Grand Funk Railroad - Survival (1971) (12-track Remaster 2002)

Remastered reissue of their Top Ten-charting album from 1971 includes the hits, 'Feelin' Alright' & 'Gimme Shelter', plus five previously unreleased bonus tracks, 'I Can't Get Along With Society' (2002 Remix), 'Jam (Footstompin' Music)', 'Country Road' (unedited original version), 'All You've Got Is Money' (unedited original version), & 'Feelin' Alright' (unedited original version). Capitol. 2002.

In his annotations to this expanded reissue of Grand Funk Railroad's fifth album, Steve Roeser quotes producer Terry Knight as saying that the band regarded Survival as their "studio album," a curious remark considering that they had made three previous albums in the studio. But those albums, recorded at Cleveland Recording, were rushed affairs and had been criticized for muddy sound. By the time Grand Funk came to make Survival in January 1971, that studio had moved to new quarters, and the group had become a national phenomenon, its last two albums Top Ten million-sellers. They spent a relatively luxurious six weeks or so on the record, and the results showed; Survival was the best-sounding and the best-played album they had yet made. Such assessments are, of course, relative, however. The group's playing remained rudimentary, especially in the rhythm section, and its sense of song construction was simple and repetitious. Singer/songwriter/guitarist Mark Farner sang in a strained, limited tenor lyrics that yearned for basic satisfactions ("Comfort Me," "I Want Freedom"), then led the lengthy instrumental passages with either simple guitar patterns or simple organ patterns. The band's choice of covers, Traffic's "Feelin' Alright" and the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter," indicated taste (and that they were short of material), but their interpretations were inferior. This may have been Grand Funk's first real studio album, but they still sounded like they hadn't quite figured out how the studio differed from the stage and what added dynamics might be necessary to make a recording successful. The 2002 reissue adds a studio outtake, "I Can't Get Along With Society," that should have made the album; an early version of "Footstompin' Music" (which would turn up on the next album); and extended takes of "Country Road," "All You've Got Is Money," and "Feelin' Alright."...W. Ruhlmann

320 @
167 MB

Tracklist:

01 Country Road 4:22
02 All You've Got Is Money 5:16
03 Comfort Me 6:48
04 Feelin' Alright 4:27
05 I Want Freedom 6:19
06 I Can Feel Him in the Morning 7:15
07 Gimme Shelter 6:29
08 I Can't Get Along With Society- Bonus 5:41
09 Jam (Footsompin' Music) - Bonus 4:40
10 Country Road - Bonus / Unedited Original Version 7:38
11 All You've Got Is Money - Bonus / Unedited Original Version 8:19
12 Feelin' Alright - Bonus / Unedited Original Version 5:57

Grand Funk Railroad - Phoenix (1972) (Remaster Edit 2002)

Grand Funk Railroad - Phoenix (1972) (Remaster Edit 2002)

Having scored four consecutive Top Ten albums in the previous two years, Grand Funk Railroad may not have seemed to casual observers like a band who needed to rise phoenix-like from the ashes, but the title of the band's seventh album referred to its re-emergence after a litigious split from manager/producer Terry Knight. Now, they were producing themselves, and they added organist Craig Frost, credited here as a sideman, though he went on to join the band formally. The biggest change, however, was a musical maturity. After releasing five studio albums in a little over two years, Grand Funk waitedmore… more than a year before releasing Phoenix, and in that time they managed to come up with more variety than they had displayed before. "Someone," for example, was a surprisingly gentle ballad, and "Rain Keeps Fallin'" was stronger melodically than most of songwriter Mark Farner's previous efforts. Unlike earlier albums, Phoenix didn't seem like one rudimentary rocker after another, which made it Grand Funk's most listenable album so far. And that's not to say it didn't rock, as the leadoff instrumental, "Flight of the Phoenix," and the Top 40 hit that closed the set, "Rock 'n Roll Soul," demonstrated. Unfortunately, Farner's lyrical abilities had not increased, while his self-importance had. "I Just Gotta Know," "So You Won't Have to Die," and "Freedom Is for Children" all contained political exhortations expressed in simple-minded terms, the worst being "So You Won't Have to Die," in which Farner, later to become a Christian artist, claimed Jesus had spoken to him on the subject of overpopulation. After such cringe-inducing foolishness, the band's return to rocking with "Rock 'n Roll Soul" could only be welcomed...Robert Hoffnung

320 @
93 MB

Tracklist:

01. Flight Of The Phoenix 3:38
02. Trying To Get Away 4:11
03. Someone 4:04
04. She Got To Move Me 4:48
05. Rain Keeps Fallin' 3:25
06. I Just Gotta Know 3:52
07. So You Won't Have To Die 3:21
08. Freedom Is For Children 6:06
09. Gotta Find Me A Better Day 4:07
10. Rock 'N Roll Soul 3:40
11. Flight Of The Phoenix (2002 Remix With Extended Ending) 5:21