MC5 – HIGH TIME – CLEAR & YELLOW SPLATTER COLOR – VINYL LP

Description

Unhappy with the more cultivated sound of their sophomore releaseBack in the USA, the MC5 returned to the barnstorming rock and roll that characterized their debut,Kick out the Jams, on their third and final album, 1971’sHigh Time. WhileKick out the Jamswas a live recording,High Timewas created in the studio, but does manage to retain the rough and spontaneous edge of their debut. Unfortunately, the album didn’t serve as the MC5’s big commercial breakthrough (although it deserved to), and the quintet broke up in a shroud of bickering and drug abuse soon after. the songwriting is once again experimental and unpredictable, fueled by the band’s barely contained playing. while the songs are pretty obscure outside of the MC5’s rabid cult following, almost all of them easily hold their own. Most of the tracks exceed the five-minute mark, such as the groovy ‘Future / Now,’ the anthemic ‘Baby Won’t Ya,’ and the percussive album-closer ‘Skunk (sonically speaking)’. The punk rocker ‘Poison’ and the bluesy ‘Gotta keep Movin’ are shorter but just as exhilarating.High Timeis a criminally underrated early-’70s rock gem.