Spitfire
	Produced by Larry Cox and Jefferson Starship
	Released on July 1976
	US CHART POSITION #3 . . . PLATINUM RECORD (9/28/76) . . . UK CHART POSITION #30
	Find it at GEMM
BFL1-1557 cover [high resolution photo]

G iven the popularity of Red Octopus, you can’t blame Jefferson Starship for fishing in the same spot with Spitfire. The record includes not one but two minor Miracles, “With Your Love” and “St. Charles,” as well as Slick’s dark night-anglers (“Switchblade”) and Kantner’s cosmic crustaceans (“Song to the Sun”). Papa John Creach packed his bags prior to Spitfire, leaving the Starship slimmed to a svelte septet, but the presence of external songwriters ostensibly expanded the family. The knock on Starship versus, say, Grateful Dead is that under their egalitarian surface are egomaniacal tensions roiling. (Roiling, I tells ya.) If you don’t believe me, count how many toes get stepped on in “Dance With The Dragon.” The Dead seemed to have an internal map that everyone obeyed, but Starship is all over the place. You get the sense that Kantner and Slick abided Balin’s crooning only insofar as it brought their own material into the limelight. I mean, really, what the halibut do “Switchblade” and “Love Lovely Love” have in common anyway? Somehow, Fleetwood Mac managed this better, so that you had an idea of what a Fleetwood Mac song should sound like. I couldn’t tell you what the common thread is that connects the songs on a Red Octopus or Spitfire, which is the same problem I have with BOC. I know, not everything needs to be pigeonholed so precisely, but when the songs don’t have wings of their own you need to put them somewhere for safety. (OK, I went from fish to birds there.) At this juncture, it’s obvious that I’m not buying into the Jefferson Starship experience. They need to manage their portfolio better; consolidate rather than diversify. Or dazzle us with diversity, which isn’t happening either. However, if you thought Red Octopus was a masterpiece, Spitfire is its spitting image. As my Mom would say, dance with the dragon what brung you.

BFL1-1557 back cover	BFL1-1557 picture sleeve

TRACK LISTING

1. CRUISIN'    (Hickox)    5:27
2. DANCE WITH THE DRAGON    (Kantner/Slick/Balin/Chaquico/Sears)    5:02
3. HOT WATER    (Slick/Sears)    3:17
4. ST. CHARLES    (Kantner/Balin/Barish/Chaquico/Thunderhawk)    6:38
5. SONG TO THE SUN
     OZYMANDIAS    (Kantner/Chaquico/Barbata/Freiberg/Sears/Slick)    1:39
     DON'T LET IT RAIN    (P.Kantner/China Wing Kantner)    5:36
6. WITH YOUR LOVE    (Balin/Covington/Smith)    3:33
7. SWITCHBLADE    (Slick)    4:01
8. BIG CITY    (Barbata/Hill/Ethridge)    3:20
9. LOVE LOVELY LOVE    (Barish)    3:31

CREDITS

MARTY BALIN -- vocals
JOHN BARBATA -- drums, vocals, percussion
CRAIG CHAQUICO -- lead guitar, vocals
DAVID FREIBERG -- bass, vocals, keyboards, arps
PAUL KANTNER -- rhythm guitar, vocals
PETE SEARS -- bass, keyboards, melatron, organ, moog, piano
GRACE SLICK -- vocals, piano
Bobbye Hall -- percussion and congas
Dave Roberts -- string and horn arrangements
Steven Schuster -- sax (5)
Larry Cox -- engineer
Pat Ieraci (Maurice) -- production coordinator
Jefferson Starship -- art direction
John Langdon -- label art
Shusei Nagoka -- illustration
Ron Slenzak -- cover photography
Chris Whorf/Tim Bryant-Gribbitt -- album design

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