Search - Starship :: G.H.

Brilliant? HA!

Francis M. Laidler | 06/02/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I've never heard something so rediculous in my entire life! What are they trying to pull? The whole album is a re-recording of old songs, and not by the original band members. I can't believe they even dare to sell this tripe. I'm soooooooo angry. I'm buying the Cocktail Soundtrack. At least that has the REAL version of Wild Again. I'd be more angry if I didn't have another greatest hits album. I really only bought it for Wild Again. I am sooooooo angry about this. Real Starship fans will stay away. Try the Camden Records Greatest Hits album."

An enjoyable import which sees the return of Starship

William Matson | Maine | 10/26/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This version of Starship's greatest hits was released as an import, in 2003, through Brilliant Records. As you may tell by taking a closer look at the cd (front and back), or by reading other reviews, this is not the original Starship. You'll also find that these are not the original versions of these hit songs. What you have is the current lineup of Starship (as of 2002) rerecording these songs live in the studio. This new lineup is sans Grace Slick, who is no longer involved with the band. However, that is not such a bad thing.



The truth is that Starship was not given their due by rock critics or certain rock fans (mostly those who put Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship high up on a pedestal). To a degree, they had a point. Starship's 1980's material sounds very dated now. What this recording does is give these songs a little bit of an update and makes them sound very fresh. There are less keyboards and heavier guitars. This lineup of Starship may have complete unknowns (other than Thomas), but they do these songs justice. In fact, many of them are improved upon, compared to the original versions from the 1980's. The new take on "We Built This City" is far better than the original. I dare you to listen to it. The song is given a longer solo and outro. The traffic report in the middle of the song, which was the cause of so much criticism, is long gone. Mickey Thomas (who sung many of these tunes originally) handles all of the lead vocals here. Hearing Mickey sing, "We Built This City" all by his lonesome (without Grace Slick) is different, for sure. Different is a good thing, though.



The tunes here include not just the Starship tunes but some Jefferson Starship cuts, as well. A devoted fan, who can distinguish those two eras, will know which songs are which. "Wild Again" (Starship) originally came from the 'Cocktail' movie soundtrack. A lot of these other cuts come from various studio albums, which I won't bother to label. Other notable remakes include, "Fooled around and fell in love" along with "Nothing's gonna stop us now."



For the most part, everything on here was a hit, although a couple of these songs, you may never have heard of. Seeing that this version of 'Greatest Hits' is an import, it may take some searching to try to find it offline in a music store. If you enjoy this release, you'll be very interested in another Starship import titled, 'Greatest and Latest.' That release not only contains these same versions of Starship's hit songs, but also a separate dvd.



I recommend buying this if you enjoyed the 80's Starship music. Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship fans could probably skip this one, but I am sure they already made up their minds about this cd before reading any reviews. With that said, there are plenty of Jefferson Starship/Starship greatest hits collections out there. A few of these are from major labels and are recommended for those of you who would rather have the 1980's (original) versions of songs like, "We built this city." This album here ('Greatest Hits', 2003, Brilliant) is easy to distinguish from the others due to the cover art (no Grace Slick in the picture) and also the fact that this 'Greatest Hits' states that these are rerecordings. These versions have been licensed off, repackaged and appear on some other (inferior) Starship greatest hits collections, so watch out.

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