Vinyl Relics: The Nest by Jeannie Piersol
Vinyl Relics: The Nest by Jeannie Piersol
Archival albums are all the rage these days. With the resurgence of vinyl, we’re seeing an abundance of releases by 60’s and 70’s bands, many of which I would classify as “for completists only”. That’s not to suggest there isn’t some great stuff, but a lot of it has never been released for a reason. A band with a dozen great live albums already… do you really need a thirteenth? Are the demos and unreleased tracks from that aborted album actually any good? Most of the time, us die-hards will pony up the cash anyways because “ooh, this looks cool!” often to be mildly disappointed later.
That is definitely NOT the case with The Nest.
This is an album that requires no hesitation, and no justification to yourself for buying yet another recent release of old material. The Nest gathers up tracks from Jeannie Piersol’s short but electric career. Paste Magazine calls her “the forgotten goddess of the Bay Area”. Her music is a mix of San Francisco psychy folk-rock, with doses of Indian raga rock, all blended together with horn-driven soul.
Her story starts with a connection to Grace Slick. As Jefferson Airplane fans know, prior to joining that band, she was lead singer in The Great Society. They never had the chance to record an album proper, but many of their tracks have been compiled for some releases that include studio and live takes (highly recommend Conspicuous Only In Its Absence as a starting point. As I mentioned earlier, some archival releases are great, and this falls in that category).
When The Great Society started out, the intention was to have two lead singers – Grace and Jeannie Piersol. If not for a geographical issue, who knows how Jeannie’s story may have unfolded. See, Grace was married to Jerry Slick at the time, The Great Society’s drummer. They lived in Sausalito. Grace’s brother-in-law was Darby Slick, and Darby and Jeannie would drive together to jam practices.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Jeannie for the show to feature this album. When I asked her why she left The Great Society, she explained: “We decided to form this band and Grace and I would be the singers, kinda like The Mama’s and the Papa’s. It was difficult for me to get in a car and go over the bridge with Darby who was stoned and drunk. I shouldn’t be telling tales like that, but he was! And it just scared the bejeebers out of me and I said ‘I think I’m outta here’, so I quit the band”.
After leaving that group, it wasn’t long before she joined another, this one called Yellow Brick Road. They played the San Fran circuit, at one time opening for The Grateful Dead. “We weren’t very good”, Jeannie said laughingly.
The Great Society broke up after Grace bolted for Jefferson Airplane. She took two of the band’s songs with her, and “Somebody To Love” and “White Rabbit” would go on to be re-recorded and rightfully take their place in rock-and-roll history/immortality.
After they split, Darby Slick himself split for India to find his “musical enlightenment.” Upon his return to the Bay Area, he had plans to start a new band. But why start one from scratch, when you can just take over an existing one? Which is exactly what he did when he joined Yellow Brick Road, renaming them Hair. Jeannie: “He took over again. He’s one of those people that like to take over. He’s just that kind of personality”.
Meanwhile, Chess Records were looking to expand their roster and add a female singer with a San Francisco sound, and Jeannie fit the bill perfectly. They didn’t want the band, they wanted her. She recorded several songs, some originals she had written and some written by Darby.
Only four of Jeannie’s tracks ever saw the light of day at the time on two singles. “Gladys”/”With Your Love” in 1968 and “The Nest”/”Your Sweet Inner Self” the following year. Fans of the fantastic Mindrocker series may recognize “Gladys” as it appeared on Volume 12. A version of the track also appears on Sagittarius’s second album Blue Marble.
By this time Jeannie had been married for few years and had started a family with her husband Bill. Recognizing that rock-and-roll and raising kids didn’t mix, Jeannie walked away just as she was getting started.
Fast forward over five decades, and enter Alec Palao into the picture. Alec’s resume is a long one. As a music historian, he is responsible for bringing long-lost music to light, reissuing forgotten classics and putting together some great compilations. His work has earned him five Grammy nominations for his historical releases and liner notes. While working through a bunch of recordings taken from The Matrix, a famous San Fran club at the time, he stumbled upon some tracks by Yellow Brick Road. Through other connections, he was able to unearth some of Jeannie’s additional material, songs that were recorded intended for an album that never was. He was aware of her two singles and B-sides and realized together, he had enough material for a complete album.
Alec was also kind enough to join me for the program and he told me how The Nest came together: “For many years, I always wanted to get my hands on the tapes from The Matrix, which along with The Avalon and The Fillmore was ground zero for what was happening in the evolution of the San Fransisco music scene. I finally got to hear that stuff a few years ago and went through all one hundred odd reels that were recorded there and amongst those was the Yellow Brick Road which I already knew about as a kind of name on posters but really great to hear. I just loved what I was hearing. At the same time, someone I was really friendly with – he’s passed away now – a fella called Ray Anderson, one of the great characters of San Francisco who was a friend of Jeannie and Bill (Jeannie’s husband) and was a documentarian and he’d managed The Matrix for awhile. He would collect tapes and posters and all types of things. When Ray passed away, I had access to the tapes thanks to Sunny (Ray’s daughter) and among Ray’s personal stash was a tape labelled ‘Jeannie’. I threw it on and lo and behold there was more material by this wonderful lady. All of sudden it was like ‘wow, we’ve got an album here!’”
More than fifty years after her career stalled, Jeannie Piersol’s music is finally available. Fans of 60’s San Fran folk/rock are in for a real treat here, as the highlights of this thing are plenty. The four tracks she released for Chess in ‘68/’69 all have a really great “sixties” vibe. Soul-infused psych pop with horns and great production.
Some of the unreleased stuff is the most interesting in the set – tracks like “Joined In Space” and “Heading For the Sun” have fantastic Indian infused raga which suit her voice perfectly. Rounding out the set is a couple of tracks by both her bands, Hair and Yellow Brick Road, the latter recorded live at The Matrix from those original recordings Alex first discovered. Many of the tracks include Darby Slick on guitar and production, as well as other members of The Great Society, and Minnie Ripperton on background vocals.
Released by High Moon Records, this release includes excellent liner notes from Alec in a high gloss booklet which also features fantastic photos and the famous psychedelic San Fran gig posters. The two live tracks are of lower audio quality, but that’s par for the course for club recordings of the era. Aside from those the rest of the album has excellent sound.
This is an album fans of 60’s music need to explore, you won’t be dissapointed. Considering the fact that it compiles a few official releases, some unreleased songs, live tracks, a demo and spans her solo work and time with two bands, I was surprised by how well it holds together as a bona fide album. Alec agrees, stating “what I think is lovely about this, as it came together, you know I knew the singles, and then came across these other things and it just kind of perfectly fit into an album. I think it works very nicely like that”.
To hear the full story of this fascinating glimpse into the past, all you have to do is tune in, turn on & drop by Epysode 52 of The Vinyl Relics podcast with exclusive commentary from both Jeannie and Alec. I love this thing and I give it a Farmer John rating of 8 hay bails out of 10. I hope you dig The Nest as much as I do.
– Farmer John
The Nest by Jeannie Piersol
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Amazon Music
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Apple Music
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Bandcamp – Vinyl / CD / Digital
Farmer John’s Vinyl Relics Podcast – Epysode #52
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