sandy denny vs. grace slick

[oldblue]

an old-fashioned battle of the (broad) bands

[CookOfTheHouse]

It's pretty hard to compare two artist, maybe comparing songs is easyer. I hadn't heard about Sandy Denny ever but I started listening to some of her work with Fairport Convention and I think she's pretty good, specially on "Matty Groves" but, come on... this is Grace Slick we are talking about! The only artists I consider can be compared to Grace are Signe Anderson and Spanky McFarlane. Janis Joplin, Lydia Pense, Lynn Carey, Linda Ronstadt, Cass Elliot, Michelle Phillips, Nancy Nevins, Mariska Veres, they are all great, amazing, but not as good as Grace.

[randall9]

Well, Grace never did anything close, as a solo artist, to Sandy's (something or other...) and the Northstar Grassman, after she left Fairport. Airplane was psychrock at its finest and Fairport (liege and lief anyway) folkrock (of the Brit variety) at its finest (alongwith Pentangle, of course). Kinda apples and oranges but thanks for the opp to recall these two genius vocalists. Sandy RIP (let's be honest Sandy was a better voice and maybe even singer, but Grace was fronting JA and had the persona to (along with the boys) create transcendent occasion time and again)

[psychy]

I dig Sandy, but there's no margin of comparison between her and Gracie:):):)

[CookOfTheHouse]

I think you gotta be more specific, there's the Great Society till Volunteers Grace and there's the 70's Grace. In my opinion the great one was the early Grace, something happened to her after woodstock and never got the same sound again. Sandy is amazing always, on studio and live (at least at the "Live At The BBC" albums I've heard her perform). If we're talking about powerful voices, only Signe Anderson could beat Grace, no one else could belt like them, Jefferson Airplane had the most powerful singers. Sandy is always softer but firm, like on fotheringay or who knows where the time goes. 70's gracie sometimes sings out of tune and there ain't a live performance I thought was GREAT like the early live performances, like Monterey or Woodstock or Bless Its Pointed Little head. Sandy Denny is like Karen Carpenter, I think they didn't have the hability to sing out of tune even if their lifes depended on it.
If we're talking about leadership, Sandy wins. She joined Fairport after Judy Dyble (my favourite singer) was kicked out. Early Dyble-Fairport was playing the Frisco sound, they were called "The british Jefferson Airplane" but as soon as Denny came in, she changed it all and went folk. If you listen to fairport's first album (Fairport Convention) and then the second (What We Did In Our Hollidays) you'd think it's two completely different bands. No psychedelic rock, only british folk. Fairport kicked out the male singer (the equivalent of Marty Balin, Iain Matthews) and she was the solely frontman and songwriter and Lead vocalist on almost every song. Grace only got this kind of attention while on The Great Society but on Jefferson Airplane she was reduced to two songs per album and from Blows Against The Empire on (Bark, Sunfighter, Long John Jefferson Starship, bla bla bla), her vocals fainted altough she was featured prominently and after Red Octopus, she did nothing decent. But if we take both singer's two best songs (White Rabbit and Somebody To Love vs Who Knows Where The Time Goes and Fotheringay) Gracie wins by far.

[psychy]

I can only say both Grace aND sANDY WERE very good singers:):):)

[Ensign]

Personally I find the whole idea of one singer or player VERSUS another a futile endeavor at best, and usually just plain silly... That said, anybody heard of Annie Haslam of Renaissance? That woman could sure belt it out!