The MC5 - High Times
The third MC5 shows the unusual evolution this band went through. Starting off with the unbridled mania of the first, live album, Kick Out the Jams, they went to the opposite corner for Back in the USA and created a super-clean record of 3 minute pop songs (fantastic, rockin’, political pop songs, but far removed from the insanity of the first record). By the third record they decided to produce themselves and try to create a synthesis of the first two. The result is an incredible r’n’r record, but not without problems.
One issue I have is that I believe that this record has a fairly muddy sound throughout and part of that is probably due to the fact that the band was producing itself and didn’t have anyone to rein them in when they wanted to throw something else into the mix. While excellent riffs fly in and out of the tunes, sometimes there are so many layers that it is difficult to wrap your head around the rock.
This album really showcases Fred Smith and, since this is the first record with individual songwriting credits, we know where credit is due. Opening with Fred’s homage to a sacrilegious nun, “Sister Anne”, we get wild, almost-off-time riffs, superb lyrics and a great r‘n’r song!
Fred wrote half of the album and “Baby Won’t Ya” follows up as another catchy high-energy tune. Wayne Kramer only has 2 contributions to High Times and “Miss X” quite frankly is a weaker point. Not bad, but nowhere near to his potential.
Drummer Dennis Thompson is represented by the mind-boggling “Gotta Keep Movin’”. This is one of the most straight-ahead rockers on the record and has some unreal guitar work by the boys. I have no idea what other material Dennis contributed to, but he was a helluva writer!
Tyner’s sole song is “Future/Now”, which is a great, up-beat tune with cool lyrics and amazing twin leads, once again showing why Fred and Wayne were one of the best guitar teams ever in rock. This song is split in two with a second half simply tremeloed guitars and Rob’s tremeloed voice. Nice imagery but it definitely slows down the pace.
But we blast back in with Wayne’s “Poison”, which is one of his better tunes. Nice breakdowns, cool arrangement, good use of dynamics, more superb guitar-work and all-in-all some cool rock!
Fred comes back with “Over and Over” with more dynamics, more tremeloed guitars, and more straight-ahead rock! Good call-and-response head-shaker!
One issue I have is that I believe that this record has a fairly muddy sound throughout and part of that is probably due to the fact that the band was producing itself and didn’t have anyone to rein them in when they wanted to throw something else into the mix. While excellent riffs fly in and out of the tunes, sometimes there are so many layers that it is difficult to wrap your head around the rock.
This album really showcases Fred Smith and, since this is the first record with individual songwriting credits, we know where credit is due. Opening with Fred’s homage to a sacrilegious nun, “Sister Anne”, we get wild, almost-off-time riffs, superb lyrics and a great r‘n’r song!
Fred wrote half of the album and “Baby Won’t Ya” follows up as another catchy high-energy tune. Wayne Kramer only has 2 contributions to High Times and “Miss X” quite frankly is a weaker point. Not bad, but nowhere near to his potential.
Drummer Dennis Thompson is represented by the mind-boggling “Gotta Keep Movin’”. This is one of the most straight-ahead rockers on the record and has some unreal guitar work by the boys. I have no idea what other material Dennis contributed to, but he was a helluva writer!
Tyner’s sole song is “Future/Now”, which is a great, up-beat tune with cool lyrics and amazing twin leads, once again showing why Fred and Wayne were one of the best guitar teams ever in rock. This song is split in two with a second half simply tremeloed guitars and Rob’s tremeloed voice. Nice imagery but it definitely slows down the pace.
But we blast back in with Wayne’s “Poison”, which is one of his better tunes. Nice breakdowns, cool arrangement, good use of dynamics, more superb guitar-work and all-in-all some cool rock!
Fred comes back with “Over and Over” with more dynamics, more tremeloed guitars, and more straight-ahead rock! Good call-and-response head-shaker!
Closing with Smith’s “Skunk (Sonically Speaking)”, we see why Dennis was nick-named “Machine Gun” Thompson as he starts it off with a cool, syncopated drum lick and is joined by numerous Detroit luminaries banging percussion, including Bob Seger (who, you must remember, was a real Detroit rocker at this time). When the band kicks in, we get yet another high-energy riff-rocker, not unlike the opener. This threatens to go overboard with layer upon layer of instruments, but the guitars really play off of each other and when the horns jump in, it really works as a mind-blowing, crazily rockin’ free jazz experiment. Truly freakin’ breathtaking and I think this is the culmination of all of their jazz/rock fusion experiments. Kinda like their version of the Stooges’ “Funhouse” – still wild r’n’r, but with cool jazzy inputs.
As I said, this is not a perfect album, but is still essential to any rock’n’roll collection.
As I said, this is not a perfect album, but is still essential to any rock’n’roll collection.
posted by rich @ 2:37 PM
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