Commenting on the band's recording of "Miracles", Jeff Tamarkin wrote: "[Larry] Cox nailed the production -- there isn't a wasted, out of place note. Strings glisten, the keyboard sound is contemporary and
Grace [Slick] and
Paul [Kantner]'s harmonies are relatively traditional. David Freiberg|[David] Freiberg came up with the memorable signature organ riff that opens the song and
Craig [Chaquico] with a fresh supply of delicious guitar sounds. Marty is at his most open, crooning his words of love like he hasn't in years -- without a hint of irony or awkwardness he uses the word 'baby' at least 25 times ...."
Cash Box said it is "a fine, well-orchestrated love ballad in the Airplane tradition" and "some of their most appealing, well-produced material in years." Reviewing a Balin solo concert in 1981,
New York Times critic
Stephen Holden referred to "Miracles" as Balin's "little masterpiece of pop pillow talk".
Dave Marsh and James Bernard listed "Miracles" among the "Best Songs to Pass the Censor" in
The New Book of Rock Lists. In the same book, they also described "I had a taste of the real world / When I went down on you, girl" as the "Most Off-Color Line in the LP Version of a Number One Hit" (although "Miracles" did not, in fact, hit #1). In 1998, Balin received a plaque from
Broadcast Music Incorporated, a
performing rights organization which monitors music performances on radio and elsewhere, recognizing that "Miracles" had achieved 2 million performances. William Ruhlmann, writing in
All Music Guide Required Listening: Classic Rock, commented, "[T]here can be little doubt that it was Balin's irresistible ballad 'Miracles,' the biggest hit single in the Jefferson Whatever catalog, that propelled
Red Octopus to the top of the charts .... This must have been sweet vindication for Balin, who founded Jefferson Airplane but then drifted away from the group as it veered away from his musical vision. Now, the collective was incorporating his taste without quite integrating it -- 'Miracles,' with its strings and sax solo by nonband member Irv Cox, was hardly a characteristic Airplane/Starship track."
The New Rolling Stone Album Guide, published in 2004, stated that "with Marty Balin's 'Miracles,'
Octopus′s massive hit, the band began shifting toward schmaltz. Balin now sounded like a lounge singer ...." ==Soundtracks==