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Downtown Duluth

Duluth, GA, US

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Para fans de Rock, Indie y Alternativa, Folk y Blues, Metal, y Country.

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Biografía de Grand Funk Railroad

Grand Funk Railroad is perhaps one of the most quintessential blues-rock bands of the ‘70s. The band formed in Flint, Michigan, US and their name is a reference to a train that runs through their hometown.

The band formed in 1969 as a trio consisting of guitarist/vocalist Mark Farner, drummer Don Brewer, and bassist Mel Schacher. The band was strongly influenced by the hard rock trio Cream, and based much of their style on them. Grand Funk Railroad started to gain mainstream attention when they played the Atlanta Pop Festival in 1969. Due to the success of their performance at the festival they were asked to return in 1970. The band released their debut album “On Time” in 1969. The album contained the single “Time Machine” and went on to reach gold status.

In 1970 the band released their second studio album “Grand Funk” – aka “The Red Album”. Although the album experienced a lack of airplay and critical acclaim, the album sold quite well. Singles from the album include a cover of The Animals’ “Inside Looking Out”, “Got This Thing On the Move”, and “In Need”. The year 1970 also showed the band releasing their third album “Closer to Home”, which had the single “I’m Your Captain (Closer to Home)”. The song is the band’s longest recorded song to date and contains elements of progressive rock. In 1971 the band broke the Beatles’ record of selling out Shea Stadium in 72 hours. That same year they also released two albums: “Survival” and “E Pluribus Funk”.

Grand Funk Railroad expanded their sound by adding keyboardist Craig Frost to their lineup in 1972, which allowed the band to adopt a more R&B and pop style as opposed to their traditional hard rock sound. The band’s 1972 album “Phoenix” was the first studio album with Craig Frost and it contained the single “Rock & Roll Soul”, which reached the No. 29 position on the charts. In order to refine their sound, the band hired Todd Rundgren to produce their next two albums “We’re An American Band” and “Shinin’ On”. “We’re An American Band” was one of the band’s most successful albums to date reaching the No. 2 position on the US Billboard 200 chart. The album also contained the singles “We’re an American Band” and “Walk Like a Man”, which also did well on the charts.

After the band released their 1975 album “All the Girls in the World Beware!!!”, which contained the singles “Some Kind of Wonderful” and “Bad Time”, the members in the band were starting to experience internal problems within the band and were ready to call it quits. However the band stayed together for one more year and created two more albums: “Born to Die” and “Good Singin’, Good Playin’”. Frank Zappa produced “Good Singin’, Good Playin’” and appeared on the tracks “Out To Get You” and “Rubberneck”.

After the band broke up in 1976 Mark Farner embarked on a solo career and Brewer, Schacher, and Frost formed another band called Flint. In 1981 Farner and Brewer returned as the only original members in Grand Funk Railroad and released the album “Grand Funk Lives”. In 1983 they released another album called “What’s Funk”. In the ‘90s Grand Funk Railroad reunited for several reunion shows, but later on Mark Farner would depart from the band and Don Brewer and Mel Schacher would remain the only original members in the band. The band has played numerous sold out shows across world and continue to tour consistently, playing around 40 shows per year.

Críticas en vivo

The Smithereens are a band I grew up with and have always loved. They're part of the soundtrack to my childhood! They were some of the moodier 80s music that I was allowed to listen to growing up - The Who was just a little to dark for my family. I've always loved their brand of 80s rock, I wouldn't even call it pop unless making the top 40 puts a band in that category willingly or not. Listening to them always brings me way, way back to my elementary school days and those were good times.

I had the opportunity recently to catch them at the B. B. King Club up in New York back in January. It's a tiny venue, very personal, and perfect for the likes of the Smithereens. They did rock the crowd, but they also settled them down so quiet you could almost hear a pin drop. They had the crowd's emotions in the palm of their hands. It's awesome to hear how after more than 20 years a band this epic still has the stage presence and mastery of the crowd the way they still have it. I hope they keep on playing, and draw another generation into their music that's standing the test of time.

Anonymous

I am too young to have seen Grand Funk Railroad back in their heyday, but I was fortunate enough to see them at a Bluesfest in 2013. They were still a very good live show, better than I would have expected for a band that started so long ago. The venue was your typical outdoor festival stage set up during the day with the audience standing. This particular audience was on the slightly older side so it wasn’t the electric environment of their younger days, but everyone still thoroughly enjoyed the performance.

The performance I saw included original members Don Brewer on drums and vocals and Mel Schacher on bass. Max Carl performed vocals and did an admirable job replicating the original experience of Mark Farmer. The real draw of their current live show has to be Don Brewer though. He always was a very good drummer and he still absolutely has it. His electrifying performance on drums really brought the show to life and greatly improved the experience.

Grand Funk busted out their old classics like American Band and The Loco-Motion and they still sounded great. The guitar performances were very good and the vocals sounded reminiscent of the original performances. Don Brewer’s performance absolutely brought it to life though. As long as he is a touring member of the group, the show is certainly worth seeing for fans of Grand Funk Railroad.

Anonymous