MB
Marty Balin has died. He was a singer, songwriter and musician in and founder of Jefferson Airplane (later Starship). He also had a solo career.
posted by LAGuy @ 10:00 AM
Pajama Guy
"You couldn’t have a starker contrast between the multiple layers of checks and balances [at ‘60 Minutes’] and a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas writing.”
-Jonathan Klein, former CBS Executive
Contributors
Previous Posts
- Listen To The Lullaby
- A Tale Of Two Sitcoms
- The Kunk
- What's So Funny?
- Mostly Marlys
- Maniacal
- Let George Write It
- Wait, What?
- Simonizing
- White Power
3 Comments:
Most of his 1970s and 1980s output was "background music" to me.
If you had asked me "Do you know the song 'Hearts' by Marty Balin?" I would have said "That doesn't ring a bell." But when I played it, I realized I had heard this song hundreds of times, and while it wasn't unpleasant, I had never found it worthy of attention or trying to figure out who the singer/band was.
"Miracles" would be in the exact same category, if it weren't for its notoriety due to the lyrics in the extended version.
Jefferson Airplane was part of a ground-breaking musical movement. Its successors, not so much. Too bad nobody advised them to "Find your way back"....
Jefferson Airplane was a revolutionary band, being at the forefront of psychedelic rock, and perhaps the central exponent of the "San Francisco Sound." I own a few of their albums.
Jefferson Starship wasn't so revolutionary, but they weren't bad. And they were probably a bigger band than the Airplane. I own Red Octopus, which was the biggest album in any incarnation, and it's not bad. I like "Miracles"--liked it before I knew it had dirty lyrics. It's a fairly intense love song.
Then there's Starship, after Balin left. I don't own any of their music, though they had three chart-topping singles, "We Built This City," "Sara" and "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now."
As for "Hearts," I remember hearing it on the radio and not automatically turning the dial.
To me, Red Octopus is when JS began to mutate into a mainstream, commercial pop-rock band. They would still occasionally make songs that sounded like they could have come from Airplane ("St. Charles", for example), but then when Mickey Thomas replaced Balin the conversion was complete.
Jefferson Airplane is deservedly placed alongside other SF late-sixties bands like the Grateful Dead. Jefferson Starship is rightly put alongside Journey, another SF band that couldn't figure out what direction to head until they got a new lead singer and zoomed to the top of the commercial pop charts.
But to me, the only memorable JS songs are the ones that Grace Slick sings lead on, because she's got such a great voice. "Stranger" is quite good.
"We Built This City" is a great power-pop song, up there with "Eye of the Tiger" and "The Dream Police".
Post a Comment
<< Home