Great Rock Albums of 1984: Jefferson Starship- Nuclear Furniture

 

For me in 1984, Jefferson Starship, being my favourite band in the world since 1977, would come to a cross roads with me in the form of the album "Nuclear Furniture." As previously stated enough times that you're all sick of reading it, my musical tastes were getting much heavier. With "Nuclear Furniture," the band began to shy away from the hard rock of their previous three albums. However, I wasn't going to demote them straight away and there was enough good material on the album to keep them at my number one.

First let us start out with the weak. The first single from the album, "No Way Out" while miles better than the vast majority of synth pop coming out at the time, it lacked the power chords I was now craving. Craig Chaquico does save the song with one of his decent guitar solos. Then again, he does it with many of the songs, even the ones where it's not essential. The other songs that might fall into the same category as "No Way Out" have something else that makes them great, with the possible exception of  "Magician." I was getting more and more politically aware in 1984 and seeking out music that reflected my beliefs. There are some great songs that do this. Two of them are about nuclear destruction, "Champion," one of my favourites and "Showdown." Grace Slick's vocals make the latter song sound that much better. Again, lyrically, "Assassin" is a great song. It might have been better placed in the late 90s as it could be applied to school shootings. The song is about a stranger in the neighbourhood who turns out to be a killer. "Live and Let Live" speaks to me personally, not politically and without going into great personal detail, took a load of withheld anger from me. With the track, "Connection," the song clearly trumpets my theory of what would happen if Jesus and Mohammed had actually met each other. While these songs might not be hard rockers, the lyrics really make you think.

Now for the rockers, "Shining in the Moonlight" is a straight ahead one of those bringing back memories of those previous three albums, "Freedom at Point Zero," "Modern Times" and "Winds of Change." The other two are not only cool rockers in my book but also have political lyrics I like. "Rose Goes to Yale" is a short but powerful rocker that makes a great point while rocking out to it. However, my favourite track on the album has to be "Laying It on the Line." A great intro and even though it is a little synthed in places, I don't mind. A cool guitar solo and to my knowledge, it is the only song anywhere to mention what had happened to my marine buddies in Lebanon some seven months earlier.

"Got US boys on foreign soil,

"Spillin' their blood to keep the peace." 

Track Listing:

1. Laying It On the Line
2. No Way Out
3. Sorry Me, Sorry You
4. Live and Let Live
5. Connection
6. Rose Goes to Yale
7. Magician
8. Assassin
9. Shining in the Moonlight
10. Showdown
11. Champion

Jefferson Starship

Mickey Thomas- vocals

Grace Slick- vocals

Craig Chaquico- lead guitar, backing vocals

Paul Kantner- rhythm guitar, vocals, banjo 

Pete Sears- bass, keyboards

David Freiberg- keyboards, vocals

Donny Baldwin- drums, percussion, backing vocals

Paul Kantner-

In spite of "Nuclear Furniture" being a decent album, Jefferson Starship would cease to be my favourite band in 1984. This was because that Paul Kantner would leave the band shortly after the album's release. Not only that, he would take the Jefferson moniker with him after a lawsuit. Like I said when I posted about Kantner's death last year, it was always his songs on the albums I preferred the most. After he left, the band would morph into Starship and I definitely didn't like what I heard on their next album. I want to like Jefferson Starship as I always have remembered them.

Next post: Greg Kihn Band- Khintagious

To buy Rock and Roll Children, email me at tobychainsaw@hotmail.com 

Great Rock Albums of 1983: Paul Kantner- Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra

 

It figures that my weird mind would notice that Paul Kantner's very recent passing would occur right when I was going through the music history of 1983, the year his solo album was released. I was going to visit his album "Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra" further along down the road as it didn't come to light until near the end of said year. Actually, I remember the opening title cut getting some airplay on radio back then. Mind you commercial radio didn't completely suck in 1983. Like I said last post, I always preferred the songs Kantner penned on Jefferson Starship albums, so it was a no brainer that I would get this one.

What I never knew was that this album was written to be a soundtrack for Paul's second novel "The Empire Blows Back," which was a sequel to his first "Blows Against the Empire." Listening to the album again, I can see how it fits. "Planet Earth Rock And Roll Orchestra" or PERRO for short is a mixture of hard, progressive and space rock and it's nicely done. Many of the musicians who appear on the album were current or former members of Jefferson Starship and Jefferson Airplane. Grace Slick does lead vocals on two songs and backing on many of the others. Furthermore, Craig Chaquico works his guitar magic as does Pete Sears with the keyboards, just like all three of them do on Jefferson Starship albums.

The album starts out in a fine hard rock form with the first three songs. The title cut opens things very well and I'm very impressed with track 2, "(She is a) Telepath." "Circle of Fire" was originally meant for the "Winds of Change" but it fits very well here. The next few tracks go very spacey and I think that possibly when these tracks are listened to, maybe one should partake of the same substances they would if listening to a Pink Floyd album. "The Mountain Song" combines both hard and space rock and to me has the typical trademark of a Kantner song. I have since learned that Paul co wrote it with Jerry Garcia so that may explain a lot. Then , out of the blue comes the very amusing track, "Declaration of Independence." Sung by Paul and Grace's daughter China Wing Kantner, the song is almost country with Paul playing along on the banjo, a very amusing song to say the least. China, who was only 12 at the time, provides the perfect vocals for it sounding like a little girl. The last two songs end things very well, especially the closer, "Let's Go." I remember once when listening to the track "I Came Back from the Jaws of the Dragon" off Starship's "Winds of Change" album, my ex wife commented that it sounded like Godspell. Yes, Paul had a thing for harmonies in that style on many of the songs but on "Let's Go," it concludes the album in masterful form.

Track Listing:

1. Planet Earth Rock And Roll Orchestra
2. (She Is a) Telepath
3. Circle of Fire
4. Mount Shasta
5. Lilith's Song
6. Transubstantiation
7. The Mountain Song
8. Declaration of Independence
9. Underground (The Laboratories)
10. The Sky's No Limit
11. Let's Go

[caption id="attachment_1600" align="aligncenter" width="178"] Paul Kantner- Jefferson Starship[/caption]

Paul Kantner- vocals, guitar, banjo, harmonica, synthesizers, lead guitar on "Underground"

Grace Slick- vocals, piano on "The Mountain Song" and "The Sky is No Limit"

Jack Casady- bass

Chiam Wing Kantner- vocals on "Declaration of Independence" and "The Sky Is No Limit"

Alexander Kantner- vocals on "Underground"

Craig Chaquico- lead guitar

Pete Sears- piano

Aynsley Dunbar- drums

Scott Matthews- guitar, harmonica, synthesizers, pedal steel guitar and Linn drums

Ron Nagle- piano and vocals on Transubstantiation

Ronnie Montrose- lead guitar on (She is a) Telepath

Flo & Eddie- vocals

Mickey Thomas- vocals on Circle of Fire

David Freiberg- synthesizers and vocals on Circle of Fire

The problem with "Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra" was that it wasn't mainstream enough. That's why it go only limited airplay on radio. Even if it didn't I believe that I would have eventually discovered it and bought it anyway. This is a cool album and I think it would be only fitting to honour Paul Kantner by listening to it.

Next post: (Hopefully) Billy Idol

To buy Rock And Roll Children, email me at: tobychainsaw@hotmail.com 

Great Rock Albums of 1982: Jefferson Starship- Winds of Change

No, I haven't fallen down a hole nor was I kidnapped by a raging gang of Boy George fans on account of my April Fool's joke. The reason why I haven't been around for the past few weeks was down to technical difficulties. Having a computer under warranty has distinct advantages but one disadvantage is that I had to wait nearly two weeks to have my new keyboard delivered. My stepson was kind enough to lend me his laptop from time to time so I was able to follow many of you whose blogs I get directly through email but he wouldn't let me download photos or give me enough time to write a post. But that's all over and I'm back! What no fanfare?

One very annoying misconception about hard rock and heavy metal is that every album from such an artist sounds the same. Yes, I scream "Bullshit!" when I hear this and the same was said back in 1982 when Jefferson Starship released their album "Winds of Change." To the uneducated, it sounded just like their previous albums "Freedom at Point Zero" and "Modern Times." I bet if they actually listened to all three albums, they would realise that they couldn't have been more wrong.

First of all, when I listen to this album, I am reminded why Jefferson Starship was my favourite band from 1977-84. "Winds of Change" contains everything I liked about the band back then and it adds a few surprises. What I like most about the album is that Craig Chaquico is given free reign on the guitar. Every song has a killer solo or guitar break and in many cases, both. If you ever wondered just how good a lead guitarist he is, then listen to "Winds of Change" because it shows him at his best.

Let's not take anything away from the rest of the band. Pete Sears still lays down some of his keyboard magic in songs like "Be My Lady" and "Can't Find Love" as well as working well with Paul Kantner and Aynsley Dunbar to provide a cool rhythm section. Mickey Thomas is at his vocal best and this was the album that marked Grace Slick's complete return to the band. Her vocals make one believe that she never left the band in the first place. She also leads the band with a small departure from the norm with the punk like "Out of Control." Every time I hear that song, I just want to start pogo dancing.

While there's not a bad track to be found on the album, the ones that stick out for me are the title track, the previously mentioned one, "Black Widow" where Grace makes the mating ritual of the black widow spider sound almost erotic and Paul Kantner makes his usual fine contribution with "I Came Back From the Jaws of the Dragon." The song starts out about Kantner's brain hemorrhage that might have killed him and his near miraculous recovery but in the Kantner style, goes political on Central America and crime and punishment. For the Jefferson Starship fan, there is everything to like on this album.

Track Listing:

1. Winds of Change

2. Keep on Dreamin'

3. Be My Lady

4. I Will Stay

5. Out of Control

6. Can't Find Love

7. Black Widow

8. I Came Back From the Jaws of the Dragon

9. Quit Wasting Time

[caption id="attachment_2074" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Jefferson Starship[/caption]

Mickey Thomas- vocals

Grace Slick- vocals

Craig Chaquico- lead guitar, backing vocals

Paul Kantner- rhythm guitar, vocals

Pete Sears- keyboards, piano, synthesizer and bass on all tracks except "Be My Lady"

David Freiberg- vocals, keyboards, bass on "Be My Lady"

Aynsely Dunbar- drums, percussion

*Note: While Aynsely Dunbar played on the recording of the album, he would leave before the tour and was replaced by Donny Baldwin

A few years down the line, Mickey Thomas would use the observation I made earlier to justify the Starship's later change in sound. But that story's for another day. "Winds of Change" showed that Jefferson Starship could rock with the best of them.

Next post: Great Rock One Hit Wonders of 1982

To buy Rock and Roll Children, email me at tobychainsaw@hotmail.com