From: owner-grand-funk To: grand-funk-digest Subject: grand-funk V1 #12 Reply-To: Errors-To: owner-grand-funk Precedence: bulk grand-funk Wednesday, 19 February 1997 Volume 01 : Number 012 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "William A. Parrette" Date: Tue, 18 Feb 1997 11:27:46 -0500 (EST) Subject: Musical maturity (getting older but better) Hi all, On Tue, 18 Feb 1997, Robert Bodily wrote: > ... > Now, if I may, let me start another thread ... Of course you may, Robert! :-) Hope you had a pleasant vaca- tion and welcome back to the discussion. Let's talk Funk. > ... Personally, > songs like Loco-Motion, Bad Time, Sally, ... are a little too "pop" for me, > which leads me to my questions - What are _your_ opinions of their later > work? Are these songs indicative of the whole period or did they ever > return to their original sound? ... IMHO, *any* band that is together for a number of years ma- tures with their age. With this maturity will certainly come some changes. This was certainly true with the Beatles as it was with the "Stones" as it was with Grand Funk Railroad. While there was a certain "pop" quality about the tunes that made it to the Top-40 charts, I don't think it was indicative of their style as a whole. At the time those songs were becoming popular, weren't we headed into the "disco" era? One could look at these songs as the only way the band was going to get any Top-40 airplay. But the other songs from their albums, on a whole, are in another style. (There is another classic example of this problem. If you re- member the Lemon Pipers, the only way they could get a record contract was to do the "bubble-gum" thing like Green Tambourine and Jelly Jungle Of Orange Marmalade. But, if you ever saw the band in concert, they were the most psychadelic, hard-rock band you could have heard. These fellows were from my second home- town of Oxford, OH.) The songs you mention, while not indicative of the band's style of the whole period, do indicate that the band had gone through some changes. They never did return to their "original," blues-based, funky sound. Instead, they matured into a stronger, rock-like form. The sound that made them famous was very youth- ful, full of energy. But, as they matured, their music changed into a more stable, adult-like, rock 'n roll. A lot of the older Grand Funk fans don't like the newer albums such as Born To Die and Good Singin' Good Playin'. But, if you listen closely, there is some *really* good, strong music there with some interesting lyrics. Just like a young boy goes through several stages in his development through to manhood, Grand Funk went through several stages as well. I don't know about anybody else but *I* saw the first shift around Survival. One might say that Grand Funk shifted from their teen-aged years to their early 20s there. The second shift *I* saw was around Shinin' On or All The Girls ... One might say that Grand Funk shifted into their middle-age. And the last shift *I* saw was about Good Singin' ... one might say that Grand Funk had finally become an adult. All of this is just IMO. :-) And is a simple-minded attempt at generating more discussion. ;-) The original music is still great stuff -- don't get me wrong! And, I hope they continue to play a lot of it in their reunion shows. But, as with literally anything, Grand Funk Railroad defi- nitely matured with age. They had to throw a little "pop" in here and there to keep their name in front of the general public, but those songs were definitely not indicative of their later style at all. > ... > Sorry for the book here... No problem! As you can see, I can be prompted to "write reams" as well. If someone writes with frequent paragraph breaks and relatively short lines, I'll read 10 screens full! After all, we are talking about the best band in the land! Keep Shinin' On and always grok in fullness ... Bill-- ...who thinks that life is a yo-yo and mankind ties knots in the string. +--------------------------+--------------------------+------------------+ |William A. (Bill) Parrette|7177 Heritage Drive | (42?) | |wap@one.net |Westchester, OH 45069-4012| -\\|//- / | | *** http://w3.one.net/~wap/ *** | o o | +------------------- 513-779-0780 --------------------+-uuu--U--uuu------+ ------------------------------ From: Phil Catalano Date: Tue, 18 Feb 1997 10:00:20 -0700 (MST) Subject: Re: [Fwd: Re: Favorite Song] > > I've always been of a mind set that poor Mel was way-underated. When I > listen to ANY GFR these days I hear Mel Mel and more Mel! He was such > a powerhouse and a BIG BIG force behind the "magic". Not to slight the > other members...but Mel really had it together! I think his laid back > style on stage helped may have contributed to his lack of recognition. > Everyone always loves the "up front" man. > > Take Mel out of GFR...and I think you'd lose a lot more that 33% of the > magic. > > What does everyone else say about Mell and his lack of recognition? > Bruce- I totally agree with you about Mel. I love him and his Bass riffs. And yes, when you listen to the old Funk that's all you hear is his driving bass, and it's great! And I've always liked how mysterious he was (is). I've read some interviews with him and he seems like a pretty funny guy? Has anyone ever met him? How's his personality? Phil ------------------------------ From: "NH Borger" Date: Tue, 18 Feb 1997 20:28:15 +0100 Subject: Re: Mel's Magic > > Take Mel out of GFR...and I think you'd lose a lot more that 33% of the > > magic. > ...if you took Don out of GFR, you would also lose a lot more than 33% of the > magic. The same is true with Mark. But, wait a minute, how can the sum of the > parts possibly be greater than the whole!?!?! :-) LOL. That's what makes them so special, together their 200% (or even more)... > how powerfully important Mel is to the band. And, some of his work on E Pluribus > Funk is just amazing to me. Yeah, I was listening to Mel's bass solo on 'I Come Tumblin' wow, that song is full of everything, magic drums, great guitar riffs. I think 'I Come Tumblin' is my favourite at the moment. Nico ------------------------------ From: RStaln01@aol.com Date: Tue, 18 Feb 1997 19:07:42 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: [Fwd: Re: Favorite Song] This is my first post to this group. I have to say it is really great to see all the excitement being generated over what is probably my favorite band! If I may I would like to say that I feel Born to Die to be one of their most overlooked albums. It would be the first cd I would add to my collection would, or should, all their unreleased cd's ever come out. There is a lot of emotion and feeling on this album. From the trauma of losing a relative (Born to Die) to the never ending crap from the critics (Dues) as well as the upbeat (Sally) and the political statements they cut their teeth on (Politician). And just to show how tight the ensemble was there's the instrumental Genvieve(sp?). Give it a chance. I consider it one of the 70's lost treasures. Of course on any given day, and mood, I could say that about any of their work! For me Good Singin - Good Playin was the one that took the longest to connect with but I can now appreciate the music it contains. Well anyway, just my $.02! Rock on ladies and gentlemen! RStaln01@AOL.COM ------------------------------ From: Bruce Thomas Date: Tue, 18 Feb 1997 14:29:03 -0800 Subject: [Fwd: Re: Grand Funk?] This is what I got from QBERT50@aol.com today: QBERT50@aol.com wrote: > > Currently this is the grand funk railroad e-mail address. We manage the > band, and as soon as any info is available we will let you know. - -- -=[ Bruce ]=- /~~\_/~\ ,,, | #=#==========# \_/~\_/ ``` ------------------------------ From: "William A. Parrette" Date: Tue, 18 Feb 1997 20:52:32 -0500 (EST) Subject: Concert dates ??? Hi all, Well, the list is starting a life-cycle. We lost two sub- scribers but gained three more As of Tuesday, February 18, 1997 at 20:44:32 EST we have 29 subscribers. And, with 29 of us here, maybe there are enough of us to ask an interesting question with the hope of possibly getting a correct and accurate response. About a month ago, before the list had come up, someone e- mailed me and asked a Grand Funk question that I couldn't answer. It sounds like many of us were around in 1969 when the band started so I'm hoping someone has the answer that I can pass back to the person who asked. The question is: Does anyone have or know Grand Funk Rail- road's 1969 Itinerary? Specifically, the dates they played Nashville, the Fillmore West, the Winterland in San Francisco? If anyone can come up with these dates feel free to e-mail me personally or post them to the list. I would certainly appreci- ate it. Take care and always grok in fullness ... Bill-- ...who asks if molecular biologists wear designer genes? |\_/| (42?) +--------------------------+--------------------------+-- =( o O )= / ---+ |William A. (Bill) Parrette|7177 Heritage Drive | /\ " /\ | |wap@one.net |Westchester, OH 45069-4012| | |\_/| | | | *** http://w3.one.net/~wap/ *** | \_>---<_/ | +------------------- 513-779-0780 --------------------+-- (___|___) -----+ ------------------------------ From: Bruce Thomas Date: Tue, 18 Feb 1997 17:11:19 -0800 Subject: Re: Musical maturity (getting older but better) > I don't know about anybody else but *I* saw the first shift > around Survival. One might say that Hey Bill! Yep, I noticed the change around Survival too. Survival is one of my favorites :-) E Pluribus was almost a backward trend and after E Pluribus they marched on in the new direction... - -- -=[ Bruce ]=- /~~\_/~\ ,,, | #=#==========# \_/~\_/ ``` ------------------------------ From: einar@rfci.net Date: Tue, 18 Feb 1997 23:12:04 -0500 Subject: Site update Hey Cats, My site has been updated with Press Kits and photos. Much more to come in the next few weeks. No Bull. I'm over 30 megs and climbing! http://www.anaserve.com/~cochran/home.htm I have not forgotten about Bert's and Nico's sound bites. Guys, I swear I work ten hours a day on GFR related stuff, not just the site. So please be patient. Listen up, Bill Parrette has gone to a lot of trouble to list CD sources of GFR material on his web site. So please check his Trading Post out before emailing about where to find CDs? At which time I will "gladly" help you out. Thanks. http://w3.one.net/~wap/GFR_WEB/gfrTradingPost.html Sorry for the inactiveity on the list Bill. I know you expected more of me. But it's Phils fault! He is overloading me with work. He is one shady Dude! I know some people prefer to lurk and that is groovy. But I sure would like to know who I'm talking to! :) JFunkola ------------------------------ From: Bruce Thomas Date: Tue, 18 Feb 1997 22:56:17 -0800 Subject: Survival & Don... Alright gang! Couldn't stand it any longer...no one has mentioned this before..so I HAVE to :-) Ever notice the "soft drums" on Survival? It's almost like Don was using brushes :-) A MUCH softer sounding drums...on the entire Survival album...quite in contrast to the hard ditting sound he had up to *and after* the Survival album. One wonders why these things happen...did Terry Knoght say "Hey guys some folks think your too heavy...so let's tone it down and see if we sell more records". Whatdayathink Everyone? - -- -=[ Bruce ]=- /~~\_/~\ ,,, | #=#==========# \_/~\_/ ``` ------------------------------ From: Bruce Thomas Date: Tue, 18 Feb 1997 22:51:57 -0800 Subject: Re: Musical maturity (getting older but better) winky-c.c.collision wrote: > hey all could someone help me please,funketts???? were they on the closer to > home album cause i here chicks in the background,who r they,names??? > thanks. Not sure anyone (in here) knows who the female singers are on Closer To Home! There are female singers uncredited on Survival as well! - -- -=[ Bruce ]=- /~~\_/~\ ,,, | #=#==========# \_/~\_/ ``` ------------------------------ From: "NH Borger" Date: Wed, 19 Feb 1997 18:54:25 +0100 Subject: Re: Survival & Don... Bruce wrote: > A MUCH softer sounding drums...on the entire Survival album...quite in > contrast to the hard ditting sound he had up to *and after* the Survival album. Yeah, alot of rolling on the snare drum, really different from all the other albums. The reason? Maybe it was Terry, maybe he bought a new drum set, or maybe he just felt like it. Does anybody know? Bruce wrote: > Not sure anyone (in here) knows who the female singers are on Closer To > Home! There are female singers uncredited on Survival as well! I like female background singing in the GFR songs. I think the best singers were those from Wet Willy on the Loco Motion LA '74 video. They really gave all they got. Bill wrote: > ..the first shift around Survival...The second shift *I* saw was around Shinin' On.... And the last shift > *I* saw was about Good Singin' ... I wonder how their new recorded songs sound like, I hope they will get released. CU, Nico. ------------------------------ From: "William A. Parrette" Date: Wed, 19 Feb 1997 14:47:02 -0500 (EST) Subject: The Sonics Web Site Hi all, Jay Siekierski is a huge Grand Funk fan like the rest of us. He runs a Web site called "The Sonics" -- maybe you've been by. He has some reviews of some of the Grand Funk re-releases and links to both Jeff and my sites. Jay has tons of other music re- lated information, links, and ... contests! You might want to stop by and enter his new contest from King Biscuit Flower Hour Records where he will be giving away 2 CDs. And, when you stop by, you might want to sign his guest book with both your name and state. He says that *both* Capitol and MCA have been known to stop by and see what is going on at his site. (It is important to note that Jay reviews his guest book entries for suitability before allowing them to be posted to avoid prob- lems like those Donna is having at her site.) Jay is a member of this list and I'm sure he'll be posting about other contests as well as new Grand Funk information that he learns from his contacts at Capitol and other record compa- nies. You can get to The Sonics at: The Sonics The All Music Related Site! Music Editor: Jay 'Sonics' Siekierski http://home.earthlink.net/~thesonics/ E Mail thesonics@earthlink.net Take care, keep playing that Rock 'N Roll Soul, and always grok in fullness ... Bill-- ...who knows that a hammer sometimes misses its mark -- a bouquet, never. ___ +--------------------------+--------------------------+--- ()__() - (42!)+ |William A. (Bill) Parrette|7177 Heritage Drive | ( oo ) ,-' | |wap@one.net |Westchester, OH 45069-4012| /^' *'^\ / | | *** http://w3.one.net/~wap/ *** | (/( . )\) | +------------------- 513-779-0780 --------------------+--- Q/--\Q -------+ ------------------------------ From: "William A. Parrette" Date: Wed, 19 Feb 1997 15:27:53 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: Survival & Don and a new topic Hi all, On Tue, 18 Feb 1997, Bruce Thomas wrote: > ... > Ever notice the "soft drums" on Survival? It's almost like Don was > using brushes :-) > > A MUCH softer sounding drums...on the entire Survival album...quite in > contrast to the > hard ditting sound he had up to *and after* the Survival album. > ... This has to be one of the great, all-time Funk mysteries. I've been in a studio before myself. I've done some record- ing. I know some of what is possible with the microphones, baf- fles, tape recorders, mixing boards, and such. I just went back and checked to be sure and, in fact every al- bum from On Time up through Survival was produced by Terry Knight and Engineered by Kenneth Hamann. So, someone, somewhere made a conscious decision to make Survival sound different. There are, as I've mentioned before, differences, growth, maturity -- what ever you want to call it -- on every album. It's just that it was so pronounced on Survival. Who made the decision and why *is* a mystery. I've never heard it explained anywhere. There are some list-members who have a bit more access to the band than others, perhaps one of them would like to ask and find out for us. It really isn't just the drums. The drums are the most obvi- ous thing perhaps, but the tone and the feel of all three instru- ments was different from any of the previous releases. Perhaps it has something to do with the tone and subject matter of the songs themselves. It *is* kind of hard to imagine a song called Feelin' Alright or I Can Feel Him In The Morning or Country Road performed in the style we became accustomed to on, say, the "red album." Does anybody know??? To start a new thread, I was wondering if anybody else had ev- er thought of something that came to my mind a while back. Every once in a while a song comes along that just touches my "soul." I don't know how else to describe it except to say that the song will sort of reach inside of my being shake me around a bit -- often causing a tear to come to my eye. Examples include GFR's Lonliness, Zepplin's Stairway To Heaven, and Styx's Come Sail Away. There is another song -- sort of a one-hit-wonder type of thing -- that has moved me as well. And, interestingly enough, I think it might be sort of interesting to hear "our boys" try to cover this one. I was wondering if anybody else might think that funky, blusy, kind of powerful, Grand Funk-style of cover might be done on Kiki Dee's I Got The Music In Me? Ain't got no troubles in my life, No foolish dreams to make me cry. I'm never frightened or worried, I know I'll always get by. I got the music in me .... Wadda' ya' all think? Do I have my head up one of my body orifices or does anybody else think this might be a pretty cool cover? Take care and grok in fullness ... Bill-- ...who never puts off until tomorrow what he can avoid altogether. ___ +--------------------------+--------------------------+--- ()__() - (42!)+ |William A. (Bill) Parrette|7177 Heritage Drive | ( oo ) ,-' | |wap@one.net |Westchester, OH 45069-4012| /^' *'^\ / | | *** http://w3.one.net/~wap/ *** | (/( . )\) | +------------------- 513-779-0780 --------------------+--- Q/--\Q -------+ ------------------------------ From: "Michael Catalano" Date: Tue, 18 Feb 97 6:46:21 EST Subject: fwd: Re: 1974 MSG - ------------- Original Text From: Michael Catalano@2215@ENG_MEL, on 2/18/97 8:28 AM: To: imail[] Cc: @ENG_MEL Oh yeah, I was at that show in '74 at MSG. I had a little advantage over my brother (Phil) though, I had just seen GFR about a week before up in Springfield, Mass. It was the same show with Wet Willie opening, so I kinda knew what they were gonna play. One of my best friends at the time was with me. We were on the floor in about the 11th row center. My buddy, being an amateur photographer, took some excellent pix. Actually, if Phil can't dig it out of his archives, I've got a mint B&W shot of Farner and Brewer that I'll try to scan for one of the web pages. It's an 8 X 10 in excellent condition. As far as the song list is concerned, I remember it being the "Caught in the Act" lineup. More about pictures....I have a whole bunch from the Hershey, PA concert in March of '75 (color and B&W). It was a general admission show that we waited outside for in the freezing rain. I guess the ensuing life-long bronchitis--deafness thing was worth it: we got front row center. Well we were there for a while and then the sea people kind of pushed us around a little. For the most part though we were right there! Again, my buddy took some awesome shots...we were so close...my favorite is the one of Mel's nose hair. But seriously, I've got to dig these pix out and scan them in. Phil, do you have yours handy? I know you have many of the same ones I have. Mick Mick - --------- From: Phil Catalano , on 2/16/97 2:48 PM: Wow is right! Small world! What a show that was! My brother Mick was there too. He'll probably remember more stuff than I can. We'll see what his reply is. I've got the songlist from that concert also. I'll post that in a little while. Phil - --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--= Phil Catalano phil.catalano@mci.com - --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--= On Sat, 15 Feb 1997 Bugsy41157@aol.com wrote: > Wow! We were right by each other. I was 3rd row, second section, right off > the aisle. Can't remenber what song that chick ran up there, but I remember > her. First time I saw someone run on stage. She almost made it! Mark was > wearing green pants with silver glitter bottoms. How bout that mirror guitar, > remember that? He changed into "American Flag" pants after the break. Weird > how you can remember stuff like that, huh? Susie and Wet Willie were cool but > couldn't wait for them to get off so the boys would come out. > > "I said it once, and I'll say it again, your the greatest fucking audience in > the world!" > The following was included as an attachement. Please use UUDECODE to retrieve it. The original file name was 'ATTRIBS.BND'. begin 666 ATTRIBS.BND M0F5Y;VYD(%!A8VME9"!!='1R:6)U=&5S```+0514*```````9G=D.B!293H@ M,3DW-"!-4T<````````````````````````````````````````````````` M```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` M`$UI8VAA96P@0V%T86QA;F\````````````````````````````````````` M``````````````````````````````````!:<&LX*V@X4#!N```````````` M````````0F5Y;VYD(%!R;W!R:65T87)Y($1A=&$:`````!$`````````#0## M#0``````````````````````````3W)I9VEN86P@=&5X=),*1G)O;3H@36EC M:&%E;"!#871A;&%N;T`R,C$U0$5.1U]-14PL(&]N(#(O,3@O.3<@.#HR."!! 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