They’re an American band, and this was their first album. Grand Funk Railroad performed their first gig in March 1969 and On Time got here out 5 months afterward August 25. The LP was recorded within the speedy aftermath of the primary Atlanta Pop Competition, which had taken place on the 4th of July weekend. The band had gone over a storm with the 50,000 viewers, prompting Capitol Data to signal them.
Hearken to On Time proper now.
Early origins
GFR had their origins in a gaggle known as Terry Knight and the Pack that included Mark Farner and Don Brewer, who have been joined by bass participant Mel Schacher. (Schacher had beforehand been in ? & the Mysterians, of “96 Tears” fame.) Farner sang, performed guitar and harmonica, and was very a lot the on-stage chief of the band, whereas Brewer was the drummer and second vocalist. Within the mould created by Cream, their powerhouse blues rock was simple within the reside setting.
Certainly, it was GFR’s relentless gigging that drove the gross sales of the album. Wherever the band performed, their album offered. In keeping with one reviewer, “Grand Funk played at the Fillmore East when their first album had only been out for three weeks. But, regardless of this, the audience was screaming out their favorite songs for the group to play.”
Making a template
A type of songs was “Heartbreaker,” the band’s third single, which was launched in early 1970 and likewise made the decrease reaches of the Billboard Scorching 100. With Farner’s bluesy guitar and his and Brewer’s concord vocals, it set a template for therefore many rock and steel bands that may break via because the Nineteen Seventies progressed.
Different standout tracks embody “Into The Sun,” which begins off in a mellow temper and transforms itself into hard-rock heaven over six and half minutes. Together with “Are You Ready,” it remained a staple a part of Grand Funk’s reside set for a few years. (You may hear why on the band’s Dwell album from a 12 months later.)
Chart-wise, their debut single, the bluesy “Time Machine,” got here out similtaneously the album. A month later, the only made the Billboard charts, making a sluggish regular climb as much as No.48. A number of weeks later, on October 11, On Time made the Billboard album chart, and it too made regular progress, finally peaking at No. 27 in late November.
On Time is just not with out its flaws, however like so many debut albums, it was pointing the best way ahead. GFR would grow to be one of many greatest bands in America over the primary half of the Nineteen Seventies, and that is the place it began.
