MC5 Kick Out the Jams

To be sure, Detroit's MC5 were some bad mofos. With their hard-edged take on psychedelia, radical politics and personal liberation, the Five's cultural vibrations were so profound they're still being felt today. Conceptual artist and Destroy All Monsters co-founder Cary Loren has assembled rare late-1960s film footage of the band shot by Leni Sinclair into a swirling psychedelic art piece. This film features much never-before-seen footage of the MC5 during the peak of the band's creativity, with audio performances selected to complement the visuals. The result is an exploding kaleidoscopic mind-trip filled with sparkling surrealism that cuts to the heart of the musical-mystical-political-chemical nexus of the MC5 experience (which Norman Mailer referred to as the "electro-mechanical climax of the age").

11 tracks including "Ramblin' Rose," "Kick Out The Jams," "Come Together" and "Motor City Is Burning."

Thirty-five minutes of pure pre-punk mayhem comprise this compilation of rare footage of the Motor City 5 from the late-1960s. Emerging at the tail-end of the hippy movement, the MC5 were notorious for the raw energy and politicized anarchy of their shows, all of which comes through on this collection of silent footage, which was shot by the band's manager, Leni Sinclair, as well as conceptual artist Cary Loren. The sometimes-chaotic scenes have been set to music in an approximation to a concert film that is more like an art piece, which is entirely appropriate given the subject matter. The documentary opens with singer Rob Tyner yelling a familiar mantra to the crowd, and the excitement doesn't let up for the duration of the film, as the band play the hits, including "Looking at You," "Want You Right Now," and, of course "Kick Out the Jams."