Dec 20, 2009

MC5 - BACK IN THE USA (ATLANTIC 1970) Jap mastering cardboard sleeve




The MC5 had a promising beginning which earned them a cover appearance on Rolling Stone magazine in 1969 even before their debut album was released. They developed a reputation for energetic and polemical live performances, one of which was recorded as their 1968 debut album "Kick Out The Jams". Their initial run was ultimately short-lived, though within just a few years of their dissolution in 1972, the MC5 were often cited as one of the most important American hard rock groups of their era. Their three albums are regarded by many as classics, and their song "Kick Out the Jams" is widely covered.
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While lacking the monumental impact of "Kick Out the Jams", the MC5's second album is in many regards their best and most influential, its lean, edgy sound anticipating the emergence of both the punk and power pop movements to follow later in the decade. Bookended by a pair of telling covers -- Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" and Chuck Berry's "Back in the U.S.A." -- the disc is as much a look back at rock & roll's origins as it is a push forward into the music's future; given the Five's vaunted revolutionary leanings, for instance, it's both surprising and refreshing to discover the record's emotional centerpiece is a doo wop-inspired ballad, "Let Me Try," that's the most lovely and gentle song in their catalog. The recurring theme which drives Back in the USA is adolescence, its reminiscences alternately fond and embittered -- while cuts like "Tonight," "Teenage Lust," "High School," and "Shakin' Street" celebrate youth in all its rebellious glory, others like "The American Ruse" and "The Human Being Lawnmower" condemn a system which eats its young, filling their heads with lies before sending them off to war. Equally gripping is the record's singular sound -- produced by Jon Landau with an almost complete disregard for the bottom end, Back in the USA captures a live-wire intensity 180 degrees removed from the group's live sound yet perfectly suited to the material at hand, resulting in music which not only salutes the power of rock & roll but also reaffirms it.
Here

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, Haven't hears this in forever. Thanks.
Zim

Anonymous said...

That should be heard. Sorry.
Zim

Anonymous said...

incredible

real good day
thx

RV

The Bomber said...

merry christmas Dear Georgie boy ! ! !
have a blast and drink-a-lot!

Georgie Hirezola said...

Merry Christmas to all of you!!!
Georgie+++++

Anonymous said...

MC5 - A True Testimonial

“It’s a great document of the band, it’s a great document of life, and it’s a great document of things ... far and beyond the band.” - Jackson Smith, Detroit-based musician son of Fred & Patti Smith

"Music so extraordinary that it transformed the lives of all who experienced it demands the release of a documentary that does the MC5 justice.  Few bands have ever seen so much go so wrong so quickly and have been so misunderstood in the process. A True Testimonial represents a belated opportunity to set things straight, put things right. The fans deserve it. So does the band. And so does the music." - Don McLeese, author of Kick Out The Jams (Continuum 33 1/3 series)

http://tinyurl.com/MC5-ATT-poll

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

awesome. thanks muchly