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I have always preferred the pre-American Band, pre-Craig Frost, pre-Todd-Rundgren-produced version of GFR. The Red Album was and is my all-time favorite GFR album (indeed one of my favorite albums by anyone): its raw energy and intensity have been rarely paralleled in the history of rock music. And the Terry-Knight production with thick, beefy, hard-driving, bone-rattling bass, powerful, crisp drums and electric guitar which just jumps out of the speakers at you had to be among the best of its era, giving the listener the feeling that the band was performing "live" in his or her living room! When GFR decided to retool by adding Craig Frost on keyboards and Todd Rundgren on production while going in a more commercial direction, I felt GFR took a turn for the worse. Rundgren's production style produced a flatter, more unrealistic sound as he meshed all the instruments together, thus obscuring their individual contributions to the overall sound. Gone were the heart-palpitating bass sound that you could feel as well as hear and the guitar was merely muddied into the mix rather than jumping outward. We're An American Band is the first such-produced Todd Rundgren effort employing these new techniques. Despite these production limitations and if you don't mind commercial music, this is actually a very good album. In terms of consistency, there are simply no weak songs. In fact, at least in terms of consistency, this is probably GFR's second-best-album after The Red Album. The remastering job is very well done. With some albums, the vinyl version sounds better than the CD, with some the CD vesrion sounds better and with some, they sound about the same. This is definitely one of those cases where the CD sound quality is superior to the vinyl. The vinyl version sounded very flat, tinny and lifeless. The remaster on CD has injected new life into this performance. The bass has been beefed up considerably, sounding much more realistic and having much more "oomph", which is the way rock-and-roll bass should always be produced. The vocals have also been made more audible and distinct. (Just check out how much clearer the vocals and instrumentation sound on Loneliest Rider compared to the vinyl as an example). And the bonus tracks, while on most CDs are little more than mere curiosities, here stand up as being almost as good as the rest of the material on the album. Check out the ferocious guitar soloing on "Hooray", especially the second guitar solo. It is the most intense guitar solo on the entire album (indeed, one of underrated guitarist Mark Farner's most intense solos on record) and this song wasn't even on the original album! Go figure. The acoustic version of Stop Lookin' Back is a delight. As for the rest of the songs, well its hard to pick favorites as this is the type of album you will play from start to finish every time, but Creepin' is a powerful monster of a song and The Railroad, with its train noises speeding up as the song reaches its conclusion, is almost as good. The guitar soloing in Stop Lookin' Back and Ain't Got Nobody is especially tasty...I could go on, but let me just say if you are a fan of early GFR but willing to approach with an open mind, don't let this album scare you away as it is a perfect bridge between the raw, unpretentious early GFR and the more polished, more commercial later GFR. And if you are a fan of the later GFR or both GFRs, you need no encouragement as I am simply preaching to the choir and you have probably already listened to this album thousands of times by now...
If you're familiar with Grand Funk, then you already know about this album, which is pretty much their high water mark. If you're not familiar with Grand Funk, I submit this description: Classic 70's garage band rock. "We're An American Band" was the first Grand Funk album I bought. I was familiar with the band when they were a trio called Grand Funk Railroad but not too interested. For this album, they shortened their name to Grand Funk and changed their sound by adding a keyboard player. Good move because they made a great album. There's not a weak track on this album with the possible exception of "Loneliest Rider" and it's not horrible. Just "Black Licorice" and the title track alone are almost worth the price of admission. I wasn't thrilled with the way it was shipped just in a bubble envelope but somehow it arrived relatively unscathed. If you regularly buy vinyl from Amazon, you'll get the odd stupid shipping container. But if it's damaged, I just get a replacement. One last thing: I've noticed on a few of the remasters (including this one), the outer space where you queue up the stylus, is very narrow. If you set the stylus there, it'll rapidly skate over to the beginning tracks, jumping over a couple making a horrible sound. Obviously over time this will damage the vinyl. The trick is to queue the needle in further right at the beginning of the first track. Recommendation: if you're a fan of straight forward "no frills" rock, you can't go wrong with this album.
Another "wish I could give it 4 1/2 stars, but they won't let me give 1/2 stars albums". Of course, you've heard the title track on 'Classic Rock' radio stations for the better part of 40 years now. It is one of the seminal songs of the early '70s. They had other hit songs like "I'm Your Captain" and "Locomotion", but "We're An American Band" was an anthem of an era. There were British bands we all loved, but there was a certain pride in an American band that could really out rock the Brits (Then came the 'Zep' and put an end to that. That's why that 1/2 star is missing). The rest of the songs on this album still hold up well. You know how you may listen to an album you haven't heard in many years, and it now sounds 'cheesy'. Well this one didn't. As a matter of fact, the acoustic remix of "Stop Looking Back" is better than the original. I can't get over how clean the guitar recording sounds! You would have never heard those nuances on cassettes or LP's in the early days!
AS a teenager growing up in Louisiana during the early Seventies, all of my friends as well as myself listened to Grand Funk. We all identified with that kind of music and many of us including myself were musicians. One of my friends was a drummer and he identified totally with this group. When the group began to play a new style of rock and roll music, at first, it sounded not all that great. I didn't like Foot Stompin' Music but when this album, "We're An American Band", debuted, it was hot music. I remember buying the 33 and that was so cool. During the time that this album debuted on the radio and I heard "Walk Like A Man", I had met my future wife and we both liked the album, enough to spend what money I had saved and buying the 8-Track for the VW. I had the opportunity to go and see them in concert in Monroe, Louisiana in late 1973 but passed to spend time with my girlfriend. As far as I was concerned, this is the greatest Grand Funk album ever made. Don Brewer's vocals, the great keyboard work, Mark Farner's vocals and guitar playing all add up to great. It is no wonder that most of the young people today listen to music from my generation. Listen to "Black Licorice", "Ain't Got Nobody", We're An American band", "Walk Like A Man" and this album expresses itself as a true piece of musical artwork. Enjoy!!!!
This one of my favourites LPs. The LP is a solid performance of GFR, one of the most underrated rock groups ever. This album is a must for any rocker. It is a display of hard rock at its best.
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