Winds of Change
	Produced by Kevin Beamish
	Released on October 1982
	US CHART POSITION #26 . . . GOLD RECORD (7/31/95)
	Find it at GEMM
BXL1-4372 cover [high resolution photo]

E ven the return of Grace Slick couldn’t change the commercial course of Jefferson Starship. And maybe nothing needed to change: the gentle winds of fortune filled even a thin sail like this, propelling it into the Top 40 and spinning the compass so that mediocre singles became big hits. How else to explain the success of “Be My Lady?” In its defense (and you knew it was coming), Winds of Change doesn’t blow. Primary songwriters Pete Sears and Craig Chaquico are capable of stepping outside faceless studio rock to deliver something of merit. And Paul Kantner continues to deliver left-of-center ideas; this time “Out of Control” (you’d have to wonder what Nina Hagen could do with this song) and “I Came Back From The Jaws of the Dragon.” Grace Slick also delivers a little of the black witch magic on “Quit Wasting Time” and “Black Widow.” But producer Kevin Beamish does the band no favors, managing to confine a roomful of talent into a closetful of conformity. Honestly, I enjoyed Nuclear Furniture more, perhaps for its feign to a unified theme. Winds of Change makes little pretense to intellectual pursuits, instead satisfied to mine the shallow commercial veins of gold records. Some victory can be found in the album’s solid charting and eventual gold status, but it was a temporal victory, something that doesn’t carry over to audiences today. Among the Starship releases, this may be the lamest, a ghost of the great band that once was. Or not, since I’m prone to hyperbole.

BXL1-4372 back cover	BXL1-4372 lyric sleeve

TRACK LISTING

1. WINDS OF CHANGE    (Lyrics: Jeanette Sears, Music: Pete Sears)    3:52
2. KEEP ON DREAMIN'    (Craig Chaquico)    5:00
3. BE MY LADY    (Lyrics: Jeanette Sears, Music: Pete Sears)    3:50
4. I WILL STAY    (Lyrics: Jeanette Sears, Music: Pete Sears)    3:56
5. OUT OF CONTROL    (Lyrics: Paul Kantner/China Kantner/Grace Slick, Music: Paul Kantner)    2:53
6. CAN'T FIND LOVE    (Lyrics: Grace Slick/Monica Clemans/Mickey Thomas/Craig Chaquico, Music: Craig Chaquico)    4:48
7. BLACK WIDOW    (Lyrics: Grace Slick/Craig Chaquico, Music: Craig Chaquico)    4:59
8. I CAME BACK FROM THE JAWS OF THE DRAGON    (Paul Kantner)    5:57
9. QUIT WASTING TIME    (Lyrics: Jeanette Sears, Music: Pete Sears)    5:01

CREDITS

CRAIG CHAQUICO -- guitars
AYNSLEY DUNBAR -- drums
DAVID FREIBERG -- keyboards, bass guitar, organ, synthesizer
PAUL KANTNER -- guitars
PETE SEARS -- bass guitar, keyboards, piano, synthesizer
GRACE SLICK -- lead vocals
MICKEY THOMAS -- lead vocals
Kevin Beamish -- engineer
Pat Ieraci (Maurice) -- production coordinator
Andreas Nottebohm -- painting
Dyer/Kahn, Inc. -- design
Paul Tokarski/Visual Promotions, Inc. -- special effects photography

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