Back In the USA

MC5's second album is in many regards their best and most influential, its lean, edgy sound anticipating the emergence of both the punk and power-pop movements to follow later in the decade. Equally gripping is the record's singular sound — produced by Jon Landau with an almost complete disregard for the bottom end, Back in the U.S.A. captures a live-wire intensity 180 degrees removed from the group's live sound yet perfectly suited to the material at hand, resulting in music which not only salutes the power of rock & roll but also reaffirms it.