Red Octopus [Gold CD, Limited Edition]

Jefferson Starship | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 29, 1997)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Gold CD, Limited Edition
• Label: Dcc Compact Classics
• ASIN: B00000018S
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #239,720 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Fast Buck Freddie

2. Miracles

3. Git Fiddler [Instrumental]

4. Al Garimasu (There Is Love)

5. Sweeter Than Honey

6. Play on Love

7. Tumblin'

8. I Want to See Another World

9. Sandalphon [Instrumental]

10. There Will Be Love

Editorial Reviews

Review

Jefferson Starship's masterpiece RED OCTOPUS was just the perfect rock album , filled with great musicianship, clever rock and pop anthems, blending the psychedelic with the supergroup sounds of Marty Balin, Grace Slick and Paul Kantner. Mastered from the original Grunt Records tapes, this impeccable audiophile release is truly one for the books! Miracles, Fast Buck Freddie, Play On Love.....great stuff......nice first time gatefold cover too!! --Joe Reagoso- Reissue Producer and Mastering Engineer --This text refers to the Vinyl edition.

Product Description

Friday Music is no stranger to releasing some of the greatest music ever recorded by Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship, so it is with much honor to announce the masterwork Red Octopus by Jefferson Starship on 180 Gram Audiophile Vinyl. This limited edition masterpiece is now impeccably mastered by Joe Reagoso and Kevin Gray at RTI from the original RCA/ Grunt Records tapes and features all of hits you remember from this number one album like the chart toppers "Miracles," "Fast Buck Freddie," and "Play On Love." Featuring Grace Slick, Marty Balin, Paul Kantner, David Freiberg. --This text refers to the Vinyl edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good songs, excellently played, March 28, 2002

By 

Robin C. Smith (Westchester County, NY, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Red Octopus (Audio CD)

This is really an excellent album: it is not heavy duty rock, nor heavy duty adult oriented rock à la Fleetwood Mac, nor is it the experimental stuff that the original Airplane produced. It is a very 70s album, somehow, up there when "The Rockford Files" and "Cannon" were big on TV. Leaving this aside though every song is different and (I hesitate to say it) a good tune (how unfashionable!). Marty Balin does his thing, Grace Slick does her thing, and so does Paul Kantner and they all have a different style. Then there are the instrumental numbers with Papa John Creach and David Frieberg. The playing is good - sometimes exquisite - Craig Chaquico's guitar solo on Al Garimasu comes to mind and the rhythm section are superb - always loved Pete Sears' John Entwistle-like bass lines! It has everything - lounge lizard songs (Miracles) rockers (I want to see another world) instrumentals (Sandalphon) and middle of the road numbers. As a result I think it has something for everyone. This may make this album uncool, but it makes it successful - and they can really play very nicely together. Well recorded too -- it deserved its success in 1975-76 and it stands up well today.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Starship In '75, January 27, 2006

By 

Thomas Magnum (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Red Octopus (Audio CD)

The Jefferson Starship enjoyed their first and only number one album with Red Octopus. While this album doesn't have the rebellious bite of their Airplane recordings, it is a pleasing collection of songs. "Miracles" is probably the band's best song and Marty Balin has never sounded smoother with Grace Slick providing powerful backup and "There Will Be Love" contains a classic Balin-Kanter-Slick vocal interplay. The album has some good rockers such as Slick's "Fast Buck Freddie" & "Play On Love" and the scorching "Sweeter Than Honey" which contains fiery fiddle playing from Papa John Creach. Red Octopus is often overlooked, especially stacked up against Airplane recordings, but is it is a superb collection of rock songs by a veteran rock group that never sounded tighter or more well-oiled in their career. The newly remastered version greatly improves on the sound and the four live tracks are welcome bonus.

25 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If Only You'd Believe In Miracles, So Would I, June 3, 2006

By 

J. H. Minde "Everything I need is right here" (Boca Raton, Florida and Brooklyn, New York) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Red Octopus (Audio CD)

It fascinates this reviewer that the second release of Jefferson Airplane, SURREALISTIC PILLOW, was their greatest commercial success, just as RED OCTOPUS, the second release of Jefferson Starship was theirs. It was all downhill from there and here.

RED OCTOPUS was a mainstay of the mid-1970s AOR playlist. Unlike the Airplane, whose politically-minded, drug-fueled, and musically daring discography made them a pure Counterculture band between 1966 and 1972, Jefferson Starship stayed largely within the bounds of convention on 1975's RED OCTOPUS. Virtually all the songs are pure love songs, and the vast majority of them will someday make the Vegas lounge jump with no problem at all. RED OCTOPUS is a musical departure from the band's usual formula. RED OCTOPUS showcases the talents of Craig Chaquico, Pete Sears, and Papa John Creach, each of whom contributes a unique signature that carries this album in the direction of Fusion Jazz. Even the rockers, such as "Fast Buck Freddie" have an agreeable AM slant, while Paul Kantner's obligatory Oriental/Sci-Fi contribution, "I Want To See Another World" is a three-part harmonized love song shared by Kantner, Grace Slick and Marty Balin.

Thirty years on, the incessant romancing on RED OCTOPUS sounds more than a little sappy, but it WAS the album for it's time and place, a lush, laid back, and well-crafted production, perfectly geared to the tiffany glass fern bar crowd.

Jefferson Starship could and would never replicate the success of RED OCTOPUS. On subsequent albums the band retreated into it's habitually overproduced electric anthem sound even where the largely RED OCTOPUS-like material didn't warrant it. It's no wonder they fell to the nadir of "We Built This City On Rock And Roll," a piece of utter pop trash that is painful to contrast with SURREALISTIC PILLOW's "Somebody To Love," the title track of CROWN OF CREATION, or even the signature RED OCTOPUS number, "Miracles."

In it's forty year lifespan this protean band perfectly mirrored the rise and fall of Rock.