. Also aboard this new band..Craig Chaquico, David Freiberg, Pete Sears, John Barbata, (Papa) John Creach & Marty Balin.

An incredible and very diverse collection of songs emerged from this new group. Their new sound was an eclectic mix of rock, folk and r & b, a sound that sometimes could be heard all in the same song at times. Their biggest hits were the romantic ballads but that was only part of what defined their soaring music. Balin and Slick's memorable vocals, Chaquico's blistering lead guitar, and Kantner's unique vision was what fueled Jefferson Starship's musical voyages of the 1970's. The accompanying liner notes nicely details the band's members and the music during that time period.

The songs: Ride The Tiger, Hyperdrive and Caroline comes from 1974's Dragon Fly. Play on Love, Fast Buck Freddie and the classic ballad Miracles came from 1975's Red Octopus. With Your Love, St. Charles comes from 1976's Spitfire. Count On Me, Love Too Good, and Runaway from 1978's Earth. Light The Sky On Fire was a single only release from 1978.

This CD reminds me of "Worst of Jefferson Airplane". It's a fair introduction to a great rock band. Unfortunately, there are some bad choices here. The full version of "Miracles" is not present, only the 'single' version (even most oldies stations play the full song, unlike the Doors' Light My Fire). Other good selections are "Play on love", "St. Charles", and "With Your Love". I like "Ride the Tiger" as well. "Runaway" is all right, but not quite up there. I could do without the other tracks, however. I know "Count on Me" was a pop hit, but it was too commercial for my liking. I think there should have been other tracks from the 1974 and 1976 albums to make this better.

Overall, I'd say Jefferson Airplane had a message of the late 60s, and that message helped to make their music unique and apart from the mainstream (which made me wonder why "Somebody to Love" was on the 1968 AM Gold CD, quite an insult). Jefferson Starship's first 3 albums were smart enough to not try to recreate the late 60s. Instead they opted for a new 70s sound. This was a good thing, because the mid-70s were plagued by a strange softness. With Watergate and a gas and energy crisis, we should have expected a harder edge on the radio. Instead, we got the likes of the Carpenters, Dan Hill, etc. Jefferson Starship still had a Slick/Kantner/Balin punch; therefore, in its early days, J.S. had a unique sound of its own, just less acid-edged. Like another reviewer noted about one of the albums, in the late 70s, Grace Slick got disillusioned about J.S. and Paul Kantner, and the group got way too commercial and, therefore, ineffectual.

This CD represents, in parts anyway, the highlights of that unique sound of "The Jeffersons", as I like to call them.

I ordered this because it indicates it was a 2008 pressing but instead I got a cd that was pressed in 1998. Sounds awful compared to the cassette which I still have. I bought a different greatest hits from JS on cd and "Count On Me" on this other greatest hits cd sounds better than the "Count On Me" on this 1998 pressing of Gold. I played both on the same car cd player and boombox at home so I know this sound on Gold is lacking quality.

"Love Too Good" is the extended version on the cd unlike the truncated version on the cassette.

Jefferson Starship Gold is filled with some of the most beautiful music that has ever been written, played, and sung! This remastered edition of Jefferson Starship Gold presents the group's best songs with more clarity and detail than ever before!
What more needs to be said about what I consider to be a "perfect" cd? I believe that this particular version of Jefferson Starship, which includes both Marty Balin and Grace Slick, along with Three Dog Night, The Rolling Stones, and the pre-acid Beatles were, and still are, the very best bands that produced a considerable body of outstanding rock n' roll. Thus this remastered version of Jefferson Starship Gold should be a highly valued MUST BUY cd for every true and devoted fan of rock n' roll! I will most highly enjoy listening to this remastered edition of Jefferson Starship Gold for as long as I live. Jefferson Starship Gold has my very highest recommendation! I challenge every person who ever reads this cd review to find a more beautiful cd in all of rock n' roll music than this remastered edition of Jefferson Starship Gold. Good luck, because I don't think anyone can find a more beautiful rock n' roll cd than Jefferson Starship Gold.

John

I'm not really a fan of Jefferson Airplane, but nobody can deny they were pioneers and instrumental in ushering in the Psychedelic Rock Movement of the late 60's, most notable the album Surrealistic Pillow. I had SP on 8-Track and I can dig it.

BUT, I'm definetly not a fan of Starship, post 1980, with their pop kiddie hits "We built this City" and "Nothings gonna stop us Now". "Jane", from the album Freedom at Point Zero, released in 1979, was their last worthwhile hit before descending into MTV Hell and Commercial Crud. Although, I do remember liking one song, "Sara", from the early 80's era.

Their Golden years between 1974 and 1978 is when Jefferson Starship wrote and released beautiful ballads meshed with the last of that alluring psychedelic guitar, as heard on "Ride the Tiger" and "St. Charles". But the top three songs on this CD are "Miracles", "With your Love", and "Runaway". The guitar interlude on "Runaway" is beautiful beyond comprehension. Other notable hits are "Count on Me" and "Love too Good". All in all, 8 out of 12 songs on this CD are good enough for me to warrant a 5 star. If you were a teenager and alive in the 70's and none of these songs bring back great memories, then you may have had pimples and were hiding in the closet with the radio turned off.

For fans looking for a collection with some of their later songs like 'Find Your Way Back,' 'Jane,' 'Layin It On The Line,' etc., you're going to be disappointed. 'Gold' is a collection of Jefferson Starship's earlier songs, back when Marty Balin was member of the band.

Among the highlights here are 'Ride The Tiger,' 'Caroline,' 'Hyperdrive,' 'Runaway' and 'Miracles.' But every song here is great.

While many reviewers put down 'Gold,' I can't. I love Jefferson Starship, and I find this CD very enjoyable.

Highly recommended for any Jefferson Starship fan. This is the pre-Mickey Thomas era, and it sounds great, even today!

Highly recommended. ENJOY!!!

the worst sound ever on ride the tiger. can do without the long version of miracles and light the sky on fire. the best long versions i like are caroline, st.charles,love to good, runaway and hyperdrive. i have compared the 1991 digitally remaster release compared to the 1998 remaster. the 91 sound way alot better. except for a little tape hiss and cut versions of the songs.

Received this CD in record time. I played it constantly over 3 weeks, and NEVER got tired of it, only reason I stopped playing it was I went to another type of music. One of my all time favorites. I all ways loved Jefferson airplane, starship.