David Sprague and Ira Robbins wrote in Trouser Press that the album "careens from free-jazz-backed spoken word to bug-eyed metal in a manner every bit as fierce and feral as Kramer's golden age." Entertainment Weekly 's Mike Flaherty was less favorable, describing the album as "a bombastic album dominated by tales of ’90s-style sociopolitical decay" and giving it a C+.
the Hard Stuff shows to be in full command of his jam-kicking facilities," while praising the album's "vital rawness". Critical reception Professional ratings Review scores The band Claw Hammer backs up Kramer on most songs, with featured guest appearances by members of Bad Religion, the Melvins, and Suicidal Tendencies.
It was released on Januby Epitaph Records. Phone orders min p&p of £1.The Hard Stuff is the solo debut album by American musician Wayne Kramer, best known as a guitarist with the 1960s group MC5. Free UK p&p over £10, online orders only. To order a copy for £12.74 go to or call 03. The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5 and My Life of Impossibilities by Wayne Kramer is published by Faber Social (£14.99). The self-portrait that emerges here is of an intelligent man of no little principle, slugging it out with his inner thug, losing battle after battle before finally, painfully, winning back both career and respect. This journey through the hard stuff is admirably hard on Kramer himself. There are many cameos here, not least fellow Detroit musician Ted Nugent, an ardent rightwinger, who is one of this committed progressive’s buddies. The music industry grew tired of the band’s uncommercial stance and ungovernable antics.Ĭue Kramer, the bitter self-saboteur, a man whose desperation and bendy ethics conspired to trash his reputation, derail his life and disappoint his mother. Their manager John Sinclair, leader of the White Panther party, was jailed. Best known for their insurrectionist rallying cry, Kick Out the Jams, Detroit’s incandescent Motor City Five released three albums on the 60s-70s cusp, inspiring many, before imploding miserably. He’s a fascinating bunch of guys: a seeker, a musician’s musician, a straight-talking, working-class midwesterner who figured out early on that the police were lawless and the land of the free was racist, sexist and opposed to mind-expansion. “Brother Wayne” has a front-row seat on the carnage of the 60s, New York’s Lower East Side in the 70s, the ongoing perfidies of the music business, the inhumanity of the war on drugs, and, finally, therapy.
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