Grace Slick - The Best of Grace Slick

There's an episode in Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas where the author's acid-twisted companion demands that a plugged-in tape deck be dropped in his bath at the same moment Grace Slick's voice peaks in "White Rabbit." That, for him, was the way to go--electrocuted as Slick wailed, "Feed your head!" That zenith in Jefferson Airplane's 1966 hit may have also represented Slick's apex. This 18-song overview of the rock goddess's 20-year recording career starts out in high gear and loses momentum with each passing track. The aforementioned "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love" represent the icy-voiced thrush in all her San Francisco Sound glory. "Lather," "Mexico," and "Eskimo Blue Day" (an eco rant with the great Slick line "The human dream doesn't mean shit to a tree") come from a period when the Airplane was arguably the most significant American rock band in the land. And the honed-for-radio "We Built This City" and "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" betray a woefully compromised artist with little left to say. --Steven Stolder Amazon.com

Paging Rhino For A Box Set

It pains me to only give this collection 3 stars. Don't get me wrong. If you have absolutely nothing by Grace Slick in your collection feel free to upgrade to 5 stars. Nothing wrong with the material but there's simply not enough of it. Adding insult to injury, many, many classic, groundbreaking Slick compositions & stellar vocals are missing.

I first saw the Jefferson Airplane when I was 14 years old in 1967 at Hunter College. Grace, in particular, was a role model for me. She was, is, and shall remain a template for women - smart, sassy, sarcastic, no flies on her. Oh yeah, beautiful. She broke the mold - the first true ROCK singer. No victimization, no wimpy folkie whining, no "my man done left me," no pidgeon-holing. In my opinion, she inspired the next two generations of women rock performers. She was the original Riot Grrrl (in more than one way recalling the Germany Incident.)

What is striking about listening to Grace Slick's catalog of songs is they haven't dated. She was flat out weird in the '60's. She's flat out weird today.

The only cringe-inducing songs are the ones where she bends to somebody else's attempts to sound "modern." "All the Machines" has that dreadful '80's synthesizer electronic drum bilge that instantly dates it. Thank heaven for the garage movement and Nirvana in the '90's to get drummers off the unemployment lines at the musician's union halls! It's hard to take in repeated listenings. I'm not even going to mention the Starship era, especially since Grace herself has 'fessed up to doing it for the paycheck. It must have been substantial since she retired shortly after "We Built This City" and "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now."

Grace deserves, has earned, a proper remastered box set that spans her entire career. I created my own "box set" just from the material I own. In addition to the classics on this CD, I've compiled 3 CDs, by the time I'm fully done it will be a solid 4 CDs (thanks to the suggestions of some of the reviewers here. I need to research some of the Starship suggestions, which I don't own.) My set includes: Silver Spoon, Eat Starch Mom, Milk Train (live,) Aerie, Long John Silver, China, Two Heads, Rejoyce, Eskimo Blue Day, Greasy Heart (live,)Ballad of the Chrome Nun, Look at the Wood, When I Was a Boy I Watched the Wolves (OK, it's with Paul but Grace takes a blistering verse that is pure Slick, and it's a great song!) Fat, Fishman, Hyperdrive, Bear Melt, Hot Water, Devil's Den, Freedom, Common Market Madrigal, El Diablo, Face to the Wind, Dreams.

To fully amuse myself I included my own "rareties" - the Levis Commercials, the possibly one & only time Grace sang "Good Shepard" solo from a concert on 5/7/1969 (courtesty of Craig Fenton, author of Take Me To A Circus Tent, the definitive book on all things Jefferson-related,) Go To Her with Grace singing the Signe Anderson verses, and the alternative take of Hey Frederick. I included the duet with Linda Perry, Knock Me Out.

No true Grace Slick anthology could forget the Great Society, so I didn't - included in my version are Free Advice, Sally Go Round the Roses, Outlaw Blues, and the original White Rabbit. (The original Somebody to Love is pretty dreadful so I left it off. Feel free to add to your own Best Of with my blessings.)

I escewed the "chronological" arrangements for the sonically similar. Amazingly, these songs all fit together nicely. Grace has held firm to stylistic consistencies - the surreal & oft incomprehensible lyrics, the Spanish / Middle Eastern influences, using her voice as a wordless instrument where she just throws her head back & wails, her sparse but muscular piano accompaniment (altoghether different than the Nicky Hopkins flourishes on Volunteers, and particularly nice when paired with Jerry Garcia on guitar.)

Paging Rhino! Come and do it the right way! Give this woman the box set she deserves. Try as I might I still can't get my hands on Software, alas, my "Best of" remains incomplete. Rhino, you can do it!

But for now, I've done it for myself. Smoke 'em if you got 'em!



April 15, 2008

How could these people forget DREAMS?

I was born 1970 so I am basicly a child of the 80s ( and I am German so please be kind to some mistakes with my english). Don`t expect me to blame Grace for We build this city. I have always loved this track and I still do. The Music on this CD is great an gives a good overview over her carrier. But how can you cover more than 30 years on one CD anyway? I am happy to have wrecking ball on cd, finally, a very good hard rock song, next to the wonderfull Blue Eskimo day and the Starship songs this CD covers all styles from 60s Rock to AOR and even Heavy Rock. But how can anyone compile a Best Of CD by Grace and totally overlook the Dreams Album. Tracks like Face To The Wind, Dreams, El Diablo just to mention a few are truely missed. We get one unreleased track here "Do You Remember me" which is ok, a pop ballad, nothing really special but nice to listen to with a dreamy atmo. I also love Mexico. A JA song which should have made it on an original album. If you don`t own all the albums and miss out some songs in your collection I recommend this CD to you. If you also have the chance to get a copy of the Dreams album don`t hesitate. Grace rocks. I would love to hear her singing again. Who need the new half naked chicks in todays music when you have a VOICE like this??????? February 17, 2007

Some Good Music, BUT Not The Best of SOLO Grace Slick

There's some 5-star music here, but most of it's available elsewhere, and I'm floored by the many missed opportunities: where are "Greasy Heart," "Hey Frederick," "Silver Spoon," "It Just Won't Stop," "El Diablo," "Face To The Wind," "Lines," "Bikini Atoll," and the best of MANHOLE (the least of its songs, "Better Lying Down" was chosen), or even "Common Market Madrigal," the most beautiful track from the otherwise dull JEFFERSON AIRPLANE reunion album? The first eight tracks do deserve to be on this collection, but "We Built This City?" I don't hate that song as much as others do, but it is FAR from Slick's best. I'm glad "Across the Board" is here, from the underrated Slick/Kantner/Frieberg/Garcia side project, BARON VON TOLLBOOTH & THE CHROME NUN, but aside from that, there are no creative surprises here, other than the fact that what should have been a slam-dunk was so badly botched! Even the previously unreleased track is not among Slick's better efforts. Did anyone at RCA/BMG think to ask some actual fans for input? Just read the other reviews to see how many of the songs I singled out are also mentioned by other Grace Slick fans as glaring omissions. This release is an insult to those of us who waited so long for a "Best Of" from this great singer. All of the producers involved should be fired! July 2, 2006

First Off, What's We Built This City doing here?

First off, what's "We Built This City" doing here? This is supposed to be the best of Grace Slick, right? Apart from the fact she sings a couple of verse's of it, it doesn't really belong. First off, she didn't even write it, secondly she has said many times she regrets that period of her career (mid 80s) and has pretty much said she's embarrased by it. So what's it doing taking up so much valuable space on a one cd best of?

This cd has a few Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship album tracks that don't get nearly enough recognition like "Eskimo Blue Day" and "Hyperdrive" but where's "Two Heads", "Hey Frederick", "Eat Starch Mom" which would impress any fan of MC5 or the Stooges, "There Is Love," "Hot Water", "Play On Love", and the fun Joan Jett style rocker "Rock Myself to Sleep" and the sexy "Babylon" (one of the only Starship songs written by an actual member, you guessed it, Grace Slick), the only two worthwhile songs from the miserable Starship period?
They're all missing to make room for "Somebody to Love", "White Rabbit", "We Built This City" and "Nothing's Going to Stop Us Now" which were already avaliable on thousands of best of and greatest hit cds.

Next lets adress another issue others have already brought up. Not nearly enough solo Grace. Grace Slick solo albums get a very bad reputation, often even dismissed by their creator, but they aren't as bad as all that. The best tracks from her four solo works all beg to be collected together in one place in a Rhino style best of. Songs like "The Manhole" in all its epic 15 minute glory, the senuous, playful "Come Again Toucan", the confessional "Do It the Hard Way", the hard rocking "Angel of the Night", as well as "Full Moon Man" and the title track for "Dreams". Although a lot less masterful than her first two albums, even "Welcome to the Wrecking Ball" and "Software" have their moments. "All the Machines" is one of the weaker songs from the hard to find "Software", we should have gotten the great "Bikini Atoll" instead, "Welcome to the Wrecking Ball"'s title cut is a bit weak. The blistering "Mistreater", "Sea of Love" or "Just A Little Love" would have been better choices IMO.

Also not enough rarites. The only unreleased song here is the frankly weak "Do You Remember Me". Grace Slick mentions an unreleased song in her autobiography called "Harbour In Hong Kong" and it was a missed opportunity to not include here. Makes me wonder what other undiscovered Grace songs might be in the vaults.

Finally, 1987's "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" is the most recent thing on here. Ouch. What about "Freedom" the hilight of 1989's Jefferson Airplane reunion album or her great duet with Linda Perry, "Knock Me Out". I know these weren't recorded for RCA but surley it couldn't cost that much to lisence them.

This compilation is a real missed opportunity and a total boched job. Oh and one final gripe, ugh, what a bad photo of Grace Slick on the back cover. A better choice would have been an out-take from the hillarious Wrecking Ball photo shoot or that classic photo of her flipping the bird. May 24, 2004

Meet Rock Music's Most Eccentric Heroine

Grace Slick is truly an original in the world of rock. No one comes close to matching her unique and powerful voice. This collection attempts to showcase her finest moments in rock spanning nearly 25 years of material as well as both her solo work and her work with three different bands - Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship and Starship. The songs here are wildly ranging in style and in purpose. Without a doubt the first six songs from the definitive Jefferson Airplane period show Slick at the top of her game and at the peak of her musical creativity. The songs "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit", her most recognized hits, are musical cornerstones of the psychedelic era. "reJoyce" is an interesting muse on the writings of James Joyce, while "Triad" written by David Crosby, is a beautifully written song with some downright controversial subject matter for the time it was written. Slick's off-the-wall songwriting and powerful vocal approach are very much evident on the next six songs, which are very enjoyable. The last 1/3 of the CD encompasses Slick's work between 1975 and 1987. This is a period of time where Slick herself has said she became disinterested in her music and that she only recorded for the money. In fact, most of these songs weren't even written by her. Be as it may there are still some very fine songs here. It is noteworthy that the two hits she had with Starship "We Built This City" and "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" went to No. 1 in the U.S., the latter going to No. 1 in the U.K. as well. Slick brings her own brand of quirkiness and personality to these songs and she does a damn good job singing especially on "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now." Besides, what is not intriguing about a woman having her first two number one hits while she was in her forties after being in the music business for two decades. Point being - Grace Slick ROCKS! As far this collection - it provides an adequate overview of her work, but if you like what you hear on this CD, you should explore more of her Airplane recordings along with her 1980 solo album Dreams, which is not represented on this collection. October 4, 2002

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