Grand Funk Railroad
Caught in the Act

The post-1971 history of the formidable Hard Rock power trio from Flint, Michigan, is well known to all: with the release of Phoenix in 1972 and the official entry of keyboardist Craig Frost, the historical producer/manager Terry Knight was officially dismissed (mainly due to legal disputes over the royalties owed to the group, which, in reality, with "exploitative contracts," they never saw much of at all) and was replaced by the legendary producer Todd Rundgren, the director of albums like the excellent We're An American Band in 1973 and Shinin' On in 1974, which for Mark Farner's trio marked a shift towards a more "mainstream" music (by the standards of the time, of course), but at the same time progressively stripped of the ferocity and aggressiveness of the band's very first works.
Subsequently, Rundgren's place was taken by Jimmy Ienner, which led to the release of All The Girls Of The World Beware!!! in 1974, where they continued along the previously embarked "commercial" path, so to speak.

However, the true "elbow grease" on a strictly artistic level of the band came the following year with the release of their second official Live album, recorded between February 7 and 9, 1975, which officially bears the name Caught in the Act.
The first thing that comes to mind upon first listening to it is, above all, the return to an aggressive, visceral approach, yet elegant just right of their genuine and effective Hard Rock, all of which is evidenced by the fiery duo "Footstompin' Music" and "Rock 'N' Roll Soul", which indeed represent the perfect opening of their setlist.
The captivating "Closer To Home/I'm Your Captain" follows immediately with Frost's excellent keyboards complementing a track whose charm remains intact, despite nearly 50 years since its release. Equally excellent is the remake of the always majestic "Heartbreaker", which in terms of quality competes on par with the grittier and "nastier" version from the historic Live Album.

"Some Kind Of Beautiful" and, more importantly, the cover of Carole King's "The Loco-Motion" represent, however, the most "raucous" moments of the setlist, where the group enjoys playing to the rhythms that wink at early R'n'B and Rockabilly. On the other hand, in "Shinin' On" the sounds become quite "à la Deep Purple" with Farner's ever well-played guitar competing in solos with Frost's Hammond, which on this occasion, being in full carnival season, literally disguises itself as John Lord and delivers yet another excellent performance. But this excellent performance is replicated in the remarkable "Black Licorice", where the whirling Funk/Rock rhythms (with Mel Schacher's bass lines particularly impressive in this case) definitely take center stage.
The enveloping and engaging ballad "The Railroad" is another excellent stroke of genius by Farner, especially for the final guitar crescendo that makes it even more beautiful than the well-known studio version. "We're An American Band" and "T.N.U.C." are two other excellent tracks, but they sound slightly watered down, especially the second, compared to the respective studio and live versions (try listening to the two versions of "T.N.U.C." present both in Live Album and in The 1971 Tour). "Inside Lookin' Out" is the excellent cover of the Animals, always reproduced masterfully by Farner and company, with an additional touch of Hammond towards the end to further embellish it.

The setlist (or "platter", if you will) closes with the overwhelming "Gimme Shelter" by the Rolling Stones, which essentially seals an excellent work by the trio that, despite the 45 years since its release, still unmistakably smells of that vibrant and pulsating Hard Rock we should never be without.