Marty Balin: What happened?

I think some writers only have so many great songs in them. The well isn't always infinite. Ultimately, if you "only" ended up writing ten or twenty great songs in your lifetime that's still ten or twenty more than almost every other human being on the planet.

By the way, I'd kill to get one more Jefferson Airplane tour before they shuffle off the earth. They have all the key components still alive but I guess Grace is very, very unlikely to do it since she doesn't appear to need the money and I'm sure she's not thrilled at the idea of getting onstage with her current appearance.

 

here is a nice pic of signe anderson and marty

 

I'd love to also see the members from ALL the line ups of Airplane and/or Starship do one great show.

Indy Todd could be right--Marty may have only had so many great songs in him. Who knows what he went through as the power shifted within the various line ups of the bands he belonged to.

I always think of when Lennon fell into heroin addiction and basically didn't write a whole lot giving Macca the reins to the Beatles.

 

i had a very nice cd named balince - rather excellent - i dont know why i sold it... rather well btw : over 40 bucks...

http://www.amazon.com/Balince-Collection-Marty-Balin/dp/B000008D5F

i must admit, if i had toured with a girl like Grace and not slept with her, i would have got depressed certainly...

 

I met Marty in 87 at a club in Hollywood called the Coconut Teaser on sunset. He was just hanging out really cool!

 

http://www.martybalin.net/

Hear samples from Marty's recently released new album at his web site or at CD Baby where it's available for a 10 spot -

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/MartyBalin1

 

i think that's true. if you care about what you write there are probably a limited number. for one thing, it takes a certain amount of time to get them good.

grace is past 70, so no she doesn't look like she did when she was 25. the rest of them don't look so hot either, though.

 

I'll be at the Beacon Theater for 2 nights of Hot Tuna celebrating Jorma's 70th birthday. Special guests to be there both nights. Hoping we get as many Airplane people together on stage as possible-which would be Kantner and Balin. I've heard that Grace won't come on stage anymore, and Spencer and Papa John are gone. So, Kantner and Balin would be nice to see.

 

Balin isn't my favorite singer, but if I could sing like anyone, it would be him.

 

Should be a good time! It's just a little difficult to think of these guys and gal entering their 70's! Balin has a tribute to Papa John on the new cd.

 

I saw Jorma about eight years ago (with Pete Sears who was phenomenal and a bass player I can't recall -- but it wasn't Cassidy).

An absolutely fantastic night of music!

 

I once read that, when he left JA in 1970, he described his ex-bandmates as a 'disgusting bunch of people.' Obviously, though, that didn't close the door on his returning.

I'm as much a Balin fan as anyone else; I, too, had been wondering what had happened to him.

 

My fav member of the Airplane/Starship era. Great singer, and luv his songs.

sean

 

I've seen Marty several times with the Jefferson Starship (revised edition) and really enjoyed his performances. The only item from his solo career I have is the Bodacious D.F. album which is actually really good! It's not the Airplane, but a very solid album - well worth checking out if you like Marty.
--------- Chris

 

I saw him live in early 1989, a few months before the Jefferson Airplane reunion. He sounded great, as did his band. One of the best concerts I've ever seen. I got his autograph afterwards.

 

Greetings fellow Hoffmaneers,

Does anyone have definitive/accurate songwriting credits that they can share for all, or any, of Marty Balin's solo albums that have been released since 2008?
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/MartyBalin1
2008 Nashville Sessions
2009 Nothing 2 Lose: The Fabulous Lost Studio Recordings
2009 Time For Every Season
2010 Blue Highway (All Music Guide lists songwriting credits for this CD and, if these are accurate, Marty wrote most of the new songs, as well some of the remakes)
2011 415 Music: Unreleased studio & live tracks from 1980-82
2011 The Witcher
I am curious to know how many, if any songs, did Marty write or co-write on these releases?
Also, are any of this worth a purchase/listen? 30 second samples do not give enough of an idea for my ears.
rstamberg, I figured you might have a beat on this.

Also, are Better Generation (1991) and Freedom Flight (1997) decent? I have read that Marty actually wrote a handful of songs on the former.

I have been a "Jefferson Airplane family" fan for most of my life and I would be happy to get into some recent Marty stuff, if possible.
Thanks for any and all responses.

 

Looked up the youtube link from post #14. There I also found this
One poster says that Marty Balin suffers from a mild form of autism. Might be an explanation for some his problems that have been mentioned here.

 

Always loved Marty's cool stage presence, always seemed to be in the music's flow. At some point he aquiesced control of the band, being responsible a diminishing amount of songwriting each lp after Pillow, but his vocals seemed to pick up that slack. He seemed to be revitalized with the great & very fun Bodacious D.F., an lp thst seemed more alcohol driven than anything he had done previously and when he came to the Starship with Caroline, it was 'money from home'.

 

i wouldn't put much stock into keyboard analyst musings...
there's plenty of YouTube interviews/performances over the ages too make up your own mind on Balin's brain!

The record industry is tough, even tough on GREAT artists, always has been.
I've been wondering since Bodacious D. F why Marty wasn't a post-plane star:


EDitEDbyED:
last time i saw Marty, at "Slim's" Boz Scaggs place in SF CA, he put on a good show & had a SUPER SEXY keyboard artist too boot!

reEDitEDbyED:
"Bodacious", Paul J!

 

FYI, "Balin" and "Lucky" have been reissued by BGO in a remastered editon with both albums on a single CD. No bonus tracks.

 

To anyone that is interested, Marty Balin has several 2013 and 2014 tour dates listed on his new website:

http://martybalinmusic.com/tour/

The Bitter End, NYC, Saturday, August 10th, 2013
Katharine Hepburn Theater, CT, Sunday, August 11th, 2013
130 King Street Gallery, St. Augustine, FL, Friday, September 6th, 2013
University of Illinois, Saturday September 21st, 2013
PHCC Performing Arts, Saturday February 8th,2014
Winterfest 2014, Sunday March 30th, 2014
Fur Peace Ranch, March 21st and 22nd, 2014