Customer Reviews

Winds of Change

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This starship called Jefferson had lost Grace Slick and Marty Balin in '78 and gained Mickey Thomas for better or worse. Thus began the 80's Jefferson Starship sound which was definitely MTV friendly but lacked the blues and soul of Balin and the semi-snide intensity of Slick.With "Winds of Change" Slick came back full time and her and Thomas' voices were meant for each other. The only thing lacking was more contribution from JS founder Paul Kantner - who seemed content to take a back seat to writers Sears and Chaquico. Of all the 80's JS (including '79's Freedom at Point Zero) this is my favorite. The title song confirms the power of the Slick voice and the beauty of the Sears melody, while the songs led by Thomas are infectious High School anthems with a great rock riff ("Can't Find Love" being an all time classic). That said, this is a schizophrenic album with the Slick songs having one foot in the past (but oh, what a past) and Thomas hinting at what would become Starship in a few years. Winds of change indeed!

I am one of the rare individuals who likes all incarnations of Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship/Starship. A few years ago, they put out a hits compilation that included songs from all three versions of the band. That CD is great, except it does not include one of my favorite songs from Jefferson Airplane, "Winds of Change". That song squeaked into the Top 40, reaching #38 in early 1983. I have scoured every Greatest Hits package issued over the years, and they always leave that song off. Finally, I found this CD used and decided to buy it just for that track. I love "Winds of Change" because it allows Grace to belt out some "White Rabbit" like theatrics to a distinctively early 80's rock beat. Besides "Winds of Change", I enjoyed many of the other songs included. This contains some great early 80's Jefferson Airplane rock. If you like their hard rockers of that era such as "Jane" and "Find Your Way Back", you will like this CD. Some of the other good tunes on this CD include "Quit Wasting Time", "Can't Find Love", and "It Came from the Jaws of the Dragon". Of course, "Be my Lady" was the other hit off of the album, reaching #28 in late '82. One sour note is "Out of Control", which is another Grace song. Now, I love Grace, but that song is pretty awful. Aside from that track, if you love Jefferson Airplane music, you will love this CD.

Lazarus had nothing on Jefferson Starship when they made a surprising return from the dead in 1979 with "Freedom at Point Zero". Ditching Marty Balin, Grace Slick and the jazzy/blues inspired tracks clocking in at over five minutes liberated the group to rock as it hadn't in ten years. New vocalist Mickey Thomas gave them a vehicle better suited for rock and up-tempo numbers that put Jefferson Starship back on the charts. 1981's "Modern Times" cemented the group's return to form and gave the band the chance to "introduce" Grace Slick to the lineup to a positive and very devastating effect. "Winds of Change" saw them come of video age and welcome a new audience as never before, but the songs weren't as consistently good as the past two recordings. The title track kicks things off with awesome guitar work from Kantner and Chaquico and Mickey Thomas and Grace Slick coolly starting things off before things rapidly heat up. Things boil to a crescendo with both harmonizing to devastating effect. Mickey actually gets more "face time" on the record including the stunning "Be My Lady" that showcases his phenomenal vocal range. Grace is mostly relegated to comic effect on "Out of Control" which is by turns hysterical and really, really out there. Mickey tries to return things to normal on "Can't Find Love" harmonizing with Grace, but the sequencing of the tracks is really throwing things off here. Still, the track is just wonderful. The last three tracks are OK turns for the band, but are pointing to filler to pad out the (then contemporary 45 minutes) for the record. Net-net the good here totally outweighs the bad and it's certainly a good thing this is available domestically as I don't know I'd spring for the Japanese version at that price.

Now before you think I'm some rocker dude let me correct you...I also LOVE "Earth" era Jefferson Starship and the 70's ballads that turned people's stomachs. I grew up the child of quasi-free love hippie-wannabees that love Jefferson Airplane and I freely admit Peter Wolf ruined the group circa "Knee Deep In the Hoopla" when Paul Kantner bailed (and rightfully so!). Grace Slick has rightfully sworn off any further reunions and tours and rightfully so. Rest on your wonderfully voiced laurels darling...you've earned it!

Not quite as good as Freedom at Point Zero or Earth, but one person stands out on this album: Craig Chaquico. He is one of the most underrated guitarists of the last 30 years and boy does he shine. The lead harmonies on Be My Lady are absolutely unbelievable! Some of the best guitar work I have ever heard. Pete Sears, David Freiberg and Craig Chaquico emerge as the leaders on this album as Grace Slick and Kantner truly take a back seat. If you were old enough to remember some of the MTV videos from this album, you were lucky. They were quite good.

Winds of Change (1982) is a good album, because the songs are solid, Grace is back in full swing, and the sound was consistent with the times. Ah, the memories of this album. 1982 was a great year in music, and this album was one of the better offerings that year. I like the title track very much. For a change of pace, BE MY LADY is appealing, as is BLACK WIDOW. This is no Red Octopus, but it holds its own, and like I said, it was released at the right time. It was the time of Billy Squier, Nazareth, and Jefferson Starship all having that somewhat emotionally-driven pop or rockin hybrid thing going. This album is fun to listen to for the memories alone. The music is pretty good, too. 8/10

I never could understand why Jefferson Starship's 1982 work of art, "Winds of Change," didn't get the credit or the airplay it rightfully deserved/deserves. And then even FINDING this album (especially on CD) became a personal odyssey "mission impossible" quest in itself!

One need look no further than Amazon.Com to see how difficult it can be to secure a copy of this highly underrated masterwork from one of the most seminal rock outfits in music history.

Amazon lists "Winds of Change" as requiring 3 to 6 weeks for delivery, rather than the typical turnaround of "usually available within 24 hours." Why!?! "3 to 6 weeks" sometimes means - "not available at all," at least from my own personal experience with Amazon. I wait 3 to 6 weeks for my item, then I wait a few weeks more. Finally Amazon writes to me with regrets that, in fact, they cannot get me the pristine copy of whatever it is I have ordered in the first place. Like - "Total Bummmer, Dudes!"

Fortunately, Amazon now provides "Used" outlets, including the ability to obtain BRAND SPANKING NEW copies of CDs, DVDs, books and so on forth at sometimes WAY SIGNIFICANTLY reduced prices (hooray!), through third-party, independent vendors, working with Amazon. This is very, VERY GOOD news for us beleaguered buyers in quest of that elusive "media gem," whatever it happens to be. In fact, at last check, "Winds of Change" is currently available now, with a one-to-two business-day turnaround, from "8 used and new" sources independent of Amazon, but accessible (and purchasable) via Amazon's website. Yippee!

Because "Winds of Change" in my book is one of Starship's PREMIER albums of all time, regardless of what anyone else tells you. Whether it was poor marketing or whatever that tanked this brilliant creation, the fact remains: "W.O.C." is probably J.S.'s best kept secret. But I'm telling it to you now.

There are 6 fantastic, rocking, either pop-viable or downright jamming, tightly-written and exuberantly crafted tunes on this album, starting with the eponymous "Winds of Change." A CLASSIC song. Everybody I've played it for loves it (though it got zero play on radio), and Gracie Slick's voice never sounded better, or more powerful and lambent. This is quite simply, a progressive-rock masterpiece that builds to a climactic crescendo of guitars and Gracie's "take no prisoners" clarion vocal chords.

Next is "Keep on Dreamin," a very minor hit single for Starship. This is a great pop ditty, not in the same class as "Winds...," by any stretch of the imagination, but a decent enough song in its own right. Short, sweet, and suitable either for AOR or hit radio. It possesses an infectious quality about it which ends up making it irresistibly hummable!

Okay - fast forward to "Out of Control." Like its title says, this song is an orgiastic romp with Gracie sounding like she's been dipping into the "magic mushroom fondue" again. But it's a GREAT song, regardless - experimental and bold; brash and hard driving; rocking and contagious. Certainly a unique creative departure, and welcome addition to, Starship's collection, and an almost entirely forgotten work of mad genius to this day.

The rest of the GOODIES follow in quick succession. "Can't Find Love" is a progressive-rock gold nugget. I *LOVE* Craig Chaquico's guitars on this album, especially on songs like this one. His distortion level is "Goldilocks" - JUST RIGHT! And the engineers didn't bury his axe in the mix. You almost never think of Airplane, let alone Starship, as a "heavy metal" band, but this album (perhaps the reason why it went so underplayed), proves the group CAN JAM, and they do it here all over the place.

Next up, my ABSOLUTE FAVE when I received this album as an LP for Christmas in 1982: "Black Widow." With Craig's guitars going ALL OUT on this rock classic, and with Gracie's voice so clear and so seductive - by jiminey - you just want to "climb into her web" with her (as the dominatrix, deadly spider) while she's inviting the listener (you!) to do just that in her lyrics. A combination of staccato, stop-time, heavy-amped guitar riffs (think Canadian power trio Rush during their best "metallurgical" work of the 70s), softened by rich refrain, full-out group harmonies, laced with Gracie's interspersed verse lines: all come-hither "take it sucker" vocals that conjure images of the star dressed in a Corinthian-leather, black-and-red teddy, one leg kneeling on a bed, the other planted firmly on the floor in stilletoed high-heel, with a greased cat-o-nine-tails clenched in her fist, whose wrist is wrapped in a platinum bracelet beset with steel spikes! "Take it, Sucker" INDEED! Would that more radio stations had, because "Black Widow" is as good as anything by Rush, Blue Oyster Cult, Kansas or Angel, only with a female lead vocal. This is arguably the BEST song on this album, or TIED for best with "Winds of Change."

Finally, "I Came Back From the Jaws of the Dragon" hearkens us to "Red Octopus" days and the very best of those, with its "Play on Love" feel and "group chant" ethos. This song also rocks and once again, features Gracie Slick in superb form. In fact, one can easily argue that "Winds of Change" IS Gracie's album, with Craig bringing out the powerful beauty, the best AND the BEAST in her.

To wrap this review up, ANY rock-and-roll album, and I mean ANY, that has 6 out of 9 great, listenable, well-written songs and superb production value to boot - DESERVES a place in ANY rock fan's collection. If this is the first time you ever heard of "Winds of Change" by Jefferson Starship, you may be forgiven. But to ignore this review and thereby to bypass this album is a mistake you render at your audial peril.

Get this album now! It will be nigh IMPOSSIBLE, with 6 of 9 stellar rock pieces, and arguably some of Gracie's FINEST work, and arguably some of Craig's BEST of his best work on display as well - for you to NOT listen raptly and intently, with headphones tightly (but comfortably) enconsced over your "salivating ear drums" (talk about a mixed metaphor there), imagining that you're in a fast sports convertible (passenger seat preferred), top down, riding fast with the wind in your hair and lightning coming up over the horizon on a thunderclouded midwest plain, jamming to "The Winds of Change."

The answer to that question is Yes! This sound far superior the the original RCA release. If you are a fan of Jefferson Starship it is the definitive version of the CD. The packaging replicates the original album which is very cool. Great music plus great sound equals a buy!

I have long been a fan of Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, and Starship. This album definitely wasn't their most famous but the song Winds of Change gets to me everytime. Grace Slick sounded so fresh and alive on this track. I have found the title song on only one greatest hits compilation and it was a new recording done without Grace Slick. If you are looking for the Grace Slick version, be careful. This album has the "real" version.

WINDS OF CHANGE proves to listeners who'd written them off after Grace Slick and Marty Balin left that the Jefferson Starship did NOT lose their guts in the 80s as some had claimed. Mickey Thomas is an excellent high-tenor vocalist with a lethal falsetto, and if the title song is not one of the great cautionary songs of all time, I don't know what is. There are other great cuts here, and anyone who thinks that RED OCTOPUS was a fluke should give this one a listen.

This, the 7th Jefferson Starship album, was the third to feature Mickey Thomas as the band's male lead vocalist. On this one, Grace Slick returned full time as co-lead singer and occasional lyricist. However, this album sounds significantly different than its two predecessors, the excellent "Freedom at Point Zero" and the somewhat weaker "Modern Times".

On "Freedom..", besides Thomas, the other key factor in the group's rejuvenation was the work of producer Ron Nevison. He provided a polished, forceful production sheen which complimented the group's sci-fi/fantasy lyrical visions and the powerhouse musicianship. "Modern Times" took a dip in the songwriting, but Nevison was able to compensate somewhat. On "Winds of Change", the band turned to Kevin Beamish, instead, who had produced REO Speedwagon's cheesey megasmash "Hi Infidelity."

The result is what one might expect. Beamish gives the group a more compressed sound which takes the edge off of the guitars and totally eviscerates Aynsley Dunbar's drums. Add to that the fact that Thomas's ultra high voice sounds a lot like Keven Cronin's to the untrained ear, and you've got an album that is indistinguinshable from REO in many places. Lead guitarist Craig Chaquico's two rockers, "Can't Find Love" and "Keep on Dreaming" and bassist/keyboardist Pete Sears' wimpy waltz "Be My Lady" (single #1) sound like weak "Hi Infidelity" outtakes. Sears' rocker "Quit Wasting Time" has a little bit more character, but only because Slick sings it as a duet with Thomas.

Still,all is not lost. The songwriting is more varied than on the previous two albums, which makes for more interesting moments elsewhere. Slick contributes some lyrics and the lead vocals to Chaquico's "Black Widow". It does sound like a reject from her heavy metal solo album "Welcome to the Wrecking Ball", but it did prove to be the best track in live performance. Sears' "I Will Stay" has a beautiful gospel melody and arrangement, perfect for Thomas's Southern rock background.
The title track is remniscent of the Moody Blues, with a swirling keyboard intro and cosmic lyrics sung forcefully by Thomas and Slick.
An odd choice for a second single, though. Finally, the decreasing profile of group founder/rhythm guitarist Paul Kantner is telling, but he contributes the two best songs on the album.His one lead vocal is on "I Came Back From the Jaws of the Dragon" (referring to surviving a cerebral hemorrhage), a passionate, anti-government folk rocker that recalls his Jefferson Airplane rabble rousing days. Finally, he co-writes with Slick "Out of Control", a catchy but crazy New Wave pounder in which Slick sings insanely about the madness of the world. Weird and wild, a welcome break from the generic sound of much of the album.

I'd like to see a remix of the album, removing Beamish's murky production influence. As it is, the album is undermined by its sound to a certain extent and is the least essential of the four JS/Thomas albums. Try "Freedom at Point Zero" first, and move on from there if that one grabs you.