Closer to Home [Remaster] by Grand Funk Railroad (CD, Aug-2002, Capitol/EMI Records)

Great old school tones and production. Fat sounding Bass & Drums & classic Gibson Hollowbody through Fender Amp guitar tones. It's great to hear primitive effects and bare bones production clear a path for solid songwriting and playing.

It's unfortunate that what passes for modern rock music today is twice as primitive in terms of musical construction or technical merit.(apparently with the offending "artist" and/or record label unaware of the artists technical or musical limitations). Not to mention the current industry standard for releases lacking solid melodic content or overall original concept.

"Closer to Home" is the signature tune of this album, but in reality is just part of the vibe of the entire album and the early seventies as a whole. The sonic character of this album oozes fat,(analog/turntable)true hi-fi sonics.
It's hard to imagine any recent release that projected 35 years into the future could evoke such an immediate tangible relationship between music and memories of an era.

Regardless of your personal feelings about the songwriting values or artistic purity of this material, (It's certainly not Pet Sounds or Sgt. Peppers) one question remains unanswered.-----Why can't current producers, engineers & most importantly record labels fatten up modern releases tones like those of 35 plus years ago.

It's nice to hear an album actually represent a plausible front to back concert experience, as opposed the modern D-tuned,distressed vocal, teenage pout & rant that passes for a current recorded performance.

Give this a listen and maybe you'll pick up on the reasons why early 70's FM radio used to actually matter, and recording artists were given the resources and time to stretch and develop, not just copy and pander.

Faithfully submitted by Jason Shipley 2-26-08

I saw Grand Funk last night in Peoria, and I have to tell you, they can still rock. They put on a show that was pure music that, if it didn't get to your bones, you must be dead. Guys my age that can still rock that hard ...... well worth the price of admission and the Closer To Home Album has to be one of my all time favorites. Grand Funk deserves to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame !!!!!! I am going to make sure they get there !!