Grand Funk (album)

Grand Funk
Studio album by Grand Funk Railroad
Released	29 December 1969
Genre	Hard rock
Length	48:25
Label	Capitol
Producer	Terry Knight
Grand Funk Railroad chronology
On Time (1969) Grand Funk (1969) Closer to Home (1970)
Singles from Grand Funk
"Mr. Limousine Driver" / "High Falootin' Woman" Released: November 1969 "Heartbreaker" / "Please Don't Worry" Released: January 1970

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	C[2]

Grand Funk is Grand Funk Railroad's second studio album, and was released in December 1969 by Capitol Records. It was produced by Terry Knight and engineered by Ken Hamann. This release (aka "The Red Album") was certified by RIAA with a gold record award, the first for the group. It includes a cover of The Animals' "Inside Looking Out" which is still a cornerstone of the band's live concerts today. Other key tracks include: "Got This Thing On The Move", "In Need", and "Paranoid". The inside spread photograph of the trio, for the original album release, was used for the now infamous, $100,000, block-long and several stories high, New York City's Times Square billboard ad for the album Closer To Home (1970). The producers sought to achieve a concentration on Mark Farner's guitar, in response to the imbalance the band achieved in On Time with the prominence of Mel Schacher's bass. This led to the unofficial name of "The Red Album", as the guitar track, red in the studio, was turned up. This was reflected on the red cover art (see opposite).

In 2002 Grand Funk was remastered on compact disc with bonus tracks and also released in a limited edition box set Trunk of Funk that contained the band's first four albums. The "trunk" has slots for twelve CD's to house the future release of the remaining eight albums that were released by Capitol records. Also included is a pair of Shinin' On 3-D glasses, guitar pick and a sticker reproducing a concert ticket.

Track listing

All songs written by Mark Farner, except where noted.

1. "Got This Thing on the Move" – 4:38
2. "Please Don't Worry" (Don Brewer/Farner) – 4:19
3. "High Falootin' Woman" – 3:00
4. "Mr. Limousine Driver" – 4:26
5. "In Need" – 7:52
6. "Winter and My Soul" – 6:38
7. "Paranoid" – 7:50
8. "Inside Looking Out" (John Lomax, Alan Lomax, Eric Burdon, Bryan "Chas" Chandler) – 9:31

Bonus Tracks - CD Release

1. "Nothing is the Same (Demo)" – 5:39
2. "Mr. Limousine Driver (Remix)" – 5:28

Grand Funk was originally released by Capitol Records in LP, Cassette, 8-track tape, and reel-to-reel configurations. The original reel-to-reel version (manufactured for Capitol/EMI by Ampex) is particularly noteworthy, in that it contains edited versions of "Got This Thing on the Move," "Please Don't Worry," "Mr. Limousine Driver" and "Inside Looking Out" not available elsewhere. The edits on these songs reduce the album's overall running time by approximately five minutes.

Musicians

• Mark Farner - guitar, piano, harmonica, vocals
• Don Brewer - drums, vocals
• Mel Schacher - bass

References