When Jefferson Starship released this album it was without long-time members Grace Slick and Marty Balin. Mickey Thomas was handling the vocals. This also introduced a more guitar crunch driven sound and heralded a new arena rock period for the group. It was also one of the strongest discs the band ever produced. There’s a new vitality and sound here and there are hit singles, but for the most part they are made without sacrificing the unique sonic identity of the band. I love Balin and Slick’s contribution to this band, but you can’t argue with the strength of this disc.

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The sounds of a storm bring this in. Dramatic and powerful keyboards enter and a sense of majesty with them. Guitar and other instruments join and this gets an arena rock gone prog gone really potent texture. When it moves out to the slow moving guitar line this is made even more effective – and progressive rock like. They crescendo to end the extended introduction. Then it moves out to a ballad-like structure and begins building in a gradual way. They power it up a bit more again for the chorus section. In some ways this reminds me a lot of Kansas – right down to the lyrics. This is an incredible piece of music and one of the highlights of the disc. We get a great keyboard interlude. Vocals come in over the top of this and they build it out into a keyboard dominated ballad structure. The main modes of the song are ramped up as they carry it forward and this is so powerful it’s scary. The powerhouse guitar solo segment later is amazing.