MC5

“The Motor City Five”

So Rhino, the reissue arm of the Warner/Elektra/Atlantic labels, started a new reissue platform called Run Out Groove. They throw up three possible releases on their website and the public gets to vote which one of those three they want to see made available for purchase. One the votes are tallied and a winner is declared, they make the title available for pre-order. Every copy is numbered and after the month-long sales period is done, the number of copies sold is tallied and that’s how many copies of the title are pressed. The LP is available both to stores and to individuals.

While I feel like the idea is somewhat indebted to the Vault (which itself is vaguely indebted to the Sub Pop Singles club), I have to give a major label credit for a limited impact idea that won’t bring home millions but will engage record collectors and catalog that otherwise would probably be deemed not worth the time/effort. WE NEED MORE OF THIS.

Judging the audio on this is like comparing different forms of tap water. The soul of these songs feels so ingrained in my DNA that it just IS. I don’t think I could ever hear these songs any better, but I would definitely know if they were worse. The audio feels on par for what I would expect. Nothing mind-blowing.

I did notice, for the first time ever, the cribbing of lyrics from the Animals “Baby Let Me Take You Home” (which is simultaneously listed as a cover of the song “Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand" by Hoagy Lands and an adaptation of Dylan’s “Baby Let Me Follow You Down” so…uh, me confused) in the MC5’s “Baby Won’t Ya” and realized I never really spent that much time with their “High Time” album.

I am compelled by the silver foil jackets (damn hard to photograph) while the clear/red/blue vinyl color way leaves something to be desired. The Elektra label on side A and the Atlantic label on side B was a clever touch which also coincides with the material featured on each side. The liner notes are basic basic basic and I have a minimum of two fact-check issues with them. Full-color scans of the original reel-to-reel tape boxes is a nice treat I am surprised has not be utilized previously on this material.

(Side note: yeah, i know “I Can Only Give You Everything” and “Looking at You” weren’t released on Elektra, and yeah, there’s no mention of how/where those titles were licensed and there’s no mention of any publishing company ANYWHERE on the artwork and I’d imagine someone like Rhino would be on top of that shit, but…I guess not?)

Essential? Far from it. Cool? Sure. Happy to support the cause? Absolutely.

Visit here to vote for the next possible ROG title (The Stooges?!?!?!)

LISTEN ON SPOTIFY HERE.