MC5 were the original proto-punkers who led the charge against wafty hippy music in the late Sixties and early Seventies. They were touted by Lemmy as the blueprint for Motörhead’s early sound and their initial release Kick Out the Jams arguably deserves the title of greatest live rock album ever recorded.
However, they fell apart after only three long-players in a mess of hard drugs and bad business decisions. That might have been that, save for the odd heritage tour from the Nineties onwards, which featured fewer and fewer of the original members as their health failed, sometimes fatally. However, over 50 years since the release of High Times, their final official album, comes Heavy Lifting.
More of a solo album by guitarist Wayne Kramer (even though drummer Dennis “Machine Gun” Thompson appears on a couple of tracks) with guest spots by an army of famous friends from Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello to Slash and Alice in Chain’s William Duvall, than an authentic MC5 release, it still has its moments. “Boys who Play with Matches” is scuzzy and sweaty rock’n’roll with sharp guitars and a stomping groove, while “The Edge of the Switchblade” is an energetic up-tempo boogie and the title track is shot through with adrenaline and testosterone. However, Heavy Lifting runs out of steam and inspiration long before the end and “Because of your Car” feels slight and one-dimensional, while “Blind Eye” veers far too close to commercial American Rawk for its own good.
Much like the Stooges’ 2007 reformation album The Weirdness, Heavy Lifting will no doubt pique the curiosity of many an old punk – especially as both Wayne Kramer and Dennis Thompson have slipped off this mortal coil since its recording. To tell the truth though, it’s little more than a footnote in the history of a band that were real game changers in their time.
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