Primal Scream/MC5 - Black to Comm (CD x2/DVD)Woooah. When did this come out?
I egotistically pride myself on being the guy with his finger on the pulse and his ear to the ground, but this one past me by completely.
Only this morning while perusing the racks in FOPP I noticed the cheeky little bit of an M and a C peaking out from beneath a price tag, and along with the title of 'Black to Comm' it was enough to have me barrelling forward in eager anticipation to check out what I knew was an MC5 goody whose existence I had been previously ignorant off.
Turns out that it was the concert that they did with Primal Scream for the Meltdown Festival and here it was in all its cinematic glory.
Now that's a motherfuckin' double bonus right there. Primal Scream and MC5 doing their counter culture ramalama live on DVD .
The only problem was that at fifteen notes it was a bit pricey for my economically besieged pocket.
So with a bit of a heavy heart I left FOPP and resolved that as soon as I returned home I would be searching the net to see if I could manage to secure it for less bucks, and if I was unsuccessful I would steel myself for maybe having to wait until it started to pop up in sales.
The gods of serendipity were however shining on me because less than an hour later while perusing the shelves of the normally extortionate HMV my son found a box set version that featured the DVD, two CDs and a little booklet all neatly packaged like tiny vinyl albums for £15.99.
So all I'm going to say is that I've been a relatively good boy throughout 2011 and I think I deserved to buy it for myself.
The additional CD's and booklet were the tipping point and before you could say kick out the jams my wallet was in my hand and the young lady at the checkout was cashing it up.
Then with butterflies having what felt like seizures in my stomach at the thought of an outlay I really couldn't afford I started thinking that this might have been a rather unwise purchase.
Doubts started to crowd in.
Who was going to be singing with MC5/TDK.
I'd seen them perform a gig once and left with every expectation not just met, but instead surpassed, but then again different singers at different gigs is an unknown quantity and this really could be the worst of the worst.
Then there's Primal Scream. A band known for their excesses that I've seen a few times over the years to.
I've witnessed them tear roofs off and on one occasion I've seen then doing the shell shock shuffle and deliver a rock and roll show that your drunk uncle at a wedding would empathise with due to the equal amount of shit dancing on display.
Oh dear. What if this was the recording of both bands at their worst?
Thankfully as soon as I got home all my fears vanished.
Initially it's Primal Scream all the way.
They've got it going on.
Their mojo has just had a large syringe full of adrenaline stabbed right into its heart and the boys are up for it.
There's a cocky confidence that the band possess and unlike other acts who drag that 'stage persona' out as they play the rock start for the audience Primal Scream are indeed the coolest fuckers on the block and they can back it up.
It's pretty much a fearless performance where they unveil a clutch of then new songs mixed in with what Scream fans would call classics.
Even the most hardened and fanatical MC5 fan would appreciate the set and I doubt many would skip forward to their heroes, and instead would hang in there and soak up the whole gig as it was performed.
Once Primal Scream finish it's a smooth transition and there they are. Three of the Motor City Five are there.
The torch has been passed over and Wayne Kramer immediately takes the lead with 'Ramblin Rose' before then handing over the vocal duties to William DuVall (who is probably better known as the replacement for Layne Staley in Alice in Chains.) who as a guest replacement for the sadly missed Rob Tyner is perfection in a 'fro.
That man has the ability to put the sound of soul and fuck into rock.
This is the mighty MC5 reanimated.
It's not a run through of songs from yesteryear.
This is the fire relit and they're burning down the house.
By the time that the groove of 'Motor City is Burning' is being pushed out I'm blown away.
This is the sound of revolution rock and I love it.
In my tender years when I first heard the MC5 I struggled to accept that this was a band who were from the past.
I really couldn't wrap my head around it.
Now, in the present, I still think that they are a band out of time.
No era of music can hold them and the proof is on this.
After a full set there's what some people would consider obvious omissions on their part.
Where's 'I can only give you everything'? 'Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa'? Etc.
Never fear though as this is where Primal Scream reappear and take to the stage with the MC5 and it all becomes a double pronged attack of excellence where they play each others songs together and end the night with John Sinclair joining them on a cosmic jam of 'Black to Comm'
Jeeeez man. I'm worn out.
The only thing better that watching this would be to actually be there centre stage and sweating buckets to history being made in front of you.
As live DVDs go this is obscenely good.
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