One of the group's better albums, despite coming so late in their history
that it was ignored by almost everyone. "Hope," "Fire Brothers,"
and "Don't Cry For My Lady Love" are among the best songs the
group ever cut, and "I Found Love" is one of the prettiest,
most upbeat songs ever to come from any classic San Francisco band. Some
of the rest is self-indulgent, but that's what this era of music was about
-- the guitar pyrotechnics of "Song For Frisco" and "Play
My Guitar" make them both more entertaining than their somewhat bland
melodies; the latter song, in particular, sounds like a Marty Balin/Jefferson
Airplane outtake that would have been right on target about four years
before the release date of this album. The whole record feels that way,
a throwback to the psychedelic era circa late 1967. It's also very much
a folk-rock record, with a rich acoustic guitar texture on many of the
songs. For the record, since the CD reissue has no personnel information,
the band at this point was Dino Valenti (guitar, vocals), Greg Elmore
(drums), Gary Duncan (vocals, guitar), Mark Ryan (bass), Mark Naftalin
(keyboards), and Chuck Steaks (keyboards). If you ever wondered what the
Airplane might have done as a follow-up to Surrealistic Pillow with Marty
Balin still singing lead, this is it.
(by Bruce Eder, AMG) |