Customer Reviews

Kick Out The Jams (Live)

5 star:		(66)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a spectacular high energy, crashing band coming from the age of Vietnam and Civil Rights protests. At the same time in Detroit we had Amboy Dukes (Ted Nugent) , Iggy & the Stooges, Mitch Ryder, Bob Seeger, Scott Morgan, Mark Farmer/Grand Funk etc. It was a time of change and loud music. And no band epitomized this onslaught better than MC-5. And here they are, live at the sacredGrande Ballroom....(and the sound of this CD is excellent for live in the late 60's) Stations like WABX ('underground' FM radio) would late at night sneak in "Kick out the Jams" with it's obscensely controversial opening call to join the party. The song "The Motor City's Burning" refers to the 1968 riots in Detroit when a large portion of the city burned and the National Guard was called in. As Tyner writes in the liner notes: "We were Punk, before Punk. We were New Wave before New Wave. We were Metal, before Metal. We were even "M.C." before Hammer. ....We were the electro-mechanical climax of the age, or some sort of cruel counter culture hoax. We were considered killer, righteous, high energy dudes who could pitch a whang dang doodle all night long....People of tomorrow, from the deep past we salute you! Thunder in the night forever!" Pompous, arrogant, blistering raw. Enjoy! This time and music will never come again.

I love this album. I'd heard about the MC5 over the years, but never listened to them. I thought, "oh, well the Stooges came from Detroit, so why would I want to listen to another Detroit band?" I wish I'd had this album when I was a teenager, because it absolutely rocks. You can see how much influence these guys had on punk, years later. The raw, fuzzy, crunchy power of this band just blows my mind, no matter how many times I listen to it.

It is a live album, but something like this just couldn't be replicated in a sanitized studio. I'm reminded a little of the Who's "Live at Leeds", another great live album, except, as powerful as "Leeds" is, I have to concede that this one has it beat. Maybe not as tuneful, but willfully, gleefully over the top. I imagine the MC5 utterly toasted, sweating buckets, and blazing away with the amps bouncing on the stage before the avalanche of drum fills and rollicking guitar riffs.

My favorite songs are the title track (complete with expletives), "Ramblin' Rose", and "Rocket Reducer No. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa)". Forget Seattle flannel-laden angst -- you want true grunge, listen to these guys. Then go pick up a guitar and start your own band!

Have a lust for intense, brash and violently loud rock? Have a taste for rebellion and chaos? Have a taste for things that represent the gut of rock n' roll? Look no further than this brash juggernaut of an album.... Armed with a defiant aesthetic, they (and Brother J.C. Crawford) take the listener on a wild, brash and freewheeling sonic trip to a time when sex, drugs, rock n' roll and total debauchery was the order of the day. Let all your worries, fears and everyday concerns disappear while you listen to the loose, passionate and carefree atmosphere brought on by vocalist Rob Tyner and company. Have a laugh or two when you hear Brother J.C. Crawford's provocative speeches (for some reason, his speeches always crack me up a bit), but most of all, get lost in the soulful, chaotic, rebellious energy, and feel as if you can take on the world - like these guys did. This album represents 60s rebellion of the highest order. Want punk? Put this on,... But most of all, if you wan't pure, intense and unbridled energy to get your adrenaline up everytime, you MUST own this. This is the essence of rock n' roll. And remember - PLAY IT AS LOUD AS POSSIBLE!

This was originally the MC-5's first lp release and it brilliantly captures what the MC-5 wanted to do. It is a fabulous 1st CD if you want to learn about and enjoy the MC-5's raw energy and political zeal. If you love this CD then the HIGH TIME CD is good one to try next because HIGH TIME successfully extends on KICK OUT THE JAMS with songs like Sister Anne, Baby Won't Ya, Over and Over, Skunk, Future/Now, and Poison. If you love both of these CDs and want something more then the LOOKING AT YOU CD is a real treat because it has a good live set that was played just before the release of the second lp and has lots of 2nd lp tunes all played live. The LOOKING AT YOU CD also has a version of BLACK TO COMM which was a great high energy MC-5 original and which often ended their live shows. If you enjoy all 3 of these CDs then you might also enjoy the 5 pre-1st lp single tracks (JUST DON'T KNOW, ONE OF THE GUYS, I CAN ONLY GIVE YOU EVERYTHING, LOOKING AT YOU, BOARDERLINE) are all excellent and can be found on many of the reissue CDs. Looking at You and Boarderline were later rerecorded live on the 1st lp entitled KICK OUT THE JAMS.

Simply one of the BEST hard rock live albums EVER made. Recorded during the band's prime era, in 1968. Starts off with "Ramblin' Rose" and their sole hit "Kick Out The Jams" as the five members rip through, what proves to be a timeless as much as memorable blistering set. Who could turn away from "Motor City Is Burning" and their astounding cover of Sun Ra's "Starship"? Talk about a trend setting lp. It's safe to assume that without the MC 5, there probably wouldn't have been Motorhead, Sex Pistols, Melvins, Soundgarden, Monster Magnet.....you get the point. Comes with a full color two-sided six-way fold-out that includes some nifty band photos and memorabilia. Recommended.

I came upon the MC5 by complete accident. In the early 90s, I was getting heavy into funk and soul, and I got Kick Out The Jams, thinking these guys were a soul group.

Imagine my suprise, but it was a plesent one. This is live, revolution rock, fueled by the inferno that was America in 1968. A lot of bands sang about insurrection at the time, but these motherf--kers were the real deal.

All the songs on here have a cornorstone of roaring, distored guitar that sounds edgy today. Most of the numbers are blues on steriods--a LOT of steriods. It is a blasting masterpiece.

But MC5 were no one dementional garage band. Listen to "Borderline" which has a bridge that goes beyond the typical hard rock transition of music like this. The band take it ten times further out on "Starship," an out and out piece of avant-garde noise, where they use their guitars to create a frightening simulation of blasting into space. The vocals chant over absolutely chilling noises rung from the guitar. A lot of bands tooled around with feedback during this era, but only Hendrix matched this. Sonic Youth made a career out of the ideas on this track.

If you have any, and I mean any, interest in grunge or punk and don't know this album, buy it right now. This was way, way ahead of its time

What can I say about this classic? This was the official introduction of punk rock, about 6 or 7 years before the Ramones broke into the big time. It's loud, it's brash, it's powerful--and it's LIVE! Could you ask for more?

Nevermind J.C Crawford's onstage rhetoric. For rock 'n' roll the music forged onstage the night of 10/31/68 was the revolution. Rarely has a band been so joyously messy, chaotic, and aggressive. It takes me for a ride every time I listen to it--from the hard rocker Ramblin' Rose and the controversial title track ("KICK OUT THE JAMS you mutha...kers!") to the free jazz-meets-garage rock Sun Ra cover Starship, Kick Out The Jams never fails to get me amped. Too bad I wasn't born in time to see them live.

Play it LOUD. It's like having a party in your head.

This is the greatest rock album, ever.

Wayne Kramer didn't use an SG, he used a Strat painted like the Stars and Stripes. The only thing missing from this album is the intense ear-splitting volume.

Brothers and sisters, the MC5's music will drive you wild, into the streets, tearing down everything that would keep us from being free.

Kick out the Jams and stay alive with the MC5.

Sorry to start off with a Wailers quote, but it's apropos. I just can't help feeling that somewhere out there in Elektra's forgotten tapes basement, there's the rest of this set, since it isn't complete. From what I have heard over the years, there are either three or four more songs that were recorded during the gig. Maybe Elektra figured, correctly, that AMERICA WASN'T READY FOR THIS, which it really isn't now either. The drive, power and obvious commitment to the music these guys present would make a whole album of Louie, Louie covers sound better than 98% of all the rock and roll ever recorded. The CD has marginally cleaner sound than my well-kept vinyl version, and thankfully the John Sinclair speech isn't the "clean" version that Elektra went back and issued when they figured out that most radio stations wouldn't play a song that starts "KICK OUT THE JAMS MOTHERF***ERS!". This was the first rock album in history ever released simultaneously in "clean" and "dirty" versions, please note.

It's an incredible recording. Timeless. And it'll put Linkin Park in perspective for any young listener as well. God bless the memory of Rockin' Rob and Sonic!

This is really as good as music gets. As exciting, as innovative, as firebreathing, as fun, as anything before or anything after it's release. Nobody can say a bad thing about it (or else!). It would still be an earth shaking record if it were released today. I was a giddy kid discovering this record in the early 1990's, just as giddy kids were discovering this record in the late 1960's and just as giddy kids are going to be discovering it in the 2030's. No words are necessary but yet it's impossible not to talk about it. Timeless.