Tuesday 28 August 2012

LINK: ‘Almost by accident’: Inside the happenstance behind Jefferson Starship’s cool 1970s album covers

Jefferson Starship, starting with 1973′s Dragonfly, issued a trio of well-received albums — each of them with an interlocking cover-image theme — first air, then water, then fire and then earth. Cool, right? Longtime leader Paul Kantner says it was essentially just a happy accident.

Dragonfly was the gold-selling debut of Jefferson Starship, a group that had evolved out of the ashes of Jefferson Airplane. That first project went to No. 11 on the Billboard album charts and featured the single “Ride the Tiger.” Next came Red Octopus, the two-times platinum smash featuring the No. 3 hit “Miracles” — which had a water-themed cover.

Spitfire and Earth, both platinum releases, followed in 1976 and ’78 respectively. Earth rose to No. 5 on the strength of the Top 10 hit “Count on Me” — but by then co-founding members Grace Slick and Marty Balin had left the group.

Eventually Kantner left as well, prompting the group to transition into the Mickey Thomas-led Starship. Kantner has since taken up the Jefferson Starship banner again, though bassist David Freiberg is the only member still remaining from the original 1970s-era lineups.

Together now with Cathy Richardson, Chris Smith, Slick Aguilar and Donny Baldwin, Jefferson Starship is celebrating a new four-CD live album for 2012 called Tales From The Mothership, recorded at Roswell, New Mexico.

...and check out the Gonzo Artist Page for Jefferson Starship you know it makes sense.

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