This came out in 1999 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
“Who can forget Grand Funk Railroad? The wild shirtless lyrics of Mark Farner; the bong-rattling bass of Mel Schacher; the competent drumwork of Don Brewer. Oh, man!”
— Homer Simpson
Frankly, I couldn’t have put it any better myself. And when you get right down to it, few have even tried — Homer J.’s backhanded compliments are probably one of the best reviews Grand Funk Railroad ever got.
I’m not sure why, but nobody — and I mean nobody — has ever owned up to being a Grand Funk fun. Maybe it’s because they never pretended to be anything but what they were: A blue-collar Michigan bar band that specialized in lumbering, lowbrow, three-chord rock. Maybe it’s because most of their big hits were wimpy cover tunes. Or maybe it’s just because Farner just wouldn’t keep his damn shirt on.
Whatever the reason, Grand Funk deserve better, if only for one reason: They penned We’re An American Band, a grade-A, prime-cut, undisputed slab of ’70s guitar rock. Naturally, it’s the centrepiece of 30 Years Of Funk, the new three-CD chronicle of their career. And, of course, along with it you get the rest of their hits: Some Kind Of Wonderful, The Loco-Motion, I’m Your Captain/Closer To Home, Rock ’N’ Roll Soul.
But you also get 40 more songs, including a dozen released here for the first time. And it’s these tunes that really plead the Funk’s case. The earliest works — unreleased demos they recorded as The Pack — bridge the gap between the fuzzed-out power-trio blast of Blue Cheer and the organ-fuelled acid-rock soul of Vanilla Fudge. The live tracks, like Are You Ready, Footstompin’ Music and Paranoid (no, not the Black Sabbath tune), quite simply put, rock like a mutha. And hey, even if their biggest hit was a Little Eva cover, at least they never put out a concept album, a triple-live set or a disco tune, which is more than you can for pretty much every other ’70s band. (And, unlike most classic rockers, they can laugh at themselves; the Simpsons quote above comes straight out of the CD booklet, which also features clippings of reviews with headlines like Grand Funk Are Lousy. You think KISS would ever do that?)
So you can sneer at Grand Funk all you like. Homer and me, we know the truth. But just remember this: Shirtless Mark, Mel, and the still-very-competent Don are back together. And you know what that means: Sooner or later, they’re coming to your town. They’ll help you party it down.
