So I was digging around the old, not-listened-to-much CDs and I pulled out the 4-disc set of Monterey Pop Festival, 1967. “Ahhhh,” I said, “Gonna be in the kitchen for a long time today, let’s listen to the WHOLE DAMN THING!”
Some great stuff on there. Janis pulling out all the stops, fine Lou Rawls, great Jimi, Otis Redding at the top of his form, The Who introduced as “an act from England that’s just gonna DESTROY you” and they DO…hell, even The Association sounded all right.
And then there’s the…Jefferson Airplane set. Gracie howling and yowling off-key. Dumbass boring guitar from Jorma. Fourth-rate drumming. And a sound system right out of the Sears catalogue.
This reminded me of the release, a few years back, of the AIRPLANE LIVE AT FILLMORE EAST 1968. Which I picked up, thinking “Top SF acid rock band, top year for acid rock!” And got Gracie howling and yowling off-key, dumbass boring guitar…etc., etc.
What was UP with these guys? Did they really sound THAT bad when they got on the stage? You got to forgive them a lot for the studio versions of “Somebody to Love” and “White Rabbit,” but what was UP with these performances? The Grateful Dead (the OTHER top SF acid rock band) were doing kickass live shows at the same time, with as much LSD in their systems as the Airplane! You KNOW Jorma and Jack could play their asses off in front of an audience, 'cause they still ARE on live Hot Tuna releases…
Grace sobered up a few years back and realized she was a terrible live singer and permanently retired. I saw them once live w/o Grace, and they were only passable. But it was a free concert, so what the heck.
Not an authority but I’ll guess it was the booze and drugs. I don’t recall Jerry & Co. being effed up out of the gourds but I can recall Gracie’s reputation for disgraceful behaviour. Big difference between pleasantly tripping your ass off and beiing falling down drunk.
Yeah there was that obscenely embarrassing clip on the Behind The Music episode on Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship/Starship from the concert in Germany where Grace Slick was just BOILED and she doesn’t even sing, she just walks around the stage saying stuff like, “Who won the war??!!” in a really drunk voice.
Saw them once live in 1968 at a college in Oregon with Steve Miller Band. Was a HUGE Jeffereson Airplane fan, but was very diaappointed in the set. Jorma was fine and Balin, but Grace just wasn’t with it.
That was a very small sample to base an opinion on, but it seems my experience wasn’t that unusual.
That said, there were some nice live bits on “Bless its Little Pointed Head.”
It may have been the discipline of the studio that kept Ms. Slick focused, because when she was wailing on wax, there was plenty of power and control as well.
One of my fondest daydreams is to visit a music store in that alternate dimension where the Plane stayed together and just got better…along with the Beatleds, Janis, Jimi and the rest. Sigh
I think that Grace probably suffered from the same malady that Donna Jean suffered from: poor monitor placement and a band that was bound and determined to be AS LOUD AS THEY CAN FUCKING GET!
As a result of the monitor placement, and the volume, she couldn’t hear herself and so was off-key much of the time. As to why the playing sucked - to quote Bob Weir “Generally, the bigger the crowd and the more important the venue, the sloppier we play.” Probably held true for the Airplane as well.
Said, japatlgt, “I don’t recall Jerry & Co. being effed up out of the gourds…” Yeah. Right. Sure. Grab a copy of Dennis MacNelly’s new band biography and prepare to be both enlightened and sickened. Case in point - the band appearing in Sweden for the first time and Garcia EATING a block of hashish before the show. “Hello Sweden! I’m catatonic…”
I haven’t heard the Monterey Pop set, so I can’t comment on that.
Of course it’s all anecdotal, but the one and only time I saw the Airplane was the summer of 1970 at the old Atlanta Municipal Auditorium, and they blew the roof off the dump! When they finished “Volunteers” we were ready to start a revolution!
And as Hometownboy has noted, the are some fine bits on Bless Its Pointed Little Head, especially “Plastic Fantastic Lover,” (listen to Casady’s bass line on that tune - unbelievable!) “3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds,” and “The Other Side of This Life.” And I really like the up-tempo version they do of “Somebody to Love” on that record. Grace is in particularly good form there.
On the other hand, Thirty Seconds Over Winterland is underwhelming.
So I can speak from experience in saying the Airplane were capable of putting on an ass-kicking show. I guess it just depended on what shape they showed up in.
“Pleasantly tripping your ass off” ? I’ve had fairly extensive experience playing music in front of people AND of psychedelics, and I can’t figure out how the heck the two are compatible. I’m impressed the Dead could execute a rhythmically complex piece like “The Eleven” while full of Owsley’s Best. “Volunteers of America” on the other hand is about as simple a rock riff as it gets.
plnnr: I’ve heard that “She couldn’t hear herself!” argument, of course. Why is it that the CHICK SINGER is usually at fault, while Balin/Kantner or Garcia/Weir are managing to stay roughly on-key? Not to sound misogynistic or anything.
Didn’t Slick try and stick her fingers into a guy’s brain via his nose once at a concert? Hey, cool is cool. If you want pretty music listen to Barbara Streisand.
Hell, if I wanted PRETTY, I wouldn’t be listening to 1960s San Francisco bands in the first place. Sloppy musicianship doesn’t make for riveting rock and roll.
Now now, go back and listen to Cheap Thrills again. Big Brother’s musicianship is pretty damn sloppy and the music is pretty damn riveting. Of course, Janis could sing with a polka band and make it riveting!
I’m guessing it was the booze. I’ve played shows on 'cid, and I’ve played shows drunk. Neither one is as good as playing sober but I think alcohol effed me up way worse than acid. Being drunk screws up your timing, makes you tone-deaf, and makes you forget lyrics. Acid made me go off into extended 20 minute guitar solos (pissing off my bandmates) but I could still sing in tune and I didn’t forget the songs–as long as I didn’t THINK about it too much. (and for God’s sake don’t look down at your hands. It’s wa-a-ay too freaky.)
I’ve got a live Airplane album. My husband and I just sort of look at each other when it comes up in the juke box. “Babe, had we known it was this painful, we wouldn’t have loaded it into the machine!” I’m going to pull it out of there one of these days and give it as a White Elephant holiday gift. Absolutely hideous!
Maybe she tried it on Nancy too, but I saw her tell the Nixon story on Letterman many years ago. I remember her saying that she thought that Nixon was already so goofy that no one probably would have noticed the difference anyway.