Notes: Along
with Black Sabbath, Steppenwolf and Bloodrock, Grand Funk was one
of the first "hard rock" bands that wowed me in junior
high school. The thundering sound of the drums and bass with Farner's
thin, high voice floating on top sounded like a power unknown prior
to this. In retrospect I think the sound was the result of a muddy
mix and a small hi-fi record player with one small removable speaker
that you could place up to two feet away (the length of the cord)
to fully experience the stereo brilliance of the record. But giving
it a listen recently there's still something there that grabs me,
even with my time worn, jaundiced ears. The two cover tunes, one
from Dave Mason and the other the Stones, sound more like the real
Grand Funk than their own material at times. Taking ownership of
the songs and maybe veering a bit off course from the original
heading the band does what it can with what it has. The record
credits producer Terry Knight with the cover concept. I wonder
how much it took to convince the guys to do it? File under Guilty
Pleasures. I picked up a second copy of this record (same release
number, but no text along the spine) and it held three 8 x 10 color
glossies of Mark, Don and Mel. The
poster below originally came with the Grand Funk Live album, but
someone had stuffed it into the cover with this record. Bonus!
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