General Music Chat

I've read that having Jack in the band influenced Grace to join because he was such a real deal player. And that he was and is.

Talbot

we've talked about JC before and it's nice to see others here hold him in the same high regard as i. he really did have his own thing going on and for my tastes was perfect at playing the "song"...but still injecting a LOT of personality that didn't get in the way.

i always thought Kantner was a great "rhythm gtrst" w some cool moves whose playing got overlooked. and he had a really cool 12 string Rick approach. definitely different from McGuin, Harrison, or any of the other 12 string slingers.

I just read that Signe Toly Anderson, the original JA vocalist, passed away the same day as Paul Kantner. RIP

the SAME day???? no. that CAN'T BEEEEEEE. that is completely off the "weird" scale. i liked her singing and for some reason never investigated what if anything else she did after leaving JA. i recall she left to have her baby.

wouldn't THAT have been a completely different band if she had remained and GS never joined up! as good as it might have been....it's likely we never would have heard much or any of GS' stuff. certainly it would have sounded way more differenter like w a different cast of characters!

one more thing: i've loved JA since i first heard him. and as interesting and enjoyable as it is watching them live.....is there anyone here who's gonna argue that their harmony singing was just horrendous!!!! yeah, it was great when they'd hit something together...but wait...it's only 30 seconds away til they're waaay off.

really, i'm throwing down the gauntlet here!

....someone show me ONE video where the three of 'em are singing together and it DON'T like three cats in a gunny sack getting dragged along a gravel rd!

R.I.P. PK STA

ok, i'm pulling no punches now.

marty balin.....good pitch almost always in tune.*

grace slick....love her. from the very first time i heard her sing (ON ALBUM) and saw her. that only grew whenever i heard her talk about jack and how the band WAS JC! but let's face it...the girl had some serious pitch issues. yes. no argument ....she also was drop dead gorgeous and sang A LOT of ridiculously fantastic stuff. but LIVE??? hey, i give her big points for always "going for it" w some creative idea or phrasing, but c'mon....the gal was very often badly out of tune.

paul kantner...imo an incredibly interesting and under rated singer. i can't recall hearing him ever singing off key.* (i've watched A LOT of JA.)


as JA fans, i assume you guys have seen the dick cavett show devoted entirely to them and joni mitchell, w a later surprise when crosby shows up.

definitely must see TV if you're a JA fan and haven't seen it yet. anyone else who missed the airplane (ha, ha... as in "missed the boat"...see what i did?) and are curious about what they were about should look in on it sometime. the interactions are quite interesting,as is the music.

and joni as always, is heart winning in her clear unadorned performances (with lazer like perfect pitch) and the completely unprompted life preserver she tried to throw JA when she offered up " it's really difficult to sing w/o being able to hear the monitors well".


* extra points to kantner and balin for being as on pitch as they were w GS often all over the map.

(jook....sorry, i have trouble believing that at the arrival of 1969 she started all of a sudden having pitch problems.)

here's a cpl of tunes from JA on Cavett.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYsQJIdgApY

grace's performance? well, let's just say that it's not an example of passable pitch much less perfect pitch from grace.... but she doesn't ruin it for me by any stretch....cos there are so many other really cool things going on (like JC and Dyden's ridiculous hookup..how come no ever talks about what a great rhythm SECTION they were???!?!!) jack's always been my man but c'mon...how about some love for Spencer Dryden? when covington came in to replace him....that was the beginning of the end for me. not a covington fan. at all. besides being really creative, having great tone, ideas, and groove ...wow, spencer could really hook up w jack and they'd nail it together. (har not to lay that off as having the sesnibilities of a good jazz drummer vs. the "hard hitting rock drummer" ...covington. no...i never did like cov's feel!

anyway...they finish "We can Be Together" and there's a bit of loud applause preventing them from sliding into "Volunteers". they've missed their usual segue...and now they're all kinda looking back at SD...and he plays this very cool and butt simple bit that brings everyone right in and out of harm's way!

Jefferson Airplane weren't perfect? How dreadful. So I guess they were just down there at moderately wonderful. JA had a thing going that worked.

They owned their space, at least for four or five albums. They were exactly who they were, no missing it when you heard the first few measures of their tunes.

Talbot