Kick Out The Jams MC5

• 1Ramblin' Rose04:20
• 2Kick Out the Jams02:44
• 3Come Together04:29
• 4Rocket Reducer No. 6205:44
• 5Borderline02:54
• 6Motor City Is Burning06:04
• 7I Want You Right Now05:21
• 8Starship08:24
• Total Runtime40:00

Info for Kick Out The Jams

While the Rolling Stones were perhaps the first rock band to merge rock & roll with tales of violent revolution (i.e. their classic "Street Fighting Man"), no one did it as convincingly and as whole-heartedly as Detroit's MC5. Managed by the notorious White Panther Party member John Sinclair, the MC5 rocked with a vengeance that was unparalleled at the time--the band was rewarded years later by being heralded as punk rock originators. Few have been able to top the ferocious intensity of their classic debut, 1969's in-concert „Kick Out The Jams“.

Although the album fared well on the charts, it was surrounded in controversy from the get-go; the record company wanted the group to edit out a vulgarity included in the introduction to the title track. The friction would lead to the band parting ways from Elektra soon after, but all the hoopla could not take away from the stellar quality of „Kick Out The Jams“. Be prepared to be blown away by such songs as "Rocket Reducer No. 62," "Borderline," "Starship," and the title track, to name but a few. „Kick Out The Jams“ is the undisputed Holy Grail for fans of blaring, high-energy rock.

„Rather than try to capture their legendary on-stage energy in a studio, MC5 opted to record their first album during a live concert at their home base, Detroit's Grande Ballroom, and while some folks who were there have quibbled that Kick Out the Jams isn't the most accurate representation of the band's sound, it's certainly the best of the band's three original albums, and easily beats the many semiauthorized live recordings of MC5 that have emerged in recent years, if only for the clarity of Bruce Botnick's recording. From Brother J.C. Crawford's rabble-rousing introduction to the final wash on feedback on "Starship," Kick Out the Jams is one of the most powerfully energetic live albums ever made; Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith were a lethal combination on tightly interlocked guitars, bassist Michael Davis and drummer Dennis Thompson were as strong a rhythm section as Detroit ever produced, and Rob Tyner's vocals could actually match the soulful firepower of the musicians, no small accomplishment. Even on the relatively subdued numbers (such as the blues workout "Motor City Is Burning"), the band sound like they're locked in tight and cooking with gas, while the full-blown rockers (pretty much all of side one) are as gloriously thunderous as anything ever committed to tape; this is an album that refuses to be played quietly. For many years, Detroit was considered the High Energy Rock & Roll Capital of the World, and Kick Out the Jams provided all the evidence anyone might need for the city to hold onto the title.“ (Mark Deming, AMG)

Rob Tyner, vocals
Wayne Kramer, guitars, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Ramblin' Rose"
Fred "Sonic" Smith, rhythm and lead guitar, backing vocals
Michael Davis, bass, backing vocals
Dennis Thompson, drums

Recorded October 30–31, 1968 live at Russ Gibb's Grande Ballroom, Detroit, Michigan
Engineered by Bruce Botnick
Produced by Jac Holzman, Bruce Botnick

Digitally remastered

MC5
was an American rock band from Lincoln Park, Michigan, formed in 1964. The original band line-up consisted of vocalist Rob Tyner, guitarists Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith, bassist Michael Davis, and drummer Dennis Thompson. "Crystallizing the counterculture movement at its most volatile and threatening", according to AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine, the MC5's far left political ties and anti-establishment lyrics and music positioned them as emerging innovators of the punk movement in the United States. Their loud, energetic style of back-to-basics rock and roll included elements of garage rock, hard rock, blues rock, and psychedelic rock.

MC5 had a promising beginning which earned them a January 1969 cover appearance in Rolling Stone and a story written by Eric Ehrmann before their debut album was released. They developed a reputation for energetic and polemical live performances, one of which was recorded as their 1969 debut album Kick Out the Jams. Their initial run was short-lived, though. In 1972, just years after their debut record, the band came to an end. MC5 was 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.

Tyner died of a heart attack in late 1991 at the age of 46. Smith also died of a heart attack, in 1994 at the age of 45. The remaining three members of the band reformed in 2003 with The Dictators' singer Handsome Dick Manitoba as its new vocalist, and this reformed line-up occasionally performed live over the next nine years until Davis died of liver failure in February 2012 at the age of 68.

This album contains no booklet.