Grace Slick Albums (4)
What The Critics Say
This fourth solo album from Grace Slick is a very real treat for fans. Far removed from the Great Society demos on Sundazed and her Jefferson Airplane work, "Call It Right Call It Wrong" is Slick and her co-songwriter, '80s producer Peter Wolf (not to be confused with the singer of the J. Geils Band), presenting very contemporary pop tunes that are enough to the left to keep this vision hip, but removed enough from Starship to be considered adventurous. The bottom line is that this is highly entertaining. "Me and Me" is Slick being schizophrenic, and asking her date to do the same -- unless she's splitting herself into quad. She has made a profession of introducing the concept of paradox to the mainstream. "All the Machines" is a wonderful techno mantra. It is amazing when one considers her star power at this point in time -- overshadowing all members of the Jefferson Starship from Paul Kantner to Mickey Thomas -- that a quirky song like "All The Machines" didn't become a novelty hit. Also noteworthy that college radio should have embraced this bold move -- but that dichotomy of a mainstream artist working with mainstream producers like Wolf and Ron Nevison doing truly alternative material, well, it may have been viewed as calculated. But it isn't as calculating as it is wonderfully arrogant. More palatable than Kantner's excesses, Slick's distinguished vocals add a depth to "Fox Face" that few could pull off, taking an overwordy composition with its dirge vibe and transforming it into some techno epic. Although Ron Nevison is a superstar producer with credentials all over the rock universe, he was not known for creating an identity as Jimmy Miller, David Foster, George Martin, and other legends did so well. This is one of the finest, if not the finest, recordings by Ron Nevison. Maybe it is the laid-back atmosphere allowing the cast and crew to take a song like Peter Beckett's "Through the Window," the only non-Slick/Wolf composition on this album, and hit a home run with it. This is real modern rock stuff, a glossier version of what Boston's November Group were doing, Slick's voice a not so delicate monotone. This is as much a Peter Wolf solo album with Slick doing vocals as it is another chapter in her illustrious career. The cover is fantastic, the artist's chest a computer world with mixmaster, a starship, speedboat, and other items, all next to an electrical outlet glowing pink. The back cover has her on a floppy disk being inserted into the wall. Very innovative for its time, "It Just Won't Stop" continuing the keyboard onslaught. Even Peter Maunu's guitar appears invisible, sounding like keyboards. The keyboard bass everywhere takes this so far away from the music we are used to hearing Slick sing to. The backing vocals by Paul Kantner, Mickey Thomas, wife of Peter Ina Wolf, and others all slip into the sheen of the music, five steps away from the Human League. Nevison gets a cleaner sound than Martin Rushent in this world; maybe it's a good break for him away from albums by Ozzie and Heart. "Habits" is a reading and emotive vocal wrapped into one, changing the mood before "Rearrange My Face," another schizo introspective number. A shrink could have a field day with the superstar on this album, wondering if the stream of consciousness lyrics might be revealing another side of Slick. "Whenever someone sees my face/they always have to call me Grace" -- bolstered by Peter Wolf's keyboard vibes and the Harry Belafonte style backing vocals. "Bikini Atoll" is a really lovely love song featuring Dale Strumpel's sound effects, very close to "Lather" by the Jefferson Airplane, maybe a subconscious sequel to her past life. For all the side projects members of the Airplane/Starship contingent have released, this is one of the most cohesive, and enjoyable. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
'Welcome to the Wrecking Ball!'
Release Date 1/1/1981
Tracks 10
Label RCA
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
To coincide with the 1981 album Welcome to the Wrecking Ball, Grace Slick released an insightful interview disc which is actually more fun than the record. The album isn't bad, mind you, it's just that she's such a personality that listening to the star ramble on about the wrecking ball as a symbol of destruction along with her other opinions on life is thoroughly enjoyable. The three essential elements of her Dreams album from the year before reprise their roles here, producer Ron Frangipane, engineer Ed Sprigg, and guitarist Scott Zito writing all the music on Wrecking Ball. Slick creates only lyrics to four of the ten titles, so this is really a Scott Zito album with Grace Slick as the vocalist. Where on the previous disc, Dreams, the singer composed five of the ten totally without a collaborator, that album is closer to what the fans expect from "White Rabbit"'s author. Dreams, Manhole, and Software have more of her personality in the grooves. The first track, "Wrecking Ball," explodes off the disc, a complement to the photos on the cover and inside the gatefold. It is heavy stuff, crunching along and is one of the better tracks here. You won't find a member of Pablo Cruise crashing this party, as Steve Price did on the previous outing. Maybe the disc didn't sell enough for Sonny & Cher to file a lawsuit because "No More Heroes" is the exact melody to the verse of "Bang Bang," you can even sing along "I was five and he was six/we rode on horses made of sticks," though Grace Slick sounds like she's fronting Genesis vocally while the band dwells on hard rock. It's an intriguing progression going from solo album to solo album to see what mood Slick was in what year. Software in 1984, produced by Ron Nevison, featuring Slick's songwriting collaborations with producer Peter Wolf, is far more interesting. Track down the radio promo disc on this, though. The legendary singer gives a great image and superb PR; too bad she mailed her performance in. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Less controversially titled than 1973's Manhole, Grace Slick's second solo album is an inconsistent, erratic, yet often compelling collection. Written in the aftermath of an extended Alcoholics Anonymous stay, Slick's self-penned tunes revisit themes of self-reflection and atonement. As a result, her lyrics are far less obtuse, more accessible than usual, even becoming downright obvious on "Do It the Hard Way." It's a letdown for someone accustomed to her more poetic and challenging musings on previous Jefferson Airplane/Starship records. Musically the album is far less focused, with the subpar up-tempo track "Angel of Night" foretelling the vapid arena rock that would comprise her next solo album, Welcome to the Wrecking Ball. There are, however, several strong moments, such as the flamenco-styled "El Diablo" and the strong guitar work of Scott Zito on the sweeping "Full Moon Man." Most curious of the bunch, though, are the album-opening title track and the Slick-authored "Seasons": both surge on mock-whimsical melodies straight out of a haunted Biergarten, a side of Slick rarely seen before or since. Also new to her repertoire is the addition of orchestration on some tracks, ably arranged on the remarkable closer "Garden of Man" by Ron Frangipane. While her voice is not up to par on this record (there's a distinct husk and gasp on the album-opening title track in particular), Dreams is a useful acquisition for Grace Slick completists and listeners engrossed by the life and personality of its creator. ~ Joseph McCombs, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Manhole was the last of the experimental Jefferson Airplane, and Grace Slick's first official solo album. While Bark and Long John Silver, the final stages of the original Airplane, displayed the excessive psychedelic nature of the musicians within the confines of their group format, Blows Against the Empire, Sunfighter, and Baron Von Tollbooth and the Chrome Nun allowed for total artistic expression. Manhole concluded this phase with 1974's other release, the Jefferson Starship's Dragonfly. By taking the name from Paul Kantner's Blows Against the Empire solo project, Dragonfly began the renewed focus on commercial FM which would turn into Top 40 airplay. Manhole is the antithesis of that aim, but is itself a striking picture of Grace Slick as the debutante turned hippy being as musically radical as possible. To the kids who think she's the cool singer on the mechanical Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now, Manhole is an alien concoction, but it works on many levels as great head music. The title track itself is almost 15-and-a-half minutes of orchestrated underground rock with Craig Chaquico on lead guitar; Jack Casady on bass, along with Ron Carter; voices from David Crosby, David Freiberg, Slick and Paul Kantner; mandolin by Peter Kaukonen; and a 42-piece orchestra (51, if you include the fragments of the Airplane/Starship onboard). It's fun stuff, but looking back one wonders how they maintained a distribution deal for Grunt records with R.C.A., the material being so far from commercial. The title track has a left-hand piano part which "was stolen from an improvisation by Ivan Wing," Slick's father, and the epic is rife with Spanish/English by the singer, translated in the booklet with Slick's "phonetic Spanish spelling." Again, this is total underground excess, but it is actually more than listenable than it looks on paper, and for fans, it has the serious/eccentric nature of this woman who emerged as a big, big star due to her quirky personality having the talent to back it up. Attacks on the government and Clive Davis in the elaborate booklet only prove all involved were not out to make friends, but songs like "Come Again? Toucan" are compelling and intriguing, more so than some of what would constitute 1981's Welcome to the Wrecking Ball, which contained more elements of guitarist Scott Zito than the star. On Manhole, the music is wonderfully dense, macabre, exhilarating, and totally out there. This is a great portion of music from the lead singer of one of America's great music groups. Maybe David Freiberg's "It's Only Music" deserved to be on an Airplane project or solo LP of his own, but it sounds great and works. "Better Lying Down" is Grace Slick and Pete Sears re-writing Janis Joplin's "Turtle Blues," a nice change of pace from the heavy instrumental backing of the other tracks. Slick is in great voice, and reflecting on the album years after it was recorded, the conclusion is that Manhole has much to offer fans. Compare this to Deep Space -- recorded live at the Hollywood House of Blues in the 1990s to see the difference between capturing the time and trying to recapture the magic. Despite the eye toward success and the more serious nature of that later project, it just doesn't have the charm of this artifact from the glory days. It's also a far cry from the 1980s, when Slick returned with three more solo outings: Dreams, Welcome to the Wrecking Ball, and Software, projects which differ vastly from Manhole. The hard rock of Wrecking Ball and the synths and post-Kantner Starship feel of producer Peter Wolf's collaborations on Software show a woman dabbling with other rock formats. Put those three discs in a boxed set with Manhole, and you have true culture shock from a major counterculture figure. Manhole is orchestrated psychedelia at its finest with the voice from "White Rabbit" stretching that concept across two sides. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
