MC5 — Back In The USA

• Artist: MC5
• Title: Back In The USA
• Year: 1970
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 8
• Owner: Tracy
• Acquired: 1987 ? – Another MC5 platter with mysterious origins. I’m pretty sure I got this one at Vinyl Solution in London. Which is way ironic…
• Keeper: Yes

This is the second record by MC5 and it was stunning in its restraint compared to the freaked out Kick Out The Jams. Of course I didn’t buy their records when they first came out but I did buy them in order. So, I was just as baffled as the original fans. That said, this album has grown on me over the years. It’s still high energy, and I’m tapping my foot as I type this, a good sign. Very catchy stuff for the most part. Roots rock/power pop/proto-punk if any of those make sense.

I’ve read that their third album was insane, more like the first, and that nobody listened. I’ve never heard it. I really need to start looking…

Read Leg McNeil’s Please Kill Me for some funny background on MC5.