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Earth

Jefferson Starship - Earth Audio CD

A fair review of the Jefferson Starship "Earth" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Jefferson Starship reviews here, or go back to the Jefferson Starship tabs.

Band: Jefferson Starship
Title: Earth
Rating:

Release Date: 2008-03-01
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Love Too Good 2: Count on Me 3: Take Your Time 4: Crazy Feelin' 5: Skateboard 6: Fire 7: Show Yourself 8: Runaway 9: All Nite Long

A sumptuous musical feast
It struck me at the time (1978) as one of the finest rock albums I'd ever heard, and it sounds just as good today. Jefferson Starship's "Earth" is a sensational album, a feast of musical achievements conducted in a party-like spirit yet with the band incredibly tight and cohesive. What's the secret of this work of near-perfection?

The answer is complex. First, in Grace Slick and Marty Balin, the band boasted two of the finest rock vocalists of all time. Slick, by far the best female vocalist of this (or of any?) era, provides the power, whilst the legendary vocal skills of Marty Balin supply the mellower counterpoint. And please don't overlook the band's backing vocals - no-one did it better than Jefferson Starship.

So we've got great vocals here, but instrumental performance is every bit as good, and displays marvellous cohesion. The compositions are, without exception, superb.

Lastly, there's something else, harder to define, at work here - a collective feeling that I can best describe as a combination of spirit, professionalism and perfectionism. The band are on a roll here, you feel - and they know it.

The rather gentle but beautifully-crafted opener, "Love too Good", has Grace Slick in mellow form, though displaying a tightness and power which emerge to huge effect later on the album.

Next comes "Count on Me", and the listener is reminded - if he or she did not already know this - that the band boasted not one but two of the best vocalists of this (or any) era. On this Jesse Barish-composed track, Marty Balin delivers his customary, marvellous blend of tone, pace and feeling. The lyrics and the melody perfectly complement each other. A tremendously warm and effective track, with the instrumentals on top form - as they are throughout the album.

"Take Your Time", with Grace back at the mic, is pure sensuality - there's not a salacious word in this beautifully-crafted song, but it's one of the sexiest (and loveliest) songs ever, bearing comparison with "Miracles" from the preceding album ("Red Octopus"). Again, the vocals are superb, but so, too, is the instrumental backing.

Marty is back for "Crazy Feelin'", a (relatively) up-tempo song for him, but one which he handles with his customary panache. The backing vocals are great, and it's another sexy track. It contributes significantly to the ethereal, lighter-than-air feel of the album as a whole.

"Skateboard" sees Grace back on vocals, but with a difference - this time, she's on full power, and demonstrates a combination of vocal tone and muscle which makes her, for me, the finest female rock vocalist of all time. Again, the accompaniment is on the top line. A great track.

"Fire", with Marty on vocals, is another forceful performance, and is followed by "Show Yourself". The theme of this track - a panegyric about America's decay from 1776 idealism to 1978 corporate greed and cynicism - wasn't a new idea, but it can never have been delivered to greater musical effect. Grace's vocals reach new highs here - how on earth did she belt out such power and feeling with losing any of her musical tone? A truly extraordinary performance, by her and by the band.

"Runaway" is yet another high, this time led by Marty. He's brilliant here - as ever - but, this time, it's the sheer musical cohesion of the band that enthralls. And this great track sets us up for the finale, a superlative track, which is. . . .

. . . . . . . . . . "All Night Long". This track is a tour-de-force and an incredible cut, with the band delivering a driving, superbly-crafted performance that properly concludes this superlative album. There are no more tracks after this - there couldn't be, because you can't top this one.

If you want to buy just one Jefferson Starship album, make it this one; if you want to experience a piece of rock genius then, again, buy it. And consider investing in the Japanese remastered mini-LP version - it delivers wonderful sound quality, and there can be few albums which can benefit more from this process than "Earth". .

Stands the test of time

Love Too Good, Count on Me, Take Your Time, Crazy Feelin', Runaway, & All Nite Long quickly make it clear this a great release by the oft strained Jefferson Starship. Folks can bag on Earth all they want as being the fizzled near end of Jefferson Starship but I beg to differ.

Fact is Jefferson Starship's musical output was very similar to the Airplane, either it had it in spades or it didn't. . . and many tunes HAD it.

Take Dragonfly, Red Octopus, Spitfire & Earth and one can cull a long list of well crafted songs that stand the test of time, from radio friendly love pop songs like With Your Love to rocking tunes like Ride the Tiger the width, depth and breadth is too much to ignore. Get em, dig em and enjoy. Cheers.
.

The Jefferson Starship On Eath
The first track "Love Too Good" is a little different for this band;with Grace Slick working her way through a fender rhodes laced funk number with her vocals flying in and out of echo chambers here and there. Nevermind that the Star Warsian cover of this album has always attracted me to this particular album I was quite surprised when I heard it as well. Needless to say the next two songs would have to less appeal and they do. "Count On Me" is a only an okay slow tune but it's Grace's always powerful vocals that save the day yet again. "Take Your Time" isn't quite as strong because Grace isn't singing it lol. Of course when this album turns up rocks out it gets really strong;"Skateboard","Crazy Feelin'" and "Runaway" pretty much fit the bill nicely. "Fire" anbd "Show Yourself" are actually all every well contructed pop songs too,employing a number of really interesting sonic effects-even though this album is basically sounds like a keyed up version of Fleetwood Mac in parts. "All Night Long" has too be the hardest rocker on the album. And it all shows how much Paul Kanter baught to this band during it's days both as the Airplane and Starship. So is this a must have album?Probably not but it's pretty enjoyable.

Sounded great in 1978, sounds great in 2008
It was the end of Marty Balin's four year tenure with the band, and it was also the last of "element" records ('Spitfire' represented fire; 'Red Octopus' represented water; and 'Dragon Fly' represented wind). 1978's 'Earth' was an interesting Jefferson Starship album.

The album cover is very interesting. The lettering reminds one of the 'Star Wars' logo, and the globe just fits in perfectly with the album cover and the cool but highly bizarre lettering.

But the music here is superb. Of course, 'Count On Me' is here, which was one of the band's biggest hits, and the romantic 'Runaway' is also here.

Other great but highly underrated songs here are 'Skateboard,' 'Love Too Good,' 'Take Your Time,' 'Crazy Feelin' and 'All Nite Long,' all of which have become fan favorites, but not radio hits, which is a shame, because they are all great songs.

Of course, Marty Balin departed after the release of this album to focus on a solo career. He was replaced by Elvin Bishop Group singer Mickey Thomas. Also, Grace Slick left the band after the release of this album to focus on her drug and alcohol addiction. She was not replaced.

Overall, this is highly recommended for any Jefferson Starship fan. It's not their best album, but it's still a great record and one of the best in their catalog.

Highly recommended for the Jefferson Starship fan. It's a great album. Not the best, but it's great.

ENJOY!!!.

FANTASTIC MUSIC!
Not every track is great. This is the final album of the 4 that the main line-up of Jefferson Starship would release. Skateboard isn't all that great, but most of the rest is great. The 3 singles (Count On Me, Crazy Feelin' and Runaway are great songs! (Although the shorter version of Crazy Feelin' on the 45 always seemed more cohesive, it edited out the slow midsection which seems to kill the momentum of the song) 2 of the album cuts Love Too Good and Take Your Time are fantastic songs. Fire and All Night Long are pretty darn good while we're at it. The rest is forgettable with the exception of Skateboard which is just plain dumb.

All in all well worth a listen if you enjoy any of their other 3 releases (Dragonfly, Red Octopus or Spitfire) or like Classic Rock or old 70's AM radio sounds!.

You can see a complete list of all Jefferson Starship discography, or go back to the Jefferson Starship tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.