Consumer Guide Album

Jefferson Starship: Gold [Grunt, 1979]
Though their biographies suggest no special expertise in the subject, these aging romantics sing only about love. To put their generation in kinder perspective they encourage young Craig Chaquico to play his stupid guitar. Perennially poignant Marty Balin, now departed once again, dominates this compilation like a matinee idol squeezing another year out of his profile; perennially unpredictable Grace Slick, now also departed, sounds less and less interested in providing point or counterpoint. The music isn't utterly formulaic--from their tight folkie harmonies to their John Creach phase through various oriental mysteries they've cultivated an agreeable exoticism. But it goes nowhere except the bank. B-