Credited to "
Grace Slick/
Paul Kantner/
Jefferson Starship,"
Dragon Fly was the transitional album between the various shifting aggregations
Slick and
Kantner had been recording with as
Jefferson Airplane dissolved in the early '70s and the new
Jefferson Starship (which essentially was
the Airplane with a new guitarist and bassist --
Craig Chaquico and
Pete Sears). But where such preceding efforts as
Sunfighter,
Manhole, and Baron Von Tollbooth and the Chrome Nun had suffered from indulgence and a lack of focus,
Dragon Fly, from the first note of its rocking leadoff track, "Ride the Tiger" (a chart single), was a unified effort. Like much of
the Airplane catalog and all of
the Starship albums to follow, the album suffered from the band's communal approach to song selection (the eight tracks credited 12 writers, half of them bandmembers), leading to an unevenness in the material. But unlike the recent
Kantner/
Slick/etc. albums, it sounded like the work of a seasoned band. (It didn't hurt that the album was cut just after a tour, instead of before one.) Especially notable was
Chaquico, who on such tracks as "All Fly Away" and "Hyperdrive" demonstrated that he was a distinctive lead guitarist able to define
the Starship sound just as the very different
Jorma Kaukonen had
the Airplane. But what turned
Dragon Fly into an artistic and commercial triumph (it was the most popular album any of these people had been involved with in five years) was the return, for one song, of former
Airplane singer
Marty Balin, since that one song was the epic power ballad "Caroline," which became a radio favorite and remains one of the best songs the
Airplane/
Starship ever did. ~ William Ruhlmann