In a late-sixties detroit rock scene that gave rise to the uncompromising protopunk blast of Iggy and the Stooges, the Motor City 5 were the rulers of the roost, crafting a kind of soul music for disaffected white freaks. On Are You Ready to Testify?, the three mid-fidelity CDs present a trio of Michigan-area onstage performances that embody the manifesto of MC5 manager — and White Panther Party chairman — John Sinclair, namely "rock & roll, dope and fucking in the streets."

On Disc One, recorded in June 1968, the set list overlaps somewhat with the band's debut, 1969's live Kick Out the Jams. A James Brown medley, Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" and Pharoah Sanders' "Upper Egypt" are subjected to Afro'd frontman Rob Tyner's vigorous vocal strut and the welt-raising guitar tandem of Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith, who drag the songs far from their R&B and free-jazz origins. Disc Two features the MC5 ushering in New Year's Day 1970 with raw servings of "Teenage Lust" and "Shakin' Street" — tracks soon to be spit-polished for the group's second LP and studio debut, Back in the USA. The capper on the four-song third disc, also from '68, is eleven minutes of their loud-jazz freakout "Black to Comm," the ultimate call to arms for the brothers and sisters and motherfuckers of the MC5's rock & roll revolution.

“All Along the Watchtower”

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."