We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago…..
When you think of power rock trios, who springs to mind? Cream? ZZTop? Rush? Sure, all of those were great…but in the early 70’s there was no bigger power trio (at least commercially) than Grand Funk Railroad.
The boys from Flint Mich (the name was a play on words of the train line that ran through the city…Grand Trunk Railroad) had been churning out records and selling out stadiums for awhile. They were always more popular with the fans than they were with the critics. (they sold out Shea Stadium faster than the Beatles). And, although these songs weren’t the strongest, the guitar & vocals ofMark Farner, the thundering drumming of Don Brewer and the powerful bass of Mel Schacher more than made up for it in the eyes and ears of the fans. Especially live.
I’m wondering if the cover art for their 1971 Lp “Survival”…the first of two released that year….is a not so sly dig at the music critics who considered them cavemen.
Anyway…how bout the music? It’s a blend of both up-tempo rockers dripping with the blues…and moderate tempo tunes including a kind of religious song dropped in the middle of side 2. “I Can Feel Him In The Morning” begins with children’s voices describing their ideas of what God is. Kinda strange although maybe foreshadows Farner leaving the rock & roll lifestyle for Jesus down the road.
The LP also includes a couple of covers…a pretty decent high octane version of the Stones Gimme Shelter and a unique arrangement of Dave Mason’s Feelin Alright.
Here is live version of Gimme Shelter performed around the same time…
Most of the hits would come on later LPs, but consider this a transitional record to get to those from one of those band’s you either loved or loathed.
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