For casual fans and classic rock stations, the history of Grand Funk pretty much ends in 1975, but the trio actually soldiered on for two more albums before splitting for solo projects. In 1981, drummer Don Brewer and guitarist\/singer\/songwriter Mark Farner reunited and put out Grand Funk Lives <\/i>to a musical world that had long since moved on to new wave, alternative, corporate arena rock, punk and the first stirrings of hip hop.<\/p>\n
In keeping with the times, Grand Funk followed the format of many \u201870s bands by shortening and simplifying the songs and modernizing the production. There are times where this barely sounds like the same band that recorded \u201cWe\u2019re An American Band,\u201d and there is nothing here in common with the band\u2019s early power-trio output. Part of that could be because keyboard player Craig Frost and original bassist Mel Schacher are missing, the latter replaced by Dennis Bellinger, but most of it is a desire to return to the band\u2019s brief pop-rock hitmaking period of 1973-75.<\/p>\n
This means no extended jams via Grand Funk<\/i>, no wallowing in the bluesy murk via On Time<\/i>, no overt preaching or padding via Survival<\/i>, but rather a logical successor to All The Girls In The World Beware! <\/i>and Shinin\u2019 On<\/i>. As far as comeback albums go, it is quite good, way more fun than Born To Die <\/i>and probably underrated by even longtime Grand Funk fans. It sounds like a debut record, actually, with a cover song, easily-heard influences and a lively, if dated, spark.<\/p>\n
\u201cTestify\u201d and \u201cQueen Bee\u201d rank up there with any other late-period GF song; the latter has mid-\u201870s Black Sabbath influences and was featured in the Heavy Metal <\/i>movie. \u201cCan\u2019t Be With You Tonight\u201d tries for a \u201cMean Mistreater\u201d feel but sounds instead like a Hall & Oates song by way of Heart, while \u201cStuck in the Middle\u201d is a cheesy uptempo pop rocker that recalls 10cc\u2019s \u201cThings We Do For Love,\u201d which is kind of depressing when you consider Grand Funk\u2019s storied discography. \u201cY.O.U.\u201d and \u201cGood Times\u201d are serviceable filler cuts, at least.<\/p>\n
One of Farner\u2019s strengths that he doesn\u2019t get much credit for is adding an element of drama into his songwriting, such as the bridge to \u201cCloser To Home,\u201d the closing section of \u201cLoneliness,\u201d and songs like \u201cTake Me,\u201d \u201cThe Railroad\u201d and \u201cLoneliest Rider,\u201d all of which casual observers may have missed while listening to \u201cThe Locomotion.\u201d In that vein, \u201cNo Reason Why\u201d is the best song here, a minor-key piece with a fine verse\/chorus and an even better middle section, the only time Farner allows himself a solo that cries as much as his voice does. The song sounds like it influenced a number of mid-\u201890s post-alternative bands like Candlebox and Live; it\u2019s not the kind of song Farner could have written in 1972.<\/p>\n
The cover here is an energetic take on the Animals\u2019 \u201cWe Gotta Get Out Of This Place,\u201d adding an element of desperation missing from the original and staking claim as the band\u2019s best cover version (no, it\u2019s not \u201cGimme Shelter\u201d or \u201cThe Locomotion,\u201d and you hush). \u201cGreed Of Man\u201d is a good ol\u2019 fashioned Farner lecture, but ignore the words and a pretty good rock song is underneath, while \u201cWait For Me\u201d ends things on a shrug.<\/p>\n
The best thing I can say about Grand Funk Lives <\/i>is that it does not attempt to recreate its arena rock past or ape the current arena rockers of 1981 (Styx, REO Speedwagon, Kansas, Journey, etc.), but goes its own route. For a band that did its own thing and never gave two shits about critics, this is perfectly in line. The problem is that the random early \u201880s influences and the lack of truly great songs (outside of \u201cNo Reason Why,\u201d \u201cWe Gotta Get Out of This Place\u201d and maybe \u201cQueen Bee\u201d) keeps this from rising above. But as comeback and 1981 rock albums go, it\u2019s pretty good, and Grand Funk fans who forgot about this one would do well to rediscover it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":31881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5688],"rating":[5619],"class_list":["post-43604","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-grand-funk-railroad","rating-rating-c"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=43604"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=43604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}