Shinin' On - GRAND FUNK***

Shinin' On/To Get Back In/The Loco-Motion/Carry Me Through/Please Me/My Pretty Boy/Gettin' Over You/Little Johnny Hooker

With Shinin’ On Grand Funk move away from their hard rock origins towards a more commercial pop sound. Features their incongruous cover of The Locomotion which topped the US singles chart. (US:5)

“I just could not get into this one. The previous album was pretty good but this is inconsistent and a little flat. There are a couple toe tappers and the funk is still there but the material is limited in quality. Why do a cover of Locomotion when the original is so much better.”

“Another Todd Rundgren production, Shinin' On is a mixed bag of good rock tunes with some surprises, such as the horn-filled To Get Back In and the Todd-like Carry Me Through. I like the overall sound and it sticks with me decades later.”

“This was Grand Funk's second album with producer extraordinaire Todd Rungren. He puts some spacey moments in and lots of echo, but it doesn't detract from what is, with one exception, a very strong set of rock songs. I'd buy this album for the title track alone.”

“The group moved farther away from the hard rock they started with, though they still managed to balance both it and their newer pop sound at certain points. Shinin' On, the title track, is probably one of their best.”

“While nothing from the Shinin' On album comes close to the incredible power and rocking energy of the title song with its fantastic rhythmic beats, I can't find anything to complain about either.”

“This album is clearly the close of a dynamic American rock giant. Grand Funk were moving in a different direction in their later albums compared to their hard hitting rock achievements of the past. This does not mean they got worse. They just strayed from the Grand Funk I preferred, becoming too commercialized for my taste.”

“Comparing this with all the previously released Grand Funk albums, you'll probably be shocked by the way it sounds and the direction Grand Funk chose to take their music. This is pretty much an obvious attempt to go commercial, though not really a necessary one since they were popular before this, but the band also probably wanted to fit in with the times.”