Listen to Tom Morello play on fiery new MC5 single Heavy Lifting

Tom Morello walking towards the camera holding a guitar wreathed in smole and the cover of Heavy Lefting — (Image credit: Chris Anthony)

A third new song has emerged from Heavy Lifting, the upcoming fourth album by Detroit rock'n'roll legends The MC5. The release of the album's title track follows Boys Who Play With Matches in June and Can't Be Found last month, and finds the band in typically fiery form, aided by Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello.

"I think Heavy Lifting is a record which certainly fits very well into the excellence of the MC5 catalogue," says Morello. "It does stand as a testament to a lifetime of rock and roll greatness."

The album – the follow-up to 1971's classic High Time – is scheduled for release on October 18, prior to the band’s induction to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

"Live long and stay creative is my attitude," late guitarist Wayne Kramer told Uncut late last year. "This album continues from where High Time left off, in that I think it's an artist’s responsibility to reflect the times they're going through. We made an album that is in sync with the challenges we're facing today, and that carries a positive message."

Heavy Lifting was produced by Bob Ezrin and fronted by Bay Area singer Brad Brooks, and was originally slated for release in October 2022. In late 2023 Kramer revealed it was scheduled to drop in the spring of 2024, but again the album didn't arrive. But earlier this year, in the wake of Kramer's death, Ezrin told Classic Rock that those involved in the recording, "feel a responsibility to make sure that his work is heard and he is celebrated."

The album features a number of guest stars in addition to Morello, including Slash, Alice in Chains frontman William DuVall, Living Colour's Vernon Reid, Don Was and Rise Against's Tim McIlrath. Other musicians on the album include Vicki Randle (Aretha Franklin), Stevie Salas (Parliament Funkadelic, Rod Stewart), Abe Laboriel Jr. (Paul McCartney), Winston Watson Jr. (Bob Dylan), and Joe Berry (M83).

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Heavy Lifting will be available in single CD and LP editions, as well as double CD/LP sets that include a live album recorded by the MC50 live band, created in 2018 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the band's debut album, Kick Out The Jams.

MC5: Heavy Lifting tracklist

1. Heavy Lifting (feat. Tom Morello)
2. Barbarians At The Gate
3. Change, No Change
4. The Edge Of The Switchblade (feat. William Duvall & Slash)
5. Black Boots (feat. Tim McIIrath)
6. I Am The Fun (The Phoney)
7. Twenty-Five Miles
8. Because Of Your Car
9. Boys Who Play With Matches
10. Blind Eye (feat. Dennis Thompson)
11. Can’t Be Found (feat. Vernon Reid & Dennis Thompson)
12. Blessed Release
13. Hit It Hard (feat. Joe Berry)

Additional Tracks (2CD/2LP)
1. Ramblin' Rose
2. Kick Out The Jams
3. Come Together
4. Motor City Is Burning
5. Borderline
6. Gotta Keep Movin'
7. Future/Now
8. Poison
9. Shakin' Street
10. Sister Anne

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Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.