Customer Reviews

All the Girls in the World Beware

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This was GFR, first the Heavy Metal Monster Power Trio; Then the powerful hard rock grooving quartet, and Now on All The Girls In The World Beware GFR became a Hard rock R 'N' B hybrid, way ahead of their time. While this Album upset many of GFRs hard Rock Fans, especially with Songs like Look At Granny Run Run, Bad Time and Some Kind Of Wonderful it, as I said, was an album way ahead of its time; and it influenced many bands and artists such as Prince for a long long time. Many artists in the last 10-15 years have been mixing Hip Hop and Rock; GFR mixed Rock and R N B long ago (back in 75). This album still has the GFR signature sound and had some heavy rockers like Life (a good hard rocker), Runnin (very sophisticated lyrics, great singing by Don Brewer and a cool horn section), Good N Evil (an experimental song for GFR), And Responsibility (again sophisticated lyrics by Mark Farner). Wild, All The Girls in the world beware and Memories are also good songs; Memories is a very pretty ballad. All The Girls has one of the best Bass lines I have ever heard-Mel Schacher Rocks! and Wild is a typical rock n roll I am a pig songs. Bad Time and Some Kind Of Wonderful both charted in the top 5 and are still main stays in GFRs live shows. This CD is 24 bit remasterred and has a hidden track. It sounds great, it also has new liner notes which are excellent and very nice artwork. This is a must have for any real Grand Funk Fan and a must have for those who would like to see the roots of Hybrid rock.

If I had never heard Grand Funk before, and picked up this
c.d.,I'd think "not too bad". However,I've been a fan of this
band from the very beginning, so I just have got to ask,"What
happened to that hard rock edge that made this band so great?"
This is a very pop sounding recording. It seems that they
went out in search of chart topping hits,instead of staying
true to the music that got them where they were in the first
place. I think this recording is the beginning of the down
fall for these talented musicians.
Fortunately they would return to form,unfortunately it
would be a number of years before they got there.
If you are an all around music lover, I'd say,pick this
one up,there are some good songs and you'll probably like it.
However if you are a hard core Grand Funk fan,or a hard rock
music fan,I'd advise you to pass this one up. This band has
done much better in the past,and will come around again to do
much better in the future. Maybe they just needed a little
time off.
Thanks

This isn't really a bad album. The album is coherent in it's material. There are only too much songs on it that are quite standard GFR-material and are missing the raw edge of their earlier work. So when you want the hard rocking Grand Funk, don't buy this one. I also don't like the use of the vocoder in the song 'All the girls in the world beware'. It makes the sound too messy.
I rate this album 3,5 stars because it has no really weak songs on it and it has some really strong tracks ('Life' - this one is hardrocking and sounds inspired and the singing by Mark Farmer is very strong, 'Memories' and Good & Evil' are well done 'slow' tracks) and everyone knows the classics 'Bad Time' and 'Some kind of wonderful'. Though I don't like that last song. I've heard it too much and well it in fact has always irritated me (otherwise I had rated this one 4 stars).

I love this record i have had this record in many years and love it.
I was happy to find it in CD. It's like old memory's comes back again.
Thanks Amazon

Kurt Nielsen

I heard alot of negative reviews about this cd so I almost didn't buy it. Not as bad as I thought. A little cheesy at times. Nothing like there first 5 albums which were great. But, by far is not there greatest cd either. Watch Granny run run sounds like grandpa got viagra. Of course this album was released in 1974, before viagra existed. Now I have all GFr's albums (except for there early 80's releases). Much more to Gfr than the capitol series. Very interesting band, glad I got into them. Mark Farner was very political as well. Wonder what his take would be on the happenings on the iraq war?

Along with the unpopular "BORN TO DIE" album, this is one of the best albums they recorded with keyboard player CRAIG FROST (this was the second album the CRAIG would write songs with DON and MARK), despite how the cover and title of this album (something I thought DON BREWER might have come up with)is completely silly, if not stupid. Additionally, I thought lyrics to the title track went extremely too far, although the excellent riffs of bass guitar, organ, drums, guitar, and vocals made this song rock out. Anyway, my 2 favorite songs on this album are the broken romance soft-ballads "MEMORIES" and "BAD TIME" that were written and sung by MARK. They feature various keyboards and excellent harmony vocals, but they would have sound better if CRAIG would have played the mellotron instead of the band using an orchestra. The first song RESPONSIBILITY that features an excellent piano intro, drums, bass guitar riffs, harmony vocals, and outstanding lead vocals and guitar riffs by MARK is a great beginner, and "RUNNIN" that features a horn section, DON'S lead vocal, organ, harmony vocals, bass guitar, and guitar riffs is a great rocker. The fast-paced LIFE has excellent drum playing, bass guitar, guitar, and organ riffs. Plus, MARK FARNER'S voice on "LIFE" reminds me of MICKEY THOMAS of JEFFERSON STARSHIP, and "LOOK AT GRANNY RUN" has MARK and DON trading off lead vocals, with guitar riffs, piano playing, drums, and the horn section with a sax solo. LIFE is also a great song with the horn section, drums, piano playing, bass guitar riffs, guitar riffs, and singing by MARK . "GOOD AND EVIL is a good psychodelic rhythm and blues rock tune with distorted vocals and organ and guitar riffs. Unfortunately, the last song "SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL" is my least favorite song of just about everything I have heard from them. Whoever originally wrote this may had a point, but I have never liked the way it sounds. "BAD TIME" would have been a better closer for the album. When I downloaded this off NAPSTER, I switched the order of the last 2 songs because of my personal choice. More importantly, I can understand what MARK FARNER'S divorce put him through because I know how it feels to lose somebody you love and are really in love with. Furthermore, I also think MARK, DON ,MEL, AND CRAIG should have recorded a GRAND FUNK RIALROAD cd with MARK writing about the war with IRAQ.

Any Grand Funk fan can simply look at the album cover of "All The Girls In The World Beware"...predict a change in direction for the band.This was the first Grand Funk album I ever heard...on 8-TRACK tape... may they rest in peace. As a teenager it was a fun album...and hearing it now after all of these years..."All The Girls..." is STILL a fun album...not the usual Grand Funk sound...but a GREAT change of pace !

Things get started upbeat...with Craig Frost's piano opening on "Responsibility" setting the tone for the album's style...and as soon as Mark Farner starts singing...you want to sing along...which happens quite often on this album !

"Running" is a great Don Brewer song...and has a "Rare Earth"...70's Motown feel to it... complete with a horn section...which continues to appear throughout the album...it's a great "driving" tune.

"Life" is very similar...with some great Mark Farner guitar and solid bass lines by Mel Schacher. Am I hearing 70's "Temptations" ? A great song !

"Look At Granny Run"...well...while not my favorite...it's fun...humorous and catchy ! I have this frightening of image of my grandfather chasing my grandmother around in their senior years...which is okay of course...but not something I sit and think about. More great horns on this one !

"Memories" is the the ballad contribution...and Mark Farner and the band are great here...a vey bluesy feel...and an excellent change of pace at this point on the album ! Nice job !

" All The Girls In The World Beware" is pretty good...again...a 70's Temptation/Motown sound....GREAT bass and keyboards here by Mel and Craig.

"Wild"...eventually a "B-side"...is a great song...complete with horns...and great playing from the entire band ! You definitely want to move and sing along !

"Good And Evil"...ahhh...now THIS is some back to basics Grand Funk...a medium tempo song with a great blues touch...EXCELLENT guitar by Mark...and EXCELLENT keyboards from Craig....but everyone is very good here.

"Bad Time" and "Some Kind Of Wonderful"...the hits...speak for themselves...great songs...fun to listen to !

If you're new to Grand Funk..."All The Girls In The World Beware" is a good place to start ! It's a fun change of pace. A VERY GOOD album...enjoy it! Again..kudos to Capitol for all of the "extras" and the 24-bit remastering !

While many fans and critics of GFR consider All the Girls in the World Beware an artistic failure for the boys from Flint, I find it's R&B/Pop flavor refreshing, interesting and satisfying. Considered in the entirety of GFR's catalogue, Girls adds rich variety to GFR's sound and comes closest to the "Funk" genre. If you are new to GFR, don't be put off by the reviews of this fine album. The music consistently flows from beginning to end; the musicianship is first rate; GFR takes an experimental step preventing stagnation; the album is far from boring.

I bought all of the Grand Funk albums many moons ago, hearing them, playing them to death, talking about them with my friends and trading, recording, swapping etc. etc. all through the early 70s.. But the post Terry Knight albums, such as this one, I bought immediately upon release (starting with Phoenix). When ATGITWB was released, it screamed CREATIVITY. Just as they did with "Shinin On", the group needed some sort of creative edge to stay in the game, and they achieved it by mixing dark soul with heavy metal and ballads. Those albums including "Born To Die" were strange for those of us who were used to the "Closer To Home" brand of Grand Funk, but I must say that I loved those post Knight albums most of all because they demonstrated Grand Funk's ability to change and avoid becoming stale in the ruthless competitive world of rock music in the mid 70s.

Well there I was - transported back to the seventies listening to this album on vinyl through headphones - actually this is a great album if you want easy listening rock in the background - ignore the crass cover art and settle in for an half hour or so of classic Grand Funk - ollie brooks.