DM's Beatles forums
A part of DM's Beatles site
Meet people from all over the World
Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Author Topic: The Great Society  (Read 3160 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Hello Goodbye

  • Global Moderator
  • At The Top Of The Stairs
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 20184
The Great Society
« on: July 03, 2011, 01:45:33 AM »
Before Grace Slick joined Jefferson Airplane, she was with The Great Society.  The initial line-up of the band also featured her then-husband Jerry Slick on drums, his brother Darby Slick on guitar, David Miner on vocals and guitar, Bard DuPont on bass, and Peter van Gelder on flute, bass, and saxophone.  Influenced by The Beatles, they formed their band in late 1965.



Jerry Slick, David Miner, Grace Slick, Peter Vangelder, Darby Slick


Here's a live performance of White Rabbit by The Great Society in December, 1965...

The Great Society White Rabbit


The Joshua Light Show - Liquid Loops (1969)



Click on The Great Society link and then click on The Joshua Light Show link and go full screen for the full effect
Logged
I can stay till it's time to go

Hello Goodbye

  • Global Moderator
  • At The Top Of The Stairs
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 20184
Re: The Great Society
« Reply #1 on: July 03, 2011, 02:03:08 AM »
You tell me that it's evolution. Well, you know, we all want to change the world...

White Rabbit

Jefferson Airplane -White Rabbit-

Jefferson Airplane



White Rabbit

Jefferson Starship - White Rabbit

Jefferson Starship
Logged
I can stay till it's time to go

Hello Goodbye

  • Global Moderator
  • At The Top Of The Stairs
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 20184
Re: The Great Society
« Reply #2 on: July 03, 2011, 02:10:33 AM »
Someone To Love

Someone To Love - Grace Slick & The Great Society

The Great Society   1965



Somebody To Love

Jefferson Airplane - Somebody To Love

Jefferson Airplane   1966
« Last Edit: July 03, 2011, 10:46:02 PM by Hello Goodbye »
Logged
I can stay till it's time to go

Hello Goodbye

  • Global Moderator
  • At The Top Of The Stairs
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 20184
Re: The Great Society
« Reply #3 on: July 03, 2011, 02:56:38 AM »


One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small
Logged
I can stay till it's time to go

Hello Goodbye

  • Global Moderator
  • At The Top Of The Stairs
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 20184
Re: The Great Society
« Reply #4 on: July 03, 2011, 03:08:03 AM »
Sally Go 'Round The Roses

Sally Go Round The Roses - Great Society (Grace Slick)

The Great Society  Live at The Matrix, 1965


This song was originally performed by The Jaynetts in 1963...

The Jaynetts - Sally, Go Round the Roses [Stereo] (1963)


It had psychedelic potential.
Logged
I can stay till it's time to go

Hello Goodbye

  • Global Moderator
  • At The Top Of The Stairs
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 20184
Re: The Great Society
« Reply #5 on: July 03, 2011, 03:24:31 AM »
Logged
I can stay till it's time to go

Hombre_de_ningun_lugar

  • A Thousand Pages
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 2105
Re: The Great Society
« Reply #6 on: July 03, 2011, 06:22:17 PM »
I'm a big fan of Jefferson Airplane. It's curious that their two biggest hits were written by members of the Great Society (and it's nice to listen to their highly different versions, thanks Hello Goodbye). It seems that they didn't have the virtuosity of Jorma Kaukonen and, especially, Jack Casady, but I guess they would have been an interesting band anyway if they had continued. When Grace joined Jefferson Airplane in 1966, she replaced Signe Anderson as a singer and Skip Spence as songwriter. However, she didn't write many songs for the band, though her contributions were really important ("White Rabbit", "Rejoyce", "Lather", "Greasy Heart", etc.). She was the queen of Acid Rock during the 60's, it's a shame that she changed that image with Jefferson Starship.
« Last Edit: July 03, 2011, 06:24:09 PM by Hombre_de_ningun_lugar »
Logged
"Love is old, love is new; love is all, love is you."

Hello Goodbye

  • Global Moderator
  • At The Top Of The Stairs
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 20184
Re: The Great Society
« Reply #7 on: July 03, 2011, 11:36:18 PM »
Quote from: Hombre_de_ningun_lugar on July 03, 2011, 06:22:17 PM
I'm a big fan of Jefferson Airplane. It's curious that their two biggest hits were written by members of the Great Society (and it's nice to listen to their highly different versions, thanks Hello Goodbye). It seems that they didn't have the virtuosity of Jorma Kaukonen and, especially, Jack Casady, but I guess they would have been an interesting band anyway if they had continued. When Grace joined Jefferson Airplane in 1966, she replaced Signe Anderson as a singer and Skip Spence as songwriter. However, she didn't write many songs for the band, though her contributions were really important ("White Rabbit", "Rejoyce", "Lather", "Greasy Heart", etc.). She was the queen of Acid Rock during the 60's, it's a shame that she changed that image with Jefferson Starship.


The Great Society was also described as a "garage band" for some of the reasons you mentioned.  The backing instrumentals are interesting but just average.  Thus, Grace Slick had the oportunity to exercise her vocal abilities and the result is what you hear in the tracks I posted.  Her vocals are more complex and really stand out as compared to her vocals with Jefferson Airplane.  Her voice lent itself well to psychedelic rock and indeed these recordings of White Rabbit and Someone To Love serve to point the way toward what would soon be more identifiable as psychedelic music in that special year in music, 1966.

But 1965 was a time where psychedelic music was just beginning to evolve.  Indeed, The Great Society would open Jefferson Airplane in late 1965 and early 1966.  Jefferson Airplane was evolving from folk rock to psychedelic rock.  With Grace Slick replacing Signe Anderson in late 1966 and along with the benefit of the likes of Jorma Kaukonen, Jefferson Airplane became the earliest of what we define today as a psychedelic rock band.

Most of the recordings we have of The Great Society are live club performances without the benefit of studio enhancement.  The Great Society disbanded after Grace Slick left the group.

Here is the 1965 studio recording of The Great Society's Someone To Love...

The Great Society Someone To Love
Logged
I can stay till it's time to go

Hello Goodbye

  • Global Moderator
  • At The Top Of The Stairs
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 20184
Re: The Great Society
« Reply #8 on: July 03, 2011, 11:45:07 PM »
Another 1965 studio recording we have is Free Advice...

The great society Free advice




The alternate take is a bit more "quasi-psychedelic" with its distorted lead guitar...

The Great Society Free Advice Alternate Version 1


Logged
I can stay till it's time to go

Mr Mustard

  • Getting Better
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 702
Re: The Great Society
« Reply #9 on: July 03, 2011, 11:53:51 PM »
Always liked Jefferson Airplane. I love Grace Slick's voice.

A question: The Great Society were influenced by The Beatles and formed in late '65, without Grace as part of that original lineup. Did she approve of the Beatle influence? Indeed, was she a fan? I ask because a friend of mine, who is heavily into prog rock but who has never liked The Beatles, has always maintained (to me) that GS didn't like The Beatles either and thought their music was shallow and over commercial.

Is he just trying to wind me up (as usual) ?
Logged

Hello Goodbye

  • Global Moderator
  • At The Top Of The Stairs
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 20184
Re: The Great Society
« Reply #10 on: July 04, 2011, 12:33:48 AM »
Quote from: Mr Mustard on July 03, 2011, 11:53:51 PM
Always liked Jefferson Airplane. I love Grace Slick's voice.

A question: The Great Society were influenced by The Beatles and formed in late '65, without Grace as part of that original lineup. Did she approve of the Beatle influence? Indeed, was she a fan? I ask because a friend of mine, who is heavily into prog rock but who has never liked The Beatles, has always maintained (to me) that GS didn't like The Beatles either and thought their music was shallow and over commercial.

Is he just trying to wind me up (as usual) ?

Grace Slick, along with with her (then) husband Jerry Slick (drums), his brother Darby Slick (guitar), David Miner (vocals and guitar), Bard DuPont (bass), and Peter van Gelder (flute, bass, and saxophone) formed The Great Society in the late summer of 1965.  Grace Slick was in the original lineup and she also mentioned The Jefferson Airplane influencing their formation as well. 

I think by late 1965 with songs like Nowhere Man, The Beatles were a valid influence on the formation of groups like The Great Society.
Logged
I can stay till it's time to go

Hombre_de_ningun_lugar

  • A Thousand Pages
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 2105
Re: The Great Society
« Reply #11 on: July 04, 2011, 02:45:39 AM »
I've always felt that Jefferson Airplane's "Come Up The Years", from their debut album, sounded a lot like "Norwegian Wood".

Jefferson Airplane- Come up the years


Love this song.
Logged
"Love is old, love is new; love is all, love is you."

KelMar

  • Guest
Re: The Great Society
« Reply #12 on: July 04, 2011, 03:37:00 AM »
Quote from: Hombre_de_ningun_lugar on July 04, 2011, 02:45:39 AM
I've always felt that Jefferson Airplane's "Come Up The Years", from their debut album, sounded a lot like "Norwegian Wood".

Love this song.

I can see what you mean. I never heard this song before but it is very cool.
Logged
 

Page created in 0.956 seconds with 72 queries.