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 MC5
Released	July 6, 1971
Recorded	September–October 1970
Studio	Artie Fields Studios, Detroit, United States; Lansdowne Studios and Pye Studios, London, England
Genre	Proto-punk, hard rock
Length	41:56
Label	Atlantic
Producer	Geoffrey 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
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Christgau's Record Guide	B+[3]
Rolling Stone	(mixed)[4]

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".[4] 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."[2]

Track listing

Side A

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Sister Anne"	Fred "Sonic" Smith	7:23
2.	"Baby Won't Ya"	Smith	5:32
3.	"Miss X"	Wayne Kramer	5:08
4.	"Gotta Keep Movin'"	Dennis Thompson	3:24

Side B

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Future/Now"	Rob Tyner	6:21
2.	"Poison"	Kramer	3:24
3.	"Over and Over"	Smith	5:13
4.	"Skunk (Sonicly Speaking)"	Smith	5:31

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). Rhino Records. R2 71034.
2. Deming, Mark. "High Time – MC5 | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
3. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: M". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 7, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
4. Kaye, Lenny (September 2, 1971). "[High Time review]". Rolling Stone.

External links

• High Time at Discogs (list of releases)