R.I.P. Marty Balin (Jefferson Airplane/Starship)

Mark WW

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Wow I missed that. RIP Marty. Airplane was and is one of my favorite bands.
 

SFIV1967

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adorshki

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In my humble opinion the last truly great Airplane ballad, and I still prefer it to the "(imitation) Starship" stuff like "Miracles":
"Turn My Life Down" from Volunteers



From Allmusic:
"Most of Jorma Kaukonen's songwriting efforts for Jefferson Airplane took on a slightly sarcastic and biting tone, usually based on social observations. "Turn My Life Down," however, is a highly personal and relatively simple pop song. Built of some very sweet folk chord changes, it's one of the real charmers of the Volunteers album. Kaukonen handed the song to singer Marty Balin. Balin was indeed a perfect pop singer for the song, yet many Airplane aficionados look at this as an act of appreciation by Kaukonen for Balin's initial founding of the band -- a fact that had been lost in recent years. "
 
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mellowgerman

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Al, I always loved that tune as well. I can easily see how people may be polarized about his vocal style, but to me it was always just pure soul and passion. As for the later Starship stuff it's tough for me to get into... between sounding dated instrumentally (to my ear) and also lyrically far less substantial
 

adorshki

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Al, I always loved that tune as well. I can easily see how people may be polarized about his vocal style, but to me it was always just pure soul and passion.
It's a funny thing, in my youth I was all over the ultra-heavy material on the album, especially Jorma's work on "Hey Frederick" and "Good Shepherd" although there were a couple of little touches in "TMLD" I really liked.
It was only about 10 years ago when I put it on one day that the light bulb went on and I really finally "got" just how excellent the entire cut really was.
Played it 3 times in a row that day....and have you ever noticed that no matter how many times you open and close the album cover the peanut butter and jelly never get all smashed together?
jefferson-airplane-grace-slick-marty-balin-jorma-kaukonen-jack-casady-volunteers-1969-lp-signed-autograph-31.gif

And did they ever catch that guy who was wanted for putting jelly in people's shoes?
And have they announced exactly what happened to Marty yet?
All I can find is "ongoing but undisclosed illness".
Oh well. I can respect the family privacy with that.

As for the later Starship stuff it's tough for me to get into... between sounding dated instrumentally (to my ear) and also lyrically far less substantial
Yep. For me, "Ride the Tiger" was the closest the new band ever got to Airplane, and I did like "Jane", but after listening to Dragonfly once, guitarist Craig Chaquico's mostly uninspiring work and the basically limp compositions were the weak links for me.
Kind of like "Journey light" and "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" era Elvin Bishop all rolled into one, and I didn't bother trying to listen to anything new from the bands follow-ups.
Whereas Paul and Grace had been my counter-culture heroes up there with Lennon and Ono during the original Jefferson Starship era, by the release of Red Octopus I considered 'em sellouts.
Arrogant of me perhaps but I'm just bein' frank.
Since then I did come around to understanding that hey they deserve to make a living like anybody else.
Maybe it was the baby.
I hear they can change things.
Oh yeah, there's another often-overlooked Balin-Kaukonen collaboration that deserves better recognition:
"She Has Funny Cars", the opener for Surrealistic Pillow.
I humbly submit that tune may have more responsibility for the success of the album than has ever been acknowledged.
That Krupa-inspired drum intro leading into the first chord changes reaches out and grabs your ears and never lets go.
Then there's the middle 8. Pure Balin excellence again.
And what's up with this myth I cam across about what a "Plastic Fantastic Lover" is?
Doesn't anybody remember that Corvette were originally called "Plastic Fantastics"?
The lyrics prove it's obviously another tune about cars.
They were pretty big in '60's youth culture, remember?
 
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Mark WW

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I was a HUGE Airplane fan and listened to their early albums till they were worn out and replaced several times. I had a difficult time identifying Marty from Grace in a lot of vocals but they really did compliment one another.
 

mellowgerman

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I had a difficult time identifying Marty from Grace in a lot of vocals but they really did compliment one another.

That makes me think of the Monterey Pop Festival footage of "Today" -- a song that is already often mistaken to be sung by Grace by folks who don't know any better -- as I heard it, Marty was pretty heartbroken when he first saw that the footage of his beautifully executed ballad at this great festival consisted only of a close-up of Grace standing on stage... supposedly the camera man was pretty obsessed with her (as were many at the time, I suppose).
Real bummer though... he was such an emotive performer on stage and I'm sure it would have been a real treat to see. Alas, I suppose we should be happy simply to have the audio from that night
 

fronobulax

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supposedly the camera man was pretty obsessed with her (as were many at the time, I suppose).

As someone who has followed the Airplane for a long time, remembers when Volunteers was first released and actually saw them in concert, my regret, as a geezer, was that I only had eyes and ears for Grace Slick. Who knows where I would be musically now if I had paid attention to Jack Casady's bass or emulated Marty's tenor?
 
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