#don brewer

Grand Funk Railroad Caught in the Act 1975 Capitol ——————————————————————— Tracks Disc One: 1. Introduction 2. Footstomp Music 3. Rock & Roll Soul 4. Closer to Home 5. Heartbreaker 6. Somekind of Wonderful 7. Shinin’ On 8. The Loco-Motion

Tracks Disc Two: 1. Black Licorice 2. The Railroad 3. We’re and American Band 4. T.N.U.C. 5. Inside Looking Out 6. Gimme Shelter ———————————————————————

Don Brewer

Mark Farner

Mel Schacher

The #1 song from 50 years ago was Grand Funk Railroad's "We're an American Band". _______________________ We’re an American Band Songwriter: Don Brewer

Grand Funk Railroad: E Pluribus Funk (1971)

50 years ago, Grand Funk Railroad were busy getting worked to death by their taskmaster manager, Terry Knight, so that meant unveiling their second LP of 1971, and fifth studio recording (plus 1970’s Live Album) of a head-spinning, physically-draining twenty-six-month span, E Pluribus Funk.

That’s Latin for ‘Out of many, funk’ -- an obvious play on E Pluribus Unum, (‘Out of many one’), the motto found on all U.S. legal tender, including the coins that obviously inspired this eye-catching die-cut sleeve embossed with Mark, Mel and Don’s unmistakable profiles and bodacious hair.

The “tails” side, incidentally, depicted New York’s Shea Stadium to celebrate Grand Funk’s recent feat of beating The Beatles’ attendance record and selling out a show in just 72 hours!

The bad news is that the trio were reportedly given just 96 hours longer -- a meager week! -- to record E Pluribus Funk, amid the ever-grueling tour commitments imposed by Mr. Knight, yet they still managed to deliver an album that remains many a fan’s favorite.

It certainly, comfortably bested its immediate predecessor, Survival (*), which ironically enjoyed month-long recording session, and came out sounding like the work of a well-oiled machine, albeit one prone to repeating itself again and again with proven formulas that generally fell into two general categories.

On the one hand there were muscular, economical hard rockers like the funky, organ-led, arena-ready anthem “Footstompin’ Music,” the juking and jiving “Upsetter,” and the wicked-riffed, manic-paced “I Come Tumblin’” -- easily my favorite song on the LP.

On the other hand there were message songs (same message, different songs), like “People, Let’s Stop the War,” “Save the Land,” “No Lies,” and the orchestrally-enhanced “Loneliness,” where Mark Farner’s “Heartland Hippie” lyrics often do the consistently strong music something of a disservice.

But then, Grand Funk Railroad were never ones to aims for perfection, make arrogant intellectual statements, let alone pursue groundbreaking musical innovation -- anything but!

No, no, they were “the people’s choice,” as David Fricke would later admit in one of Rolling Stone’s all-too-common, belated attempts to revise and rectify their horrendous album reviewing batting average (their original appraisal was, needless to say, pretty darn negative).

And when E Pluribus Funk rocketed to No. 5 in the U.S. back in ‘71, the people had obviously spoken, giving Grand Funk the confidence they needed to part ways with the tyrannical Knight ahead of 1972’s Phoenix and ‘73’s No. 2 smash, We’re an American Band.

As this album proved, not for the first or last time, this band always had serious currency with their loyal fans.

* My friend Monte Conner, a much bigger Grand Funk expert and fan than I, said it best: “E Pluribus Funk was a rompin’, stompin’, heavy-as-hell return to form after the muted sounding and utterly depressing Survival.”