Grand Funk Live Album
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Album Description
24-bit digitally remastered reissue for one of the best live acts around. This album captured their show in all of its foot stomping glory! Reaching #5 in 1970, this was their third charting album in a year! 11 tracks. … More >>
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Grand Funk Railroad was a band that just couldn’t get any respect. The threesome were modeled somewhat after the example of Cream; yet, in many ways they were a forerunner of Kiss. Like Kiss, Grand Funk was a “C+” or solid “B” class band propelled to Olympian heights by arduous touring and (according to the critics) an overactive “hype” machine. If there is one thing that ticks critics off is for a band to be a little more popular than it should be. Grand Funk Railroad wasn’t just a little too popular; they were popular beyond all reason. Looking back now, it is easy to see that Grand Funk built up a solid and respectable catalogue of songs. With the release of WE’RE AN AMERICAN BAND in 1973, even the band’s detractors had to admit that there was something to the band other than a manufactured image.
LIVE ALBUM was released in late 1970 but was recorded before the release of CLOSER TO HOME-a popular album at least in the Midwest. As such it contains no songs that the casual listener would be familiar with today. LIVE ALBUM also suffers from the recording art of the time. In spite of some great “live” records made in the late 1960′s-early 1970′s, for the most part it was not understood how to record rock and roll on stage well. The liner notes state that this album has been digitally remastered; but there is only so much that can be done when the original source tapes are not that good to begin with.
Still, even here one can listen and hear some of the excitement this band caused-especially when they played extended instrumental jams. We don’t think much of “boogying” today but it was the bread and butter of performing bands at the time. Audiences loved it. But “jamming” was one of those things where you had to be there to get it.
LIVE ALBUM was a popular record in 1971 and tons of copies were sold. Hanging out with friends after school and then around the dorm after I went to college, I saw the record everywhere. Most folks would play the Stones STICKY FINGERS or CSNY’s FOUR WAY STREET as first choice; but as the evening wore on LIVE ALBUM was sure to hit the turntable sometime. Today, however, the actual sound of the CD is not good enough and the music itself contains none of the classics. Unless you take a historical interest in the music of the early 1970′s, there is not much here. Your money is better spent elsewhere.
Rating: 2 / 5
I don’t know what the cd sounds like, I have this one on vinyl. But, It sounds like it was taped with a tape recorder. At times you can barely hear the band because of the crowd. THis one sounds morelike a bootleg. Maybe the cd sounds better.
Rating: 4 / 5
Great CD but why do none of GFR Live albums have Time Machine, their best song?? Not even Live 1971??
Rating: 5 / 5
Yes it was the first vinyl album I ever got, in 1971.
Yes Mark Farner (and Eric Clapton) inspired me to learn guitar.
Yes I listened to it until it wore out.
It still sounds horrible. I can’t listen to it now because it makes my ears hurt. I still have it. With the poster.
Apparently the idea was to create a “unique” recording of a live concert by mixing in microphones placed in the crowd and giving you more of an impression of being in the audience. If so it was a noisy drunken audience that was in attendance at the Atlanta Pop Festival that hot summer day. In certain sections the crowd noise is so loud that the band is barely audible. You can hear people shouting over the music, like you were standing around some people who were yelling at each other about something. If it was possible, this would probably be a great sounding album if they could put the crowd in the background. The fact is that the performances are excellent and in every case much better than the sterile-sounding studio performances. There is lots of energy and Mark plays with lots of fire. The drums and bass of Schacher/Brewer put down a heavy groove which Farner boogies over effortlessly. I think my personal favourites are Mark Says Allright, TNUC (pun???) and Into the Sun, and definetly the superior rendition of In Need. All tracks are excellent though. I would recommend the uninitiated get this album first, then work your way through the studio albums in any order, maybe the “Red” album (as it was known to Funk faithful) first.
I recently obtained a video of a pop concert in Detroit which featured Iggy Pop, a still unkown Alice Cooper, Mountain, and Grand Funk. The tune is Inside Looking Out and it must have been the same tour because it is the Live Album performance note-for-note, including various grunts and whoops by Farner. It is still excellent, and they obviously had a show together that was consistent and deliberate. I would have to say now that this music is dated and of its time. Still I would recommend this over the first two studio albums. The music is of the tradition of Detroit, like MC5 and the Stooges, but there is a certain twang to Farner’s style that together with Schacher’s fuzz bass and Brewer’s muscular drumming that gave them a somewhat unique sound. If anything the live album’s “ambience” is a departure from their somewhat minimalist studio sound.
Rating: 3 / 5
Well, CAPITOL BOZOS blew it again with a CLASSIC ALL TIME GFR ALBUM REISSUED ON CD! Yeah the CD sounds OK, not great still, but the POSTER was a HUGE COLLECTORS item in this 2 LP set also. What do the CAPITOL BOZOS do? CUT OUT THE POSTER REPRINT! Buy the 2 CD UK or Holland set with poster for STRONG GFR COLLECTORS only.
Rating: 2 / 5
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