High Time (MC5 album)

Last updated

High Time
HighTimeMC5.jpg
Studio album by
MC5
ReleasedJuly 6, 1971
RecordedSeptember–October 1970
Studio
Genre
Length41:56
Label Atlantic
Producer Geoffrey Haslam, MC5
MC5 chronology
Back in the USA
(1970)
High Time
(1971)
Babes in Arms
(1983)

High Time is the second studio album by American rock band MC5, released on July 6, 1971, by Atlantic Records.

Contents

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.[ clarification needed ]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]
Chicago Tribune Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [3]
Christgau's Record Guide B+ [4]
Q Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [6]
Tom Hull – on the Web B+ ( Five Pointed Star Solid.svg Five Pointed Star Solid.svg Five Pointed Star Solid.svg ) [7]

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". [8] 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." [8]

Track listing

Side A
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Sister Anne" Fred "Sonic" Smith 7:23
2."Baby Won't Ya"Smith5:32
3."Miss X" Wayne Kramer 5:08
4."Gotta Keep Movin'" Dennis Thompson 3:24
Side B
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Future/Now" Rob Tyner 6:21
2."Poison"Kramer3:24
3."Over and Over"Smith5:13
4."Skunk (Sonicly Speaking)"Smith5:31

Personnel

MC5
Additional personnel
Technical

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. Hull, Tom (June 22, 2021). "Music Week". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  8. 1 2 Kaye, Lenny (September 2, 1971). "MC5: High Time". Rolling Stone . p. 43.