As its album title suggests,
Starship's compilation
Greatest Hits (Ten Years and Change 1979-1991) covers not only the group's popular heyday, 1985-1991, but also the earlier era, 1979-1984, which was actually the latter days of
Jefferson Starship, after the departures of co-lead singers
Marty Balin and
Grace Slick, with former
Elvin Bishop Group singer
Mickey Thomas replacing
Balin, and
Slick, eventually, returning. The history that is described by the collection is largely one of attrition, effectively traced by the performer credits listed in the booklet. In 1979, the group is a sextet consisting of
Thomas, lead guitarist
Craig Chaquico, rhythm guitarist
Paul Kantner (the last remaining holdout from the original
Jefferson Airplane lineup), keyboardist
Pete Sears, bassist
David Freiberg, and drummer
Aynsley Dunbar.
Slick is back by 1981, joining
Thomas on "Stranger," a singles chart entry from the
Modern Times LP. By the time of Top 40 hit "No Way Out" and singles chart entry "Layin' It on the Line" in 1984,
Freiberg has dropped out, with
Sears moving to bass;
Dunbar has been replaced by
Donny Baldwin; and
Peter Wolf (not the singer from
the J. Geils Band), who co-wrote "No Way Out" with his wife
Ina Wolf, is a non-member session musician playing keyboards. As of 1985's chart-topping "We Built This City" and "Sara,"
Kantner has decamped, taking the "Jefferson" in the name with him after a legal tussle.
Sears has disappeared by 1987's number-one hit "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" and Top Ten follow-up "It's Not Over ('Til It's Over)." As of 1989's Top 20 hit "It's Not Enough,"
Slick is gone again, while
Mark Morgan is in on keyboards, and
Brett Bloomfield is playing bass. But on the 1990 song "Don't Lose Any Sleep" (written by power ballad queen
Diane Warren), which is exclusive to this collection, only
Thomas and
Chaquico are credited. And as of 1991, with the track "Good Heart," this album's charting single, it's
Thomas alone, albeit backed by
Wolf, guitarist
Peter Maunu, and, on background vocals, songwriter
Martin Page (who also had a hand in "We Built This City"). No wonder
Starship were declared defunct soon after this album was released. Clearly, the major element in the sound is
Thomas' soaring tenor, a voice not unlike that of
Journey's
Steve Perry, who was making his mark around the same time. But a case could be made for
Wolf as well; he plays on four tracks here, and he co-wrote three. Certainly, his icy synthesizer riffs (de rigueur for 1980s pop/rock) and
Chaquico's high-pitched guitar lines are the main instrumental foils to
Thomas.
Starship always tend to be compared unfavorably with
Jefferson Airplane and even
Jefferson Starship, but on the band's own terms this is carefully conceived pop/rock music of its era, nothing more or less. It's worth noting that this particular selection is imperfect, leaving out the Top 40 hits "Be My Lady" and "Winds of Change" (both from the
Jefferson Starship era), as well as "Tomorrow Doesn't Matter Tonight." ~ William Ruhlmann