Supposedly, a very powerful feeling type of record, but I always come away with the vibe that it's subdued compared to everything that came before it. Grand Funk and subdued are like oil and water.

This 75-minute-plus document is a ham-fisted testament to the band's prodigious amounts of energy, stamina, and absolute lack of subtlety and finesse. I can only imagine what the crowd - or the band - smelled like, just from a sheer sweat perspective, never mind the scent of other bodily fluids and illicit substances. I am not saying this to insult the band, or fans of the band, or anything of the sort. I am simply stating this because I really believe you need to be in a similar state of mind to properly enjoy Live Album. Whatever Farner and crew laid down on their previous studio records, pales in comparison in this setting, from an energy perspective. From the start of "Are You Ready", you get the drift - the studio confined them, and now they can really let loose, and to hell with all that nonsense if you have a problem with it. About the only problem I have with the approach is the boys only know one speed, and when you know nothing else, after a while it becomes predictable. Even the midsection of "Mean Mistreater" is over-driven all to heck. So, there it is. Live Album. A real head smasher.

Very interesting document here which often gets left in the dust compared to known heavyweights of the era. The closest analogy here is obviously the Red Hot Chili Peppers – there was a familiarity between both groups – and by this point in their career, they had ballooned to their biggest line-up ever, which gives the disc a bit of a P-Funk feel, along with a noticeable live feel with the inclusion of these snippets of tracks which sound like they were recorded at various performances. Like with classic P-Funk, there is a serious strain of social messaging which runs throughout the disc, but as a contrast there is quite the party vibe at work as well, especially on tracks like "Naz-Tee May'en" and the heavy-ska of "Housework". Still, it’s hard to deny the meat of this CD lies with its’ more harrowing statements. Like the twin bill of “Junkies Prayer” and “Pray to the Junkiemaker”, where the group updates the old-school poetry of the Last Poets, only using the crack epidemic as their chilling theme.

In the late 80's, Tommy Shaw (from Styx), Jack Blades (from Night Ranger), and Ted Nugent (from the gun range?) formed Damn Yankees to revive their flagging fortunes and came up with a surprising commercial success. The songs are credited to all three but in reality, it sounds a lot like a Night Ranger album. "High Enough" was the major hit, prerequisite power ballad, and enduring track from this one, while Ted's narcissistic complex comes to the forefront on the ugly-as-sin "Piledriver". His solos are mailed in to say the least. Look for "High Enough" on a compilation somewhere and don't bother with the rest.

Is everyone obligated to gush over this record? I can't do that. It's mildly amusing, though.