Bright Side Of The Moon

Un sitio como otro cualquiera, sencillo, musical y algo paranoide... lo normal.

lunes, junio 11, 2007

Starship: Red Octopus: Agua


Jefferson Starship - Red Octopus
(Remastered + Expanded)
Originally Released June 1975 Remastered CD Released January 28, 1997 DCC Gold CD Edition Released April 29, 1997 Remastered + Expanded CD Edition Released September 13, 2005

Este es sin duda el mas exquisito disco de los Starship, para mi es uno de los discos miticos de la Jefferson. "Miracles" es "el single", ese tema q te queda grabado en la consciencia por siempre. Marty Balin esta magnifico, cantando como nunca y componiendo con gran sensibilidad. Por fin he podido revisar mi viejo lp con esta edicion remasterizada. Contiene la version "single" de "Miracles" y 5 temas en vivo desde Winterland, en 1975, toda una delicia.

01. Fast Buck Freddie [0:03:30.62]
02. Miracles [0:06:53.35]
03. Git Fiddler [0:03:11.35]
04. Ai Garimasu (There Is Love) [0:04:17.28] The first word in the title is "AI", not "AL" like the sleeve lists.
05. Sweeter Than Honey [0:03:23.72]
06. Play On Love [0:03:46.38]
07. Tumblin' [0:03:29.02]
08. I Want To See Another World [0:04:36.63]
09. Sandalphon [0:04:11.52]
10. There Will Be Love [0:05:08.18]
11. Miracles (Single Version) [0:03:30.32]
12. Band Introduction (Live at Winterland, November 7, 1975) [0:01:15.43]
13. Fast Buck Freddie (Live at Winterland, November 7, 1975) [0:03:35.05]
14. There Will Be Love (Live at Winterland, November 7, 1975) [0:04:58.40]
15. You're Driving Me Crazy (Live at Winterland, November 7, 1975) [0:06:45.42]




Jefferson Starship: Marty Balin, Grace Slick (vocals); Paul Kantner
(guitar); Craig Chaquico (guitar); Papa John Creach (violin); David
Freiberg, Pete Sears (keyboards, bass); John Barbata (drums,
percussion)

Additional personnel: Irv Cox (saxophone); Bobbye Hall (percussion).

Recorded at Wally Heider's, San Francisco, California in February 1975.

Includes liner notes by David Cohen.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
30th Anniversary Edition, contains bonus tracks.

Technically speaking, Red Octopus was the first album credited to Jefferson Starship, though practically the same lineup made Dragon Fly, credited to Grace Slick/Paul Kantner/Jefferson Starship. The difference, however, was crucial: Marty Balin was once again a fully integrated band member, writing or co-writing five of the ten tracks. And there can be little doubt that it was Balin's irresistible ballad "Miracles," the biggest hit single in the Jefferson Whatever catalog, that propelled Red Octopus to the top of the charts, the only Jefferson album to chart that high and the best-selling album in their collective lives. This must have been sweet vindication for Balin, who founded Jefferson Airplane but then drifted away from the group as it veered away from his musical vision. Now, the collective was incorporating his taste without quite integrating it -- "Miracles," with its strings and sax solo by nonband member Irv Cox, was hardly a characteristic Airplane/Starship track. But then, neither exactly was Papa John Creach's showcase, "Git Fiddler," or bassist Pete Sears' instrumental "Sandalphon," which sounded like something from an early Procol Harum album. Slick has three strong songs, among them the second single "Play on Love." Like Dragon Fly, Red Octopus reflected a multiplicity of musical tastes; there were ten credited songwriters, seven of whom were in the band. If there is any consistency in this material, it is in subject matter (love songs). The album is more ballad-heavy and melodic than the Airplane albums, which made it more accessible to the broader audience it reached, though "Sweeter Than Honey" is as tough a rocker as the band ever played. [The 2005 reissue of Red Octopus contains four bonus tracks including the single version of "Miracles" and songs recorded live at Winterland in 1975.] -- William Ruhlmann

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jueves, junio 07, 2007

Jefferson Starship: Earth: Tierra


Jefferson Starship
Earth (1978) Flac

La etapa mas AOR de los Jefferson no esta lo suficientemente valorada a mi entender. Si bien, comparada con la etapa "Airplane", el estilo mas pop de la banda hace q los mas puristas vean un cambio demasiado radical en el estilo, los discos q sacaron a partir de 1974, como "Dragon Fly" "Spitfire" "Red Octopus" o este "Earth", son notables muestras de preciosismo lirico. Aire, fuego, agua y tierra, los elementos del cosmos hechos musica. Aun en 1999 se montaron algunos de los miembros originales un gran album, "Windows of Heaven", q intentare traer dentro de poco, ya q es el unico q me falta junto al "Early Flight", seleccion de caras b, disco de la etapa Airplane, q me pone aun los pelos de punta.

Jefferson Starship had figured out how to craft high-octane, high-gloss AOR rock with Red Octopus, a highlight of mainstream hard rock in the '70s. Instead of being a launching pad to greater things, the album turned out to be the group's pinnacle, and in the years following its release, the group simply recycled its ideas. In the case of its sequel, Spitfire, that was acceptable, because they had enough hooks to make the similarity forgivable. On Earth, however, they had neither the melodies, hooks or style to make a second rewrite of Red Octopus tolerable. Earth has the form, but not the content, of Jefferson Starship's masterpiece -- it just sits there, lacking either hard rockers or sappy ballads. Arguably, it's the group's low point of the '70s.

Tracks:
1.Love Too Good 6:07
2.Count On Me 3:17
3.Take Your Time 4:14
4.Crazy Feelin' 3:41
5.Skateboard 3:22
6.Fire 4:46
7.Show Yourself 4:39
8.Runaway 5:24
9.All Nite Long 6:35

Band Lineup:
Paul Kantner - Vocals and Rhythm Guitar
Grace Slick - Vocals
Marty Balin - Vocals
David Freiberg - Vocals, Bass and Keyboard
Pete Sears - Bass and Keyboard
Craig Chiquico - Lead Guitar
John Barbata - Drums/Percussion

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