Freedom at Point Zero is not a great
Jefferson Starship album; the wonder is that it is as good as it is. Since the band's previous album, the Top Ten, million-selling
Earth, the group had lost its two lead singers,
Grace Slick and
Marty Balin, and they had been replaced by
Mickey Thomas. "Jane," released as a single in advance of the album, displayed the result: even before
Thomas' soaring tenor entered, it sounded like
Foreigner. But it also made the Top 20, which helped the album into the Top Ten and to a gold record award. Reluctant leader
Paul Kantner came back to the fore, and, at least on the energetic "Girl with the Hungry Eyes" (a chart single), that was a good thing, though the more typically discursive, rhythmically static songs like "Lightning Rose" and "Things to Come" (on which
Thomas, through the magic of overdubbing, replaced
Slick and
Balin) slowed things down. Other songwriting contributors such as bassist
Pete Sears and guitarist
Craig Chaquico brought in generic arena rock bombast like "Awakening" and "Rock Music," making this a typically uneven effort. Although
Freedom at Point Zero demonstrated that the group could soldier on, the band without its quirky individualists was ultimately too generic, which made
Slick's return on the next album welcome. ~ William Ruhlmann