KICK OUT THE JAMS
Kick Out the Jams is the debut album by American protopunk band MC5. It was released in February 1969, through Elektra Records. It was recorded live at Detroit’s Grande Ballroom over two nights, Devil’s Night and Halloween 1968. The LP peaked at No. 30 on the Billboard 200 chart, with the title track peaking at No. 82 in the Hot 100. Although the album received an unfavorable review in Rolling Stone magazine upon its release, it has gone on to be considered an important forerunner to punk rock music and in 2003 was ranked number 294 on Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” list. (More from Wikipedia)
In 1969, I was in a record store somewhere and saw two debut albums with similar front and back covers, Three Dog Night by Three Dog Night and Kick out the Jams by MC5, both having a swirl of images of the bandmembers, mostly in concert. They are actually quite different bands. Three Dog Night, renowned for their harmony vocals and excellent material, had a succession of hit songs in the 1970’s, including 11 that made the Top Ten, along with 12 consecutive gold albums in a six year period. Not long after the release of Three Dog Night, the Nilsson song “One” became their first hit song, and “ONE” was added to the album cover. I searched for decades to find their album as I had originally seen it, without the song name on it. I finally found a copy, just in time for Hurricane Katrina to wash it away.
MC5 was formed in 1964 by several high school friends, Rob Tyner (vocalist), Fred “Sonic” Smith (guitar), Wayne Kramer (guitar), Pat Burrows (bass), and Bob Gaspar (drums). The two guitarists began experimenting with feedback and distortion in their concerts in 1965, and a new rhythm section joined in 1966, Michael Davis (bass) and Dennis Thompson (drums). MC5 got a regular gig at the Grande Ballroom, where their album Kick out the Jams was recorded live in October 1968.
In his 5-star review of the MC5 album, Mark Deming raves in Allmusic: “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 sounds 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.”
(December 2016)
