Arguably the world’s first punk band, Detroit’s MC5 burned incandescently across three albums in the late 60s and early 70s before imploding. With three of the classic lineup long dead, it had been left to guitarist Wayne Kramer to carry the flame, and this first MC5 album since 1971’s High Time is in effect a solo album, although original drummer Dennis “Machine Gun” Thompson appears on two tracks, alongside heavyweight guests such as Slash and Tom Morello. But with both Kramer and Thompson having died earlier this year, there’s more than a touch of poignancy to Heavy Lifting’s funk-imbued hard rock.
In truth, it’s a mixed bag: Can’t Be Found (featuring Thompson) successfully recalls past glories, while Hit It Hard is deliciously funky. Less welcome is the generic rock yelping of William DuVall on The Edge of the Switchblade. Still, the overt embrace of radical politics remains: Barbarians at the Gate was written in reaction to the January 2021 attempt by Trump supporters to storm the Capitol; the smouldering Change, No Change, meanwhile, acts as a call to arms (“No hail of bullets gonna make us crawl”). It’s not Brother Wayne’s crowning glory, but still makes for an enjoyable coda.
