Customer Reviews

What's Funk?

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

 

 

At last! I have the final piece of my Funk puzzle. And I can't stop listening to it. If this totally un-politically correct band hadn't so deeply offended the sensibilities of the liberal record reviewers with their stands on gun control and feminism, they'd have received their due respect. If you can take classic R&B hits like Its a Man's World and Nowhere to Run and make these songs sound almost like new, you've done something.
Yeah, there's pop on this album. They needed the airplay to sell some records. But there's edgier stuff here too. El Salvador has some hot Farner leads the equal of anything from their power trio days.
It may be difficult for most fans to appreciate both the garage band, extended solos of early Funk as well as the bigger productions and commerciality of late Funk. But if you can allow a band to grow up and stretch out, then you can appreciate just how good this and all their albums really are.

mark farner never sounded better. with rockers el salvador and rock n roll american style. my favorite is life in outerspace. i wish they would have put it on the box set.

a must for any grand funk fan. my two favorites el salvador and life in outer space is reason enough to buy it. i like every song. this cd deserves to be ranked with the other grand funk cd's.

I started listening to Grand Funk in 1971 when they were raw and untamed and that was what I liked in the early years.The band grew along with me and they developed into a tighter and more talented band through the years and although they lost the hard edge,they developed into a more main stream sounding band.Something was lost and something was gained in all this,and Grand Funk -What`s Funk? is a true example of it!This is not an album for everyone but I recommend it for people that want to put on there Grand Funk "training wheels".The band really changed from the On Time album to this one!

Great CD. Best version of James Browns' It's A Man's World I've heard. Rock And Roll American Style is absolutely the all time best statement to the origins of rock. I'd write more but I'm working. Buy the CD. Every cut is awesome.

Ive always been a grand funk fan. I somehow missed this when it came out. I was delighted to see it, and quickly bought it. I had never heard of it, so being a funk fan, i expected it to be bad. I really like this cd. Mark Farner really shines

Disco para completistas e fãs do Grand Funk.
Destaque para Rock & Roll American Style e El Salvador, que lembram um GFR forte e influenciador de tendências.
Junto com Grand Funk Lives, deixe para comprar por último.

As a fan of the band since early 1970, there can be no doubt amongst those who know their music well: "What's Funk ?" was a mistake from the start. It was the second and final, release of their early 80's reunion. The first "Grand Funk Lives" was hardly the band's pinnacle, but at least it had 4-5 solid tracks and didn't have to fight against easily the most awfully conceived and unfortunate cover design of the bands 15 album career. Nine years earlier, singer.guitarist Mark Farner wondered out loud " I wanna know what happened to the revolution " Well, it was long gone before the mostly useless tracks on this ill-fated mess shamlessly turned the Washington Monument into a cheap phallic symbol. Tasteless only begins to describe this affront.

The record was to be produced by Gary Lyons, who had done some fine work with Styx, Thin Lizzy, and others. But two weeks into the sessions, Lyons succumbed to the rigors of a long term cocaine habit, and was hospitalized. Former Ted Nugent drummer Cliff Davies hurriedly jumped in to replace him, but even the jumper cables on the cover couldn't have energized the stiff, drab lineup of tracks on "What's Funk." The jumbled production doesn't help with the three tracks that deserved better fates.

"Borderline" is a catchy shuffle-ballad with substantial single potential, were it released in 1963 instead of 1983. "Rock And Roll American Style " is a punchy slab of radio fodder that seems to have missed it's calling in a beer commercial soundtrack. While it just barely fails to recapture the frat-boy appeal of "We're An American Band", it does play a clever gag on it's listeners, by copping a riff from Rush's "Spirit Of Radio" while simultaneously reminding us that Canadians not didn't invent rock, Farner's ticker would call it a day if you dared suggest it. "I'm So True" could be the best song on a pretty bad record, had Lyons not turned on a cheap drum machine in between heaving flake off the mirror. This mid-tempo pop song features the a video-game style click-clack that has probably been a subliminal cue for many a serial killer. It is so oppressively obnoxious that GFR Drummer Don Brewer, having been at loggerheads with Farner for over a decade, refused a major label offer to re-master, re-package and re-release the two reunion records. "they didn't click with fans, then " he said diplomatically. " my guess is they'd go 'thud' a second time around "

In answer to the album title's query, that sort of honest, no-nonsense attitude is funk. With three possible exceptions, there's none to be found here.

It's hard to believe that anyone even likes this album, much less loves it enough to actively defend it. (But if you do like this music, that's certainly fine). In my opinion, Grand Funk Railroad had released a couple blah albums before "What's Funk?", but nothing to compare to this. Putting ultra-conservative lyrics on top of drum machines and mixing it all through what sounds like the same desk used by Paramount in 1929 doesn't add up to a good rock album. It is a terrible album, probably the worst album ever released by a top tier band; even if the lyrics weren't so reactionary, nationalistic and self-righteous, the music and production would have destroyed these songs. Few of which, by the way, have anything close to what can be called decent melodies. The one track that is at all redeemable is 'Borderline'. This is a very nice heartache ballad, sung well and with fine guitar work - it even sounds like a Grand Funk Railroad recording. But it also sounds unfinished, almost like a demo; apparently since there isn't anything offensive or stupid about 'Borderline' it was decided to basically forget about it and get back to work on such crap as 'Rock And Roll American Style' (or whatever it's called). I'm not a liberal, nor a conservative. But it seems that this album is meant for complete GFR fanatics or Pat Buchanan voters - whose word on it thus means next to nothing to most listeners who may very well like this band but can still discern between good and bad rock music. I like GFR. But I don't like this album.
The other Grand Funk Railroad album of the 1980's, Grand Funk Lives, is very solid and much, much better than this thing. If you want to check out this band's later work, go there. It holds up very well to the best of their discography.
Avoid "What's Funk?" at all costs. Seriously. 'What The Funk Were They Thinking?' would be a better title.

This one is a good effort but just does not live up to what one would expect from America's Greatest rock band. Its lackluster, in parts, but has one really great song called "Still Waitin" written and sang by GFRs drummer, Don Brewer. It is a great song and should have been a hit. BUT, GFR broke up and it was never promoted. There are some good songs on hear as well all written and sang By GFRs great Front-man Mark Farner; Rock N Roll American Style, El Salvador (an anti Communists song), Don't Lie to me and Life in Outer Space. This album also lakes some punch, do to the fact that Mel Schacher (GFR's Ground Breaking -Both Literally and fugitively-Bass Player) was not in GFR, in the 80s; BUT, This album (CD) is still a Must have for any GFR fan and it is better then most of the stuff coming out in the 80s. So I would think most hard rock fans would like this album (CD).