[1] There were also lingering problems with Marty Balin, who had refused to sign a long-term contract with RCA/Grunt and was working on an album-by-album basis, which gave him much leverage now that he was writing the hit singles.

As guitarist Craig Chaquico noted, "We would sort of go through all our own song ideas at rehearsals until we found just what we wanted to hear and play together...often Grace would be jotting down new spontaneous incoming lyric inspirations in a yellow legal notebook.

"[3] Sessions for Spitfire took place from March 4–17, 1976 at Wally Heider Studios with Larry Cox producing, as had been the case for the prior two Jefferson Starship albums.

The pressure to produce another blockbuster release led to the group essentially repeating much the same formula as Red Octopus, starting with another "Miracles"-style soft rock ballad from Balin titled "With Your Love" which was co-written with former Airplane drummer Joey Covington and guitarist Vic Smith, who had worked with Marty in Bodacious DF.

[1] Balin also sang lead on the opening track "Cruisin'", a funk-rock number by Charles Hickox (another Marty bandmate from Bodacious DF) about cruising down the road which fades out to a Chaquico guitar solo.

The hard rocker "Dance With The Dragon" originated with a Chaquico guitar riff and initial set of lyrics by him that was later fleshed out by the other band members, in teamwork fashion.

A power ballad that moves into psychedelic and hard rock territory, it closes on another lengthy Chaquico solo meant to impersonate the heavy storm referenced in the lyrics; it purportedly took six weeks to perfect the vocals on this track.

Overall, the album continued the vein of eclectic stylistic variety, with contributions from all band members, that had characterized Red Octopus, along with a polished, highly commercial sound.

[2] Although Kantner would later claim it was an accident, the titles and artwork of the first four Jefferson Starship albums each reflected one of the four elements: Dragonfly referred to air and Red Octopus referenced water, with Spitfire now evoking fire and the following Earth completing the quartet.

The group mounted a very successful summer tour to plug it, although there was some disappointment that the album ultimately did not quite equal the sales of Red Octopus, with Kantner later remarking that he had told Balin during the sessions that "With Your Love" did not have the same pull as "Miracles".