KBC Band "KBC Band" 1986***

I just read on MOJO magazine's obituaries about the death of Jefferson Airplane co-vocalist and songwriter Marty Balin. He started as a minor teen idol before co-founding Airplane, getting gradually marginalized in his own group by the flamboyant personality of co-singer Grace Slick and radical political direction pursued by bandmate Paul Kantner. This  album isn't among his best, but deserves to be rescued from oblivion nevertheless. It comes from 1986, a bad year for music - as well as for hairstyles, fashion and whatnot. Not as bad, though, as 1985, the year that the Airplane's successors, Starship, had hit big with "We Built This City" - a tune that often tops "worst songs ever" lists. It supposedly celebrates "real rock" as opposed to playing "corporation games" - a song nevertheless propelled by heavy rotation on MTV, and written by hired guns for a band that had started as 60's counter-cultural icons Jefferson Airplane. By that time, of course, only Grace Slick was left from the original Airplane - her former boyfriend and bandmate Paul Kantner having quit, disappointed by the commercial direction of it all. Pretty soon he joined his former bandmates Marty Balin and Jack Cassady in new band KBC. Their (sole) album contains three Kantner/Balin compositions where they share the vocals and which partly revive the rebel spirit of the 60's with their anthemic choruses and harmonies, as well as with their lyrics. Opener "Mariel" sports some upbeat percussion and a rocking guitar solo (lead guitarist Mark Aguilar is a big asset for the band), but the lyrics speak about the murder of Chilean songwriter Victor Jara at the hands of a CIA-backed dictatorship, and warn that "if we don't care now/Chile could happen here". Likewise "America" echoes the call-to-arms of 1969's "Volunteers" (albeit with shiny 80's studio sheen), the dream of a U.S. without fear, poverty and warmongering. It's actually a catchy, uplifting tune with a strong chorus and nice guitar and sax solos. Their 3rd co-write "Dream Motorcycle" is a melodic rocker marred by the excessive use of sax and synths. The rest of the album was written by outside collaborators. The best of these songs is lead single "It's Not You, It's Not Me", which sports a strong vocal performance by Balin and music reminiscent of contemporary hits by Asia, Boston, Journey etc. It's no coincidence that Boston producer John Boylan co-produced AOR tracks "No More Heartaches" and "When Love Comes". Despite Kantner's professed disappointment with Starship's commercial direction (but then again, Balin was always more commercial-oriented) KBC utilizes all of the studio and songwriting tricks of the time to obtain a hit: big choruses, danceable rhythms, cheesy synths - it even often (e.g. "Wrecking Crew") veers close to disco. The obligatory power ballads (3rd single "Hold Me", Sadistic Mika Band cover "Sayonara") are also here. For whatever reason, this album wasn't the success they must have hoped for and Kantner, Balin and Cassisy soon joined Grace Slick in an almost full reunion of the original Jefferson Airplane, even cutting an album under that moniker. KBC are largely forgotten now, but if you are a fan of 80's AOR music you'll find there's a lot to like here. It certainly holds up much better than the more successfull Starship LP's of that era...  P.S. this is probably the only LP I have where the sleeve is also printed on the inside. You'd have to tear it at the seams to open it and see what the picture inside is. I didn't, but internet search reveals it shows a car floating down a desert highway with a sign in the distance saying "Life is a test. Had this been a real life, you would have been told where to go and what to do". Ha! 

**** for Mariel, It's Not You It's Not Me, America

*** for Hold Me, No More Heartaches, When Love Comes, Dream Motorcycle, Sayonara

** for Wrecking Crew