High Time (MC5 album)

High Time is the second and final studio album (third album overall) by the American rock band MC5, released in 1971 by Atlantic Records.

High Time
Studio album by
ReleasedJuly 6, 1971
RecordedSeptember–October 1970
StudioArtie Fields Studios, Detroit, United States; Lansdowne Studios and Pye Studios, London, England
GenreProto-punk, hard rock
Length41:56
LabelAtlantic
ProducerGeoffrey Haslam, MC5
MC5 chronology
Back in the USA
(1970)
High Time
(1971)
Teen Age Lust
(1996)

Production

High Time was co-produced by the band and Atlantic staff engineer Geoffrey Haslam.

Release

High Time was released on July 6, 1971, by Atlantic Records. Dave Marsh wrote in the liner notes to the 1992 reissue:

Sadly, High Time's 1971 release represented the end of the line for MC5. Hard drugs had entered the band members' lives, and within a year they'd split up, drifting off into various other configurations. At least two members wound up in federal prison on drug charges, and they never did reunite before the untimely death of Rob Tyner in mid-summer 1992.[1]

Although the band's debut album, Kick Out the Jams, had peaked at No. 30 on the Billboard 200 chart, their second album stalled at No. 137, and High Time fared even worse commercially.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Chicago Tribune[3]
Christgau's Record GuideB+[4]
Q[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[6]

High Time has been generally well received by critics.

Lenny Kaye, writing for Rolling Stone, called the album "the first record that comes close to telling the tale of their legendary reputation and attendant charisma".[7] In his retrospective review, Mark Deming of AllMusic called it "[MC5's] most accessible album, but still highly idiosyncratic and full of well-written, solidly played tunes. [...] while less stridently political than their other work, musically it's as uncompromising as anything they ever put to wax and would have given them much greater opportunities to subvert America's youth if the kids had ever had the chance to hear it."[7]

Track listing

Side A
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Sister Anne"Fred "Sonic" Smith7:23
2."Baby Won't Ya"Smith5:32
3."Miss X"Wayne Kramer5:08
4."Gotta Keep Movin'"Dennis Thompson3:24
Side B
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Future/Now"Rob Tyner6:21
2."Poison"Kramer3:24
3."Over and Over"Smith5:13
4."Skunk (Sonicly Speaking)"Smith5:31

Personnel

MC5
  • Michael Davis – bass, vocals, ka (track 7), production
  • Wayne Kramer – guitar, vocals, piano (tracks 2 and 3), production
  • Fred "Sonic" Smith – guitar, vocals, harmonica (track 1), organ (track 1), sandpaper (track 2), production, cover concept (as Frederico Smithelini)
  • Dennis Thompson – drums, vocals (track 1), tambourine (track 1, 2 and 7), reen (tracks 2, 5), tamboes (track 4), acme scraper (track 5), percussion (track 8), production
  • Rob Tyner – vocals, harmonica (track 1), maracas (track 1), rockas (track 2), castanets (track 6), conga (track 8), production, cover cartoon illustration
Additional personnel
  • Pete Kelly – piano on "Sister Anne"
  • Dan Bullock – trombone on "Skunk"
  • Ellis Dee – percussion on "Skunk"
  • Lil' Bobby Wayne Derminer – wizzer on "Future/Now"
  • Merlene Driscoll – vocals on "Sister Anne"
  • Rick Ferretti – trumpet on "Skunk"
  • Dave Heller – percussion on "Skunk"
  • Leon Henderson – tenor saxophone on "Skunk"
  • Joanne Hill – vocals on "Sister Anne"
  • Larry Horton – trombone on "Sister Anne"
  • Skip "Van Winkle" Knapé – organ on "Miss X"
  • Brenda Knight – vocals on "Sister Anne"
  • Kinki Le Pew – percussion on "Gotta Keep Movin"
  • Charles Moore – flugelhorn, vocals on "Sister Anne", trumpet, horn arrangement on "Skunk"
  • Dr. Dave Morgan – percussion on "Skunk"
  • Scott Morgan – percussion on "Skunk"
  • Butch O'Brien – bass drum on "Sister Anne"
  • David Oversteak – tuba on "Sister Anne"
  • Bob Seger – percussion on "Skunk"
Technical
  • Geoffrey Haslam – production, engineering
  • Mark Schulman - art direction
  • Francis Ing - cover photography

References

  1. Marsh, Dave (1992). High Time (liner notes). MC5. Rhino Records. R2 71034.
  2. Deming, Mark. "High Time – MC5". AllMusic. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  3. Kot, Greg (February 12, 1995). "Still Risky, Still Real". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
  4. Christgau, Robert (1981). "M". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor and Fields. ISBN 0-89919-026-X. Retrieved March 7, 2019 via robertchristgau.com.
  5. "MC5: High Time". Q. No. 82. July 1993. p. 110.
  6. Evans, Paul; Scoppa, Bud (2004). "MC5". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 528. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  7. Kaye, Lenny (September 2, 1971). "MC5: High Time". Rolling Stone. p. 43.
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