Jefferson Airplane Jefferson Starship - Hits (35 tracks) +Album Reviews

A Bizzare Collection

Brian D. Rubendall | Oakton, VA | 11/19/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"As double disc antholgies go, it doesn't get more truly bizzare than "Hits," by the ever evolving combo from San Francisco which, by the time they had been reduced to merely a Starship, contained exactly ZERO original members (Grace Slick was not part of JA's debut album). Stylistically, the journey from the hippie spaciness of the twin classics "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love" to the utterly vapid 1980s video hits "We Built This City" and "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" is an epic worthy of the Enterprise.That said, if you're a casual fan who liked the JA-S in all of their many incarnations, it's nice to have all of the best stuff in one economically priced package. My only quibble is that it contains only one selection (the smash single "Miracles") from the studio album "Red Octopus," easilly the best from the Jefferson Starship period. The collection is also heavilly weighted with Airplane tracks, which is to its credit. Still, as the two hours-plus unfold, the transformation (read: commercial sellout) of this once-cutting edge band is nothing short of stunning.Overall, an economically priced and sensibly chosen double disc anthology for the casual fan."

Count On Me.

Jason Stein | San Diego, CA United States | 03/21/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Though I was born after Jefferson Airplane and before Jefferson Starship, I happen to like all three incarnations of the band. I know this will offend many fans, but it's true. Pop is pop especially if it's good. Great songs like "White Rabbit", "Somebody To Love", "Miracles", "Count On Me", "Jane", "Stranger", "Find Your Way Back", "Be My Lady", "Layin' It On The Line", "No Way Out", "We Built This City", "Sara", "Tomorrow Doesn't Matter Tonight", "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now", "It's Not Over Til It's Over" and "It's Not Enough" all make this band what it was. They're all here, digitally remastered, plus great non-hits as well. Some fans will scratch their heads in disbelief that someone like myself could like all incarnations of this band since they changed drastically over the years. Sure, Airplane stood for something entirely different than Starship. Things change. This two disc compilation is a very good one because it has everything a non-fan would like to own from this band. The fans can collect each album individually. This compilation is a must have for any rock collector."

Satisfying, but a boxed set would be great!

Samantha J. Gust | Buffalo, NY USA | 10/31/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It's a little hard to believe that the trippy Jefferson Airplane became the rocking Jefferson Starship only to disintegrate into the sappy Starship, but the transformation is right here on these two CDs. The songs you'd expect to find on a hits collection of these three bands are here -- Somebody to Love, White Rabbit, Miracles, Caroline, Jane and We Built This City, to name a few. For me, this compilation is worth having for the full version of Miracles, which was edited for radio play back in the 70s but is more passionate and amazing at its full length! While this set is satisfying, I'd like to see a boxed set someday...

"

An Exhaustive Collection of Jefferson?s multiple transitions

fetish_2000 | U.K. | 06/14/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Jefferson Airplane - "Hits" (Rock & Roll, Hard Rock, Psychedelic, Folk-Rock, Arena Rock) : Firstly it should be mentioned that this extensive compilation compiles the vast majority of the best / Most popular tracks from the 3 incarnations of Jefferson Airplane.....so that includes the bands transitions from "Jefferson Airplane" to "Jefferson Starship" through to just "Starship" (Which contained none of the founder members, and thus explains the radically different sound in the bands transitions). Seeing as this is a "Hits" album, the vast majority of their most popular & critically applauded songs throughout the various transitions of the band are complied here. From the Jefferson Airplane side, the 60's rock and psychedelic rock & Folk-rock that they made their name on, is faithfully represented here, with the excellent inclusions of "Somebody to Love / White Rabbit / Plastic Fantastic Lover".....which (for me) are amongst some of the strongest tracks featured here on this 35 track double album. Jefferson Starship gradual shift away from 60's/Psychedelic rock, to a more Area based rock, and Album oriented rock, lists their best achievements in "Caroline / Miracles / Count on me / With your love", and yet again prove themselves to be fantastic songs in their own right. The transition of their sound was complete with the move to "Starship", which had a completely different line-up of musicians and saw them embrace 80's rock/ Soft rock (not to dissimilar to 'Fleetwood Mac'), and Pop/Rock crossover....with "Sara / Nothings gonna stop us now / It not over (Til it's over)", and the anthemic "We Built this City".Seeing as the band went through three personality changes since it's inception, its not hard to audibly hear the transition of sound, where the band change direction musically. And herein lies the problem.....if you only like one or indeed two, of the bands incarnations, then you're going to have difficulty sitting through the tracks of the period of the band that you don't like.......and because it's one of the only albums to give a complete overview of the band, this is really only aimed at people that liked all three incarnations (irrespective of the wildly different sound), so if you are one of those people, than you'd be far better served, picking up a individual collection album of the period of the band that you like.For those of us, that do appreciate Jefferson's multiple musical & line-up changes, this is as exhaustive & thorough a compilation as you could possibly hope for, and serves to be an illuminating overview of the band, and a balanced portrayal of their wildly varying music. And if you can handle listening to '60's Folk-rock', through to 'Arena / Album oriented rock'....culminating in 80's soft rock (although undeniably catchy), this is the finest catalogue of a band with over 20 years of hits......and highly recommended."

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