OK, an obscure question for Old Farts and I don't expect many replies:
Anybody know what Mark Farner used back in the day? I was listening to a 60's/70's show recently and they played "Paranoid" (first album?) Anyway, the fuzz n' wah on that record is just about the nastiest shit I've ever heard. GFR always got panned by the critics but I dug 'em hard. Any clues?
<ken>
Posted
I always loved Mark Farner. I saw GFR in 1972 in Chicago. They opened with a shirtless Mark Farner, guitar slung behind his back, jamming on an electric organ, doing Footstompin' Music. I FREAKED! My band back then did Inside Looking Out, Are You Ready, Into the Sun, I'm Your Captain, Heartbreaker, Got This Thing On The Move, Feelin' Alright, Gimme Shelter, Rock and Roll Soul.
Dude, you really brought back the memories. I never knew what gear he used.
<Corleone>
Posted
Footstompin' Music is still the coolest; It should have it's own genre, "Gospel Rock Fusion". By the end of that tune I'm so pumped it feels like my heart's gonna jump outta my chest!
I wish they'd reissue GFR's entire catalog on CD; I'd especially like to have Phoenix.
Another band from that era that really laid down the law was Rare Earth.
<gfr>
Posted
i believe farner used a guitar w/a built in fuzz called an intruder. i believe they used MI made amps. wall or wahl maybe?
<pink floydian>
Posted
The Dunlop Jimi Hendrix "octave fuzz" sounds close to some of the parts Mark played on "in side lookin out". Cool song, even though it was made before I was born!
quote:Originally posted by Corleone: OK, an obscure question for Old Farts and I don't expect many replies:
Anybody know what Mark Farner used back in the day? I was listening to a 60's/70's show recently and they played "Paranoid" (first album?) Anyway, the fuzz n' wah on that record is just about the nastiest shit I've ever heard. GFR always got panned by the critics but I dug 'em hard. Any clues?
The fuzz was built into his Messenger guitar...he used West amps with 15" speakers too.
Cool, thanks Carl. I'm unfamiliar with that gear - Is the Messenger the guitar that Farner was always pictured with that had no cutaways?
BTW, I just learned that "Phoenix" and "Shinin' On" are available as import CD's. I hate paying import prices, but might have to give in in this case. The vinyl copies are long gone.
Posts: 3458 | Location: Atlanta, Ga | Registered: December 25, 2001
quote:Originally posted by Corleone: Cool, thanks Carl. I'm unfamiliar with that gear - Is the Messenger the guitar that Farner was always pictured with that had no cutaways?
BTW, I just learned that "Phoenix" and "Shinin' On" are available as import CD's. I hate paying import prices, but might have to give in in this case. The vinyl copies are long gone.
Yes, with the F-holes taped up. He later changed guitars and didn't use fuzz anymore. I got some of the remastered cds...good stuff.
I live about 25 minutes outside of Flint, MI so the ghost of Grand Funk is all around me. There's a road in the city that goes underneath a railroad bridge that has graffiti all over it and the biggest one says GRAND FUNK. I can only imagine how old that one is. Also, I was caught at a railroad crossing last summer and some one had changed Grand Trunk, to Grand Funk on the side of one of the rail cars.
Ya, and seeing how many railways there are in Flint it's no wonder. Used to be a huge manufacturing city "back in the day" now it's a shit hole ghetto.
I saw GF in Spokane, WA in --let me see--it must have been '73 or '74. "Wet Willie" (remember them?) opened for them and (even for me) they were LOUD inside that old coliseum.
Didn't the Messenger also have a wireless system built in?
Posts: 5 | Location: Las Vegas, Nevada | Registered: December 02, 2002
Ah yes, Wet Willie... Drippin' Wet Live was a textbook record for me. Ricky Hirsch is a highly overlooked player, very tasty, great parts, nice tone, could rip n' burn when the time was right.
Posts: 3458 | Location: Atlanta, Ga | Registered: December 25, 2001
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