I TELL YOU HOW I SEE IT
I'll TELL YOU
I'LL TELL YOU WHAT I FOUND
SHE DON'T RECONGNIZE YOU
STANDIN'UP
YOU KNOW SHE THINKS YOU LOOK
YOU LOOK BETTER LYIN' DOWN
Manhole
is the first
solo album
by
released in 1974
by Grunt/RCA Records.
Background
After Jefferson Airplane
completed its tour for
Long John Silver
in September 1972,
the band went on hiatus.
Three of its members,
Paul Kantner,
Grace Slick,
and
David Freiberg
collaborated on the album
Baron von Tollbooth &
the Chrome Nun,
which was released
in May 1973 and,
like the previous
Kantner/Slick collaborations
Blows Against the Empire
and
Sunfighter
featured a host of
guest stars
from other
West Coast acts
like
the Grateful Dead,
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young,
and
The Flying Burrito Brothers.
After the completion
of that album,
Slick decided to embark
on her first solo venture
in early 1973
the Airplane's
five-year contract
with RCA for
Grunt Records in 1971
stipulated at least one
Slick solo album
using much the same
cast of characters
that had just made
Baron von Tollbooth
only now under
her own name.
Songs and Recording
Sessions for the album
began in April 1973
at Wally Heider Studios
in San Francisco,
where most of the
Airplane-related projects
had been recorded since 1969.
Kantner and Freiberg,
her collaborators on Baron,
acted as co-producers
along with
Keith Grant
and
orchestral arranger
Steven Schuster.
All the members
who would form
Jefferson Starship
in 1974
performed on the album
except for
Papa John Creach,
along with guests
David Crosby,
Gary Duncan,
Jack Casady
and famed
jazz double bassist
Ron Carter.
By this period
Slick maintained a
nighttime schedule
so sessions were held
in the evenings;
on many occasions,
according to engineer
Bob Matthews,
"she'd be up all one night
and the next night
wouldn't show up
to the studio...
so Paul and David
would take over
and do the work".
Matthews observed
that while previously
in her career
she had always been
quite disciplined,
known for her reliability
in the studio,
at this time
"she was very much self-abused.
She drank too much,
smoked too much.
She also shared my desire
for particular drugs
that kept us awake
longer and allowed
us to do more."
Slick eventually began
an affair with Matthews,
and despite her
erratic behavior
he concluded that
he enjoyed the
entire time
in the studio
making the album.
Side one
of the album opens with
"Jay",
a soft
flamenco-influenced piece
based on music
Slick had written in 1965
for a student film
made by her
first husband Jerry
at SFSU,
with nonsense words
meant to sound like Spanish.
The second track,
"Theme From The Movie Manhole",
is a fifteen-minute,
multi-sectional
symphonic rock composition
incorporating an even
stronger Spanish influence
and real lines
sung in the language;
according to Matthews,
Slick would wait
until six in the morning
when the Mexican janitor
appeared and then
ask him to translate
her words
while he emptied
garbage cans.
When it came time to
add orchestration,
Slick had the recording team
fly to London
in June under
Matthews' recommendation,
booking three sessions
at Olympic Studios
with the
London Symphony Orchestra.
Orchestral arranger
Steven Schuster
claimed that Slick
constantly changed her mind
over what she wanted,
originally working with a
12-piece orchestra
until she began to
ask for more pieces,
eventually settling for 42;
three different versions
of the orchestration
were eventually taped.
Ultimately,
the song's massive arrangement
also featured herself
on piano
Craig Chaquico
on lead guitar,
Peter Kaukonen
on mandolin,
Kantner, Crosby
and Freiberg
on vocals,
and both
Jack Casady
and
Ron Carter
on bass.
Whereas the
music and lyrics
on side one
were entirely by Slick,
the second side
of the album
largely featured music
by Kantner and Freiberg,
with some lyrical
contributions by her.
One song,
"It's Only Music",
unusually did not
feature her
in any capacity,
being a
Freiberg composition
with words by
Grateful Dead
lyricist
Robert Hunter
that featured
Quicksilver Messenger Service's
Gary Duncan
on lead guitar.
The following
"Better Lying Down"
was a bawdy
barrelhouse
piano blues
with music by
Pete Sears
and highly suggestive lyrics
by Slick.
The album's closing track,
"Epic No. 38",
was another
symphonic
progressive rock composition
primarily written by
Kantner
with some lyrical input
from Slick
recorded at
Olympic in London
along with a line
of eight bagpipes,
the multi-sectional piece
eventually climaxing on a
lengthy Chaquico guitar solo.
Craig later recounted
that Slick would
encourage him to
turn up the volume and
"make it ballsy...
I was inspired by
her vocals
and sexy lyrics.
I could really
feed off her energy
and ideas"
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