Jefferson Starship

Since CDs, with their maximum 80-minute running times, roughly double the capacity of LPs, two-fer reissues in which one CD combines two LPs have proliferated. Usually, record companies have made obvious pairings, putting together albums that followed each other chronologically or were linked thematically. But the British Edsel label's matching of Jefferson Starship's third album, Spitfire (1976), and their sixth, Modern Times (1981), is a head-scratcher. The two LPs represent different editions of the band; Marty Balin was the male lead singer on Spitfire, while Mickey Thomas had taken over by Modern Times. Also, the musical approaches differ noticeably. The Jefferson Starship of Spitfire was a collective that attempted to balance the contributions of the various members to a fault, with even drummer John Barbata getting his own songwriting and lead-singing showcase (the rock & roll song "Big City"). There are several contributors to Modern Times, too (seven songwriters, in fact), but the sound is much more streamlined and consistent, dominated by Craig Chaquico's lead guitar work and by Thomas, who sings lead on every song, no matter who wrote it. (Jefferson Starship's female lead singer Grace Slick, a full-fledged member on Spitfire, had departed in 1978 and returned in only a subsidiary role on Modern Times, singing a duet with Thomas on "Stranger" and adding to the background vocals here and there.)

The biggest difference in the sound of the two LPs when they are played back to back on this CD, however, is the switch from Balin's distinctive tenor to Thomas' anonymous one when "Love Lovely Love" fades out, giving way to "Find Your Way Back." There's no mistaking Balin, with his slightly nasal sound and elastic phrasing. But Thomas could be Journey's Steve Perry or Boston's Brad Delp or some other smooth arena rock crooner. A consistent element from one album to the other is rhythm guitarist and singer/songwriter Paul Kantner, whose compositions are always wordy and constructed in arrangements that make them sound like suites; one is even clumsily called "Song to the Sun: Ozymandias/Don't Let It Rain." Kantner actually is at his best on the closing track of Modern Times, and thus of this CD, "Stairway to Cleveland (We Do What We Want)," a rocking patter song in which he belligerently takes on the band's critics. If only it came at the end of a better LP. As to the question of why these two records have been put together here, a perverse thematic answer might be that the one thing they really have in common is that they are both somewhat disappointing follow-ups to significant albums in Jefferson Starship's career. Spitfire followed the best-selling Red Octopus; Modern Times came after the career-resurrecting Freedom at Point Zero. Neither was as good or as successful as its predecessor. But the real reason for combining Spitfire and Modern Times on one CD is probably simpler and more practical, if artistically arbitrary. Spitfire was the first Jefferson Starship album to chart in the U.K., where this reissue originates. Modern Times is the only other Jefferson Starship LP that is short enough to fit with it on a single disc; together, the two come in at 79:51. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide