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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
They're An American Band, January 23, 2001
This review is from: Capitol Collectors Series: Grand Funk Railroad (Audio CD)
Grand Funk Railroad's ham-fisted approach to rock 'n' roll left music critics appalled, but they sold millions of records and even broke the Beatles' record for selling out Shea Stadium. During the band's tenure at Capitol Records (1969-1976), they hit the Hot 100 singles chart more than a dozen times. Mark Farner--the band's underrated guitar player and usual lead singer--wrote much of the group's material. However their two No. 1 singles, "We're an American Band" and "The Loco-Motion," were written by drummer Don Brewer and Goffin & King respectively. Nothing succeeds like success, and Grand Funk was undeniably one of the biggest bands of the era. They were a no-nonsense party band, and if you're looking for a single CD to provide you with all of their best moments--this is it. For maximum effect, play this LOUD! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
GFR lets it all out on their debut!!, May 1, 1999
By A Customer
This is one of my favourite GFRR albums, because it is one of their more diverse and well-rounded albums. It is so rootsy, yet so progressive. GFR lays all its influences out for people to see, going from blues to ballads, hard rock to psychedelic, and yet its all-original material--an unusual thing for a group's debut album. If you like Cream's first album, "Fresh Cream" from 1966, it is almost entirely patterned after that album, from the three guys on the cover with the dark backdrop, to the very similar drum solo songs ( Cream's "Toad" vs. GFR's "T.N.U.C"), To Mark Farner trying to play his best "woman tone" on his guitar and trying to work it into a feedback frenzy at the same time (a la Eric Clapton), to the way both albums veer wildly from style to style. Mark Farner was at his best on this record. He played his most beautifully delicate guitar on "Heartbreaker" and could still rip away with the best of them, with a chainsaw-sounding fuzz-guitar slicing through tracks like "Can't be too long" and "Anybody's Answer." And the songs! Their most expressive songwriting was on this album, and their feelings about life. If "Anybody's Answer" was released today, it would be a hit for Alice In Chains and Creed--that's how mind-blowing and forward thinking that song was for 1969! "Into the Sun" IS RHYTHM, period. Sly Stone or James Brown couldn't have done it any better without a horn section! Okay, the sound quality wasn't so "hot"--you can barely hear the bass, and that was an intregal part of the GFR sound, what made them "tick" on later albums. But the engineering end of it tried to make up for it, with really cool studio effects that you don't hear on albums anymore, like the speaker-to-speaker effects on "Anybody's Answer" and "Can't Be Too Long" and the way make Mark's fuzz rhythm guitar zoom from speaker-to-speaker--far out!! This is by far their most overlooked and underrated albums. People just look at it and pick out the "hits" like "Time Machine" and "Are You Ready?" They ignore the so-called "filler", but the "filler" is the best parts of this album. It deserves a first-or second listen by everybody.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Catch The Train, October 23, 2000
This review is from: Capitol Collectors Series: Grand Funk Railroad (Audio CD)
During the time of the Grand Funk Railroad's greatest success, they were breaking concert attendance records set by bands like the Beatles and all their records were selling millions. Despite this success, the band were whipping boys for the rock press. Their music was panned for it's lack of artistic value, but that's not what the band was all about. As the title of the song "Footstompin' Music" says, they were all about make good time, have fun music. Admittingly, their albums do contain some forgettable songs, but songs like "We're An American Band", "Bad Time", "Some Kind Of Wonderful" and "Shinin' On" are catchy and just plain fun. Throw in the band's best song, the majestic "I'm Your Captain" and you have yourself a great collection.
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