Needs to be played loud, REALLY LOUD to be fully appreciated

This album is raw, raucous, energetic and needs to be played loud, that's REALLY LOUD to be fully appreciated. I was 13 when this came out as a double LP for less that five bucks and it really did an amazing job of capturing the excitement of sitting in the front row at a live concert. It's been remastered onto a single disc and the songs have been placed in their correct sequence with no overdubs. The sound here is just very real and Don Brewer's bass is mixed equally with Mark Farner's guitar causing your entire house to vibrate. You can almost feel the sweat and smell the reefer while listening to this. This historical release is a perfect time capsule of 1970 and the stage patter from these heavy metal hippies sounds pretty funny today.



It was recorded on June 1970 in Florida right after they played the Atlanta Pop Fest with The Allman Brothers and The Who. One of the amazing things about Grand Funk was how huge they were. Critics hated them and radio ignored them (at this time) but this album still sold 1,000,000 copies in its first week of release and hit #5 on the Billboard chart. There is a nice booklet included here with the band members reminiscing about hanging out with Janis Joplin, their infamous 60 foot high billboard in Times Square and going from playing The Fillmore East to Madison Square Garden to Shea Stadium all in one year. I like the whole album but my favorite track is their cover of The Animals' "Inside Looking Out". It was my favorite song in the 8th grade and it rocked hard then and it still rocks hard today.

One of the Best Live Bands of All Time!

Live albums have been known to make or break artists. Kiss and Peter Frampton both owe their superstar status to documentation of their Live performances. Grand Funk's Live Album is the grandaddy of them all. Grand Funk was best heard live. Radio programmers ignored them. Critics slammed them. But the fans knew that they were something special. They were the first band to break the Beatle's attendance record at Shea Stadium. Legend has it that when they opened for Led Zeppelin, their performance was so powerful that Zep was booed by the audience, causing Peter Grant (Zep's road manager) to go into an outrage. Terry Knight made a lot of bad choices as the manager and producer of Grand Funk. This LP was not one of them. The raw and uncut presentation of the bands live set was a daring step in Grand Funk's career. Here it is, remastered 35 years later, just like you were sitting in the front row. The sound quality of this record was never what I would call "state of the art" , even for the '70s. But what it lacks in technical prowess, it more than makes up for in honest to God raw and unbridled energy. This is what Grand Funk was all about. And this record gave a true representation of what it was like to be there. You can practically smell the sweat coming out of your speakers. No Grand Funk collection would be complete without this record. A legendary album, from one of the best live acts to ever take the stage in the 1970's.

The best live CD of one of the best American rock groups.

I bought this double-CD album from Japan in 1989 for Yen 4,200. When I went to study at a business school in Dallas, TX during 1993-1995, I found this album availabled in single-disc format, made-in-Holland CD. I still don't have a chance to juxtapose mine with the Dutch or even US discs. But, from my experiences, sound of the Japanese CDs are usually sharp and crisp. Probably the Nippons prefer the sound like that.

These Japanese-made CDs are manufactured by Toshiba-EMI in the Past Master series. Its inner sleeve reissues the original poster of the band playing at the Atlanta International Pop Festival on July 5,1970. Although the sound is very raw, less bright than that of the 1975 Caught in The Act album, but I prefer the Live Album since it gives the exact feel of outdoor performance. Listen to this album and you then see what a non-overdubbed live album is. Grand Funk's debut is no doubt. They are one of a few American Bands which can duel with British rock bands in that era.

Wow! Grand Funk at their best

This was the first album I ever bought of GFR. I put the poster on my wall and played the record to death. If you never got the opportunity to see GFR play live during this time then this is about as close as your going to get. This is the ultimate live album experience and displays GFR in their prime...raw, hard-rockin', funky and LOUD! I had the rare opportunity to see GFR about two years after this recording was released. It was the first concert I ever went to. I was third row from the stage and I was literally deaf for a week! I felt like my entrails were coming out from Mel's thundering bass. Those were the days. So get this CD now and save your rock n' roll soul and don't forget to play it blistering loud and discover why GFR was the number one live act of their time.