Maps of Music

Software (1984)

Where the lyrics of Software take you, and where it was really made.

Grace Slick's final solo album was made while she was back in Jefferson Starship.

Key places

Recording at Sausalito (1984)

Recording site Plant Recording (Sausalito) — The album was recorded at Record Plant Studios in Sausalito. The pin marks the city centre, not the studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Software: fourth and final solo studio album by American singer Grace Slick
• Released in 1984 on RCA Records; release date listed as 30 January 1984
• Produced by Ron Nevison, who also handled arrangements and engineering
• Peter Wolf contributed arrangements, keyboards, synth bass and Linn programming
• Recording location: Record Plant Studios, Sausalito (city-level point)
• Mastered by Doug Sax at The Mastering Lab in Hollywood, California

Background

• Recorded after Slick rejoined Jefferson Starship, having temporarily left the band in the late 1970s
• Described as Slick's attempt to assimilate with the synth-pop sound of the period
• Guitar use largely replaced by synthesizers and electronic drums
• Slick's trademark wailing vocals and improvising replaced by more short, precise bursts
• Peter Wolf, her collaborator on this album, later contributed to Jefferson Starship's 1984 album Nuclear Furniture

Cover

• Front cover concept by Grace Slick; cover illustration by Michael Pangrazio
• Cover design by Paykos Phior; cover coordination and back cover concept by Andrea Hein

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

Artist

Formation

• Grace Slick (born Grace Barnett Wing, October 30, 1939) is an American musician and painter.
• Early in her career she performed with the Great Society, a band she formed in San Francisco in 1965.
• She was a prominent figure in San Francisco's psychedelic scene from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s.

Career

• Slick became lead singer of Jefferson Airplane in late 1966 after Signe Toly Anderson left the band.
• Surrealistic Pillow (1967) included "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love", both top-ten US Billboard hits.
• She formed Jefferson Starship with Paul Kantner in 1974 and released several solo albums, including Dreams.
• With Starship she sang co-lead on two number-one hits, "We Built This City" and "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now".
• She retired from music in 1990 and continues to work as a visual artist.
• In 1996 she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Jefferson Airplane.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that Slick jumps on the synthesizer bandwagon, putting every ping, pip and pow electro-pop has to offer into another batch of inimitably banal songs.
• The Wall Street Journal determined that Slick really sings, with intelligence and control.
• The Wall Street Journal also found the only problem to be that the lyrics she wrote for herself were not up to Peter Wolf's well-crafted music.
• The album's sound rests on synthesizers and electronic drums in place of guitars.
• Vocals shift from wailing and improvising to shorter, precise bursts.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• A music video was made for the single "All the Machines".
• Ron Nevison produced the album and also handled arrangements and engineering.
• Doug Sax mastered the album at The Mastering Lab in Hollywood, California.
• Peter Wolf later contributed to Jefferson Starship's 1984 album Nuclear Furniture after working on this album with Slick.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Maps of Ages ↗ (mapsofages.com)

Privacy · Contact