Frontiers [Release date: 21.08.26]

Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship and Starship’s history is well documented online.

Mickey Thomas was Starship’s vocalist through the eighties.

By 1989, the band’s output had dropped to zero, and Thomas hadn’t released any solo material since 1981’s Live Alone album.

So, 2004’s Over The Edge came as a huge surprise to a loyal coterie of fans, and the music media.
So, you’re thinking “but this is 2026. How can it be an XXX Anniversary edition?”
Simple explanation. The reissue is in fact a celebration of Frontiers Music’s 30 years of releasing and promoting in the Melodic Rock genre.

At the time, the release was a melodic rock fan’s dream. Neal Schon, Jack Blades, Jonathan Cain, Freddy Curci, Richie Kotzen and Steve Lukather contributed in the studio and in fact wrote the bulk of the material.

Hard to choose a better album to remix and promote.

There’s a lot of glorious stuff here, much of which still packs a considerable punch, credit to whoever gave the album an emphatic makeover.

The opening tracks’ ‘Over The Edge’ and ‘One World’ sound like somebody was in the studio next door when John Waite was recording ’Missing You’.

But It’s not all wine and roses.

Lyrically both sound dated. The sentiments are just a bit too simplistic, and struggle to carry the weight of emotion the songs are clearly aiming for. That’s unfortunate, as the remixes have given Thomas’s voice the freedom to go where it wants to go.

On the upside, ‘Thief’, a song that originally appeared on Swedish musician, Martin Stenmark’s album, One, is in itself an exceptional melodic rock song. Dark, passionate, melodic, it could survive another 20 years and still come out on top. It stood out then, and stands out now.

It’s easy to forget the album dates back to the beginning of the new millennium. And no amount of remixing can change that. But what the remixing does, on several notable tracks, is push Thomas’s vocals toward the front of the mix, where his bluesy tones are a distinction that give these songs a greater emotional appeal.

It probably helped that the studio groundwork was laid by bluesman/ producer, Fabrizio Grossi back in 2004.

The remixer’s skill boosts Neal Schon’s fiery axework on ‘Surrender’, and similarly, Steve Lukather’s expressive rhythmic guitar pulse on ‘Forest For The Trees’. He/she teases them out into the open here.

There was clearly a musical chemistry between all three that ignited in the studio.

The album was maybe not original but shows off gifted professionals at work. And the music, in its way, is very much an echo of the eighties in all its melodic rock glamour and culture. ***1/2

Review by Brian McGowan

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Power Plays w/c 3 August 2026

DOWNES BRAIDE ASSOCIATION – Wonderland (Cherry Red)
KING FALCON Hourglass (indie)
SHAKRA Wasteland Warriors (Frontiers)
JAMES KENNEDY & THE UNDERDOGS – Revolution (Konic Records)
BLACKLIST UNION Madame Butterfly (BLU Records)
DIAMOND RAIN I Need Love (Pride & Joy Music)

Featured Albums w/c 3 August 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)

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