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Something like this will be attempted none other than by the Flaming Lips' "Hell's Angels' Cracker Factory" in the year of grace 1989: background voices, changing radio stations, brief snippets of classical music, telephone calls, an alarm siren, the cry of a newborn.
No, this is not a freak psychedelia band: they are Mark, Don, and Mel, the quintessential rock power trio in the United States (...and in Italy) in 1970. And this is the intro to "Paranoid": the phobias of the twentieth-century man drowning in thousands of watts of wawawawawawa guitar effects dissolved in acid.
The self-titled album (aka Red Album for its flashy red cover) by Grand Funk Railroad almost closes with this gem that every creamily triangular formation should memorize. The perfect rocker’s manual: the piercing solo of Mark Farner's Sears Country Gentleman and the bass scales of Mel Schacher's terrifying Fender will make the good lounge's crystal pieces jingle and the downstairs tenants hit the ceiling with the broom handle.
An album that converts you to the righteous cause of rock as soon as the needle touches the first grooves. It forces you to immediately abandon whatever you're doing, whether it's legal or illegal, difficult or routine, pleasant or painful. Because "Got this thing on the move" instills an uncontrollable urge to go out on the street, heading to a music store to buy an electric guitar, or a bass, or a drum set. However "Please don't worry" almost makes you think of selling them right after because these three are unreachable monsters: Mel's terrifying bass is like Ulysses' bow, we couldn't even tighten one string while he is able to lay waste to the usurping suitors with those powerful notes that hit right in the pit of the stomach.
Electricly growing blues like "High Falootin' Woman" make your head spin imagining you have even longer hair than Farner who strains his vocal cords; it's a mirage, but it works! Just like a damned well-working blood-pumping boogie like "In Need," with a seismic Schacher taking the needle off the chart on the seismograph measuring the rolling and shaking of our room's floor.
Blue Cheer, Led Zeppelin, Cream, Jimi, Detroit's MC5 of the great hard rock made in America of "High Time," are tied along the railroad tracks where the Grand Funk locomotive will pass at full speed, shredding them into a thousand pieces.
And how to finish one of the greatest rock records if not with the ten minutes that assault "Inside Lookin Out"? The Animals' cover takes a bit to take off, but when it hooks the groove it becomes an unstoppable diesel fueled by pulsating bass riffs, clattering hot guitar solos, and a drumming that is a metronome.
After the Red Album, Grand Funk will lose part of that wildly naive spontaneity to establish themselves on a superb trade rock that will make them billionaires, but the damage was already done. Dressed like Mark, hair well over the shoulders, leather vest on bare torso, bicep bracelet, and the curses of the neighborhood forced to spend the rest of the day with their hands on their ears...how many bands would never have been born without Mark, Don, and Mel!
PLAY LOUD!!!
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Got This Thing on the Move (04:40)
Come on over to my side, it's where you wanna' be.
Come on over to joy ride, and let your morals be.
Ain't no way to deny it, if it's in your soul.
You don't know 'till you try it, baby, let the good times roll.
Let me taste your life. Let me fill your stream.
Let me make you feel it right now, just lay back and dream.
Got this thing on the move, it's beginin'.
Got a strange kind of feeling, under my skin.
I hear my baby knockin', at my front door.
She knows what I got, she wants some more.
And when it's all over, I start to come down.
Think of the restin' place, I'll leave the ground
02 Please Don't Worry (04:20)
If somebody tells you "look out boy,"
"That stuff you're doin' is way too strong."
Pay them no mind, just give 'em time,
Keep your head, you can't do no wrong.
CHORUS
Please don't worry, 'bout no jury,
There's so many, of us anyway.
If somebody tries to bust you,
'Cause you had their daughter late last night.
Don't get me wrong, but, you must be strong,
And, you just can't get uptight.
CHORUS
If somebody says you look funny,
'Cause the way you dress, to them, ain't right.
Say "Hey, can't you see, you look funny to me?"
"But, I'm just tryin' to be polite."
CHORUS
CHORUS
CHORUS
04 Mr. Limousine Driver (04:27)
Hey, Mr. limousine driver,
Can I ask you a favor, please?
Let her in my door and don't look back here no more,
I know you can do it with ease.
Although, we're on our way from the show,
And you don't like to get off the track.
Please, Mr. chauffeur, let's talk things over,
'Cause she says she loves me and that's a fact.
Can you hear what I'm sayin', it's not like I'm prayin',
You know, because you've done it before.
So, why make me wait, please don't hesitate,
Just get back here, and let her in my door.
Hey, Mr. limousine driver,
I know you know where it's at.
Too late will be later, you just read your evening paper,
And don't worry 'bout what's goin' on in back.
Hey, Mr. limousine driver ...
Hey, Mr. limousine driver ...
05 In Need (07:54)
Hey, hey, mama; mama, what you tryin' to do?
You keep on talkin' to me, 'till your face turns blue.
Well, do you think I'm a young boy, yet to make up my mind?
Well, I'm just castin' all my toys, I'm gonna' leave what's behind me, behind.
I'm gonna' leave what's behind me, behind.
I saw an old high school friend, just the other day,
He didn't ask me how I'd been, he asked me "how was my pay?"
Now, do you call this a friendship, judging from what he said?
If you do, I've a real tip: ain't nobody gonna' know about my bread.
Ain't nobody gonna' know about my bread.
If you got somebody, that you can trust to the very end,
I said if you do, I want to be like you, 'cause you sure got a real good friend.
You sure got a real good friend.
Friend ...
Friend ...
07 Paranoid (07:52)
Did you ever have that feeling in your life, that someone was watching you?
He don't have no reason, that's right. But, still he's there watching you.
Someone is waiting just outside the door, to take you away.
Everybody knows just what he's there for, to take you away.
But, you don't know why he's been waiting.
But, you don't know why he's been waiting.
Spent too much time anticipating.
Spent too much time anticipating.
Did you ever think it could be you, that's just outside the door?
There's just one way to find out if it's true. So, what you waiting for?
Oh, get yourself together now, my friend, and step outside the pad.
If there's no one waiting for you there, my friend, I think you should be glad.
But, who wasn't there that you should look out for?
But, who wasn't there that you should look out for?
Get back inside your wall, and shut the door.
Get back inside your wall, and shut the door.
You don't have nobody, don't need nobody, can't love nobody,
You're better off by yourself.
You ain't feelin' too bad, you're driving me mad, and say you're bad,
You're better off by yourself.
You don't have nobody, don't need nobody, can't love nobody,
You're better off by yourself.
You ain't feelin' too bad, you're driving me mad, and say you're bad,
You're better off by yourself.
Ahhhhh ...
08 Inside Looking Out (09:31)
I'm sitting here lonely like a broken man.
I serve my time doin' the best I can.
Walls and bars they surround me.
But, I don't want no sympathy.
No baby, no baby,
All I need is some tender lovin'.
To keep me sane in this burning oven.
And, when my time is up, you'll be my reefer.
Life gets worse on God's green earth.
Be my reefer, got to keep smokin' that thing.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
I said now baby ... baby ..., let me smoke it ... smoke it ...
Makes me feel good ... feel good, yes, I feel good ... ahhhhh ...
Yes, I feel alright ... feel alright ..., yes, I feel alright ... feel alright ...
Yes, I feel alright ... Ahhhhh ...
Ohhhhh ...
Ice cold water is runnin' through my veins.
They try and drag me back to work again.
Pain and blisters on my mind and hands.
I work all day making up burlap bags.
The oats they're feeding me are driving me wild.
I feel unhappy like a new born child.
Now, when my time is up, you wait and see.
These walls and bars won't keep that stuff from me.
No, no, baby,
Won't keep that stuff from me.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
I need you right now mama.
I need you right now baby.
Right by my side, honey.
All night long.
Make me feel alright ...
Yes, all ..., yes, all ..., yes, all ... alright.
You better come on up and get down with me.
I'll make you feel real good, just you wait and see.
Make me feel alright ..., yes, I feel alright ...
Yes, all ..., yes, all ..., yes, alright.
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Other reviews
By JonnyORiley87
Fifty years after its release, this work by Flint's people's band maintains its remarkable expressive power.
The album's hallmark is full-throated singing, dirty, aggressive, and very Blues-laden guitar by Farner.
