Search - Starship :: Starship

Shaun B. (sbrening) from KANSAS CITY, MO
Reviewed on 1/10/2010...

Mickey Thomas and his fellow band members did a great job re-recording some of Starships biggest hits, and even added a couple from their last studio album "Love Among The Cannibals" released in 1989. Since it's been 21 years since their last official release of original material, this is a nice addition to the collection.

A mixed 'greatest hits' package

William Matson | Maine | 08/31/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This album advertises 'new studio recordings by the original artist' on the sleeve. Trouble is, the cover features a picture of Grace Slick, who USED to be in the band but is no longer involved these days. These new studio recordings were done in late 2002, by Mickey Thomas and the current lineup of Starship. Again, Grace Slick did not take part. All of these hits were rerecorded with Mickey Thomas as the sole lead singer. It is odd hearing him sing songs and verses that used to be handled by Grace Slick. The rerecordings do a good job covering the career of Starship. Where these new versions came from was a 2003 import-only titled, 'Greatest and Latest' which contained 14 remakes.



This cd here, by St. Clair, pulls 12 of the songs off that album. The new recordings are all studio and they sound quite good. A lot of the keyboards and synthesizers that plagued the original versions of most of these songs are gone. Granted, some keyboards still exist, but the guitars are more of a focus and sound much crunchier. Mickey Thomas is a capable vocalist and especially shines on 'We built this city', you don't even notice Grace is gone or miss her. The album sleeve is almost worthless and the band picture is of the 1980's lineup. There are two songs missing from this budget compilation that were originally on the source ('Greatest and Latest'-2003), one of those an excellent version of 'Fooled around and fell in love.' It would have been nice to see that track on here.



Various selections of tracks from that 14 song 'Greatest and Latest' appear on other US collections for Starship. They all tend to have slightly different song selection. Songs can be found on other budget compilations that are not on this one, or some here may be missing on other compilations. These US releases containing Starship rerecordings come under names such as: 'Forever Gold', 'Essential Starship' and a couple of 'Greatest Hits' collections. One 'Greatest Hits' is on the Delta label, and a superior collection (with the same title) can be found on the Brilliant record label. The Brilliant album is the only US collection with ALL 14 songs. That one costs the most but is the best of these US cd's. Every other US collection of these songs contains 10-12 songs, of the 14. All four of these other collections have nicer booklets than this one, in some cases a picture of the current lineup or a nice writeup/bio on the band that is included in the liner notes. All of these releases are from 2003-2004 (obviously since the rerecordings were done in '02).



Pros: Remakes sound good. This is not live versions but new studio recordings. The fact these are rerecorded is clearly stated on the cd.



Cons: No information as to who was in the band for these new recordings. What's the lineup? The album 'booklet' (using the term loosely) is worthless. The pictures on the album include members who were not involved (the old lineup of Starship). That is sloppy and reeks of cheap packaging and unprofessionalism. St. Clair (a Canadian company) specializes in selling rerecorded versions of songs by various artists (see all their "Metal" compilations). They aren't known for quality booklets and occasionally produce typos on their releases. Also, not all 14 songs from the source album were used.



If you can deal with a crappy sleeve and rerecorded songs (GREAT versions, albeit), this is worth a look. You'll get a great opportunity to find out what Starship is up to these days and how they sound today, in addition to having these hits all in one place. A real diehard, though, might just locate 'Greatest and Latest' (can be found in the DVD section), which has all 14 new recordings and includes a dvd with interviews, performances, etc. and it isn't THAT expensive. Otherwise, just pick up the 'Greatest Hits' from the Brilliant label which has the best booklet and all 14 tracks, although you would be missing out on the dvd. To Starship circa 2002: good job, guys!











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