High Time (MC5 album)

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 bandmembers' 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.

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

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". 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."

Personnel