Customer Reviews

Born to Be Burned

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the band led by Grace Slick, her husband and brother-in-law in 1965-66, before Grace joined Jefferson Airplane. They shared bills with the Airplane and had sort iof a split personality. Anyone familiar with the COLLECTOR'S ITEM CD on Columbia knows the Society's long, hypnotic jams on tunes like "Sally Go Round the Roses", featuring Grace's piercing wail. BORN TO BE BURNED shows the other side of the coin, Great Society as a first-rate pop band of the era with ebullient, catchy tunes like the wonderful "That's How It Is". The only clinker on the album is, unfortunately, the single with which the Society's label attempted to break them at the time. "Free Advice" is, a piece of psuedo-psychedelic with a godawful lead vocal by, I believe, Grace's brother-in-law Darby Slick. The best thing about the track (and the two alternate versions on this CD) is Grace's wordless vocal improv in the background.

Maybe if the label, Tom Donahue's Autumn Records, had released "That's How It Is" instead, we might be talking about Great Society today as som,ething more than a footnote in Airplane history.

A very interesting view on the early days of Grace Slick`s carrer. The Great Society was not an outstanding band, but neither were The Grateful Dead when they made their first recordings (incidently, the same year The Great Society did theirs). If they had had time to develop, they could have turned into a really great band, but Grace took the decision of joining Jefferson Airplane and that was it for Society.
I consider their live recordings far more interesting, but this is undoubtfully a very interesting release. It contains a nice booklet with notes and the sound quality is certainly great.

The Great Society should be more than an Airplane footnote. They were a fine band on their own (especially live, check out the Columbia release for that), with an excellent guitarist/songwriter in Darby Slick. This album is a compilation of their studio recordings, and the quality of performances ranges from middling to transcendent. While it's true that the kickoff single "Free Advice" is a legendary stinker (one that drove session producer Sly Stone to form his own band) that probably torpedoed the band's career, there is much to like here. "That's How It Is" is one of the great lost singles of the 60's, and their version of "Somebody to Love" is an excellent, albeit apples-and-oranges companion to the Airplane's version.

The other review is honest, but I want to add a couple of bits of information.

First off, their sole released single "Someone To Love" b/w "Free Advise" are tracks 2 and 16. Track 16 is listed as Alternate version 1. That's wrong...this is the sole version issued and it was NOT the A side. I actually once owned the single (on Northbeach, a subsidary of the short-lived Autumn label).

Had this material been released on an album back then, I doubt that this groups reputation would've been improved. As it stands now, The Great! Society!! (which is exactly how it was listed on the single) now have a reputation of being a good early live SF band that, of course, contained Grace Slick.

This brings me to my last thought; it's really interesting that by late 1966 and into 1967 and all of the break-out San Francisco bands being signed-up and recorded, there wasn't a single surviving local SF label. All of the bands were signed by out-of-town labels (Jefferson Airplane and The Loading Zone to RCA, Quicksilver and Steve Miller Band to Capitol, Grateful Dead to Warners, Country Joe And The Fish to Vanguard, etc.) Had Autumn survived a few months longer, they would have been poised to get contracts for some of these extremely popular and influential bands.

Anyhow, this CD is worth getting, but much of the material is not that strong.

Sound quality is really amazingly good. Bob Irwin at Sundazed has done his typically excellent job.....

Seventeen track compilation CD of Grace Slick's pre-Jefferson Airplane band. Not too different from Airplane's music, in fact. Material on 'Born To Be Burned' was recorded through out 1965. Dug about every cut here, like all three versions of "Free Advice" (third version sounds almost like a complete other song, I thought), "Somebody To Love", the awesome folk-rocker "Where", "Heads Up" and "Father Bruce". Line-up: Grace Slick-vocals, Darby Slick (Grace's brother-in-law)-guitar, David Miner-bass and Jerry Slick (Grace's ex-husband)-drums. A nice collector's item of vintage west coast psychedelia to seek out. A should-have.

As the author of the Jefferson Airplane book "Take Me To A Circus Tent" I have had the pleasure of being a long time fan and enjoyed interviewing three members of the group for the book.

Often when an Airplane fan first decides to purchase something by the Great Society it is because of Grace Slick being part of the band. Once you listen to the tracks you will see how they stand on their own. Even if Grace never replaced Signe Anderson when she left the J.A., this band was more than a pretty face.

In fact before they broke up they did have an offer from a major label.

"Free Advice" sets the tone and captures the moment of the San Francisco scene circa 65/66. "Girl" may be the most overlooked song on the recording. "Father Bruce" was the way the Great Society paid homage to Lenny Bruce.

The music will impress you and it doesn't hurt to check out Grace's vocals before she would fly Jefferson Airplane.

Be well always,
Craig Fenton
Author of the Jefferson Airplane book "Take Me To A Circus Tent."

Rhino, the masters of the box set universe, included the Great Society on "Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets". They really belong on the original Nuggets psychedelic punk compilation. They were a truly wacky garage band with a world class lead singer. I put together my own Grace Slick box set, and the Great Society was the hardest part to fit in amongst the Airplane, Slick/Kantner, Jefferson Starship, and her solo stuff. They really are rock bottom raw. In a good way.

I fit the profile of someone who must own everything Grace Slick. I still own the original two Great Society Columbia releases on vinyl, and agree with the reviewers who cite the fact that they were a truly original live band. I think their version of "Sally Go 'Round the Roses" is the definitive version, and the original Middle Eastern raga rock version of "White Rabbit" is hypnotic. All together more interesting than the Airplane's straight bolero (albeit nothing on earth comes close to Jack Casady's bass on that song, and Grace's blood curdling "Feed your head!" crescendo.) I'm also partial to their version of "Outlaw Blues."

"Someone to Love," however, not so much. Doesn't matter if it's the studio version included here, or the live version on the Columbia set. It doesn't do much for me as a dirge-like lament. Leaden to the max. The Airplane's double-timed, amped up assault with Grace demanding, threatening, we better find somebody to love works for me.

It's a shame that those original Columbia live discs sound like they were recorded at the bottom of a deep well. But this disc is studio recorded power pop psychedelic punk. Despite other reviewers pans of "Free Advice," I actually love the song. It's great to have multiple versions. I do believe that Sly Stone had the band do 50 takes before he finally gave up and quit. It's all about Mrs. Slick's free form wailing. There's an almost child-like joy in her letting lose with her voice. "Hey, Ma! Look what I can do!"

"That's How It Is," had it been released as a single, could very well have made it to the Top Ten. It's great folk rock pop. "Father Bruce" was a loving tribute to Lenny, one of Grace's heroes. Considering that even today she says she gets her news reports from Colbert, Jon Stewart, and Bill Maher, I guess it's comics for current events for her.

Not an essential disc to be sure, but a great artifact of a bygone era and a good source of "What if?" debates. Certainly more than a footnote to the Airplane.

The Great Society/ Born to be burned: This is an interesting and entertaining collection of The Great Society's studio recordings. As an example of early San Francisco Scene (and early Grace Slick) music it is fine, although I prefer hearing them live to in the studio. This is an album that every Jefferson Airplane fan will want to have, but it is not an essential album for the casual fan.

I think this is a pretty cool CD but, then again, I am also a late 1960's psychedelic music complete-ist. There is some really groovey stuff here and, in many ways, some of it is much "farther out" than anything that the Dead or Airplane had released at the time these songs were recorded. I think the same can be said of the San Fran Charlatan's recordings that showed up on CD in the early 1990's. The best song on this CD is FREE ADVICE. It is an incredibly fun song that is a snapshot or window into 1967 San Fran. Raga-rock was one of the big things and this hits on all cylinders. Grace does a great background vocal on it. This song, like FLUTE THING by the Blues Project, should have been huge in 1967. Oh, well...hindsight is 20/20. Great Society fans will recognize studio recordings of songs heard on the Columbia release of live recordings from the Matrix Club called COLLECTOR'S ITEM, as well as unheard songs. I get two studio versions of my favorite Great Society song, THAT'S HOW IT IS. Cool enough. Honestly, though, I prefer the COLECTOR"S ITEM disk to this one. So, if you must have everything psychedelic San Fran, or everything Grace Slick, you gotta have this. Otherwise, eh!! Darby Slick's book is a much more interesting, enlightening and educational than this CD.