It's a sad day when the closest thing to a tribute that '60s diva Grace Slick can get is Jim Carrey's manic misfire on her signature hit with Jefferson Airplane, "Somebody to Love," in The Cable Guy. Born to Be Burned, a collection of 17 mostly unreleased 1965 studio recordings by Slick's pre-Airplane band, the Great Society, is a potent reminder of her brazen, incandescent vocal power.

The Society – which featured Slick's then-husband Jerry on drums and his brother, the composer of "Somebody to Love," guitarist Darby Slick – were a garage band whose ambition and lack of technique ran neck and neck. In Grace, though, they had a budding genius in their midst. (The same goes for their co-producer, a young Sly Stone.) Borrowing from the Byrds and the Turtles while developing a wild style of amateur exotica, the band represents Bay Area psychedelia at its most primeval in songs like "You Can't Cry" and "Father Bruce," an ode to comedian Lenny Bruce.

Yet Slick's voice spikes the music with vitality and artistic drive. Listen to her Near Eastern stylings in "Free Advice" or her snaky phrasing on the Society's original version of "Someone to Love" (retitled "Somebody to Love" when Slick took it to the Airplane) and hear a talent that would not be denied.

For information, write to Sundazed Music, PO Box 85, Coxsackie, NY 12051. (RS 741)

STEVE FUTTERMAN