Customer Reviews

Phoenix

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As The Mighty Phoenix rises from the ashes; GFR was rising from the ashes as well after of a long lawsuit with there former manger Terry Knight. Mark, Don and Mel Got the Name Grand Funk Railroad and Terry Knight got everything else. Phoenix was GFRs only self produced effort and I think its just a great album (CD). It was a departure from the early power trio days and they had added Craig Frost (Keyboard) to the band to round and fill out the sound. The album had one Radio hit, Rock N roll Soul that is a fine song and GFR plays it to this day, But the album is filled with very good songs that are somewhat forgotten and should not be. Someone is a sad and pretty yearning for love song. Rain Keeps Fallin again a nice love song. Freedom Is For Children a political song speaking about what our feature would hold. She Got to Move Me an interesting hard rocking song about a young groupie. Trying To Get Away a common theme in GFRs and excellently wrote and Sang song. I Just Got To Know Again Political, an anti war song and much more and Gotta Find Me A Better Day Another well written song Don Brewer and Mark Farner are both underrated song writers and the songs hear on Phoenix are all well written with one exception; So You Won't Have To Die is a Little Goofy On The Lyrics it goes from dealing with over population to getting your soul saved and does not make the transition well, but not a bad song. Flight Of The Phoenix an Instrumental that just flat out rocks, the electric fiddle added in there is just terrific and a first at the time in Rock N roll. Phoenix also as a rocking bonus track of Flight Of The Phoenix and is a remasterred CD with 24 bit technology, It sounds wonderful, it also has restored the original artwork and has new liner notes. This album sold a million copies back in the day, but that was smaller sales then GFRs pervious albums, it was a transitional period of GFR where GFR was searching for a new identity after there break up with Terry Knight and I think they did a wonderful Job; This is a must have CD for all GFR fans. Next came We're An American Band and Shinin On so the transition worked and GFR was back on top of the rock n roll world.

The Gods of Thunder made a change, and an interesting one at that. This Piece of music was very very underrated, and still is today. But its still an excellent CD. And every true Grand Funker will get this . The extended FOTP is worth the price alone. Get it.

Capitol finally got the message that there is still a huge demand for this group. You don't need to pay high prices for OOP Japanese CD's anymore. Now you can buy them here and they are 24 bit remastered to boot. Buy and enjoy.

Back in the day, record reviewers loved to hate Grand Funk Railroad. But that didn't stop people from buying their records and selling out their shows. Some of the reviewer criticisms may have been somewhat valid - Grand Funk songs tend to be somewhat simplistic, etc. But kids in the late 60s and early 70s weren't always searching for complexity in their music. I liked "Phoenix" because it had a pretty consistent groove and enough diversity to make it flow well. All these years later, I still find time to give it the occasional spin. "She Got to Move Me", "I Just Gotta Know" and "Gotta Find Me a Better Day" still sound great!

Having been born in Flint, I naturally am prejudice toward Grand Funk. I remember when the live album came out and would have to say this is the best album they ever put out. The remix of "Flight" is outstanding.

Normally I can SORT of see where people stand when they don't like an album, but in this case, I don't really get it- Phoenix is a solid rock album from the beginning to the very end, never losing steam not even *once*. Seriously, not a single moment makes me question the songwriting.

Furthermore, it's really amazing MORE of the songs from the album didn't go on to become huge hits soon after the albums release back in the early 70's. The lead singers vocals feel more sincere and soulful on this Grand Funk album compared to others, and the vocal melodies themselves always manage to entertain me and honestly feel like a step above other GFR albums.

It's like the band knew they were starting to become comfortable with their success and popularity, so they began getting into a groove by making one quality album after another.

I seriously would put Phoenix right up there with any other rock and roll classic album from the 70's, and trust me, I've heard over 600 albums from the 70's so I'd like to think I've gained enough musical knowledge to separate the good music from the bad. This is just one terrific album.

Now, I'm not going to sit here and act like Grand Funk Railroad is flawless- sure, they've been responsible for some average songs from time to time, and sometimes the lead singer switches to a high pitched range that doesn't feel right to me, almost like he's forcing himself to sing in a higher register that simply isn't natural for him (usually when he attemps the REALLY soulful vocal style). BUT, I really believe Phoenix is a classic album because of such a wonderful flow and noticeable increase in quality songwriting.

I don't really care if critics dislike the band either. Critics also disliked AC/DC, Black Sabbath and the Moody Blues when those bands first came out, and guess what? All those bands went on to become legendary, and in Black Sabbath's case, influential.

I even love the lyrics about "loving your children" and "be careful not to overpopulate the planet" and basically "always keep the planet clean for future generations". If you think these lyrics are silly, keep in mind the songwriting more than makes up for them.

The bottom line is this- I love quality music. I love honesty in my music as well. Phoenix does everything perfectly for me.

You may listen "Phoenix", before you step ahead to "We're An American Band" and even "Shinin' On", but not before you listen to "E Pluribus Funk".

The reason: Craig Frost in keyboards. His influence in the music of Grand Funk is clearly noticeable. This album is not certainly the best from Grand Funk, but even though I would recommend to get it and give it a try.

Best tunes: "Phoenix" (one of the best Rock instrumentals I ever heard for sure!), "Rock'n'Roll Soul" (a 70s classic!).

Very good, authentic rock music by Grand Funk, good as Led Zeppelin or Deep Purple, with sensitive, simple ballads. Enjoyable.

On PHOENIX, Grand Funk broke totally with manager/producer Terry Knight, and made a great self-produced album. There is some filler, but there are quite a few great songs, including the party anthem "Rock & Roll Soul." Two other songs, "I Just Gotta Know" and "So You Won't Have To Die" say that if we try to take care of each other and the planet, we will all feel/look better. The group would do even better on the next album, but PHOENIX proves darn well that they sure as heck didn't really need Terry Knight telling them what to do.

I was never a big GFR fan. But this album does have some interesting material and I think overall, it was missed by most fans of Grand Funk. The instrumental Phoenix is a good boogie number. Rock and Roll Soul should have been a bigger hit for the band but I guess the transition away from Terry Knight created some lapses in marketing this album. To me, the album showed what this band would do when producing their own music. While a couple of the songs are great, I only gave it three stars since too many of the songs failed to come through for me.