Earth
	Produced by Larry Cox and Jefferson Starship
	Released on March 1978
	US CHART POSITION #5 . . . PLATINUM RECORD
	Find it at GEMM
BXL1-2515 cover [high resolution photo]

W hat on Earth happened is a better cosmic balance between Marty Balin, Grace Slick and Craig Chaquico. Rather than try to work Balin and Slick into the same song, which always ended up sounding like a catfight anyway, they rotate songs: her, him, her, etc. Balin again brings the better songs, but it’s like he’s leasing space in the Starship: for three tracks, they’re Balin’s backing band. Slick doesn’t play in the sandbox any better; “Take Your Time” and “Show Yourself” amount to solo material. When Kaptain Kantner piles everyone aboard for one last ride on the ghost of the Airplane, “All Nite Long,” you wonder whether you’ll ever see them all together again. (Tellingly, when they landed at Point Zero, both Balin and Slick were missing.) Oddly, this disharmony of personalities was a preferred formula for success during the Seventies: Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, CSN&Y. It provided a richer mixture of sounds, since every ego had to find its outlet, with a little something for everyone. Rock, ballads and mystical sidetrips got rolled together, and while smoking the whole thing was strangely unsatisfying, they were usually good for a few hits. Balin’s countryish “Count On Me” is a winner, the faraway “Runaway” a ‘70s classic, and the opening “Love Too Good” is too good to ignore. They make up for the rocky patches, like an unnecessary ode to a skateboarder (“If miles turned to inches, you know that man would roll all the way around the world tonight”) and a “Crazy Feelin’” that disco isn’t dead. I don’t have a lot of skin in the Starship saga, and if the original starcaptain had grown long in tooth and dim in vision, the mutinous mutation of Earth is no concern of mine. It produced some hits, some misses, and sits squarely in the middle of a box marked “jefferson” that I only occasionally open anyway.

ST-11560 back cover	ST-15560 picture sleeve

TRACK LISTING

1. LOVE TOO GOOD    (words: Gabriel Robles, music: Craig Chaquico)    6:03
2. COUNT ON ME    (Jesse Barish)    3:14
3. TAKE YOUR TIME    (words: Grace Slick, music: Pete Sears)    4:08
4. CRAZY FEELIN'    (Jesse Barish)    3:38
5. SKATEBOARD    (words: Grace Slick/Craig Chaquico, music: Craig Chaquico)    3:18
6. FIRE    (words: Marty Balin/Trish Robbins, music: David Freiberg/Pete Sears)    4:44
7. SHOW YOURSELF    (Grace Slick)    4:36
8. RUNAWAY    (N.Q. Dewey)    5:18
9. ALL NITE LONG    (words: Paul Kantner/Marty Balin/Jesse Barish/Grace Slick, music: Paul Kantner/John Barbata/Pete Sears/Craig Chaquico/David Freiberg)    6:28
   
   All songs arranged by Jefferson Starship
   

CREDITS

MARTY BALIN -- vocals
JOHN BARBATA -- electric drums, drums, congas, percussion, vocals
CRAIG CHAQUICO -- lead guitar, rhythm guitar, vocals
DAVID FREIBERG -- bass, organ, vocals
PAUL KANTNER -- rhythm guitar, vocals
PETE SEARS -- electric piano, organ, Moog, synthesizers, piano, celeste, clavinet, bass
GRACE SLICK -- piano, vocals
Gene Page -- string and horn arrangements
Larry Cox -- engineer
Pat Ieraci (Maurice) -- production coordinator, art coordination
Steve Hall -- recordist
Nat Quick -- illustration
Jefferson Starship -- art direction
Tim Bryant/Gribbit -- art director
Don Davis -- dust sleeve & label illustration
Roger Ressmeyer -- photo

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