Grand Funk Railroad - Flight of the Phoenix / Footstompin Music - Drum Cover - The Drum Channel

Grand Funk Railroad: Mark Farner (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Don Bewer (vocals, drums); Mel Schacher (bass). Craig Frost (Keyboards) Recorded live at Madison Square Garden on December 23rd 1972.

Nothing gets the blood flowing on a Sunday morning like this song. I think the original video was captured off of someones TV set so the audio is not that good either. That makes it really hard to follow as well cause it speeds up and slows down a bit..

But look at their faces - they are all having such "a good time" that night.

I believe that this was also the night that their manager wanted to stop this show with a NYC sheriff due to the lawsuit that was between them!

This is a great video that captures them at the prime in a live environment. You hear Don in the background letting out his emotions every 10 seconds with a lot of "Yeah's"

If you watch the ending, Mark almost wipes out. Looks like he slipped on something. Might have been a banana peel or something. That would have sucked. Such a great performance only to end it with a wipe out. I hope I breathed a little life into this song and added some fidelity to a otherwise flat recording.

You can see a better quality version at thedrumchannel.net

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Grand
• Funk
• Railroad
• Mark
• Farner
• Don
• Brewer
• Mel
• Schacher
• madison
• Square
• Garden
• New
• York
• City
• Flight
• of
• the
• phoenix
• footstompin
• music
• drum
• channel
• terry
• knight

[hunnyluvs1]

This guy is amazing! I love it. I love your drum videos!!! Hey..why doesnt bass sound like that now It used to be played like an instrument, you know, and now its just "thud thud" wtf *frown* Actually that isnt my real question. My real question is in these old GFR films, the bass sounds orgasmic,the drum is also an instrument (not just dull inaudible underbeat) etc But NOW..everything sounds "thin". Besides being thud thus shit, music done in the last couple decades sounds "thin". Why is that?

[hunnyluvs1]

@hunnyluvs1 You know, because no one knows how to play music anymore. They need to listen to GFR and get a clue! (btw, I noticed EVEN MARK -and Don and Mel's imposter band (yikes)- sound "thin". So even the best songster I can think of (Farner. woo!) stopped insisting on great sound quality. Wow that disappoints. Could it just be microchip circuitry that causes this? Or is it just that when music becomes empty, it sounds it. :(

[TheDrumChannel]

@hunnyluvs1 Well I like your second sentence. And yes I do think that there is a certain amount of 70's technology that made that music sound like it does. Today they just try to replicate that sound. The whole Boston album was done on a primitive 8 or 16 track recorder (I forget which one) and just listen to that sound. It was made as ademo and when the record company heard it, they never re-recorded it. Just pressed it to a record. I also think that the engineer has a lot to do with it.

[TheDrumChannel]

@hunnyluvs1 Don't really know - maybe they had better drugs back then! I do hear you though. I think it first starts with playing from the heart, which of course these guys did. Even when I went to see Mark Don and Mel in Albany in 96', they sounded really good and tight but what I was really waiting for was that overdriven, balls to the walls sound that was their signature, and was a little dissapointed. Still was a great concert to see them all together.

[catblack2]

Don Brewer was the real deal. I can't think of anyone back then playing like he did. GFR was total energy, when power trio's really meant something. Don Brewer influenced many young drummers. Nice work. You smoked this track.

[TheDrumChannel]

@catblack2 Thank You - He was my teacher when I was 10 - I was hooked!

[castilloorlando1492]

APPLAUSE!!!!! THE NEW GFR: MARK, DON, MEL, CRAIG AND THIS GUY!!!

[ingwie1993]

That drummer loves his job - i can see it in his faaze :P

The song is very cool too!

[mysterj1]

Nailed it. I loved this medley...to me I always thought it would have been a great opener back when I was doing the cover band. I always thought if you like someone enough to cover their tunes that you ought to NAIL it...technique, tone, energy, etc. Not often I hear a drummer I think "damn, why can't all drummers do that?"

[chazsinger]

Nice job on the video edit and the drumming, but dammit, where's the naru shirt and fro'? lol