Lo-Fi Mojo: Rob Tyner Band, “Tutti Frutti”

After the MC5 fizzled out in a drug-addled puff of bad karma smoke–long before legions of music fans could make heads or tails of them, let alone put them in the rock pantheon, which they later did–the band’s members scattered to the four winds. Lead singer Rob Tyner re-emerged with a band briefly called “The New MC5,” a name with which he wasn’t very comfortable.

Soon rechristened The Rob Tyner Band, the group played here and there a few times, including a couple Detroit-area gigs captured on the hopelessly obscure but well-worth-the-chase Rock And Roll People. Just like MC5’s seminal “Kick Out The Jams,” these tracks a rough, live, and loaded with the same high-octane rock blast–and although they don’t have the same fire and brimstone of the Five’s double-barreled guitar attack that featured Wayne Kramer and Fred “Sonic” Smith, they are classics in their own right. Here’s the Rob Tyner band’s cover of “Tutti Frutti.” Do not play this song anywhere near an open flame; it’s pretty combustible stuff.