Marty Balin - Hearts

Marty Balin's "Hearts" is the first of two "jailhouse rock" videos.  The video is a wonderful smorgasbord of early 1980s cheesiness, complete with Alcatraz, a beautiful woman, and a rock star in his underwear.  Amazingly, all of these elements will appear in the next "jailhouse rock" video as well.

As many readers will know, Marty Balin (born Martyn Buchwald) was a founding member of Jefferson Airplane.  He was with the band from 1965 to 1971, and then rejoined Jefferson Starship in 1975.  During his Jefferson Starship days, Balin wrote and sang "Miracles" and sang  "With Your Love" and "Count on Me."

Balin left Jefferson Starship in 1978, and released his cleverly titled solo album, Balin, in 1981.  The Balin LP reached #35 on the album charts and produced the only solo top 40 hits of Balin's career -- "Hearts" (#8) and  "Atlanta Lady" (#27).  No, we don't remember "Atlanta Lady" either.

"Hearts" is a well-produced, lite-rock ballad, with a fitting video.  There is also a lot of Balin -- in a bathing suit, in his underwear, curled up with his acoustic guitar, frolicking on the beach ... you get the idea.

Balin remained active in the industry until his passing, in September 2018.  He released a bunch of material through the years, including solo projects, as well as albums with Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship and even one with the KBC Band (with  Paul Kantner and Jack Casady from Jefferson Airplane).