DEFINITELY THE BEST LIVE GRAND FUNK ALBUM

When I first heard this cd in November 2001, it captured the band sounding their best with their revamp instruments and CRAIG FROST's keyboards that made all their power trio songs sound a whole lot better during 1975. It's a shame that Criag did not reunit with GFR for their reunion tour. Furthermore, the songs TNUC, INSIDE LO0KING OUT, AND HEARTBREAKER on this live album that were also on the 1970 LIVE ALBUM and 1997's BOSNIA have more rock and roll power. FOOT STOMPIN' MUSIC, ROCK AND ROLL SOUL, BLAKC LICORICE, WE'RE AN AMERICAN BAND and others are killer!!!! I'M YOUR CAPTAIN is the best song on this album, although half of it is missing. Craig's MELLOTRON give this song a more power sound than an orchestra. It's a shame that MEMORIES and BAD TIME could not have closed this album. I have also heard that the TNUC drum solo is edited. On the other hand, Don Brewer should have kept the drum solo short during the concert performances in the first place. Plus, they could have shorten their performance of INSIDE LOOKING OUT as well, in order to put more songs on this album. One more thing, I don't have this recent reissue of this cd; however, the 1996 reissue is gggrrreeeaaattttt!!!!!!!!!!!!

It doesn't match their first "Live Album", but...

...the first live album with Craig Frost on keys was better than I thought. I thought the existence of a full time key man would mean keyboard sounds where they didn't belong because the dude couldn't just stand there during the old stuff, could he? But Frost's keyboard work in the earlier material is laudably non-invasive. His organ solos are understated and he uses clavinet a lot to fake a rhythm guitar sound in places where Mark Farner used to overdub it in the studio versions of that material. And because of his presence, a decent version of "I'm Your Captain" (aka "Closer To Home") is finally possible, string pads during the coda and all. I don't know how they handled that song live pre-Frost, but it strikes me that the coda, being the last half of the song, the same phrase over and over, would have been boring as hell done with just guitar, bass and drums. I winced when I heard the song "Inside and Out", though. They pulled the same stunt with that Lomax prison blues classic that they did on the older live set: "...workin' all day makin' up....nickel bags". The original line from that song was "burlap bags", as in the inmates working in the jute mill. The way Farner sang it himself in the album version on the "Grand Funk" release. But you'll hear that part of the song here as a lame Cannabis Liberation Front anthem. I have been playing rock since the mid-1960s and I never could stand the way rock's enemies came right out and said that rock music in general was the musical liturgy of the worship of dope. And I like it even less when peers (GFR are about my age) offer what amounts to testimony for the "prosecution".

5 stars, with a few caveats

For the new Caught in the Act reissue, one of the greatest live albums of all time, they still didn't get it right--contrary to what the liner notes say. Musically, the album is still outstanding. Everyone in the band serves up an inspired performance, and overall, it sounds great (then again, the original album never sounded bad). Don Brewer's drum solo on "T.N.U.C." has been restored, but elsewhere, all is not well. There are a number of things that keep me from raving about this CD.

First of all, let's talk about the transition from "Closer to Home" into "Heartbreaker." On the original album, "Closer to Home" faded out to end the first side. Side two faded back up with the end of "Closer to Home" and went straight into "Heartbreaker" (the actual performance featured a seamless transition from one song into the other). Anyone with a good ear can hear exactly where they tried to mix the two songs together. While better than it's been (this is at least the third time Capitol has released Caught in the Act on CD), it still isn't as good as it should be. Not only is there an audible space between the two songs, the treble actually drops on "Heartbreaker."

Secondly, there's the matter of editing. Rather than mixing the songs where necessary, they're crossfaded instead. Mixing in this case involves basically overlaying the end of one track with the start of another, while keeping the volume level the same. Crossfading is similar to mixing; only the end of the `first' track fades down while the start of the `second' track fades up. This is most noticeable on the intro to "Black Licorice," where part of the vocal intro is actually missing. The liner notes mention that some of the applause between tracks was cut to let everything fit on one CD. Considering the fact that there's almost a full minute of usable space left on the CD, it makes one wonder why they felt the need to do this.

Thirdly, they left off the first song played at the shows on the tour, "Are You Ready." The liner notes say that Capitol originally didn't want to include it because it was on the band's first live album (the band was having problems with the label at the time). Again, due to space restrictions and wanting to keep it to a single CD, the song was left off once again.

Lastly, there's the matter of the album's original first track, simply entitled "Introduction." The liner notes mention the fact that it was on the original album, but that it was left off to keep everything on one CD, but it's available as an unlisted bonus track on "one of the discs that `supposedly' has no bonus tracks." (Editor's note: "Introduction" has never appeared on CD before). Granted, it's mainly just applause, with a bit of the band jamming on "Rock and Roll Soul" before they go onstage. This was expendable. The thing that makes no sense is why they put it at the end of the new CD. It's completely out of context.

What they should've done with Caught in the Act is release the entire show on two CDs instead of one--including "Introduction" and "Are You Ready," and mix "Closer to Home" into "Heartbreaker" properly. (assuming they're from two different shows--no source information is listed). Maybe next time. Meanwhile, despite all the gripes above, it's still a great CD.