20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great, But Not Without Flaws, June 4, 2005
This review is from: Purity Accuracy (Audio CD)
Purity Accuracy takes the cake as far as bringing together the best of the Total Energy cd releases from the 90's and puts them into one convenient package for the MC5 fan. Although some lack of care in the tracking and tracklisting of some of the discs is evident.
The first disk is sonically superior to all others for the material previously issued (Babes in Arms, Total Energy releases.) The rehearsals are not exactly that, its more like some different mixes and vocal takes to go with the usual songs, although theer are quite a few rehearsal sounding items, especially the Back in the USA era stuff. The High Time era tracks are excellent, no missteps with any of these, including the interesting although short "Over and Over" demo. The following pre-HT demos of Skunk and Sister Anne, both pretty interesting as well. The Back in the USA material gets a bit dicey however. Yes the bass is slightly more audible, but the boxey sound of most of the stuff can be a turn off. Also, there are far too many straight ahead instrumentals on the disk, adding nothing to understanding their process of the recording of the album. Tonight sounds a billion times better with the intro they had for it and the Human Being Lawnmower it still one of their very best, although its hard to see how it sounds very different from the album version.
Disk 2 is the pre-Kick Out the Lams material and for the most part is extremely excellent. The early singles on the disk sound great, finally remastered as good as they can be. The other demo stuff still sounds as good as it does on the '66 Breakout cd. Adding the bonus rare live cuts is a good touch to round it out. The early versions of Looking at You and Black to Comm from their high school gig are bloozey-great. The Looking at You instrumental is again a fairly uneccessary addition.
Disk 3 is the 1970 gig at the Saginaw center. The most annoying thing about the box set is the fact that this show was simply duped onto the cd, containing the annoying 3 second breaks between the songs on the original "Teenage Lust" version of the cd. The other complete show on the disk do not have the breaks. Very annoying when you're listening to concert in it's entirely like this one. The concert itself is pretty good with some rare covers. The professional nature of the band does lack the energy given by the pre-1969 concerts, although once you get used to the style, you don't mind it so much. The mix gets better as the concert goes on, achieveing the best mix on the james brown cover. The concert does lack in vocals for most of the time. However, the end meddly is excellent, with a great version of Black to Comm. Teenage Lust is not played again in the meddly, it is a misprint.
Disk 4 is odds and ends from the 1968 Grande Ballroom Days. The quality of the 30/31 date material is excellent, and its great to hear "motor City is Burning" with even more vengance. The alternate Rama Lama FaFaFa is excellent sounding but a little tamer compared to the KOTJ version. Those are easily the highlights along with I Belioeve to my Soul. The Ice Pick Slim and Mad Like Eldridge Cleaver suffer from poorer fidelity, although ae pretty listenable for those in a free-form mood. Black to Comm sounds pretty good on this one too.
Disk 5 is a Great soundboard(?) show from earlier 1968. Great set with a fuller version of how they actually sounded live. The quality takes a while to get used to, a little muddy, but the mix is pretty good. Great vocals throughout by Tyner. Come Together and Revolutionary Blues are an excellent combo. Also the Black to Comm is rock hard.
Disk 6 is a 4 song single form the reunion gig. It's ok, the DVD Sonic Revolution has all these songs on there already, so it's a little redundant. The band still has it, but their age does show.
But you can't go wrong with Lemmy singing Sister Anne.
Overall, this is a great Box Set after you fall in love with the bands 3 original albums. The shows and outtakes fill in the gaps on their masterful and flawed albums. The packaging and book are also pretty damn fine, with a full bio/history of the band complete with pictures and interviews. Very coool cardboard cases for everything too.
However, if you get this for around $50, make sure to pick up Thunder Express, which is a cd of an in-studio set from 1972, great sound on that one, especailly with the funk drum breakdown on RAma LAma. This is the only rarity not on the box set, but would have been great if they had swapped it for the reunion gig.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Anything Less Than 5 Stars Is Blasphemy....., March 20, 2005
This review is from: Purity Accuracy (Audio CD)
Longtime fans are familiar with these recordings which have appeared in various forms over the last 25 years plus. Yes, you're familiar with them, but you have never heard them sound so dang great. No doubt the highest generation masters were used on this set. For sound quality alone, this is a must have for any MC5 fan. Yes, some of the live recordings are good to very good bootleg quality at best; but they are quite listenable and do demand repeated listenings, unlike dreadful versions of these same recordings available elsewhere. I was hesitant to order this because of the price and lack of information on the sound quality. My advice to you...do not hesitate! You can get this box for a reasonable fee here on zShops as well as eBay. And this box contains the best sounding versions of these recordings to date. The only caveat of this 6 cd set is the last cd, the 100 Club show. Superbly recorded, but only containing 4 tracks. Kramer's guitar is like a sharpened razor & has not lost it's edge whatsoever. However, the 6th disc logs in at just over 20 minutes? Why the whole show was not included is beyond me. Let's hope the entire 100 Club show will be available soon.
Finally, If you're a newcomer the MC5, I strongly suggest entering "The Big Bang: The Best of the MC5" in your search box & begin your initiation to this great band there. The sonic quality of these recording may discourage you from investigating the MC5 legacy any further. When you do find "Big Bang" ain't enough for you, then this box is the logical next step (along with all the legitimate studio releases). So be part of the solution and buy this set NOW!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
back to detroit, June 30, 2006
This review is from: Purity Accuracy (Audio CD)
A lot of material to wade through. Some good, some not so good. Electra Records showcased the band in my humble opinion, in a way they were never really able to achive again with the Atlantic label. "Kick Out The Jams" IS the legacy of the MC5. Period. It defined the entire music scene in '69 and enabled a lot of other great local bands to find their way into the record racks. Unfortunately, the MC5's window of greatness was rather dimunitive and it's the legend that remains the biggest attraction today. I still remember my dissapointment spinning "Back In The USA" for the first time with Jon Landau from Atlantic at the helm. Teeny bop nonsense pressed from a blown out master. Twenty years later I bothered listening to "High Times". Still, the mystique remains. A White Panther button instead of the two lame stickers included with the box would have brought a knowing smile to anyone who had been there.
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