Customer Reviews

Grand Funk Lives

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Grand Funk Railroad brings several images to people's minds. One is the early version - Mark, Don & Mel blasting sweaty, loud, grunge rock and selling out stadiums all over the world between 1969 and '72. For others the band is Mark, Don, Mel and Craig, burning up the charts with songs that are still staples of classic rock radio: We're An American Band, Bad Time, The Loco-Motion and Some Kind of Wonderful. Unfortunately, those songs, and others from albums like Born To Die and Shinin' On, are mostly unappreciated by fans of the earlier band. They just couldn't forgive GFR for "selling out", whatever that might mean.

Well, if they were still buying records in the 1980s, they weren't going to like this comeback. Mel Schacher, who created those amazing early '70s bass lines, declined to participate and it was left to Mark Farner band bassist Dennis Bellinger to fill the spot. So this lineup comes together and produces what could be seen as an extension of the later, commercial GFR sound. This means a mix of crunchy rockers like No Reason Why and Greed Of Man, coupled with pop ditties like Can't Be With You Tonight and Wait For Me. There's also a cover here, a marvellous, energetic take on the Animals' 1960s hit We Gotta Get Out Of This Place.

So where does Grand Funk Lives rank on the GFR scale? For me, it's certainly better than the next album, the forgettable What's Funk. And I'd put it on par with recordings like Good Singin', Good Playin' and Shinin' On. It won't equal any of the live albums, of course (any version of GFR you think of was AMAZING on stage), and it can't equal the giddy We're An American Band. But it's definitely worth the money. I'll have it in my collection forever.

" Grand Funk Lives" didn't exactly break any barriers when it was first released, in fact it seemed to hit the cut-out bins fairly quick, but it did a fine job of announcing their comeback.

"Good Times" is a bright opening tune and a delicious return to the typical Grand Funk "let's party" rave-up. It is loose and gloriously dumb lyric-wise but it sounds like they really had fun recording it.

"Y.O.U." is a memorable, upbeat, pop song which should have been a minor radio hit had anyone thought to properly promote it.

"Queen Bee", a minor hit at the time, is the best produced song on the album and has held up well over the past quarter century.

"We Gotta Get Outta This Place" is the most fun song on here. It sounds like they just took off playing, latched onto a riff and had a great time winging it. Mark's guitar tone is at its most brutal on this song. For those of you who would agree that Grand Funk beat the Stones at their own game with their fuzzed-out version of "Gimme Shelter" then this boisterous cover of the Animals will be most enjoyable indeed.

"Wait For Me" is a poignant but heavy-hitting nod to Farner's Christian beliefs and is probably the most heartfelt song on the record. Great vocal harmonies and wondrously metallic guitar.

Unfortunately, the rest of the songs tend to bog down the remainder of the album. The painfully dull, keyboard-driven "Stuck In The Middle" lopes along hoping to move forward but never really does. Songs like "Greed Of Man" try to push heavy social commentary with a terribly pedestrian riff and fail miserably. "Testify" seeks to back up a decade or two by adding some soulful aspects but sadly remains in neutral.

In summation: Half of this CD is a worthy listen and deserving of at least 4 stars but the weaker offerings constituting the other half lowered my overall rating to 3 stars.

This was not typical bone crunching GFR, but its not bad. It has some good highlights in No Reason Why and Greed of man. But the album lacks some punch because Mel Schacher declined to be part of the 80s reunion, because he did not like management. Mark and Don found out Mel was right. But because of Mel's absence the album lakes some punch. Dennis B does a fine job on Bass but he is no Mel Schacher. Also; The song Y.O.U is the single for the album and it stinks, they picked the wrong single to promote, The two songs I mentioned above are way better. Its a must buy for the GFR Fanatic, but if your new to GFR start with eitehr We're An American Band, E Pluribus Funk, Capitol Collectors Series or GFR 30 Years Of Funk The Anthology.

Grand Funk Lives !! A spectacular album indeed. I recieved a promotional copy of this on Lp back in 81 from a musician friend who got it as a freebie from a local radio Dj. Just one listen is all it took. I was hooked on Grand Funk again. In my oppinion the last good Funk album was Good Playin-Good Singin so I was a bit skeptical. I own more than 600 music Cd's and out of that, are at least 150 that I consider to be my all time favorites. Grand Funk Lives-- is an all time favorite.

This time around they record without Mel Schacher on bass. "But" lets face it, as good as Mel is, he is not Grand Funk. Mark Farner and Don Brewer are Grand Funk Railroad. Due in large part to there powerful soulful vocals. This is a very worthwhile effort and should be appreciated by all GFR fans. Virtually no support was given towards the promotion of this album and what a shame. It really is that Good !! I have always been a fan of Rock n Roll trio bands and this is no exception. Newcomer Dennis Benninger provides his unique soulful laid back style of bass playing. Every song spotlights that traditional GFR writing style. Song favorites of mine are:

"Good Times"-- the title track. Will hit you hard and heavy. The guitar and bass riff added with Don's funky foot work really captures your attention and from that piont on it only gets better.

"Queen Bee"-- up tempo fast Rocker with those trademark harmony's between Mark and Don.

"Cant Be With You Tonight"-- a slow tune with a somewhat sad message. The spotlight here are the vocals and the bass and drums which are very tight.

"No Reason Why"-- another heavy hit with Powerfull vocals.Fast and furious. A very syncopated choppy feel going on thanks to Mark's guitar work and Don's excellent drumming.

"We Gotta Get Outta This Place"-- an old classic cover song brought back in all it's glory. GFR should do more cover songs like this. They are quite good at it.

"Greed Of Man"-- a strong song with a strong message.A warning to us all about the pitfalls of greed. The spotlight is the fine drumming. Alot is happening between the instruments and once again you can hear those quality vocal harmonys. Geed Of Man is a Heavy handed Rocker in true GFR fashion.

Last but certainly not least is the beautiful song "Wait For Me"-- this song is Mark's way of telling us about God's love for us !! His spiritual message really shines through. All we have to do is listen with our hearts. The main focus of this tune is of course the vocals and the message it brings. A very dynamic song with what sounds like a full vocal choir towards the end as the song fades out.

A Great Cd !! It is recorded well and sounds good on any type of stereo equipment. It offers 10 solid tracks of GFR. Five hard Rockers, a couple of ballads and some middle of the road mixed in as well. It appears as if no one has done a review of this Great cd in some time and I am Happy to bring it to everyone's attention again. It really is That Good !!!! Check It Out !!!!

Grand funk lives is NOT a LIVE album neither a traditional Grand Funk album.The songs on this album are much shorter than on the classics GF albums, a lot less funky or soul leaning more towards a classic heavy metal repertoire.
This probably won't please a lot of GF fans, but still LIVES is good rockin' album.The sound and the production are good especially for a record made in the 80's when a lot of productions suffered from an overdose of keyboards or drum-machines.
It is clear that this album won't(didn't)change the face of the earth but it sure didn't stop the world from going round.
Short songs, straight to the point but also a very short album (around 30 minutes).
LIVES is not a priority, I wouldn't start my G.F. collection with that one, but its much more inspired, exciting than the previous Good singin' good playin' or especially the following What's funk?

What a GREAT CD by the American Band - Grand Funk Railroad. The POWER trio from Flint, Michigan. G.F.R. ROCKS!!

Walked into my local Record Bar around 1981 and there it was on a big kiosk in the front of the store...Having no idea that the band had any inkling of a reunion, it was quite a surprise that GRAND FUNK LIVES! was in the bins... There were more surprises to come when I gazed at the back cover....Boy did Mel Schacher gain alot of weight! Well, it turned out not to be Mel, but a fellow Flint musician that played on Mark Farner's NO FRILLS album just a year or so before was now in the slot....If there is any problem with the overall production it's right here...There's not alot of bass undertow to give you that rock n roll wallop that you're used to from the trio days of Grand Funk Railroad....I doubt that this was Dennis Bellinger's fault, but it was disappointing not to hear that heaviness.

With that said, the songs and material are strong....At the time in the 80's, Mark Farner was writing alot of Top 40 compositions which you hear in Y.O.U. and STUCK IN THE MIDDLE....But the rest are in your face rockers, the best being a little diddy called TESTIFY, a 3 chord get-down song that's hard not dance to...NO REASON WHY, a thematic tune written about the death of John Lennon is the one epic...The boy's made The Animal's INSIDE LOOKING OUT their own back in their heyday, so why not go to the well again with WE GOTTA GET OUT OF THIS PLACE, but there was that missing bass again....GOOD TIMES, QUEEN BEE, and GREED OF MAN (a song probably about former manager Terry Knight) has great Farner ax work and Don Brewer drumming...Harmony vocals are near perfect with Bellinger's voice in the mix.

Lastly, WAIT FOR ME was a great epilogue to the album, which showed Farner's pending spiritual awakening that carried him thru the rest of the 80's and mid-90's...

A very good effort from the band that was not equaled in the engineering and production parts...With that said, the remastering did put a little more slap to the overall sound....Don't be fooled by some of the negative reviews here...It is a good inclusion to the GFR catalog.

A tour followed, and another trip to the studio with a follow up, WHAT'S FUNK?, in 1983 that was released after the band broke up again...Mark Farner became a charismatic Christian artist, Don Brewer joined Bob Seger's touring band, and Dennis Bellinger played in local Flint MI bands and drove a truck....There were 3 songs that probably should have been included on LIVES from the WHAT'S FUNK? recording, ROCK & ROLL AMERICAN STYLE, STILL WAITIN' and EL SALVADOR and the rest being scrapped....There was alot of angst between the band, their manager at the time, Andy Cavaliere and Warner Bros Records that just put a pall over the comeback...It would be another 14 years before the guys would give it another try to much bigger results than this small time slot of 1981-82....And it included Mel...And what a ride it was!!!

I AM A HUGE GRAND FUNK FAN SO I PICKED UP THIS RE-RELEASE AT MY LOCAL "TUNE SHOP"......THIS IS FAR FROM THE GREAT RELEASES OF THE PAST AS ONLY FARNER AND BREWER ARE ON THIS OFFERING.THE TUNES ARE WEAK WITH THE EXCEPTION OF "WE GOTTA GET OUT OF THIS PLACE" AND "TESTIFY"....A LET DOWN TO SAY THE LEAST-SAVE YOUR $$$$$$$

A little mellow at times. I like this one a little better than What's funk. Has some rockers on it, but again don't pay an arm and a leg for it.

There's not a whole lot to be said about the pair of albums the resuscitated Grand Funk Railroad issued in the '80's. So little, in fact, that I don't believe they were even mentioned in the recent VH1 show on the band. But they're not as bad as all that. At least this one - I would give this first reunion effort the massive edge over the truly wretched, appalling follow-up. Why? For one thing, the material, while not all excellent, is very engaging for boogie-fried hard rock and the band seems quite serious about flexing some muscle on it. That's probably what it boils down to; it does seem as though they cared and were well able to deliver the goods. There's one song that some will know, 'Queen Bee', which was featured on the "Heavy Metal" soundtrack. But the best track here is their raucous cover of the old Animals classic 'We Gotta Get Out Of This Place'. Otherwise, there's really not a whole lot more to say. The Railroad is chugging along, all right, but while this trip wasn't destined to pick up many new passengers, it should be a smooth ride for fans.