Ascension - Live 20th Sept 1973, Detroit MI - MC5 / Sonic's Rendezvous Band
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- Опубликовано: 15 сен 2024
- Ascension
Heaven Club (Bowling Alley)
Detroit, MI
20th Sept 1973
Fred "Sonic" Smith - Guitar / Vocals
Dennis "Machine Gun" Thompson - Drums
Michael Davis - Vocals / Keys
John Hefti - Bass
01:00 Summer Cannibals
05:30 Get Ready
14:11 Vulva
22:35 You Make Me Happy Now (aka Heaven / Mean So Much)
**Shakin' Street - Missing from this tape**
31:50 Undertow
43:43 The Way You Move (aka Gotta Keep Movin')
The MC5 split on 31st Dec 1972 and Ascension was formed in the months after. This is supposedly the only recording in exsistence. I had this on CDR for years and decided to upload here as it's seemingly impossible to find. There is another version of this tape (I believe no better quality) with Ascension doing the MC5's Shakin' Street but it cuts out part way through and is heavily distorted - so I'm told - I've never heard it. This gig tape cuts out at the last song so if anyone has the rest (or better quality) then I'd appreciate a copy. There was lots of tape hiss which I've managed to reduce ever so slightly. There's also a lot of chat/tuning between the songs so you might want to make use of the time stamps. I've seen different song titles being used also... the last song is titled "Gotta Keep Movin'" on the bootleg - I find this highly unlikely given that it's an MC5 title written by MC5 drummer Dennis Thompson and these are two different songs entirely. Fred Smith would take this song with him to SRB and it was titled "The Way You Move" - so I'm going with that. Corrections welcome. Enjoy :)
Here's all the info I can find on Ascension.
From the Noise Addiction blog:
noiseaddiction....
From the I-94 Bar:
www.i94bar.com/...
From Head Heritage blog:
www.headherita...
From Detroit Rock authority Ken Shimamoto's blog:
stashdauber.bl...
This IS an incredible, rare treat. I was Ascension's first manager; I wasn't very good, the band was, as testimony here, GREAT. Hadn't known such a good recording existed (esp. of Fred's guitar). Fred "Sonic" Smith on guitar, Dennis Thompson (MGT) drums, Mike Davis on vocals and piano, and I think a guy named John Yarkers on bass.
wish more recordings exist!!!! i love the fact they kept playing so much
Fred Smith was a genius in that band gone way to early. I actually didn't know about this music from the remaining members of mc5. Saw them at tartar filed in 1970 epitome of detroit hard rock scene
In the fall of 1981 I moved back to MD from Ann Arbor which was suffering from recession like all SE MI. I got a job at a local chain record store called Harmony Hut managing the guitar department at the Columbia Mall store. One day I was talking with a customer about just moving back to the area from Ann Arbor. The conversation shifted to bands from Detroit and A2 and at some point I looked at this fellow and said now you are going to tell me you were a roadie for the MC5. Which is exactly what he proceeded to confirm. Turned out this cat was Kevin N. who I got to know a bit and actually played out with him a time or two. Essentially he did road work for the 5 from about the time they were separating from Sinclair til the post breakup when the MC3 (Smith, Thompson, Davis on Wurlitzer electric piano and John Hefti on bass) would keep going and ascend from the ashes of the MC5. Kevin was full of all sorts of tales like the MC5 showing up at the Sinclair commune to get gigs from "the fat man" and surprising JS in the shower enjoying the company of his secretary. Come to learn that KN had an open reel recording of what he called the MC5's last gig, perhaps better called Ascension's last gig. The reason for the recording was to have something for another drummer to learn tunes as Thompson was getting a gig with a country band-steadier work? Kevin thought there was some sort of problem with the tape, which he retained due to some sort of nonpayment for services issue. Since I was and am a total MC5 and Sonic Smith freak from when KOTJ got airplay on WHMC-AM in Maryland (Barry Richards progressive rock format), I recruited my friend Gabor and his Sony open reel deck and we headed to Columbia from Rockville to hear and dub the tape. Turned out parts of "Shakin' Street" had some sort of overload distortion but otherwise the stereo tape was OK. So we dubbed it onto a cassette. The gig was at some sort of teen club/no alcohol served night but the band brought their own, a faux pas and played loud enough to knock stuff off the shelves. Hence some of the dialogue and audience interchange and turned down parts. In general KN described Ascension as hard rehearsing upstairs at maybe MD's mom's house IIRC but always trying to recapture the peak experiences of the MC5 days with certain assistance so to speak. I always thought of this recording as the MC5 version of Metallic KO. Some great stuff but also very sad. Killer drums from DT and cool tunes but Davis was overmatched by volume and loses his voice. I kept this tape to myself til Fred died but shared it with a few folk including W Kramer when he played Dobbs in Philadelphia and mailed a copy to a St. Clair Shores address I got from Scott Morgan. Got the bum's rush from Studio 4 in Philly when I tried to ask Patti Smith if she ever got the tape. Summer Cannibals did show up on one of her records.
P.S. Most of the spoken word stuff on this is Mike Davis. He once told me the last "When You Move" song was about the relationship/energy feedback loop between the band and it's audience.
According to Kevin N., "Wee Wee Hours" was Fred Smith's favorite Chuck Berry tune.
incredible!!! i am standing steps away from Dobbs in philly as we speak. great story. long live fred smith, kramer and the 5 !!!
WOW! as a Native Detroiter and musician, this is a fucking rare treat!
amazing
Holy moly! That Cannibals song was taken with Dennis over to The New Order and became Rock and Roll Soldiers. Amazing.
amazing!!
Thats's true with different lyrics
Fantastic ! Thanks for posting , there's even the first ever early version of Rock''n' Roll Soldiers with different lyrics that would be recorded by the New Order in 1975 with Ron Asheton and Machine Gun .
Huge thanks from the UK! Detroit makes the best music!
As a lifelong Detroiter, I have to agree. It's like put up your best & Kick Out The Jams!
I saw Sonic's Rendezvous Band probably 35:times & they tore it up big time. Fred seems to be playing a little freer.
Not too bad yourself! ;)
Imagine going to a bowling alley and hearing these legends just jamming on a song like undertow.
I grew up in detroit in the 60s and 70s. U could go see a concert like that rare earth mc5 u name it the Amboy dukes. At any high school auditorium on
fuk yea
I am Detroit scene maniac,somehow,i missed this band. Shame on me
Thank YOU for sharing this piece of Detroit rock and roll history It is a true showing of what could have been after the demise of the MC5,
Fred "Sonic" Smith is genius, his guitar line is always beautiful. He is my hero. Thank you uploader...!
I've finding a long time Ascension's music.
Love it
All My Heroes are Gone..
Fred being at the top of that list, along with Ron Asheton. Another unsung Hero.
Summer Cannibals... Rock n Roll Soldiers?
yes with different lyrics
So great and wondeful ! It rocks so hard. A great thanks 🎸
14:11 WOW
Thank so much
Thank you.
thanks you very very much
Nice. Muchas gracias.
get ready: starts out like kinks i really got you babe. then turns into a street brawl between the stooges and Lesley west mountain. holy shit. i think i need a smoke!
This is some snifty jamming here. I like this a lot.
Thank you so much
That's when the Party starts 😅😎
I am interested in purchasing a copy of this recording. Greetings from Motor City.
They're all gone
How you doin Rob
anybody know what guitar his playing? i think song was undertow. really reminds me of savoy Brown album outside looking in. they were in Detroit slot back then. Eastown theater
He was known for playing a Rickenbacker 450 with PAF pickups. He also played a Mosrite among others.
@@waterfordrs22 his Rickenbacker had hand wound Hot Pickups on it. It sounded great. I have short fingers, I couldn't play that beast.
undertow starts out sounding abit like robin tower? then turns into Savoy brown. niccee
Remind me of Peter Green.
What you gotta be outta here by midnight or somethin
Relax! We’ve got all night!
@@evanabbott2737 hell yea \m/
Fred could be quite a smart ass. It's kinda cool though. From what a woman I know from Ypsilanti told me after I posted this, it was mostly their friends. Word of mouth gig. Sometimes you hit and sometimes you don't. My band had a gig in the 90's in Monroe which is halfway to Ohio. We show up to play and there's a huge buffet set up on the stage. There was about 200 Softball league girls there. After they moved everything we set up and was one of the best gigs I ever played.
this oughta be released @!!@@
Somebody contact Easy Action Records, the main outlet for Fred Smith product.
@@warenkall do they have this tape source?
Maybe not, but I'm sure it can't be hard to copy this for those with any technical know how, which I'm sure they possess.
I really doubt Easy Action would release this,mainly because of the quality & the mix. Supposedly Jackson Smith has boxes of Sonic's Rendezvous Band Gigs & basement recordings,but there was so much arguing about the stuff that was released within the different camps of estates & the remaining alive band members,I think he said screw it. I had some great bootlegs on cassette but were pretty thin in sound on Bass & Drums.
@@revwahfair I bet Jackson has a whole unreleased album if not more!!
👍👍💪🔥🇵🇱👏🙏
They don't know Stairway to Heaven, then promptly launch into a rockified version of a Motown Classic ❤
Total badasses