Ride the Tiger

On this date in rock history, Jefferson Starship released their second album after changing their name from Jefferson Airplane. Red Octopus and the “Miracles” single taken from the LP were both smash hits in 1975. The album would hit number 1 in the U.S. 2½ months later, while “Miracles” peaked at number 3 in the middle of October that year. “Play On Love” and “Tumblin'” were also standout tracks from the best-selling album. I remember seeing the Starship in the Spring of 1975 at the University of Iowa. One of their standout tunes from that concert (I believe it was their opening song) was “Ride the Tiger,” and the lyric “Look to the Summer of ‘75/all the world is gonna come alive” sticks in my mind. Thinking about this now, 33 years later, it seems so fitting that they would be singing that back then. First of all, it rhymes – they’d have to come up with something like “Look to the Summer of ‘08/the whole world is what we create” to have a similar vibe, and it’s just not the same. Also, for me, it was a time of optimism – middle of the decade, I wasn’t quite 24 years old, summer’s almost here, it was a time to “come alive.” So let’s relive this tune and see if we can muster up some enthusiasm – c’mon people, it’s the Summer of ’08! Thanks as always to www.garylessard.com and www.wikipedia.org for the info, and keep on rockin’!