New Monday #87
Happy Monday!
Back to that plane in 1975: the best song, or maybe my favorite song, was by Grand Funk Railroad. Bad Time.
I'm in love with the girl that I'm talking about
I'm in love with the girl I can't live without
I'm in love but I sure picked a bad time
To be in love...
Grand Funk Railroad, also known as Grand Funk, was incredibly popular in the 70s, selling out Shea Stadium in 72 hours (faster than The Beatles) and racking up singles and hit albums. Bad Time was their last time in the top ten, hitting #4. But it is certified by BMI as the song most played on the radio in 1975. Grand Funk spent the remainder of the 70s slowly falling apart, then the 80s reforming, breaking up again, reforming again, suing each other, finding god, suing each other some more—all the clichés of the industry. It’s a sad legacy for a bunch of guys from Flint, Michigan, who started out as friends.
Well, let her be somebody else's queen
I don't want to know about it
There's too many others that know what I mean
And that's why I got to live without it
Writer, lead singer and guitarist Mark Farner wrote Bad Time sitting in his kitchen while his soon-to-be ex-wife was throwing pots and pans around, and threatening to kill him.
It was recorded at Farner’s studio, The Swamp, on his farm in Parshallville, Michigan. By this time, Grand Funk was a four-piece—they added keyboard player Craig Frost to the original core of Farner, drummer Don Brewer (writing and singer of We’re an American Band) and bassist Mel Schacher. It was produced by Jimmy Ienner (Three Dog Night, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Dirty Dancing) and engineered by Shelly Yakus (Everyone. Seriously. The Band, John Lennon, Madonna, Van Morrison, Tom Petty. He’s like another Al Schmitt. Quick interview here.)
The Swamp was less than an hour outside of Detroit. I can’t find a gear list or a contemporary picture, but if Todd Rundgren and Shelly Yakus were cutting records there, it was state-of-the-art for the time. Grand Funk was making loot; there’s no way they’d be skimping on the studio.
Regardless of the gear, Bad Time is grainy, saturated, and indistinct. The middle and after the solo are a haze of distortion. My best guess—and if someone knows more, please correct me—is that this was a 16-track, and they bounced things together to make room for the string section, resulting in a build-up of gunk across the record. There’s a lovely, loose string arrangement by Tony Camillo, who did a lot of things for Motown, hence he knew the area, but by 1972 was working out of his own studio, Venture Sound, in New Jersey. Tony Bongiovi (The Power Station) was also an owner. Did they cut the strings in New Jersey? Did they fly Camillo out to Detroit?
At any rate, who cares about the recording quality when the song is this good. Bad Time is as hooky as a tackle box. A great song, with great vocals and playing.
Why hasn’t someone covered this, other than The Jayhawks. They totally miss the feel of the original. Grand Funk had a FUNK to it.
Bad Time
Here’s what I’m hearing:
Drums: they sound individually mic’d with no room, and they’re panned to not quite mono, but close. Don Brewer has a great feel. He does this signature fill on this song—two splashes on a hi-hat as he chokes it down. Some drummers do every fill they know on every song. The best drummers do variations on one type of fill, and then, at some moment, do something different to catch your ear. That’s Don Brewer on Bad Time. Listen for the consistency of the fills—they’re a part, not an afterthought.
Bass: Big and fuzzy. Mel used a Fender Jazz bass with a Gibson humbucker in it. It looks like he’s playing with a pick, but it doesn’t sound like it because he used his index finger and thumb pinched together. This sounds like a tube amp mic’ed up. His playing is tasty and feels great. There’s just enough movement, with interesting lines and always right on the drummer.
Keys: There’s a Fender Rhodes sounding electric piano to the right, a Hammond organ to the left, and a piano somewhat center playing a riff that complements the vocals on the chorus. There might be a mellotron in there as well, off to the left, but it is hard to tell. Could be strings or just a lot of overtones.
Strings: I can’t be sure, but it sounds like a small ensemble overdubbed. Maybe a cello, a viola, and two violins? Seems individually mic'd. I don't get a sense that The Swamp had a good sounding live room. The strings are more to the right than the left, probably to keep them out of the way of the organ. Great, almost casual arrangement but unfortunately hard to hear.
Guitars: Sounds like a semi-hollow electric doing the opening strums. It switches to a kind of funky pattern, and what sounds like an overdub of the same guitar/amp combination comes in over the electric piano playing a very similar part to it. You can think of one guitar and the organ playing locked together, and the other and the electric piano locked together. A good way to conceptualize rhythm parts on a record.
Farner has always used off-the-beaten-track guitars. These days, he plays a Parker Fly. On early Grand Funk records he used a Musicraft Messenger, which was semi-hollow with an aluminum neck, no cutaways and a built-in fuzzbox. A very odd guitar. By 1975, he was playing an all-aluminum Valeno. Hollow body, made from aluminum, with an aluminum neck. I love this live video of We’re an American Band from 1975. Oh, to march around shirtless like Mark Farner in platform shoes and satin pants, playing a Valeno! So darn goofy yet cool.
And there’s that solo. It’s melodic and iconic, like almost all the solos he plays. He's not the greatest guitarist ever, but damn, he's memorable. There’s a wonderful moment at about 2:08 where Don Brewer plays a drum figure that matches the rhythm of the guitar part. It sounds like they worked it out beforehand, but who cares? We need more stuff like that.
After the solo, Bad Time swells to an emotional high point. The strings pick up in volume triumphantly, the solo guitar weaves in and out, Don Brewer smashes the bell on his ride, and it sounds like everything is going along great, until it sinks into the realization that it’s a bad time to be in love. The song ends on a hushed minor.
Vocals: The dude could sing. The lead vocal is down the center, and it sounds like he’s overloading something on the high notes. I hear two harmony parts over to the left, and on the choruses, two octave up (falsetto) harmonies on the right. I think Mark Farner is singing every vocal. Sounds like one guy.
His breath control is phenomenal. I imagine they could have punched him in through the pre-chorus, or hocketed the vocal on two tracks, but listen and you tell me if you can hear a breath or a punch? Sing along. Where is he breathing???
I'm in love with the girl I'm talking about
I'm in love with the girl I can't live without
I'm in love but I feel like I'm wearin' it out
I'm in love but I must have picked a bad time to be in love
A bad time to be in love
Farner is very underrated as a singer. He’s distinctive, emotional, on pitch, with a beautiful tone, especially in his upper range. Bad Time was on their album All the Girls in the World Beware. On that song, you can hear how good the band was, and Farner’s killer voice. Of course, we’ll have to talk about these lyrics later, Mark...
I got tarter on my teeth, but I don't care.
I got dark brown stains, in my underwear.
I'm a crumb and a bum, I'm a slouch and a louse.
A crazy man who don't give a damn about his self.
Hmmm... gives you an idea as to why his wife wanted to kill him with a frying pan. Mark found god in the late 80s. He toured with Ringo and His All-Stars. He still tours as Mark Farner’s American Band. And he still gets sued by Don Brewer, who owns the name Grand Funk Railroad.
Just this one song today. Happy Monday. It’s never a bad time for music.
Warm regards,
Luke