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 Wart's 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 of 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 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 were 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 it's 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 he 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 scream 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
form 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
C.D. player, turn it up to 11, and enjoy.
Pawed
by Mott The Dog
Re-chewed by Ella Crew
E-mail: review@mott-the-dog.com
