Marty Balin - Lucky (1983)

Marty Balin (born Martyn Jerel Buchwald; January 30, 1942) is an American musician. He is best known as the founder and one of the lead singers of the psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane and its spin-off Jefferson Starship.
“Lucky” is Marty Balin's 1983 album, and his second solo effort. The album did not fare as well as his previous one. As a subtle tribute to his friend and former band mate Jack Casady, he recorded a cover of "Heart of Stone," an original written by Brian Marnell from Jack's new wave group SVT.
“Lucky” plays almost like a reaction to the scattershot nature of “Balin”, streamlining its sampler nature in favor of a sleek hard rock sound, one that is so big it often echoes. Strangely, given the hit "Hearts," there isn't much of an attempt to mimic it on Lucky. Instead, the album opens with the rampaging "Born to Be a Winner," whose keyboards suggest a West Coast Springsteen, a sound Balin returns to occasionally elsewhere on the LP ("Just Like That," with its punchy horns, also has a Boss beat), and there are reprisals of the Doobie Brothers and new wave flirtations (the breezy, beachy "Will You Forever" and "What Do People Like," respectively), but very little of the soft satin croon of either "Hearts" or "Atlanta Lady." This deficit is reflected in Lucky's position on the charts: it didn't crack the Top 100 and didn't have a major hit, with one of its lone ballads, "Do It for Love," wandering onto the adult contemporary charts and one of its arena rockers, "What Love Is," going no further than 63 on the charts. The problem is, despite appealing AOR sounds scattered throughout “Lucky”, there just aren't many memorable tunes, something that hurt the record in 1983 and something that is all the more apparent years later, after all these styles have faded into the history books.


01.  Born to Be a Winner  (Julio DeCaro, S. Head)  - 4:22
02.  What Do People Like?  (Julio DeCaro)  - 3:49
03.  Just Like That  (Steve Goldstein, R. Getter, G. Peritore)  - 2:49
04.  Do It For Love  (Jesse Barish)  - 4:07
05.  What Love Is  (Greg Prestopino, Brock Walsh)  - 4:44
06.  Heart of Stone  (Brian Marnell)  - 3:13
07.  Palm of Your Hand  (Rick Marotta, Debra Barsha, B. Alan)  - 3:53
08.  Will You Forever  (J. Farey, J. Whitney)  - 3:20
09.  All We Really Need  (Marty Balin, Franne Golde, Steve Goldstein, Peter Ivers)  - 3:55
10.  When Love Comes  (G. Heart, D. Evan)  - 3:18

Credits
Vocals – Marty Balin
Backing Vocals – Bill Champlin, Daniel Moore, Matthew Moore
Bass Guitar – Kevin McCormick
Drums – Rick Marotta
Guitar – Waddy Wachtel
Horns – Darrell Leonard, Greg Smith, Jerry Peterson, Jim Price, Kenneth W. Tussing, Michael D. Slusher, William Bergman
Keyboards, Synthesizer, Arranged By [Horns] – Steve Goldstein
Percussion – M. L. Benoit
Mastered By – Doug Sax
Mastered By [Concert] – Sidney Sharp
Photography By – Aaron Rapoport
Arranged By [Horns], Horns – Lee Thornburg
Arranged By [Strings], Conductor [Strings] – Jimmie Haskell
Producer, Recorded By – Val Garay
Recorded By [Assistant To Niko] – Richard Bosworth
Recorded By [Assistant] – Niko Bolas
Synthesizer – Louis Biancaniello
Typography [Lettering] – Andy Engel
Art Direction, Design – Kosh, Ron Larson

Notes
Recorded at Record One, Los Angeles, August 16th, 1982 to December 3rd, 1982.
Mastered at The Mastering Lab, L.A.
© 1983 EMI America Records