Customer Reviews

Live: The 1971 Tour

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This CD is a wonderful testament to the power of early GFR. I will give a track by track review.

1. The introduction first has the fans chanting We Want Grand Funk then the recorded Sprach Zarathustra (2001) come on and stops and an announcer says. Welcome, Closer To Home, Grand Funk Railroad.

2. Are You Ready-Rocking version equal to Live album but faster paced.

3. Footstompin Music, this must be the survival version it is different than the regular version and really its like Footstompin Music on steroids. This one has a loner intro before the singing, it starts off with Don on Drums by himself and then Mel comes in and then Finally Mark on Keys. Its really cool. It is heavier then the normal Footstompin music. When Mark gets on the guitar he starts off like the normal guitar lick but then changes it up to sounds like a bit of inneed, it rocks. Mark's guitar is feeding back real easy so it must have been on eleven.

4. Paranoid-This version is real similar to Live album except Marks guitar playing is better, more crisp. Mark is on Fire on this one. I give this version a slight lead over the live album version.

5-6-7.-Medley I'm Your Captian/Hooked On Love/ Get it together. each song has a CD break (Unheard of course) so there song 5, 6 and 7 but its a medley. I mush prefer this medley to having mean mistreater on the CD. IYC starts off like the Caught in the act version at first but then Mark comes in with some cool chicken scratch guitaring and then they come to an end and start up IYC like the album version. Mark seems to sing in a lower key then normal (ever so slightly) which sounds cool, Mark and Dons harmonies are great as usual. About half way through the normal version then changes in a short rendition of Hooked on Love and then changes into Get It together. Really cool stuff.

8. T.N.U.C. -WOW 16 plus minutes the best version of the Drum solo I ever heard. Don is on Fire on this one. Totally Rockin version, at the 10 minute mark, Mark shouts everybody help us out, Mark and Mel hop on the drums as well. Drum thing 71 style.

9. Inside Looking Out-15:30 version Mark dedicates the song to all the people in Washington for you and me, and for everyone out that that smokes..... Similar version to one on Anthology, but better, its faster. Mel is just on fire on this one, he is throughout every song on the disk. This CD is so bass heavy its like all the music revolves around Mel's bass playing. It should be called Mel Funk Railroad Live in 1971. Marks guitar work rules on this one, it is much like the anthology version but better, Mark is very bluesy, then he is on fire, in a glorious feedback frenzy. This was what GFR was all about baby. There is even extra juice on the harmonica part. Then it ends in a distorted feedback frenzy. And the fans chant Grand Funk, Grand Funk. This is probably the best power trio version ever. But I will have to give it some time to be sure.

10. Gimme Shelter- (First encore) Kick but POWER TRIO version. Mark cooks, Mel Cooks, Don Cooks then all cook. Don sings it in a powerful way (and Mark does as well), Don and Mark's harmonies rule. 7 plus minute version. Don is just pounding his drums as he sings, incredible. Mark starts at the half way point to go nuts on the guitar and rips off some fast playing. Then Mark holds a long distorted note and GFR keeps it going as they bring the song back up. And then Mark comes back in again with some home cooking fast frenzy guitar playing, then into all kinds of stuff-wait until you hear it. Easily the best GFR version ever.

11. Into The Sun- (final encore) the cool long version. Much the same type of version like Live album; but not all the lopped audience noise tracked over Marks guitar, this version beats live album hands down. Much clearer thren live album, and Mark is ON FIRE! Mel is ON FIRE. Don is on FIRE. But this is Mark's song to shine and he is shinin on baby. The most obnoxious guitar work you will ever hear, it rules. And no audience noise to block it out. I absolutely LOVE it! Boy this is the most fun I have had listening to old GFR in three years. 71 had to be the peak live year for GFR. I hope capitol Get's video out of the 1971 tour!

The CD sounds Great David Tedds rules he and his team did a wonderful job. The 24 bit remastering allows one to hear all the distortion in its meant for hearing glory. Its 79 minutes that will fry your brian. Get ready. 79 minuets of wild Guitar Playing; 79 minutes of pounding drums; 79 minutes of throbbing bass playing. This CD is a GFR fan's dream come ture. Get ready to ROCK.

RickDC FNUK Cappetto

Grand Funk...loved by fans and scorned by critics were always at their best onstage. They debuted at the 1969 Atlanta Pop Festival as relative unknowns and were superstars overnight;packing out concert halls and selling truckloads of records. Their power is here now for all to savor on this collection of performances from the spring and summer of 1971.

For those of you familar with the 1970 "Live Album",you are in for the sonic ride of your lives! Not only are the recordings superior in sonic clarity to that album but what a difference a year of nonstop gigging made! Mark Farner working the stage like no other,his guitar playing making up in sheer energy and gut power what it may have lacked in technical perfection,Don Brewer, a vastly underrated drummer,driving the band with locomotive intensity,and Mel Schacher,diminutive in stature but mighty of sound with his overdriven,milkshake thick tone and deft bass lines.

They place their stamp on "Gimme Shelter",nearly making it their own,deliver a version of "Inside Looking Out" that stands head and shoulders above any performances before or since,fashion a sweet medley of "I'm Your Captain/Hooked On Love/Get It Together,and give us an early version of "Footstompin'Music"which had first been cut during the sessions for "Survival",shelved and later recut on "E PLuribus Funk" later that year.Sure,several of the songs are LONG..we're talking 1971 here folks! Grand Funk Railroad ruled the concert stage and the proof is right here...Their influence was huge,if not always given its due credit.

Their power was absolute....listen and experience for yourself!

"Live The 1971 Tour" was the first disk issued to kick off the new Grand Funk Railroad remastering project. The set contains live trio versions of songs from the 1971 tour. The set contains material from various venues including their famous Shea Stadium concert in New York City. The sound quality is rather raw but passable for the this time period. The disk was issued without overdubs as evidenced by the tuning problems in "Are You Ready" and "Paranoid". The set contains 11 tracks the same number as the "Live Album" from the 1970 tour. However, the 1971 disk contains great live versions of the medley "I'm Your Captain/Closer To Home/Hooked On Love/Get It Together, a ultra heavy version of the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" and "Footstompin' Music", while the 1970 live set contains "In Need", "Heartbreaker" and "Mean Mistreater" and "Mark Says Alright" instead. Personally, I favor the set list on the 1971 set. The 1971 set hits its stride near the end with long barnstorming versions of the Animals' "Inside Looking Out" and "Into The Sun" which along with "T.N.U.C" also appear on the live disk from 1970. The version of "T.N.U.C" included here clocking in at over 15 minutes lasts too long perhaps but it is an example of the jamming that some the bands of the early seventies favored in concert. In summary, while not essential I enjoyed this disk more than the "Live Album" from 1970" and despite some tuning problems it shows the excitement that Grand Funk Railroad was capable of generating in concert. I hope the new remasters will contain some more live unissued cuts as bonus tracks.

The Grand Funk Railroad Live 1971 Tour album is a testament as to why Grand Funk ruled the concert arenas of the 1970's. Their sheer raw energy and power was unparalled by any other band of their era, plus GFR's musical abilities earned them a cult following which still survives to this day. Grand Funk is the people's band and in my opinion, the greatest rock band ever!

For many years, the GFR fanatics have been trying to get Grand Funk's historical concert at Shea stadium released, on both album and video. The new Live 1971 tour album includes four of Grand Funk's songs from Shea. I'm your captain, Hooked on love, Get it together and Gimme Shelter. I was real impressed by the sound quality of these songs. Of all the tunes on the album, they do sound the best. It's amazing too, when you figure that this was an outdoor concert with 55,000 screaming fans in the audience. Grand Funk's performance on these songs were flawless. Hopefully, the entire Shea concert will be released on both CD and video one day soon.

From the opening sound, the 2001 Space Odyssey theme (also known as Sprach Zarathustra) fills the air and builds to an apex as the Grand Funk fans are ready for a good rockin' time.

Are you ready was recorded at the Syndrome in Chicago. The band really pulled out the stops on this tune, as they always do. The sound quality of the recording is a bit rough, but Grand Funk kicks...royally!

Grand Funk's version of Footstompin' Music is a early rendition from their Survival tour. Recorded at Detroit's Cobo Hall, GFR boogied the house down. Mark does a double take of the chorus, "Does everybody want to..." and does two seperate solo's. Both Mel and Don rock on the song as well. It's definitly a fun song to hear live and real benefit to the fans who got to hear the song prior to the E Pluribus Funk album.

Paranoid is a bit more uptempo then GFR version on their first Live Album. Mark uses his fuzz tone along with a wah pedal to deliver an awsome sound that makes the hair on your neck stand up. The guitar solo isn't as -- In your face as their first Live Album, but the song is a true definition of the meaning, hard grinding blues.

GFR's live version of I'm your captain is truly remarkable. Both Mark and Don's harmonies on the song is the best I've ever heard on any live track. Mel also shines on the bass as only the God Of Thunder can. The only thing is, I wish the song was longer then it was. It's a real gem.

Both Hooked on love and Get it together are melody versions of the songs. Grand Funk breaks into Hooked on love towards the middle of the tune and kicks up a rhythm which dares you to stand still (It's impossible!) Then Mark fly's into an awsome solo, while Don and Mel rock your socks off. They come back with the chorus, Hooked on love...and then GFR kicks into, Get it together. The song starts off with a bang. Mark jamming on the keyboards with a fiery soul and Mel playing some of the best bass guitar you ever heard, all while Don keeps the song boogying along. The Funkettes then come in to join along with the harmony of Get it together. Excellant versions of two great GFR songs.

T.N.U.C is a drummers dream tune! Don Brewer performs the best drum solo I've ever heard on this version. It's 17 minutes of kick ass joy. The song is somewhat similer to the version Grand Funk did on their first live album, except it's even better and longer too. During the drum thang, Mark comes in on the timbales and Mel rocks the cowbell. Then Don goes into his, "I wanna take you higher" chant and breaks into a furious pace on the drums. The song finishes off with a thunder as Mark, Don and Mel break into their ending jam. Man, what a rocker!

Grand Funk's rendition of Inside Lookin'Out is close to their version on the Anthology album. It's the ultimate free form rock song and I doubt that GFR ever performed the tune the same way twice. The sound quality is better then the Anthology version, plus Mark's guitar is more clean. There are times in the song where Mark seems to lose track, but then comes right back into the groove of it all. Mel and Don drive the rhythm throught the song and then kick up the pace while Mark breaks into his harmonica solo and the fans get involved too. It's truly a crowd favorite and a really good rockin version.

Gimme Shelter is another song Grand Funk performed at their historical Shea Stadium gig. It features Don on lead vocals and he switches off with Mark during the tune. GFR gives the Rolling Stones a run for their money with this song. They play it harder, faster and more intense then the Stones could ever manage. They rocked the stadium down with this rendition!

Into the sun is a blast! If you like the version GFR did on the Grand Funk Live Album, you'll love this one! The sound quality is better and Mark's guitar is up-front throught the whole song. Don and Mel shine brightly on this version and show why their both the best at what they do. Don's drumming sounds like a freight train, while Mel drives his bass to incredible magnitudes. All while Mark stretches his Messenger axe to it's limits and makes it scream for mercy. They finish the song with an explosive frenzy and pure adulation of the fans.

This album is a must for any Grand Funk fan!

It was late 1969. I was a freshman in high school, and a certifiable rock'n'roll nut. A friend who lived across the street dragged a "portable" eight-track tape machine (it looked like suitcase and weighed 3-tons) to my house, jammed in a new cartridge (On Time) by a band I'd never heard of called Grand Funk Railroad, and said, "You gotta hear this..."

I admired the great rock icons of the 1960's, but to most of the people my age, the Olympians of rock's second movement were not our peers. The Beatles, the Stones, Bob Dylan, et.al. made great music, music we younger boomers understood and enjoyed, but those people had long since dedicated themselves to playing primarily for our older brothers and sisters-not to us.

The Olympian Rockers were too serious. They had mythologies to live up to, or down to. Often they were not that much fun. They rarely-to-never toured, so we never saw them. Worse, they'd mostly gotten to the place where you couldn't dance to their music, you were supposed to just sit and listen to it. That was very bad, because when you're fourteen, dancing matters.

The older boomers (born between 1945 and 1954) despised the younger half of the generation (born 1955 through 1964) in that special way older siblings always hate their juniors. When the so-called "youth press" was not actively hostile to the second wave of the boom they were at least patronizing toward it. They dubbed us "teeny-boppers" and "microboomers," and published articles praising the music of boring aged drug burnouts-often guys who were actually 29 or even older. If those magazines wrote about microboomer bands at all, they always slagged them mercilessly. We used to speculate that the "youth press" was born old.

So, when my friend popped that eight-track of On Time into that refrigerator-sized "micro" stereo, I heard three young guys playing music that made sense to me. It was great! It was simple three-chord rock'n'roll, very heavy on the bass and drums that featured a pounding, hammering, sweaty rhythm that a dead warthog could dance to. It was like an epiphany.

I've often heard older boomers talk about the first time they heard the Beatles' "Sergeant Pepper." The tale is told with the eye moist and the sound of senile rapture in the voice. It generally involves the term "revelatory" to describe the Beatles' greatest album. In 1969, I'd heard Pepper and I liked it a lot, but it was so very civilized and so self-consciously "artsy." The powerful, savage music made by Grand Funk Railroad was apparently the work of Neanderthals from the barely-civilized jungles of Flint, Michigan, located somewhere in an exotic place called "the rust belt" and it was way closer to "revelatory" for me and most of my peers.

But Grand Funk really were my peers. They were horney, angry, hungry for success, and played rock and roll like it mattered. News flash: it does.

Grand Funk made songs you could sing to your girlfriend, they made songs you could actually learn if you played guitar. Most importantly, they made music you could dance to. They were great.

This album catches the boys at what had to be the high point of their touring career: the original three musicians performing the core songs that made them great. Dig this album. Embrace this record. It's the stuff. You gotta hear this...

Since "Live Album" was my favorite GFR recording, when I first saw this CD I got very excited and being the GFR fan that I am I of course had to have it. Is it as good as "Live Album"? No it is not. This is mainly due to the repetition of songs from the original "Live Album". However, it must be understood that these recordings were taken from live performances around the same time period, with a similar play list as "Live Album" so of course there is repetition. Also, the energy does not seem as electrifying as with "Live Album". This could be due to the performances captured here or the way they were recorded. Whatever the case may be, this CD still shows that GFR (at the time) beats any group performing then or now for un-polished rockin' energy and simple raw power. Not to mention that GFR was one of the musically tightest bands around. GFR was selling out huge stadiums and every hippie kid was diggin' what GFR was puttin' down. GFR, with their long hair, loud driving rhythms and political commentary was the voice of a generation. It just goes to show me how we desperately need that today. Thanks to all who put this CD together and to Mark, Don and Mel for playing their butts off!

If you were a fan of the real GFR, then this is a great CD for you. I was 17 and full of hormones when I attended a Grand Funk Railroad concert in 1970. The 1971 tour was the last of the GFR I loved to listen to. Legal squabbles between the band and the band's producer effectively took all the music from the first albums released by GFR off the market and out of their control. After they regrouped, the music was just not the same-songs like "We're an American Band" does not compare to "Inside Looking Out" or "Into the Sun". Essentially, we are hearing music that have not been available for many years. So, unless you are old enough to remember these songs, you have not heard the real GFR. Technically speaking, people forget that recording live concerts in 1971 was not very sophisticated. Most live recordings from the period are just not that good soundwise even with the current digital processes to clean them up. This release does as good of job as can be expected but don't try to compare it to todays standards of live recordings. Musically, this is the ultimate representation of what made this band famous-in your face guitar, bass and drums with no fancy stuff. I liked it then and I like it now. Turn it up and enjoy yourself-you are not as old as you think.

During 1970 and 1971, the Power Trio "Grand Funk Railroad" (Mark Farner, Don Brewer, and Mel Schacher) under the management of Terry Knight set out to become the biggest Rock 'n' Roll Band in America. Not only did they succeed, but they even surpassed their own expectations. In the two years they released five albums. `On Time' (an amazingly impressive, but raw debut album), `Grand Funk' (the consolidating second album), 'Closer to Home' (the first really Classic Album with the epic 'I'm Your Captain/Closer to Home'), and the Landmark `Live Album', which was released as a Warts and All exercise with no over dubs but just the music the way it was played on the night, a very brave thing to do at the time. It would have been so much easier and safer to have taken the tapes away and polished them up in the studio as most bands did, replacing bum notes and off key singing. But in true Yankee style,it was 'damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead'. In my opinion the idea worked. What you lost in perfection on that album you certainly made up for in excitement. The fourth studio album and fifth album all told 'Survival' was released just before the main part of this concert was recorded at Shea Stadium, New York, on the 7th of September 1971.

By this time Grand Funk Railroad had reached their aim and was the biggest band in the land. They probably peaked at Shea Stadium that year, but there was still plenty of life left in the tracks. Soon they were to have two #1 singles in America - with a cover of Carole King's `Locomotion' (first a hit for `one-hit-wonder' "Little Eva", who at the time of her brief moment of fame was actually Carole King's babysitter!) and Drummer Don Brewer's first attempt at writing a song, which turned into the rock classic `We're an American Band', which was a hit all over the world and has since been covered by almost every American band you can think of. Although Grand Funk Railroad have lost Mark Farner through wear and tear over the years, Don Brewer and Mel Schacher have kept the band going to this day, and are still one of the hottest acts on the American concert circuit.

Although Shea Stadium was a peak for 'Grand Funk Railroad', a year later they fell out with Manager Terry Knight and spent more time in court than on the stage or the recording studio for the next couple of years. So a certain amount of momentum was lost. But at the time of these recordings they were bigger than 'Led Zeppelin', 'Black Sabbath', or even 'Cream' and had sold out Shea Stadium faster than 'The Beatles'.

The Shea Stadium concert was to be recorded for a full length feature movie, but before this could happen, band and management went their separate ways, and the whole thing was put up on the shelf.

Fortunately the tapes were dug out in 2002 and Capital Records realized what a little gold mine they were sitting on. Even better news was discovered when complete tapes of the concerts in Chicago and Detroit from two months before the Shea Stadium gig were found in perfect condition.

All these tapes were handed over to David. K. Tedds, who has done a marvelous job of seamlessly putting together an entire show from that hot summer of '71 and leaving it in its original running order with all the stage announcements, crowd cheering, and atmosphere of a good old Seventies Rock 'n' Roll concert.

The music starts out with the intro music taken from '2001' - a marvelous way of getting the audience on their feet, followed by Grand Funk Railroad's traditional opener "Are You Ready", which keeps the audience on their feet and rockin'. Grand Funk Railroad obviously had a lot of dog in them as they grab their followers by the scruff of the neck and just keep on shaking until they beg for forgiveness. The band storms through a set of all the highlights from their first five albums, and even includes one new song, the soon to be classic 'Footstompin' Music', which wasn't officially to be released for a few more months on their next album 'E Pluribus Funk'.

The medley of 'I'm Your Captain/Closer to Home/Hooked on Love/Get it Together' in the center of the set is the true work of artists playing at their peak of their powers as they showed at Shea Stadium. The version of T.N.U.C. is seventeen minutes long and allows every member of the band space to stretch out and show their skills. Mark Farner was the obvious focal point of the band playing lead guitar, most of the lead vocals, keyboards, and at the time wrote all the songs. So he was the obvious person to get all the attention. But during T.N.U.C. Mel Schacher got to show off his dexterous bass playing, and Don Brewer takes a 10-minute drum solo that even listening to on audio, manages to keep interesting. (You can hear on the record that he certainly had the Detroit audience on his side).

After this strenuous workout you would forgive the band for taking a quick breather, but instead we get two cover versions to bring the set proper (before encore time) to a rousing conclusion. First we have a 15-minute version of 'The Animals' song, 'Inside Looking Out' written by Eric Burden and future Jimi Hendrix Manager Chas Chandler. Grand Funk Railroad take it apart and then smack it back together again in their own style with some wonderfully sprawling guitar solos and plenty of pathos in Mark Farner's endeavors to sing Eric Burdon's words. You even get another short Brewer drum solo just in case you had not had enough in T.N.U.C.

Then with the introduction from Mark Farner of `This Song is our Generation's National Anthem' the band screams into a powerful version of the Stones' `Gimmie Shelter', which may not have the light and shade of the Stones' original, but what it lacks in grace it more than makes up for in power and enthusiasm. Also proving how much effect the Brit invasion of the mid-sixties was still having on American Rock 'n' Roll.
After this there is only one song Grand Funk Railroad could possibly finish with - `Into The Sun'. (In those days seeing Grand Funk Railroad without them playing `Into The Sun' would be a bit like seeing Lynard Skynard without them doing `Freebird', or Deep Purple without `Smoke on the Water'.) `Into the Sun' starts off with the main lick played over softly until the first sung verse, where from this point onwards it builds and builds from guitar breaks to heavier drumming to Mel Schacher ringing every note out of the bass guitar until it reaches a thunderous climax. This version from Detroit (Motor City) is by far the most exciting ever officially released and worth the price of the album on it own.

To get yourself a little slice of the American Rock 'n' Roll dream, go out and get yourself a copy of Grand Funk Railroad's 'Live. The 1971 Tour', put it in your CD player, turn it up to 11, and enjoy.

Mott the Dog.

The year was 1971. Grand Funk was on a tour of the US, and at the time, they were the biggest draw in rock. Bigger than Black Sabbath, bigger than Led Zeppelin. The band sold out New York's Shea Stadium in less time than The Beatles. Thousands of fans witnessed the sheer power of the band as they performed classic tracks like "Inside Looking Out," Paranoid," and "I'm Your Captain." The tour also saw the debut of a song that go would down in the annals of the GFR repertoire as one of their best--"Footstompin' Music."

The new CD is a chronicle of the tour, culled from a combination of four shows, including four tracks from the infamous Shea Stadium gig. Sound quality is far from perfect (which is probably why this material wasn't released in the first place), but the performances are outstanding. With Mark Farner on vocals, guitar & keyboards; Don Brewer on vocals & drums, and Mel Schacher laying down the killer basslines, this was truly a band to be reckoned with.

Live - The 1971 Tour includes all of the songs featured on the group's spring and summer tour, with the exception of "Mark Says Alright," which will be appearing as a bonus track on one of the upcoming reissues (Capitol plans to reissue the entire back catalog). If you're a Grand Funk fan, this is a required addition to your collection.

If you ever wanted to know what it was about Grand Funk Railroad that drove their fans wild, and the parents and rock critics crazy, it is all captured here during the tour of the most exciting and creative apex of their career--the year 1971. Undoubtedly, the selections from the basement tapes found for this collection are probably representative of the best versions of these songs as they were performed live. The weakest, perhaps being the first two, "Are You Ready" and "Footstompin' Music". "Are You Ready" is a song that had sort of run its course by this time as a "concert opener", and it really sounded as if the band was tired of playing it, as they sort-of, "rushed it" through. "Footstompin' Music", on the other end, sounds like a jam that evolved out of an earlier song, "In Need", and the band had only had it around for a couple of months when they decided to "try it out" on the crowd at Cobo Hall in Detroit in April--and, of course, would be the song that would soon overtake "Are You Ready" as the band's official opening number. GFR was one of those bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath who believed in "testing" a new song on the road before they put it on an album, and it would be 6 months at least before they would record "Footstompin' Music" properly for the "E Pluribus Funk" album--for me, the one time that the song fully came together. The only thing that the earlier version lacked here was simply the right guitar, and I think guitarist Mark Farner knew that. that's not to slight the Messenger guitar, because it worked brilliantly on every other song here. But it just seemed to lack the "OOMPH!" in the guitar solo that switching to a Gibson SG would do for Mark later on "E Pluribus Funk".
But the thing that impresses me most about this collection is, indeed, the guitar playing of Mark Farner on this tour. The more I hear his earlier work, the more impressed I am with him as a guitarist, and the more I am at a loss to understand why the critics slagged him for his guitar playing. It never really was bad, anyway, but it certainly got even better on this tour. He just flat-out put on a guitar clinic on some of these songs! Songs like "Paranoid", "I'm Your Captain", and "Get it Together" show his great mastery of the "wah-wah pedal", probably some of the best "wah" I've heard. Certainly, the "wah-wah" on this version of "Paranoid" sounds better than the "wah-wah" on the version from the "Live Album" a year earlier, and actually closer to the distortion on the studio version from the "Red Album". Dunlop, or whatever brand Mark used, should be thanked for providing such great distortion pedals for this tour (I suppose, good enough to nick, as one fan Terry Knight scolded for trying to do, as you'll hear at the end of "Gimme Shelter" from Shea Stadium.) What Mark's Messenger guitar lacked on the guitar solo on "Footstompin' Music", was more than made up for on the guitar solos of "Paranoid", "Hooked On Love", "Gimme Shelter", and "Into The Sun".
Another thing that this disc really brings more into focus about Grand Funk is how good they were at musical arrangements "on-the-fly", for concerts. For example, how to play "I'm Your Captain" on tour with a more creative opening, and without an orchestra. Well, they simply open with Mel Schacher's bass riff from the song, and Mark joins in "chicken scratching" his guitar, and then, "BAM!", he launches into the official opening riff. Then, they make the song a "Closer To Home" album medley, going into "Hooked On Love' just before the bridge, and seguing from there into "Get It Together". Not only brilliant, but an exciting way to keep everyone in the crowd happy! As for "Into The Sun", they turned it into a "show-stopper", adding three extra minutes of jamming, as an encore number for every concert in those days. There isn't a whole lot of difference, however, between this version of "Into The Sun", and the one from the "Live Album" a year before, except that mark tries to solo a little more during the "end-of-song" jam. I always liked the studio version of "Into The Sun" from the "On Time" album as one of my favorite GFR songs, but I think they could have done a little more with it "live". As they did on the "Live Album" from the previous tour, they basically took "Into The Sun", originally a motown-ish "James Brown" rhythm number with a beautifully-melodic intro, and transformed it in concert into a metallic rhythm machine, making it louder and faster than it was on the first album. It sounds "okay" like that, but I think here is where GFR could have taken a lesson in "Jamming 101" from Led Zeppelin and the Grateful Dead, in that, they could have changed it up or "tweaked" the end-of-song jam to make it more interesting each time they performed it, and so that it doesn't end up with the same "drone" each time. After all, they changed "Inside Looking Out" to where it sounded different than the version on the "Live Album" from the previous tour. Had they tried to experiment with "Into The Sun" the same way, they could have had a real "stunner" for a show ender every time.
But generally speaking, this disc of GFR's 1971 tour serves as "Exhibit A" as to where GFR's reputation, or labeling, as a "heavy metal" band might have come from. They only approached the "metallic heights" a few times on their studio albums. But as a "live" band, when they turned up the volume, they turned everything, even their most soulful numbers like "Hooked On Love" and "Into The Sun", metallic. This disc is a must have for every GFR fan, or any music fan who simply wants to know what made GFR tick. This has been a missing piece of their legacy that has just now been put on disc, and can fill in the blanks for all those who couldn't get enough of the band's early material.