10/29/2022 0 Comments Grand funk railroad t.n.u.c.Mark Farner now took over all writing controls and added keyboards player Craig Frost as well as Doug Kershaw’s electric fiddle. At this time they beat the Beatles’ previous record for ticket sales at Shea Stadium by selling all 65,000 places in two days.įor Phoenix, the band parted company with Knight (this would become a source of constant litigation over the years) and bossed the deal from within. With bonus tracks to bolster these releases, we believe this era represents the Railroad during their first peak. E Pluribus Funk was notable for being released in a circular sleeve to reflect the coin-like design of the artwork. Survival and E Pluribus Funk positioned GFR at the heart of the album to radio movement as listeners demanded to hear the likes of ‘Footstompin’ Music’ and their gear crunching take on the Stones’ ‘Gimme Shelter’. #Grand funk railroad t.n.u.c. full#This rocktabulous disc is now available as Grand Funk Remasters: Grand Funk also look out Grand Funk Remasters: Live Album (1970) which captures the Railroad on the way to double-platinum status in front of a baying Florida crowd who get the full raw power of the event. Limousine Driver’ and ‘Heartbreaker’ and the proto-grunge ‘Paranoid’ as well as their take on the Animals’ ‘Inside Looking Out, which became a regular showstopper. The second album, Grand Funk (also 1969) pushed even further on the hits ‘Mr. Working with producer and manager Terry Knight the trio kicked ass on ‘T.N.U.C’, the anthemic ‘Can’t Be Too Long’ and the psyche extravaganza ‘Into the Sun’. They wowed unsuspecting crowds at the Atlanta Pop Festival in 1969 and made their debut that same year, selling over a million copies of the aptly titled On Time. There’s also a deal of humour percolating beneath the riffs and rhythm carnage – Frank Zappa was a closet fan and so is Homer Simpson – and they have recently celebrated ’45 Years of Grand Funk’ with a spectacular tour.Ĭrashing out of Flint, Michigan in the late 1960s the original group, named after the Grand Trunk Western Railroad railway line, were the ultimate power trio with Mark Farner (guitar, vocals) Don Brewer (drums, vocals and Mel Schacher (bass) giving the Cream template an American slant. They are also responsible for dragging pre-metal rock onto FM radio thanks largely to the popularity of albums like On Time, E Pluribus Funk and We’re An American Band. For one thing, they blitzed the American heartland with a cocktail of rocking’ blues whose power couldn’t be denied yet they also shifted so many albums that they didn’t bother to read their reviews they simply weighed their royalties. Check out his solo at 2:45.Despite that monumental sounding name, and their ear-splitting decibel-defying brand of hard-core rock notwithstanding, the esteemed Grand Funk Railroad are a damn sight smarter than they’re given the credit for. The complex, tight drumming of Brewer is always just this side of frantic but never over the line. (Read the title backwards.) The song settles quickly into an engaging groove thanks to Schacher’s repeating bass patterns. “Time Machine” and “Heartbreaker” were the album’s singles.Įnding side A on the vinyl, “T.N.U.C.” is a nearly nine-minute track that’s believed to be about Farner catching his girlfriend cheating. Their first album, On Time (1969), sold more than a million copies. The marketing smarts of their manager, Terry Knight, who’d been the leader of Brewer’s previous band, helped the trio make the right industry moves.Īpparently, the world was primed for an American version of the hard-rock, bluesy sound of bands like Cream. Within a year of forming in 1969, they were such a hit at the Atlanta International Pop Festival that Capitol Records signed them. The one started by Flint, Michigan high school friends Mark Farner (guitar/vocals), Don Brewer (drums/vocals), and Mel Schacher (bass) – Grand Funk Railroad, a pun on the Grand Trunk Western Railroad line in Michigan – managed what most other bands only dreamed of: They made it big, and they did it fast. All over America in the late 1960s, teens were forming bands.
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