I don't know about you, but discovering new music has a way of planting me right into the ground on a specific day or time or place and it never wavers, not even a little bit. I hear a tune and I time-travel to that time-stamp, RIGHT NOW.
Kurt Vonnegut called it 'being unstuck in time'. I tend to agree.
Grand Funk Railroad's 'Phoenix' LP, released (surprise!) on my birthday in September of 1972, is one of those seminal vinyl pressings that has aged very well and grown almost as important to my audiophile foundation as records by The Beatles or the Stones or Stephen Stills or Janis.
Hyperbole, you say? Let me try to explain. First, a little background is in order.
In September of 1972, I turned 16 years old and almost immediately got my First Car and my First Paying Job. As a newly-minted high school Junior, I'd soon discover the joys of cruising Whittier Blvd. on Saturday nights, drive-in movie dates and having to work a steady job at $1.65 an hour to keep myself clothed and my car fueled-up and insured.
Musically, I was all Beatles and Stones and Doobies and Led Zep and CCR, but Grand Funk Railroad (GFR) wasn't on my radar. However, my younger brother Chuck (R.I.P.) was all over GFR, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and lots of other bands that hadn't yet pierced my bubble.
I recall the day he brought home 'Phoenix', closed the door to his room, played it loud once and was disgusted by it because they'd committed the Cardinal Sin of trying something new. "THIS RECORD FUCKING SUCKS!", Chuck yelled in his room. A few seconds later he tossed it onto the floor of my room as he walked out the front door, headed somewhere to smoke something with someone.
Curious, I slapped that disc onto my turntable.
As the band's 6th studio LP, it was the first one they'd produced themselves after having fired long-time producer/manager Terry Knight. That alone was a huge shift, but they also decided to experiment with a new sound, new instruments and a new production style that would lose fans but gain them many new ones.
New fans just like me.
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Here's a tune sampling of one of my favorite LP's... EVER.
'Flight of the Phoenix'
The opening track of this LP showcases Mark Farner blazing away on the keyboards and guitar in a bluesy hot-rod boogie of an instrumental, with Mel Schacher and Don Brewer ripping up the rhythm on bass and drums. Thickening up the boogie goo is new member Craig Frost on backing keyboards with a brilliant cameo by famed fiddler Doug Kershaw on his electric violin. This was complete heresy to GFR's loyal fan base (STRIKE ONE!!). Although there's an extended mix of this tune available, the LP's original track is the best one.
True to their original sound but with so many more layers of sonic depth, a classic tune about being on the road and how much it can sometimes both suck and blow simultaneously. Again, the keyboards are front and center and the groove they develop is just so fine. Mark Farner's vocals are perfect.
A power ballad about loving a person who doesn't love back, the basis for so many tunes written by so many heartbroken souls. Great vocal harmonizing, cool and sweet, and Mel Schacher's bass is really highlighted.
Another bluesy rock boogie about that scourge of the road-traveling rocker: underage groupies on the make. Like so many of the tunes on this LP, there's a jazz-inspired thread that makes it move.
A surprisingly political stance is taken in this one, with the theme of all youth pitching in to make the world a better place, no matter what it takes. Classic rockin' be here.
One of their biggest hits and released as a single, this tune rose to #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972. These guys knew what they were doing in the studio!
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For a 'hard-rock' 70's band, they also had several Top 40 hits that included 'We're an American Band', 'The Loco-Motion', 'Some Kind of Wonderful' and 'Bad Time', were produced by Todd Rundgren and Frank Zappa, and survived intact through to their first breakup in 1976.
If this music speaks to you, find 'Phoenix' and play all the tunes for a peek into my time-warp mode. You'll be glad you did!
Special Bonus Track: 'Out To Get You' from their 1976 LP 'Good Singin'/Good Playin', produced by Frank Zappa who also shreds on lead guitar. This tune kicks so much ass.
"You cannot talk about rock in the 1970's without talking about Grand Funk Railroad!" -- David Fricke, ROLLING STONE Magazine
Lead image, Gracias de Google images; todos los videos, Muchisimas Gracias de YouTube.
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