Showing posts with label Ernie Cefalu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ernie Cefalu. Show all posts

November 15, 2020

20,000 vinyl LPs 252: Grand Funk Railroad ~ E Pluribus Funk

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GRAND FUNK Craig Frost, Mel Schacher, Don Brewer & Mark Farner - 1970
photo: RB/Redferns/Getty

 
On this date, in 1971, Grand Funk Railroad released their fifth studio album, E Pluribus Funk; that was almost fifty years ago. Again, it's time to say, WOW! With most albums, I have favorite songs, I don't with this one; each and every cut is a gem!       
 
This entry is part of my “Just the cover, ma’am” series (link below), which is a subsection of my "20,000 vinyl LPs" section, because the album cover IS the story; not a lot of words necessary. More info on the Net links below.       
 
The title is a play on the motto of the United States of America, E pluribus unum, and in latin means 'Out of Many, Funk'. The original release cover (designed by Ernie Cefalu) was completely round and covered with a silver-like film to resemble a large coin.
 

 cover design by Ernie Cefalu  
vinyl LP front cover
photo of album cover by Styrous®


 
 cover design by Ernie Cefalu  
vinyl LP front cover detail
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®
 
 
The back side of the cover of this album included a die cast picture of Shea Stadium to celebrate Grand Funk beating The Beatles' Shea Stadium attendance record by selling out in just 72 hours.          
 

 cover design by Ernie Cefalu  
vinyl LP back cover
photo of album cover by Styrous®

 
 cover design by Ernie Cefalu  
vinyl LP back cover detail
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®
 
 

Even the record sleeve is round . . .


 cover design by Ernie Cefalu  
vinyl LP record sleeve
photo of album cover by Styrous®


 cover design by Ernie Cefalu  
vinyl LP record sleeve detail
detail photo by Styrous®


 cover design by Ernie Cefalu  
vinyl LP record sleeve detail
detail photo by Styrous®




 cover design by Ernie Cefalu  
vinyl LP record, side 1
photo by Styrous®


 cover design by Ernie Cefalu  
vinyl LP record label, side 1
photo by Styrous®





 cover design by Ernie Cefalu  
vinyl LP record, side 2
photo by Styrous®


 cover design by Ernie Cefalu  
vinyl LP record label, side 2
photo by Styrous®

   
Tracklist:

Side 1:

A1 - Footstompin' Music - 3:45
A2 - People, Let's Stop The War - 5:13
A3 - Upsetter - 4:09
A4 - I Come Tumblin' - 5:42

Side 2:

B1 - Save The Land - 4:12
B2 - No Lies - 3:55
B3 - Loneliness, Arranged By, Conductor – Tom Baker* - 8:38

Companies, etc.

    Copyright (c) – Terry Knight Enterprises, Ltd.
    Published By – Storybook Music
    Engineered At – Cleveland Recording
    Manufactured By – Capitol Records, Inc.
    Pressed By – Capitol Records Pressing Plant, Winchester

Credits:

    Bass – Mel Schacher
    Design – CraigBraunInc.*
    Design Concept [Cover Concept], Producer [Recording Produced By] – Terry Knight
    Drums, Percussion, Vocals – Don Brewer
    Engineer [Cleveland Recording Co.] – Kenneth Hamann*
    Written-By, Guitar, Organ, Harmonica, Vocals – Mark Farner

Notes:

Circular jacket embossed cover in silver finish, with circular inner pictures record sleeve with lyrics.
RIAA-logo on lyrics sheet.

Printed in U.S.A.
Mfg. by Capitol Records, Inc.

All selections [...] © 1971 Storybook Music, BMI
Cover copyright © 1971 by Terry Knight Enterprises, Ltd.
 
Barcode and Other Identifiers

    Rights Society: BMI
    Pressing Plant ID (In runouts): ----◄
    Matrix / Runout (Etched side A, variant 1): SW-1-853-F37 ----◄
    Matrix / Runout (Etched side B, variant 1): SW-2-853-F27 ----◄
    Matrix / Runout (Etched side A, variant 2): SW-1-853-F23 #2 ----◄
    Matrix / Runout (Etched side B, variant 2): SW-2-853-F27 #5 ----◀︎
    Matrix / Runout (Etched side A, variant 3): SW-1-853-F22 2 ----◄
    Matrix / Runout (Etched side B, variant 3): SW-1-853-F23 ----◄
    Matrix / Runout (Etched side A, variant 4): SW-1-853-F33 ----◄
    Matrix / Runout (Etched side B, variant 4): SW-1-853-F22 ----◄
    Matrix / Runout (Etched side A, variant 5): SW-1-853-F23 ----◀︎
    Matrix / Runout (Etched side B, variant 5): SW-2-853-F-22 ----◀︎
    Matrix / Runout (Etched side A, variant 6): SW-1-853-F22 #3 ----◀︎
    Matrix / Runout (Etched side B, variant 6): SW-2-853-F23 2 ----◀︎
    Matrix / Runout (Etched side A, variant 7): SW-1-853-F22 #2 ----◄
    Matrix / Runout (Etched side B, variant 7): SW-2-853-F27 ----◄
    Matrix / Runout (Etched side A, variant 8): SW-1-853-F32 ----◄
    Matrix / Runout (Etched side B, variant 8): SW-2-853-F22 ----◄
    Matrix / Runout (Etched side A, variant 9): SW-1-853-F23 #2 ----◄
    Matrix / Runout (Etched side B, variant 9): SW-2-853-F23 ----◀︎   
         
Grand Funk Railroad ‎– E Pluribus Funk
Label: Capitol Records ‎– SW-853, Capitol Records ‎– SW 853
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo, Winchester Pressing
Country: US
Released: 17 Nov 1971
Genre: Rock
Style: Hard Rock, Funk
 
 
 
Viewfinder links:        
         
all things Beatles        
Grand Funk Railroad        
        
Net links:        
        
Grand Funk website        
        
YouTube links:        

E PLURIBUS FUNK  (Complete Album)       
Mark Farner - The Breakup of Grand Funk        
Worst Gig ~ "Nobody knows the band Grand Funk?"        
         
        
        
        
Styrous® ~ Sunday, November 15, 2020       
       
















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April 17, 2014

101 Reel-to-Reel Tapes 59: Alice Cooper ~ Muscle of Love










In addition to my 20,000 Vinyl LP collection I'm selling, I have reel-to-reel, pre-recorded tapes for sale as well (see links below). If interested, contact me by email please, not by a comment. 

~ ~ ~ 

Muscle of Love is the seventh studio album by Alice Cooper, which was released in 1973. It is the final studio album recorded by the original Alice Cooper band. Cooper stated in an interview at the time of recording that the album marked a return to a basic rock sound. "It's not complicated in any sense and there’s not a lot of theatricality on it. It's very basic rock & roll throughout."



Alice Cooper ~ Muscle of Love
reel-to-reel tape box
album design - Pacific Eye & Ear
photo of tape box by Styrous®



Woman Machine is a science fiction-themed song dating back to the band's early years and is, as Cooper explained, "basically a chauvinistic song. It's about a female robot, like Julie Newmar was on that TV program with Bob Cummings. If we had women robots, they could do anything, even sexual things, just by changing their tubes."



Alice Cooper ~ Muscle of Love
reel-to-reel tape box back
album design - Pacific Eye & Ear
photo of tape box by Styrous®



Never Been Sold Before is the retort of a prostitute to the man she is supporting, and, according to Cooper, the title track is about "sexual awakenings. It's about the kid who just learned how to masturbate, and what all those dirty books his father used to hide are all about."








Man With the Golden Gun was written with the intention of having it appear on the soundtrack of the then-upcoming James Bond film of the same name. Cooper recalled in a 2011 interview:
It was supposed to be the Bond theme, but it actually came in a day too late, and by the time they heard it, they’d already signed for Lulu's song. I went, "You're gonna take Lulu over this?" [Laughs.] 'Cause it was perfect for The Man With The Golden Gun. It had helicopters, it had machine guns—it had the Pointer Sisters, Ronnie Spector, and Liza Minnelli doing background vocals! We went to every single one of those John Barry albums to try and invent the perfect James Bond song, and even Christopher Lee, who played Scaramanga in the movie, said, "Oh, man, why did we take the Lulu song? This song is the one!" [Laughs.] So, yeah, we lost out on that one, but I still put it on the album. I said, "I don't care, I’m going to do a James Bond track no matter what."




Alice Cooper ~ Muscle of Love
reel-to-reel tape detail
detail photo by Styrous®




Muscle of Love received an uneven reception from critics. Writing in Rolling Stone, Lenny Kaye gave the album a mixed review, describing its content as "hit-or-miss" and believing that the group had lost focus with regard to its musical direction. Phonographic Record published a negative review and suggested that the group had been unable to overcome the loss of Ezrin. Creem, however, gave the album a positive review, calling it "a magnificent effort".

Although Muscle of Love went to #10 on the Billboard 200 and earned a respectable gold certification, it was considered something of a commercial disappointment in light of its predecessor Billion Dollar Babies having reached #1 and attaining platinum.




Alice Cooper ~ Muscle of Love
reel-to-reel tape label detail
detail photo by Styrous®


Track listing:

Side one:

1 - Big Apple Dreamin' (Hippo) (Alice Cooper, Glen Buxton, Michael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway, Neal Smith) - 5:10
2 - Never Been Sold Before (Cooper, Buxton, Bruce, Dunaway, Smith) - 4:28
3 - Hard Hearted Alice (Cooper, Bruce) - 4:53
4 - Crazy Little Child (Cooper, Bruce) - 5:03

Side two:

1 - Working Up a Sweat (Cooper, Bruce) - 3:32
2 - Muscle of Love (Cooper, Bruce) - 3:45
3 - Man with the Golden Gun (Cooper, Buxton, Bruce, Dunaway, Smith) - 4:12
4 - Teenage Lament '74 (Cooper, Smith) - 3:53
5 - Woman Machine (Cooper, Buxton, Bruce, Dunaway, Smith) - 4:31

Personnel:



Alice Cooper Muscle of Love reel-to-reel tape on eBay

reel-to-reel listings on eBay




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