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Rating:  -
Original Jefferson Airplane female vocalist and member of the Jefferson Starship Next Generation 93-94 says "When it comes to the Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship Craig Fenton is the source." She joins a list that echoes the same sentiment such as Marty Balin (quoted on the back cover of Craig's Jefferson Airplane book).
The meticulous care in the creation of this book is eye-opening. The cover art intertwining space, members of the band, and a puzzle fit the theme "Have You Seen The Stars Tonite."
With over 170 photos, setlists for roughly 700 gigs and the musicians that performed it would be enough to please the harshest critic. Craig reaches for higher destinations by providing a list of the Jefferson releases (including a bunch of solo), the songs, how they charted, dates of service musicians were in the touring band, and even a list of those that played at least 1 show with the band.
There are some fantastic pictures as a bonus including a wonderful causal shot of Darby Gould by one time band member Barry Flast, Spencer Dryden (the late great Airplane drummer) with the New Riders, and some KBC pictures too.
I can't leave out the listings of every song the Jefferson Starship performed live from 74-78 and the Jefferson Starship Next Generation from 1992-2007, which Jefferson Airplane tunes were heard live, and how a cool list of cover songs that the group rocked us with.
To Paul Kantner for keeping things going, Michael Gaiman for keeping the ship on course, and every Jefferson thanks for the sounds. Craig it is appreciated how you are making sure the Jefferson Starship & Airplane are represented so well in your books.
The stars are beautiful tonite!
Rating: -
Author Craig Fenton's Have You Seen the Stars Tonite, the followup to his extraordinary first volume, Welcome to the Circus Tent, is an in-depth and expansive exploration of Jefferson Starship's music. For starters, there is no more recognized authority in the world than Fenton. He knows every note, every player, every song, and every cultural ripple that has ever originated from this unique group of San Francisco musicians.
Have You Seen the Stars Tonite is a virtual treasure chest of information. There are nearly 200 photos to accompany the wealth of data that includes:
Complete/partial setlists for over 700 concerts
Info on when/where/what version a song first appeared
Extensive lineup material on the bands/solo projects/one-offs
Craig Fenton is a fan, nay a fanatic, of the Airplane and the Starship and that is all revealed in his two outstanding tomes. He loves the music and the way it makes him feel and the places it takes him when he listens to it. Reading this book will give you those same feelings; it will take you back to a place that is now gone but does exist in Have You Seen the Stars Tonite.
It was not an easy book to write. In March 2007, Craig's father passed away and that was painful. But he persevered and kept the silent promise he'd made to his dad and mom and forged ahead to complete this second book. He has combed every site, spoken to numerous other experts on the band, and documented it all right here.
This was a book well worth writing and it is absolutely a book well worth having in your own collection.
Rating: -
Let me put my cards on the table immediately. I like the Airplane. And I mean the Airplane up until 1972. Yes, alright, I like the years before the Starship fully kicked in too. But my interest in the Jefferson family did not really extend too much further. As a collector I have found it simply too vast to keep up with the post 1974 doings of the various members of the Jefferson family, and as a music lover I remember (with pain) becoming ever more disillusioned with the direction the mothership seemed to be taking after Red Octopus.
So through the years I did not give the KBC band, the Airplane reunion, or even JSTNG much of a chance. They were, to a large extent, off the radar. As I got older, my own family concerns took up more time, work took me off in new directions, and through necessity my interests in the Jeffersons stayed more and more firmly rooted where they had begun. I knew that I had allowed myself to miss out on what the Jefferson family had been doing in more recent times, and I hoped that a reading of the new book would bring me up to date a little. Of course I was not really that out of date or out of touch. I have a few great recordings from recent years, I am familiar with the various band related websites, I read `Holding Together', and I generally try to keep myself informed, so I was not going completely into the unknown - but I could not have expected what this tome of research was to reveal to me.
I was immensely happy to read of the expected launch of `Have You Seen The Stars Tonite' by Craig Fenton, and happier still to get my hands on a copy. Since November 2006 there have not been too many days when I have not taken a look at sections of `Take Me To A Circus Tent', and I am now confident that it will be the same with `Have You Seen The Stars Tonite'. AS previously stated, I am not a post-1974 collector, and I will not use it to cross reference everything that I have, but what a joy it is just to be able to check out what was played at a given place on a given night, who was in the line-up and how Paul Kantner is keeping the past alive. It is a work of huge proportions and it reveals gems on information every time it is opened. Actually the photographs on page 168 and 169 make the purchase worthwhile on their own.
I thank Mr. Fenton for putting this together, and for allowing me to appreciate just how often the Kaptain has issued a series of blows against the empire and how often he and the others have performed our favorite tunes. The volume has further awakened my interest in the current shape of the band, and it has encouraged me to widen my own music collection, starting immediately with the newly released Jefferson Starship studio album. One cannot praise the dedication of Mr. Fenton enough, and I hope that all those of you, who like me, may have thought that the golden years could not be recreated will use this new book to help you think again. I urge you all to purchase a copy.
Rating: -
Have You Seen The Stars Tonite (Jefferson Starship Flight Manual 1974-78 & J.S. The Next Generation 1992-2007)
By Craig Fenton
Publisher Create Space
U.S.A.
August 2008
ISBN-10: 1438245343
ISBN-13: 978-1438245348
The other day while perusing for some rock and roll, I came across the latest release from the author of the Jefferson Airplane book "Take Me To A Circus Tent" Craig Fenton. Mr. Fenton is back with a natural follow-up to his brilliant Jefferson Airplane work.
The predecessor "Take Me To A Circus Tent" (Jefferson Airplane) remains on my coffee-table to this day for constant reference. Once again the research is meticulous, precise, and presented in an organized and interesting way to the reader. Mr. Fenton luckily had no intention of including the Mickey Thomas period of the Jefferson Starship and the rock and roll disaster known as the Starship. He gives us the golden period of 1974-78 and the timely rescue of the name by Paul Kantner in 1992, bringing us up to 2007.
There are several segments that will hold your interest all the way through. He lists the songs played for over 700 performances, the members of the band that were on stage, their time spent with the group, the Jefferson Airplane tunes they performed each year, the initial time a song was played in front of an audience, a look at numerous band album, singles, and solo efforts, and he includes over 170 photos. You'll enjoy the rock and roll treasures on pages 168 and 169. A couple of unseen Grace Slick photos from the Airplane's gig at the Isle Of Wight 1968. As a historian it was a nice touch that every member that ever played 1 or more entire gigs with the band is represented in the large photo galaxy. One of the true highlights was finding out the special guests that participated either for a song or two, or an entire show with the Jefferson Starship. He lists them all and many of the names are rock and roll greats in their own right. Greg Allman, a couple of members of the Doors, Tom Constanten from the Grateful Dead, Peter Frampton, and David Crosby are only a handful of the guests over the years.
Mr. Fenton is truly an expert on the Jefferson family. The back cover of "Take Me To A Circus Tent" included a quote from founding member Marty Balin- "Craig Fenton knows so much about the Jefferson Airplane and Family, I was asking him the questions." Signe Anderson the original female lead-singer for the Airplane is quoted on the back cover of the new Jefferson Starship book saying- "When it comes to the Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship, Craig Fenton is the source." One time member of the Jefferson Starship- Barry Flast contributed some rare photos including one of Darby Gould and one of Gregg Allman. Don Aters as in the previous book has supplied numerous pictures that come to life.
What sets Mr. Fenton's style apart from the run of the mill author is his skill in making not only the major players a part of the project but those that were in an ancillary position. Even though not every musician had the impact of Paul Kantner, Marty Balin, or Grace Slick, they were part of a continuing story. Mr. Fenton makes the pages flow naturally and never forced.
Before purchasing "Have You Seen The Stars Tonite" I thought I would read a little each night. Once I opened the book my eyes were fixated and I finished in three days. It is not going to the book case to gather dust. This gem is staying on the coffee table for constant reference. It looks perfect next to Take Me To A Circus Tent.
This is one book you can judge by the cover!
Rating: -
Approximately two years ago Craig Fenton gave us the Jefferson Airplane Flight Manual with Take Me To A Circus Tent. He returns with Have You Seen The Stars Tonite (Jefferson Stsrship Flight Manual) 74-78 as well as 1992-2007.
Once again the level of expertise reaches the heart of not only the reader but an original Jefferson Airplane member. Marty Balin gave Craig some accolades on the back cover of the Jefferson Airplane book. Signe Anderson does the same for the Jefferson Starship. The finest recommendation a rock and roll author and historian can receive is when the highest level of satisfaction comes from the band.
Have You Seen The Stars Tonite is over 500 pages and contains nearly 180 photos. The contents make you wonder how many years the information took to assemble. You can look at over 700 concerts the band performed, the personal of the particular show, and the songs they played. Craig furnishes the first time a song appeared on stage, a year by year break-down of the tunes played, which Jefferson Airplane songs they decided to perform, a complete list of all the members of the band and the shows they played through the years. There is a terrific listing of the studio albums, singles, and many of the solo releases, and special guests that played with the Jefferson Starship on stage.
If what you see is as important as what you read, Craig has you covered with many photos not previously in print. That was one of the many things that made the Airplane book so special. The full-page photo of Spencer Dryden from the benefit in 2004 is tremendous in capturing the moment and the mood, page 168 features Grace Slick from the Airplane at the Isle Of Wight, and there are a good deal of KBC Band photos that have not seen the light of day.
The book is content free of any of the period with Mickey Thomas. You don't have to be concerned about superfluous chapters!
While other airlines seem to be streamlining, Craig Fenton is giving the consumer a first class ticket aboard the flight.
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