Search - Mark Farner & the Rock Patriot :: For the People

Mark Back In The Songwriting Seat.....

Hal C. Robertson | 08/17/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Mark Farner's career has seen alot of changes since he got his start doing the sock hops in Genesee county Michigan back in the mid 60's......Grow your hair out to the waist, play an odd looking guitar and turn it up to 10.....This was the philosophy of the then Grand Funk Railroad in 1969 and boy did it work.....Play 3 chords, write a few words that make some since and get down to your noise on stage and people bought it, hook, line and sinker...But in reflection, it was cool...It was fun, and Grand Funk was the biggest thing in the world in 2 short years...The early albums were sparse in production, but were innocent in it's approach and worked as performance vehicles for their live show; the very reason for the band's popularity in the 1st place. Mark, Don & Mel's simple but sledgehammer stylings stole alot of limelight from from the rock establishment at the time of the pop festival era, and the elitist groups along with stuck up journalists just couldn't believe what was happening....



Farner's approach matured as he became more intuned with his songwriting and less with being a rock star...this is greatly evident the day the 3 piece band kicked Terry Knight's sorry butt out of the management fold and things really started happening....Songs were better constructed, more in depth thought into lyrics, and hooks for better radio airplay...And even though the band helped as a whole in development of the songs, the idea guy was always Mark Farner. "We're An American Band" might be Don Brewer's original idea, but it had Farner's stamp all over it and you can hear it....



When GFR could not reconcile it's differences in 1976, Mark went his own way and produce 2 albums that could have very well been Grand Funk albums: MARK FARNER & NO FRILLS. This told you everything here..Mark Farner was the soul behind Grand Funk Railroad...and nothing has changed.



His Christian era catalog was more in depth with the man's stuggling and searching heart and there was some great forceful rock tunes with the same hooky lyrics that draw you in and make you look closer.



Now with FOR THE PEOPLE, full circle might be a reasonable phrase to use for Mark and his band, but with a little more subtle style, but still powerful in its approach. His band "NrG" is more akind to the early 3 piece GFR and really connects live. The songs are well written, some a bit profain toward Mark's personal and political views (which might take the Christian era fans to task). But the guitar work is up to task showing a maturity that might have lacked in 1969, but creative and rousing.



It's been awhile since the last officially sanctioned Mark Farner studio album, but if this is considered a "come back" album, then keep it coming, Mark!



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